Pieśń o wójcie krakowskim Albercie – przekaz historyczny w poetyckim sztafażu

Abstract

The article provides a critical summary and a verification of the knowledge about the poem De quodam advocato Cracoviensi Alberto, which in Polish papers is usually referred to as Pieśń o wójcie krakowskiem Albercie. This anonymous work mentioned in two 14th-century manuscripts was probably created in the first half of the 14th century (most likely after 1320). It refers to the rebellion of Mayor Albert in Krakow in the years 1311–1312. Its form reminds of a speech from beyond the grave (oratio a tumulo), a fictitious monologue of the late Albert who complains about the changeability of the Fortune which led him to imprisonment and death. The poem has a visibly propagandistic character and is aimed at Germans who, due to colonisation, gain more and more importance in Poland and Bohemia. The work discusses inconsistencies that appear in the findings of the publishers and commentators of the poem and points to some gaps that exist in the synthetic description of the poem. It also formulates new research suggestions, among others, connected with tracing the manuscript tradition of Pieśń and interpreting information related to the fate of Mayor Albert after the rebellion and his relations with the Queen of Poland.