Section for the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Masovia and Podlasie in the Middle Ages

Dr Tomasz Jaszczołt
Dr Emil Kalinowski
Dr Marta Piber-Zbieranowska
Dr Michał Sierba

Cooperators:
Dr Andrzej Buczyło
Michał Zbieranowski, MA

The team working on the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Masovia and Podlasie in the Middle Ages was established in two stages. In 2012, Dr Anna Salina and Marta Piber-Zbieranowska, MA created the team working on the Masovian Dictionary, In 2015, Dr Tomasz Jaszczołt and Dr Andrzej Buczyło joined the team and together they began working on Masovia and Podlasie. The team currently also includes Michał Zbieranowski, MA.

Drawing on the legacy of Professor Adam Wolff (1899–1984) and colleagues Anna Borkiewicz-Celińska (1921–2019) and Kazimierz Pacuski (1944–), the team continues to expand the source base for the Dictionary entries, which consists in gathering source data on all settlements and physiographical objects of medieval Masovia (limited by its pre-partition borders, i.e. covering the voivodships of Płock, Rawa and Masovia. Scans of individual cards are continually published online as part of the Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes at http://www.rcin.org.pl/publication/8825 [access: 14.05.2020]. Both Adam Wolff’s card index and new databases are the fundamental research tools for the preparation of the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Masovia in the Middle Ages.

Individual fascicles of the Dictionary are devoted to the specific lands of the Masovian voivodship. The latest fascicles were published in 2013 and 2017, which covers respectively Warsaw and Liw land. Work on the first of the several planned fascicles on Czersk land is currently in progress; it shall be released in print by December 2020.

All are truly dedicated to the study of the history of Masovia, the members of the department also carry out their individual research projects.

Dr Anna Salina focuses on preparing critical editions of the historical sources concerning Masovia, from Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, also from church archives in Plock and Warsaw. Recently, in collaboration with Inga Stembrowicz, MA from the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, she published a comprehensive edition of the Masovian Metrica for the years 1471–1526. At the request of the Diocesan Archives in Plock, she identified the manuscript returned to Plock from Jena (Germany), revealing it is part of the oldest Polish cartulary from the13th and 14th century.

Dr Marta Piber-Zbieranowska specializes in the female regent’s government in the Polish land in the Middle Ages and in the political role of women in this period. Her doctoral thesis, which is currently the subject of proceedings in the doctoral dissertation, concerns to the regency of Duchess Anna Radziwiłł, who after the death of her husband Duke Konrad III reigned on behalf of their minor sons, Stanisław and Janusz (1503–1518). She is especially interested also in the history of settlement of late-medieval and early modern Mazovia, also in the historical geography of Poland and in the history of cartography.

Michał Zbieranowski, MA in the years 1991–2014 was an employee of the Section of the Historical Atlas. His research interests include the period of the late Middle Ages and early modern era, the history of settlement, social, in particular the history of Mazovia and Warsaw, the family of Ciołek (mainly branch from Żelechów), knight’s seats on the border between Mazovia and the land of Stężyca. In addition, the history of Scottish immigration in modern Poland in Mazowsze and Podlasie.

Work on the Historcal-Geographical Dictionary of Podlasie was begun as early as in the 1960s by Professor Jerzy Wiśniewski, which came to an end with his premature death in 1983. He started compiling the card index for the Dictionary, which is currently along with other documents, with his inheritors in Cracow.

The finalised card index Wolff, as well as digital copies archival sources acquired by Team members is the fundamental research tool for the preparation of the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Masovia in the Middle Ages and Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Podlasie voivodship in the Middle Ages. The new opportunities offered by the newly accessible eastern archives and libraries make it possible to broaden the scope of enquiry and enlarge the source base for continuing the work on the Dictionaries of Mazowsze and Podlasie.

In 2015, over thirty years break, it resumed work on Dictionary of Podlasie. It was changed slightly an original concept of Profesor Wiśniewski, which included not only historical Podlasie voivodship, but parts of the Brest, Troki and Nowogródek voivodships also (territory within today’s border of Poland). Now it was decided to adapt it to pre-partition Poland’s border of Podlasie voivodship. As the chronological range it was accepted 1569 year. Impact on the situation had: condition of archival documents, later colonization and the fact that in half of 16th century in Podlasie were Volok Reform. During our works we have resigned of division on historical lands (Podlasie is whole territory). Work on the first fascicle of Dictionary of Podlasie voivodship (letter A–B) is currently in progress.

Dr Tomasz Jaszczołt works on the questions of ownership and settlement in the Podlasie voivodship, eastern part of Masovia and western lands of Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th to the 17th century and on the development of the network of Roman Catholic parishes in the region at that time. He has also taken part in research consisting in compiling the catalogues of Roman Catholic clergymen in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 14th to the 16th century (supplements for the catalogues are currently in preparation). He drew up the series of the articles about the genealogy of the Podlasie and east Masovia nobility. His area of interest is also nobility courts and application of polish law in the Podlasie to the Union of Lublin. In addition he is updating the catalogue of Podlasie officials active before 1569, which will also include the offices held in Podlasie before that year which were omitted in the hitherto published catalogues. He is participating also in the project of publishing following volumes of the catalogues of officials in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with particular reference to 15th and 16th centuries.

Dr Andrzej Buczyło – his research focuses on the history of Podlasie and Brześć Land from the 15th to the 18th century, including the development of the parish network of Eastern Churches (Orthodox and Uniate) in the area. Other research interests include the historical geography, history of monasteries until the 19th century and auxiliary disciplines of history in the broad sense.

The published fascicles of the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Masovia in the Middle Ages:

– Słownik historyczno-geograficzny ziemi wyszogrodzkiej w średniowieczu [Wyszogród Land], by A. Wolff, A. Borkiewicz-Celińska, eds. J. Wiśniewski and [subsequently] A. Gąsiorowski, Wrocław, 1971.

– Słownik historyczno-geograficzny województwa płockiego w średniowieczu [The Płock Voivodeship], by A. Borkiewicz-Celińska, eds. J. Wiśniewski and [subsequently] A. Gąsiorowski, Wrocław, 1980–1981, Warszawa, 1998–2000.

– Słownik historyczno-geograficzny ziemi warszawskiej w średniowieczu [Warsaw Land], by A. Wolff, K. Pacuski, prepared for print by M. Piber-Zbieranowska, A. Salina, ed. T. Jurek, Warszawa, 2013.

All the above volumes are available online in electronic version at: http://www.slownik.ihpanstary.aionline.dev/index.php.

– Słownik historyczno-geograficzny ziemi liwskiej w średniowieczu [Liw Land], by M. Piber-Zbieranowska, A. Salina with E. Kowalczyk-Heyman, ed. T. Jurek, Warszawa, 2017.

The Adam Wolff card index may be consulted in the Institute (IH PAN, Room 16) by prior appointment (phone: +22 831 63 38, e-mail: slownik_maz@ihpanstary.aionline.dev).