U źródła legendy poetyckiej biskupa krakowskiego Kajetana Sołtyka

Abstract

Literature of the Bar Confederation created a positive legend of the Kraków’s bishop, Kajetan Sołtyk. Its point of birth was the abduction of the bishop from Warsaw "Sejm" (Parliament) of 1767. At that "Sejm", the bishop became famous for being one of the main leaders opposing equality for dissidents, for which he paid with over five years in Russian captivity. The authors of the Bar poems used in this article concentrated on the martyrdom of the prisoner, his unshaken attitude and the readiness to sacrifice his life for the Catholic faith. They would place him in the context of saints, biblical characters and heroes of antiquity, who were paragons of behaviour.

The poems highlighted in the study are largely laudatory or canvassing in character – they call for not yielding on the issue of dissidents.