Święci patroni Królestwa Polskiego w pobożności ostatnich Jagiellonów: wybrane aspekty

ENContemporary Polish historiography has not defined a term “patron of the state” until today, accepting its apparent unambiguity and not considering its actual importance. It is the very sense of this term that will allow us to discern the place of “patron saints” in the representation of the Jagiellon statehood. The criteria determining state patronage can be included in a few points: 1. the life of the saint was embedded against state-forming processes; 2. the cult of the saint was used in the official state ceremonial; 3. the commemoration of the saint occurred in high rite in pre-Trident books and liturgical calendars; 4. the iconographic criterion determines the following elements: a) the presence of the saint among the group of other saints considered as saint patrons of the state; b) the presentation of the saint among the official symbols of the state; c) the presentation of the saint with the ruler; d) the presentation of the saint on the official objects connected to the functioning of the state. The last criterion indicating the aforementioned kind of patronage was to name the saint “patron saint of the Kingdom”.In the following article an attempt is made to trace the relations of the Jagiellon dynasty with the “devotional schema of the four patron saints of the state” and to assess their importance. A short analysis centres around particular written sources and results of the artistic craft: monuments described in the inventory of the Krakow Cathedral of 1563, a majesty seal of Casimir Jagiellon, an ordo coronandi of the so-called Warneńczyk and wood engraving present in Commune inclitii Regni Poloniae. The analysis includes as well records on common faith in the intercession of saint patrons during military actions.