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Vol. 95 (2001): Our Past

Articles

Noble benefactors of the Krakow Dominicans from the mid-14th century to 1462

  • Krzysztof Fokt
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2001.95.105-134  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2001-06-30

Abstract

This article focuses on persons of noble birth who offered donations to the Cracow Dominicans, ie. the relatively best known group among the secular benefactors of the Order. The middle of the 14th century, when donations made by members of the nobility were first put on record, provide the terminus ad quern of this study. The other limit is set by 1462, the year of the great fire of Cracow. The author analyzes primarily the range and the social context of the benefactions on the basis of 16th and 17th-century copy- -books, obituaries and other contemporary written sources. The number of benefactions peaked in 1402- 1418 and plummeted in mid-15th century. Within the timespan indicated above benefactors from the ranks of the nobility founded four chapels and three altars in the Dominican collegiate church. In addition to numerous legacies in cash and real property, the Dominicans could also rely on their benefactors' help in setting up the conventual library and enlarging the Holy Trinity church. It has been possible to identify ten persons who made the Cracow Dominicans the main beneficiaries of their wills. The joint benefactions of the noble families Topor and Starykon for the Cracow Dominicans in the period 1350-1417 were probably intended to demonstrate the unity of the two clans. In the years 1417-1462 most benefactors were recruited from the political supporters of bishop Zbigniew Olesnicki, a faction held together by a network of ties and common interests. The findings of this investigation into benefactions and benefactors of the Dominican convent in Cracow may serve as an incentive for similar studies of other religious houses.

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