Jeszcze w sprawie factum biskupa krakowskiego Stanisława ze Szczepanowa

Abstract

The death of the bishop of Cracow, Stanislaus of Szczepanów, is still under discussion. This riddle has not been solved so far. Historians’ opinions usually focus on the Stanislaus’s alleged involvement in the rebel of the Polish knights against king Boleslaus the Bold. The aim of this article is to present a different interpretation of the known historical sources, mainly the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus, the bull of Pope Paschalis II, allegedly addressed to the archbishop of Gniezno, and the chronicles of Wincenty Kadłubek. We tried to show that the conflict between Bishop Stanislaus and Boleslaus the Bold arose from personal reasons. The cause of a violent reaction of the king was probably an unfounded accusation of some intimate relationships between the bishop and Beleslaus’s wife. This course of events is indicated by the so-called court tradition about St. Stanislaus, being highly unfavourable to him, and historical context of the whole event, namely, the king’s cruelty to knights and their unfaithful wives having relationships with household servants. St. Stanislaus acted against the king’s behavior, but the bishop’s authority did not stop the king. It seems that somebody who was persecuted, trying to save their lives by diverting the king’s attention, accused St. Stanislaus of “sinful infidelity”. These are novel findings which have not been previously reported in the historiography.