Problemy z Rozmyślaniem przemyskim

Abstract

Problems with Rozmyślanie przemyskie. Formulating general judgements, and the multilayered structure of the mediaeval text
 The paper analyses the largest Polish mediaeval apocrypha, Rozmyślanie przemyskie. Using this example, the author shows the difficulty of formulating general judgments about mediaeval texts with a multilayered structure. The differences between the subsequent versions of the text prove to be rather large in the case of Rozmyślanie przemyskie. For this reason, even the assignment of the monument’s language to a specific dialectal base may apply to no more than a single layer of the text and, as a result, Red Ruthenian features may be found to co-appear with Lesser Polish ones. The author proposes that Rozmyślanie przemyskie displays both the vestiges of the original structure of the text, and traits of a new structure introduced by the last copyist. It is him who gave a title to the text, divided it in two, and added a considerable part of section titles. Therefore, we need to revise our current view that the last copyist was responsible for no more than the introduction of multiple mistakes into the text, and for incorporating into it the voice that was originally located in the margins and between the lines.