Sprawa Stanisława ze Szczepanowa – koniec potężnego władcy i początek legendy świętego biskupa wobec faktów historycznych w zbiorowej pamięci

The paper depicts a tragic quarrel between bishop Stanislaus and a powerful monarch Bolesław II the Generous in the 11th century. The repercussions of this event shook the very foundations of the state and led to the exile of the ruler who had immersed himself in foreign affairs and, curiously enough, had been a great benefactor and a generous donor for the Polish Church. The bloody outcome of this confrontation came to be a fertile ground on which the legend of Stanislaus was to thrive. The legend would soon place him next to central figures of the reborn kingdom of Władysław I the Elbow-high who needed a new interpretation of homeland’s history in the aftermath of the unprecedented coronation in Cracow. Stanislaus’ hagiography is being born slowly and it is evidently shaped by political and social demand. Humble beginnings and harbingers of this process perceptible in the 12th century turn into a widespread phenomenon in the following decades. Eventually, thanks to Wincenty Kadłubek’s narrative and the work of Wincenty of Kielcza it was in 1253 that the canonization of Stanislaus could take place. Stanislaus’ road to the altars is juxtaposed by the author with a hypothetical reconstruction of the events offered by historians. Finally, it is against this background that he pictures a tremendously drastic fall of the monarch as well as other accompanying circumstances. It can be observed that the evaluation of the king was not univocal at first, which is moreover substantiated by the oldest written source connected with this event – Gallus Anonymous’ chronicle which came into existence 30 years later. Initially, the faults and reasons were proportionate. However, the emerging legend of saint Stanislaus, as the text shows, keeps distorting and dehumanizing the monarch making him into a thoughtless, heinous hothead who dared to raise his hand at the world of values represented by the bishop. In a considerable measure it is the upshot of interpretations imposed by 13th century standards. The paper draws on research by renowned experts in the field such as Marian Plezia and Tomasz Grudziński. They were trying to recapitulate and introduce order onto our knowledge of this crucial episode in our history, thoroughly analyzing all available written and iconographic sources as well as debris of potential oral traditions.