Inwentarz katedry wileńskiej z roku 1598

ENThe Treasury of Vilnius Cathedral, the largest Catholic church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, came into being in 1387 when Lithuania was christianized. The earliest complete inventory of the treasury dates from 1598 and lists all the ecclesiastical plate and paramentae deposited in the chapter treasury at the time: liturgical vessels, vestments and hangings, altar and chapel decorations, votives and books. The article focuses on the first part of the inventory that lists liturgical vessels and jewellery. A few items listed in the inventory are the ones discovered in the cathedral crypt in 1985. The inventory of 1598 was made in several copies of which only two have survived. The first one, presently in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas, the so-called LVIA copy), is unbound and seriously damaged. It differs from the second copy kept in Vilnius University Library as far as the contents of some chapters, for example, the Januszowski Chapel inventory is missing from the LVIA copy, and a list of the votive offerings is much shorter than in the so-called University copy. Since the latter is more informative, it has been the focus of the present article. The two copies are of the same size, though they have different watermarks: the leaves of the first copy bear Jelita coat of arms in a composite shield executed in the Renaissance style, while the University copy watermarks display a beautiful Lithuanian coat of arms, the White Knight placed in a circle.The University copy of the cathedral inventory is a book A4 size, the binding is red painted pigskin, undecorated, with two ties. It has 119 numbered leaves, some blank, executed in dark brown ink in several hands. The titling, some marginal notes and book lists have been written in the hand of Vilnius Chapter Dean, doctor of theology, Mikołaj Dicjusz (Nicolaus Dicius) who has signed the inventory in four different places. The list of the most important ecclesiastical plate is written in a clear and legible style, section headings are underlined, all the items are named and numbered, initial letters capitalized. The authorship of this part of the inventory has not been established. Some notes in the texts were added in different hand using small crabbed lettering which belongs to Mikołaj Paweł Jasieński, who later became the procurator of the Cathedral Chapter. The inventory is written in Polish with numerous Latin words and phrases in the text. Most frequent are: in sede, cum signo, Crucifix, Salvator. Even a cursory glance at the manuscript suggests the existence of a Latin copy. A sixteenth-century ecclesiastical chancery would hardly have compiled an inventory in Polish. As a rule, all official documents and letters related to ecclesiastical matters would be written in Latin. However, different procedures existed, too. It may be suggested that the Polish copies of inventories were prepared out of practical considerations. While the inspection was being conducted, the first draft of the inventory could have been prepared in Polish and later copied by the chancery copyists. Interestingly, in the case of the 1598 inventory we are clearly dealing with two final copies. A copyist has made some mistakes and he has clearly misunderstood certain passages. Nevertheless, out of all surviving cathedral inventories, this one is undoubtedly made with the greatest care and attention for detail.Numerous notes and insertions show that the inventory was in use until 1630. Cathedral inventory from 1598 was not the first sixteenth-century document of this type. Chapter records mention the existence of earlier inventories. Besides keeping the lists of items deposited in the treasury, the records also shed some light on everyday life of the cathedral and chapter. For example, in 1522 the priests were expressly forbidden to use liturgical vessels, vestments and books from the main treasury without a prior notification of the Procurator. It was on the same year that a few pieces of plate went missing on different occasions. A large morse for the cope encrusted with pearls was also gone. Moreover, the treasury of the Chapel of St Casimir had been broken into. As a result, the procurator of the cathedral, Albert Wieleszyński, appointed prelate-custodian, Jan Filipowski, Bishop of Kiev and canon Stanisław Dambrowski to make an inspection of the cathedral treasury. For reasons unknown, custodian Filipowski refused to take on responsibility for the treasury after the inspection and came into conflict with procurator Albert Wieleszyński. In 1523 the chapter carried out the inspection of the treasury once again, this time without Filipowski, but based on the list compiled by procurator Wieleszyński. In practice, the procurator read the inventory and the canons checked every single item mentioned. Although according to the minutes of the inspection, it turned out that nothing was missing, Wieleszyński refused to carry the keys to the treasury chest. Eventually canons Jan Albinus and Stanisław Dambrowski would take on the task.