The objective of this paper is the Arabic edition and the English translation of the Dissertation on thirst (الكلام في العطش), an anonymous text included in the miscellaneous manuscript nº 888 of the Royal Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Madrid (Spain). This small treatise describes what thirst is, the types of thirst that exist, the causes why hydroponics are averse to water, the reason why diabetic people are continuously thirsty, the causes why people with fever are thirsty, the reason why some foods produce thirst and others do not, and so on. The whole manuscript is composed of fourteen works, written by the same copyist along 170 folios under the general title The book of medical and philosophical curiosities and utilities (كتاب النكت والثمار الطبية والفلسفية) and their subject are curious matters that are generally out of the span of most works on these two branches of knowledge.

The essay argues that Paul Kingsnorth’s novel The Wake is written in the spirit of the eighteenth-century pastoral tradition. The medievalist trope of primitivism is used in reference to the Anglo-Saxon culture and language. What characterizes the medievalism of the novel is presentism. Buccmaster represents both the Wild Man and the Noble Savage type. In the pastoral manner, Kingsnorth writes in the spirit of anthropocentrism and focuses on the social classes in the early medieval world that he “greens” in the novel.

The article describes early medieval (10th–11th c.) coins from the collection of the Ossolinski National Institute. There are about 400 coins from this period, originate from Poland and other countries. Part of them come from hoards or archaeological excavations carried out on settlements or grave fields, other coins come from the old collections of Ossolineum in Lviv, and some from donations or various purchases. In the Ossolineum there are fragments of six early medieval hoards, containing coins, silver ornaments and fragments of silver clumps.

The article is devoted to more comprehensive use of medieval onymic resources in research on the history of the Polish language. These materials were used in research on the phonetic development of the Polish language in its earliest period. To date, they have rarely appeared in lexical studies. The body of the oldest appellatives, reconstructed on the basis of proper names, would be a kind of lexicon (supplement) enriching and verifying old Polish lexical material, certifi ed in historical Polish dictionaries (also in etymological dictionaries). In this way, the expectations formulated over 100 years ago by eminent Polish linguists may be fulfi lled. The complementary use of such a huge wealth of material opens up further research perspectives towards etymological, dialectological, lexical and morphological research.

In the Middle Ages, nature influenced human settlements, which in turn affected the surrounding landscape. Experts have turned to an early medieval village in Santok to learn more about this intricate relationship.

This article presents discoveries of new types of coins that can be assigned to the oldest Polish coinage. In case of the PRINCES POLONIE die-chain, it was possible to identify one new die, in an extremely barbaric style, which once again shows that there is no uniform style to the oldest Polish coins and that there was chaos in Bolesław I the Brave’s coinage. In the case of the second – .VIDV die-chain as many as seven new dies have been revealed. Detailed analysis shows that the coins produced with these dies were not necessarily produced at the same time, and that production could have lasted up to several years. The newly revealed dies do not solve the problem of the attribution of denarii with the .VIDV inscription, but their ascription to the coinage of Bolesław I the Brave or Mieszko II is very likely.

Our aim is to show that numismatics can provide important information about early history of a settlement in the face of a shortage of other types of evidence. We will study the case of Gdańsk. There is a record on the existence of the town (urbs) of Gdańsk from 997, but no sufficiently considerable archaeological traces of this town were found. Therefore, we do not know where the oldest Gdańsk was located. Most likely, the settlement relics from that time were destroyed as a result of fortification works at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the destruction of stratigraphic structures does not mean the destruction of certainly dated historical artefacts, and above all, coins. Registration of early medieval coin finds from the area of Gdańsk provides knowledge of the extent of settlement and functional changes of individual parts of the town complex.

Modern archaeological research uses physico-chemical methods to answer questions beyond the scope of the conventional historian’s workshop. This applies to research on the borderline of fields, including material research into the elemental and isotopic composition of artefacts. The results of such analyses make it possible to address issues relating to the distribution of raw materials and the technology of artefact production. The paper discusses the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-QMS micro-analysis methodology, addressing the limitations that result from the specification of techniques and the state of preservation of archaeological artefacts due to corrosion processes and conservation treatment. We present the preliminary results of technological research and provenance study of early medieval objects made of silver alloys, considered by typological group, i.e. coins, cake, and jewellery. Two hundred objects were analysed, revealing clear evidence for the use of remelted dirhams as the main source of raw material. The results of the research allowed for a material description of the phenomenon of the existence of cores in cross denarii, distinguishing two types of cores: based on copper and brass. In the case of jewellery, the research provided evidence for technological distinction, indicating the use of copper-based solders, as well as tin- and lead-based dolders, which have analogies in goldsmithing material from the Czech Republic. Recipes based on the marked composition are described in ancient sources. Silver cakes, on the other hand, can be divided into three extraction groups related to the degree of purification of the raw material. The preliminary results indicate that these objects were made of Asian dirhams and native lead, perhaps as an additive in the cupellation process.

Stanisław Tabaczyński, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, passed away in November 2020. He was one of the most influential theoreticians of
archaeology in post-War Poland. He developed an original concept of the archaeological process at the junction of the Annales school, the Poznań methodological school, and the inspirations from the Italian academic milieu cantered around the Polish-Italian Interdisciplinary Working Taskforce of Applied Sciences in Archaeology and Protection of Cultural Patrimony. Its main components comprised long-term processes, ethnogenetic processes, and the polisemantisation of culture. He understood archaeology as the anthropology of the prehistoric past, outstretched between anthropology and history. He participated and ran numerous excavation projects in Poland and abroad. These comprised excavation campaigns carried out in the large-scale Millennium Research project in Poznań, Wrocław, Biskupin, Kołobrzeg, Grody Czerwieńskie and Nakło nad Notecią. His major achievement was the excavation of the early Medieval Sandomierz. He discovered a glassmaking workshop of the 7–8th centuries on Torcello Island in the Venice Lagoon and participated in numerous field projects in Italy, France, and Algieria. He is the author of numerous books and articles. Among his most important publications are three-volume Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research, Przeszłość społeczna [The Social Past], Neolit środkowoeuropejski. Podstawy gospodarcze [Central European Neolithic. The economic foundations] and Archeologia średniowieczna – Problemy. Źródła, metody. Cele badawcze [Medieval Archaeology. Issues, Sources, Methods, and Research Objectives].

This article is a summary of the author's research into the background, social environment and other elements of Nicolaus Copernicus' biography. The author draws attention to the genesis of the dispute over the astronomer's “nationality” and emphasises his nineteenth-century origins. The author points to the influence of the partitions of Poland on the one hand, and the rise of German nationalism on the other, as the main reasons for its emergence. He emphasises the fact of Copernicus' loyalty to the Polish king and, consequently, Copernicus' historically understood “Polishness”. The author discusses the history of the astronomer's home town - Toruń, its economic and political role in the 13–16th centuries and, in particular, the commercial confederation linking the city and its merchants with Western and Northern Europe, the lands of the Polish Kingdom, Upper Hungary (today's Slovakia) and Silesia. These links indicate the causes and directions of merchant migration that led to the appearance of the Copernicus family in Toruń. The author put forward a thesis on the Westphalian origin of the family of Nicolaus Copernicus' mother, Watzenrode. The family came from the village of Wazerath (in the 15th century Watzenrode), situated near the German- Belgian border. The Watzenrode family arrived in Toruń in the first half of the 14th century together with a wave of migrants from Westphalian towns with Soest and Dortmund at the head. Of the 8 great-grandmothers of Copernicus, 6 came from families directly descended from Westphalia, one from Ruthenia, and one from Livonia. The Watzenrode family belonged to the elite of Toruń's patricians - three of its members were local councillors and three jurors, and five of its representatives went on to study at university. There was a tradition in the family of striving to achieve high social prestige through a clerical career for its members, taken from John Abezier, and continued by the astronomer's uncle, Łukasz Watzenrode, both bishops of Warmia. The astronomer's father's family came from Silesia, not from the village of Koperniki, but from the town of Nysa. The surname “Copernicus” had a professional character, being connected with the mining or processing of copper. In Nysa the Koperniks were recorded in the bench book under the name “Kopersmed”, which was a translation of their Slavic surname into the official language of the books – German. Considered in earlier literature to be the astronomer's grandfather, John Copernicus was probably his father Andrew's cousin. However, he played a significant role in the life of the astronomer's family. It was probably thanks to Jan Nicolaus Copernicus that his father went from Nysa to Cracow for a merchant apprenticeship to Jan Sweidniczer, and later, thanks to the relationship with this merchant, he went to Prussia and settled in Toruń. Nicolaus Copernicus was not the youngest child in his family. This misconception was caused by the order in which the children of Nicolaus and Barbara Copernicus were listed in a genealogical table prepared by the Gdańsk writer Stanisław Bornbach. Earlier biographers of Copernicus considered this order to be chronological, whereas it was alphabetical. In contemporary sources Nicolaus appears twice before his brother Andrew (never in reverse order), which is sufficient evidence for the recognition of his seniority in relation to his brother. The astronomer was born in Toruń, but not in the tenement house at 15 Kopernik Street, where today there is a part of the museum devoted to him. This house belonged to the astronomer's family in the years 1458–1480, but probably already in 1468 they moved to the tenement house at 36 Rynek Staromiejski, half of which belonged to the Watzenrode family already at the end of the 14th century, and the other half was bought by the astronomer's father in 1468. Anna Schilling, hailed in literature as the “lady of the heart” of the astronomer approaching the end of his days, was most probably his cousin from Gdańsk. She was the daughter of Nicolaus Copernicus' cousin. She lived in Frombork as a widow, rather as a carer of her elderly and probably already ailing cousin. The question of Copernicus' place of rest in Frombork Cathedral is still open. The identification of his remains still raises some doubts among researchers, especially anthropologists and geneticists. Despite these reservations, the author concludes that our knowledge of Nicolaus Copernicus' background, youth and private life on the eve of his 550th birthday is much greater than it was even several decades after his death and only a few years ago.

This article concerns the conditions for the institutionalization of open academic debate. The author focuses on the changes that have occurred over time in the seminar’s place in academic practice. She describes three types of seminars, from various eras in university history. In each case, the bases for the institutionalization of academic discussion were generally-held convictions as to what knowledge is and how it should be sought. Seminars legitimized academic debate. The examples provided—of the medieval university, Humboldt’s university, and the so-called entrepreneurial university—have various sources of legitimation: religion, the authority of scholarship, or the economic ‘usefulness’ of science (devoid of other authority). The author attempts to show that the sources of legitimation are reflected in the forms of the seminar’s institutionalization: the composition of the participants, the conversational rules (its public or closed character), and the transparency of academic knowledge.

The presented paper sets out to answer the question: did the achievements of medieval mathematical theology and philosophy of nature contribute to the development of modern science? The article focuses primarily on the achievements of English thinkers before and up to the fourteenth century. To answer the main question, a brief history of introducing mathematics to the philosophy of nature is presented, then the concepts preceding the theory of Oxford Calculators, which was a new and original interpretation of Aristotle, are discussed. This review is intended as an answer to the question contained in the title.

Amongst the first imported silver coins from western Europe in hoards in the territories of the western Slavs after the decline of silver import from Central Asia are issues anonymous in both respect of ruler and mint which have been in discussion since the early nineteenth century. In research they have been called by various names such as Sachsenpfennige, Hochrandpfennige, Kreuzpfennige (German) or krzyżówki (Polish) and must originate from mint(s) in Eastern Saxony bordering Slavs. They are of importance for the understanding of the use and chronology of coined silver in Slavic lands, especially in Poland and eastern Germany. The example of the Strandby hoard in Denmark, where these occur in a larger number, are well documented and to a larger part are unfragmented, allows us to show that the hitherto used dating (Kilger 2000) is incorrect. All known varieties must have been struck before 983/984 and not up to c. 1000. There is no continuation to younger series with hammered edge appearing since early eleventh century.

The hoard from Krzczonów (Opatowiec community, kazimierski district) was discovered in 2002 during construction works on a private property. The entire deposit consists of 5,264 coins – Polish, Bohemian, Silesian, Pomeranian and Hungarian. The article presents 137 coins from the Krzczonów hoard – 128 Prague groschen of Wenceslas IV and nine hellers of Henry I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels from the Kłodzko county. This small fragment of this hoard shows its scientific value and research perspectives. The very interesting results of the study of only a few percent of the entire find – inter alia the identification of the posthumous Prague groschen of Wenceslas IV – give high hopes that after the entire deposit has been processed, we will do much more about the monetary circulation in the late 15th century between Krakow and Kielce area.

This paper presents a new edition and translation of the contract for the erection of the castle in Kórnik that was concluded in 1426 by and between a chancellor of the Poznań cathedral chapter, Mikołaj z Górki, owner of the Kórnik estate, and a Poznań carpenter Niklos (Nicholas). It is the oldest known document of the history of the first, medieval wooden castle. Written down in Latin, it has survived in the book of the Poznań Consistory. It has a special value as a source of information, but it is also unique from the point of view of diplomatics as the so-called chirograph (a document marked by its characteristic way in which it is written down and its manner of authentication). The contract is not only a first-rate source for research into the history of wooden and defensive architecture in late medieval Poland, but also, in view of the Polish words used to explain Latin terminology in the text, can be considered a memorial to the Polish language of the past. The four German words have a similar value, too.

The article analyzes the interrelations between the texts of the Novgorodian‑Sophian group of the first half of the 15th century (Novgorod Karamzin, First Sophian and Forth Novgorod chronicles) on a specific section of the annalistic material. We explore the “links” to some Kievan text in the entries of the late 11th century from the First Sophian Chronicle, their context and probable sources. The compiler of this chronicle has left traces of his activity on early Rus’ history in his drafts (such remarks as “to search in Kievan” and similar) which scholars have considered as evidence of some importance to define the stages of annalistic work of the 15th century in Novgorod and Moscow. It is argued that a set of “links” of the First Sophian was used by the author of the second part of the Novgorod Karamzin Chronicle to fill the gaps in his narrative. However, detailed textual analysis demonstrates the very complicated and clearly later composition in the First Sophian. Therefore both the first and second parts of Novgorod Karamzin Chronicle precede the First Sophian. The paper also pays attention to some aspects of the relations between the Novgorodian‑Sophian group and early Kievan and Novgorod chronicles.

Professor Henryk Bogdan Samsonowicz was born on 23rd of January 1930 in Warsaw in the family of a known University of Warsaw professor, geologist Jan Samsonowicz (1888–1959) and Henryka Samsonowicz nee Korwin Krukowska (1892–1987). He graduated in history at the Department of Humanity of the University of Warsaw, presenting a master's thesis on the policy of Gdańsk in the second half of the 14th century, written on a seminar by Marian Małowist. Professors Witold Kula and Aleksander Gieysztor have also played an important role in Henryk Samsonowicz's intellectual development, and later, during his stay in France, professor Fernandel Braudel. In 1954 he has defended his doctor's thesis, and in 1960 received his postdoctoral qualifications based on the famous work “ Studies of the patrician capital of Gdańsk in the 2nd half of the 15th century”. The academic interests of professor Henryk Samsonowicz have initially focussed on the history of the Hanseatic League, and later — on the importance of myth in history and on the beginnings of the Polish state in the 10th century. In his scientific work he has created a new model of historical narration, which combines various aspects of political, economic and cultural life in one whole. He has published over a thousand reviews, articles and dissertations in print. He has occupied a series of important positions he was, among others, a dean of the Department of History of the University of Warsaw; during the times of “Solidarity” he was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Warsaw. In 1989 he became the Minister for the National Education in the first non-communist government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He was an acclaimed organiser of popularisation of historical knowledge in Poland.

Precepts and taboos play a central role in the systematization of Daoist communities. On this set of rules hinges the development of various Daoist movements and the establishment of different Daoist schools. In this article, I investigate the proscriptions about the five pungent vegetables (wuxin 五辛 or wuhun 五葷, allium vegetables) consumption in Daoist early medieval prescription’s texts. Whereas previous scholarship has analyzed the influence of Buddhism in Daoist monastic rules, this paper turns the attention to the way in which the five pungent vegetables taboo was elaborated in Daoist discourse, especially in texts from the early medieval era. It argues that in Daoist prescription’s texts, the allium vegetables taboo is supported and justified by the aversive emotion of disgust. By describing the five pungent vegetables as polluted, defiled and even dangerous items, Daoist texts construct the perfect condition for their repulsion and the taboo's final systematization.

The Fbg 70 Silesian bracteate bears an unusual depiction that – in the authors’ opinion – has not yet been satisfactorily explained. They thereby present here a completely new interpretation of this imagery, tracing it back to, on one hand, the traditions of earlier Silesian issues and on the other to the earliest, openwork pilgrim badges from the Amiens sanctuary, which depict the reliquary of the head of St. John the Baptist. They also suggest that some features of this depiction might be inspired directly by the said reliquary without the pilgrim badges as an intermediary. The Fbg 70 bracteate would therefore constitute only the second known example of a Polish coin depicting a reliquary – the first being the type 1 deniers of Bolesław IV the Curly. The authors suggest that the Amiens reliquary might also be depicted on other Silesian coins, for example on the Fbg 74 bracteate.

ABSTRACT:

The main objective of the article is to organise our knowledge about the coinage of the last years of Boleslaus IV the Curly’s reing, based on the coins from the medieval Głogów hoard and the hoard from Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień. A very rare penny of the Stronczyński 54 type with the image of a rider on its obverse and the reverse with the name BOLЄZLAV/BOLЄZLVS, inscribed into three arches will be described in detail. The text will present the latest results of the study of the coin (including the traces of overstrikes), weight analysis and the types of dies and their combinations.

SUMMARY:

The article was created based on a paper of the same title, presented at the International Numismatic Conference, „Numismatica Centroeuropea III” in Bystrzyca Kłodzka. In the recent years, owing to the discovery of the Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień hoard, the studies on Boleslaus IV the Curly’s coinage have gained momentum. Its analysis provided an impulse for conducting similar studies on the ruler’s coins from the medieval Głogów hoard, discovered in 1987. Four types of pennies, occurring in small numbers, have been published so far and the time has come to publish the fifth penny, classified as type 54 according to Kazimierz Stronczyński. 220 pennies were analysed for the purpose of this article.

The initial objects of the analysis were the obverse and reverse images, categorised into variants and variations. Seven obverse and three reverse variants were distinguished. Additionally, within each variant a few to several variations, differing in small details, were also identified. Each variant has been described in a table. The coins were then examined in terms of their dies combination, and the results have been presented in the form of a diagram.

The next stage involved the comparison of the data obtained for the Str. 54 penny with that of its predecessors, published in the monograph of the Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień hoard. While comparing the weights, the data provided by Professor Suchodolski in his book “Mennictwo polskie w XI i XIII wieku/Polish coinage in the 11th and 12th century” was also referred to. The weights of all five types were presented in the form of a histogram. Another interpretation of the overstrikes, observed on coins from the medieval Głogów hoard, was also published. The Str. 54 penny opened a series of subsequently overstruck pennies. A hypothesis was proposed that some of the coins ascribed previously to Boleslaus IV the Curly might have been struck by Boleslaus I the Tall, son of Vladislaus II the Exile. The verification of the hypothesis requires further studies on the coins from the medieval Głogów hoard which participated in this unusual sequence of overstrikes. Unfortunately, there are still over several thousand of such coins to be examined. Finally, 17 type Str. 54 pennies discovered outside the medieval Głogów hoard were published. They come from the hoards from Anusin and Golice, single finds from Masłowice and Wilkowice and from private collections. The coins were examined in the same manner and included in the catalogue of die variants and varieties and the diagram of die combinations.

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this article is to determine the origins of the enigmatic image appearing on a Silesian bracteate of the Rataje type (Fbg 70). The image has recently been interpreted as radiating circles of light and its symbols associated with St John the Baptist, whose figure appears on Silesian coins relatively often. While analysing the numismatic material, the author focuses on two types of coins which may have served as the model for the Silesian bracteate: half-bracteate from Hedeby, issued in all probability during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (958–987) and the Celtic stater, struck in Lesser Poland (or in Silesia) in the first third of the 1st century BC.

SUMMARY:

One Silesian bracteate from the Rataje group (the issue from 1220–1240) features an image which should be interpreted as radiating circles of light (fig. 1). A closer analysis allows the conclusion that such an interpretation might be based on the Prologue to John’s Gospel, where John the Baptist is associated with the symbolism of light (J 1, 4–9). In the text, Christ’s predecessor is presented as the witness to the Light, heralding the arrival of the Saviour.

While looking for the model, the creator of the die of the Rataje bracteate may have relied on, one might arrive at two alternative solutions. The first one may be related to the half-bracteates struck in Hedeby, associated with the first half of the 10th century and sometimes with the times of Harald Bluetooth’s rule (958–987) (fig. 3), which were, in turn, modelled on Charles the Great’s pennies, struck in Dorestad approximately until the year 790 (fig. 2). Younger half-bracteates from Hedeby, coined in the second half of the 10th century appear both in Pomeranian (such as Gralewo II, Rybice or Świnoujście–Przytór) and Silesian finds (Bystrzyca, Gębice, Kotowice II and Radzików II). Hence, it is possible that they served as the model for the Silesian bracteate in the era of advanced renewal, necessitating frequent changes in the appearance of the dies.

The other solution would identify Celtic staters of the Cracow type as the model for the Rataje bracteate. The coins minted in Lesser Poland from around 100 BC to around 30 AD were described by Marcin Rudnicki in 2012. On some specimens, classified by the scholar as group I, representing “the earliest, prototype variants of the Cracow type” and dated by him to the period from around 100 to around 70 BC, the elements of the die form a composition significantly similar to the image on the Rataje bracteate. Although the Cracow type staters have not been recorded in Silesia, there is no doubt that the coins reached the region, a fact confirmed by their occurrence in Central Poland as well as in Bohemia, Slovakia and as far as in the Zagreb area.

Using the Celtic stater as the iconographic model for the Silesian bracteate might have been connected with the so-called “heads” or “St John pennies”. The name, appearing in sources from 1445 onwards, although certainly used in Poland much earlier, was given to Roman coins, found mainly in Polish lands, whose obverse featured the emperor’s head (identified with the severed head of John the Baptist). It is possible that the notion of “St John’s pennies” designated also other ancient coins. This fact, as well as original iconography, may have influenced the use of the transformed motif from the Celtic coin obverse on the die of the Silesian bracteate. Owing to the rays, the composition may have been associated with the symbolism of light, closely connected with the patron of Silesia and emphasised by the liturgy at the time.

The paper concerns biblical heritage in Polish medieval and early modern literature. In it's first section the author presents the first Polish psalters and their influence upon religious poetry of the time. The second part focuses on the development of biblical scholarship in medieval and Renaissance Poland, presents the most important old translations of the Bible and shortly discusses their impact on Polish literary culture. The last part of the study shows how various types of biblical plots and characters were present in old Polish drama and theatre, in religious hymns and epics, how biblical patterns inspired certain literary genres; it also stresses cer- tain significant differences between Protestant and Catholic authors of the time. The conclusion of the paper points out serious need for more systematic researches and studies in the subject of biblical tradition in old Polish literature.

The paper presents historical concepts and paradigms of the institution of university as well as its present and future models.

As a starting point, the origin, structure and function of the medieval university are discussed; then, four basic concepts of university formed in the 19th century are given, namely the German model of Wilhelm Humboldt and Johann Fichte, the English model of Cardinal Newman, the American model formed aft er foundation of the John Hopkins University and the French model – the Napoleonic model ofuniversity.

What follows is an analysis of the changes and evolution of universities in the 20th century. It is indicated that the essence of today’s university is composed of the following activities: didactics, research and professional training. A great significance of general and formal education is also emphasized. Th e priority is given to practising basic disciplines at universities and the significance of the humanities for general education of students, including philosophy, theology and ethics is stressed.

The author is warning us against single-discipline education in a situation when all contemporary problems, whether economic, political, social, ethical or technical, can only be solved on the interdisciplinary basis via cooperation of experts in different fields. The gap between visions of the world shaped by natural sciences and the humanities should be gradually bridged. To this end, a paradigm of the future university is put forward. The paradigm should provide for cultivation of the values derived from the Classical University rooted in the Greco-Roman and Christian tradition, mathematical exactness of scientific research and quality professional training of the Positivist University, as well as the ecological and holistic vision and education of the youth, in a spirit of tolerance of the Postmodern University.

The paradigm of the university of the future should encompass three significant elements, i.e. the mission of a contemporary academic school, the conditions in which it is functioning and the rules it should follow. The paper indicates that, though destined to an ongoing change, the mission of universities for centuries has featured the same components, namely intellectual and ethical education of the youth and scientific research. The contemporary university should act as “the eyes of the world” that perceive its main problems and provide guidance in solving them.

The contemporary university must duly take into account the external conditions, namely globalisation, multiculturalism, ecological threats, rapid communications and technological progress, a growth of negative social phenomena such crime, moral degradation and terrorism; a growing infl uence of the media on life of societies, anti-intellectualism, relativism and radical individualism triggered by the Post-modem era. The rules that a contemporary academic school should act in accordance with are given as follows: a quest for the highest standards in didactics, research and other activities; full freedom of scientifi c research; a focus on discovering the truth and sharing it with others; ethical responsibility of scholars and university professors; the spirit of duty in education; forming amicable and stable academic communities; partnership in cooperation with other scholars and universities; aiming at the integration of Christian knowledge and faith.

The paper ends with a citation from Pope John Paul’s II. address to the chancellors of all Polish academic schools in 1997, in which he stressed the role of ethical sensitivity of scholars today, owing to which the bond may be maintained both between the True and the Good and the freedom of scientific research and ethical responsibility for its outcomes.

The article follows on an earlier publication by the author devoted to the urban development of Małopolska under Boleslaus the Modest (Krasnowolski, 2004–2005, pp. 36–37, 38–39). At the same time, it expands the subject discussed by the author in another work several years ago (Krasnowolski, 2004). The period in question was actually a quarter of a century from 1279 to 1306. The first of these dates marks the start of the reign of Leszek the Black (Leszek Czarny), successor to Boleslaus the Modest (Bolesław Wstydliwy), and the latter — capture of Kraków by Ladislaus the Elbow–High (Władysława Łokietka), efficiently competing with the rulers of Bohemia and exploiting the death of Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (Wyrozumski, 1992, pp. 200–201). Urban development from the time can be considered continuation of the urban development policy of Boleslaus the Modest, yet at a lower dynamic, due to political instability.