The Feasts of Boleslaw the Brave

The paper focuses on an analysis of information relating to the feasts held by the Polish Duke Boleslaw the Brave (d. 1025), contained in the first Polish chronicle written in 1113-1116/1117 by the so–called Gallus Anonymous. In the opinion of the author the descriptions refer to accounts by the authors of the Gospel - the multiplication of bread by Jesus, the changing of water into wine in Galilee or the Last Supper and the origin of the Eucharist. The ensuing hypothesis suggests that the chronicler portrayed Boleslaw the Brave as 'imago Christi'. The article also recalls that spirituality characteristic for monastic environments, and focused on Christ the King, spread across Western Europe from the middle of the tenth century. Its expansion led to a deprecation of the secular image. The author maintains that the new situation necessitated a revision of the heretofore model of the monarch based on the Old Testament. The ideal, originating from the Carolingian epoch, was replaced by a personal model of the king envisaged as 'imago Christi'. The legend of Bolesław the Brave recorded by Gallus Anonymous entitles us to conclude that Poland too witnessed a reception of a model of a ruler characteristic for the new epoch.