Słudzy diabła, czy obrońcy chrześcijaństwa i apostołowie pogan? Kształtowanie wizerunku Polski i Polaków w świetle działań dyplomacji Władysława Jagiełły przeciw „Satyrze” Jana Falkenberga

Abstract

The author analyses the legal action of the Polish delegation against the Satira by Dominican friar John Falkenberg, which appeared at the Council of Constance (1414–1418). In his work, Falkenberg called for the extermination of the Polish nation as well as the king Wladyslaw Jagiello. He announced that those who would achieve this aim would attain salvation. The Polish delegation, especially Paul Włodkowic and archbishop Nicolas Trąba, made efforts aimed at the recognition of the Dominican’s work as heretical. Falkenberg was arrested and his work was condemned by the Commission of Faith, however it was not recognized as heretical. The new pope Martin V, in turn, did not want the verdict of the commission to become a resolution of the Council. In response, Poles, despite the threat of anathema, at the last session of the Council, appealed against the Satira to the next council, which undermined the authority of the pope. In the article, the author shows the factors which prevented Poles from achieving complete success in the Falkenberg case. He addresses the question whether the determination of the Polish envoys in the defence of honour of their ruler and state in the final days of the council brought positive results in the years after the council. The author gives consideration to the question whether the actions of Polish diplomacy against ‘Satira’ combined with other steps on the international forum contributed to a certain extent to creating Jagiello’s image as the last apostle of the barbarian Europe.