The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska, Latin: Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichow) is a Latin chronicle of the Cistercian abbey in Henryków in Lower Silesia, Poland. Originally created as a registry of belongings looted during the first Mongol invasion of Poland of 1241, with time it was extended to include the history of the monastery. It is notable as the earliest document to include a sentence written entirely in what can be interpreted as an Old Polish language.[1][2][3] Currently the book is on exhibition in the Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław. On October 9, 2015 the Book of Henryków was entered in the list of UNESCO's "Memory of the World."
| Book of Henryków | |
|---|---|
| Księga henrykowska | |
 The oldest known Old Polish sentence, highlighted in red | |
| Language | medieval Latin, Old Polish |
| Date | 1268–1310 |
| Provenance | Cistercian Monastery in Henryków |
| Genre | Chronicle |
| Period covered | 1227–1310 |
The first part of the 100-page-long book is devoted to the early history of the abbey, from its foundation by Henry the Bearded in 1227 until 1259. The second part includes the later history until 1310. In the record for 1270, a settler from the nearby village is reported to have said to his wife "Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai." which could be roughly translated as "Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest."
The circumstances under which this sentence was written closely reflected the cultural and literary conditions in Poland in the first centuries of its national existence. It appeared in a Latin chronicle, written by a German abbot. The man who reportedly uttered the sentence almost one hundred years earlier was Bogwal, a Czech (Bogwalus Boemus), a local settler, and subject of Bolesław the Tall, as he felt compassion for his local wife, who "very often stood grinding by the quern-stone." The local village, Brukalice, came to be named after him.
The Old Polish sentence
editThe medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of the Henryków monastery, noted "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish") before quoting it.[4][5][6]
"Unde dicti B[ogwali] Boemi uxor stab[a]t sepissime ad mola[m] molendo. Cui vir suus idem B[ogwalus], compassus dixit: Sine, ut ego etiam molam. Hoc est i[n] polonico: Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai." - Book of Henryków (Liber fundationis claustri Sanctae Mariae Virginis in Henrichow), 1270[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Allen Kent, Harold Lancour, Jay E. Daily, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, CRC Press, 1978, pg. 3, [1]
- ^ Barbara i Adam Podgórscy: Słownik gwar śląskich. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, 2008, page 12. ISBN 978-83-60528-54-9.
- ^ Derwojedowa, Magdalena; Gałczyńska, Alicja; Gruszczyński, Włodzimierz; Kopcińska, Dorota; Linde-Usiekniewicz, Jadwiga; Winiarska-Górska, Izabela (2005). Derwojedowa, Magdalena; Karaś, Halina; Kopcińska, Dorota (eds.). Język polski : kompendium. Warszawa: Świat Książki. p. 676. ISBN 9788373912519. OCLC 401422861.
- ^ Digital version Book of Henryków in latin
- ^ Barbara i Adam Podgórscy: Słownik gwar śląskich. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, 2008, ISBN 978-83-60528-54-9
- ^ Bogdan Walczak: Zarys dziejów języka polskiego. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1999, ISBN 83-229-1867-4
- ^ Digital version Book of Henryków
Bibliography
edit- Elżbieta Olinkiewicz; Katarzyna Radzymińska; Halina Styś (1999). Słownik Encyklopedyczny - Język polski (in Polish). Europa. ISBN 83-87977-20-9. Archived from the original on 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
- (in English and Polish) Michał Jacek Mikoś (1999). "Middle Ages: Literary background". Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century. A Bilingual Anthology. Warsaw: Constans. p. 683. ISBN 83-901014-3-2. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2006-06-22.