On the Lists of Officials from Sieradz, Łęczyca, Kujawy, and Dobrzyń in Crown Register 14 and Their Dating Reconsidered

Abstract

The article examines attempts to date the list of Central Polish officials (the Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyń, and Kujawy areas), given on fol. 211v–212 of the Crown Register (Metryka Koronna – MK) 14 kept in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. Sobiesław Szybkowski dated the Kuyawa lists roughly to the years 1480–1484, and the Dobrzyń lists to 1485, with corrections made in them in the years 1491–1494. Janusz Bieniak, on the other hand, dated the original level of the Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyń and Kujawy lists to the spring or early summer of 1484, earlier additions to the Dobrzyń lists to the years 1485–1489, and later amendments to all lists to the period after 1491. A closer analysis of the external features of the original lists of officials from the areas of Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyńska, and Kujawy from fol. 2011v–212 MK 14, suggests somewhat different possibilities than before regarding the approximate dating of this important source. It seems that seven hands contributed to its final shape. The first level of the text came from hand no. 1, who planned the list concerning the areas of Sieradz, Łęczyca, Brzeg voivodship (fol. 211v MK 14), and Inowrocław voivodship (beginning of fol. 212 MK 14). It was probably written at the end of 1482 or at the beginning of 1483 (by late spring). The first additions to this list were made by hand no. 2, who also started the Dobrzyń list in free space at the bottom of the first column at fol. 211v. This probably happened in 1485. The next hands, nos 3–7, supplemented and modified the Central Poland lists up to the last years of the reign of Kazimierz Jagiellończyk. Interventions (in the form of deletions) took place during the reign of Jan Olbracht. The annex to the article is a full critical edition of the list of officials of Central Poland from Crown Register (Metryka Koronna) 14.