Początki dominikanów w Polsce według Liber beneficiorum Jana Długosza na tle najstarszych żywotów św. Dominika

Among the many pieces of information about Dominicans recorded by Jan Długosz in his works, there is the introduction to the description of the endowment of the Holy Trinity Dominican monastery in Cracow and following it a list of provincials during the years 1225-1478 (in: Liber beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis, vol. III). This quite extensive, as compared to other mentions in the works of Długosz, text forms a short history of the beginnings of the order’s activity in Poland. The picture presented there differs from the version established in mid-14th c. and current later which is found in the Life of St. Hyacinth. It also contains reliable but later forgotten information about brother Gerard of Wrocław who became provincial in 1225 and sent brothers to new monasteries. Comparing this description with Libellus de principiis ord. Praedicatorum written by Jordan of Saxony (first half of the 13th c.) and with the oldest lives of St. Dominic shows that they formed the pattern for its author, most probably from mid-13th c. This relation was certainly used by Długosz. Such ideas could not appear in the times of Długosz when the cult of St. Hyacinth was spread as the founder of the province and miracle maker.