Kilka faktów z życia Jakuba Szeli

Several Facts from the Life of Jakub SzelaJakub Szela, the “peasant king” of 1846, is undoubtedly one of the best-known and recognisable Polish peasants. His life, however, remains little examined in proportion to the popularity he enjoys, and even the precise date of Szela’s death is undetermined. There are more unanswered questions: the number of wives and children, the circumstance of Szela’s departure and sojourn in Bukovina, his army service and literacy. An issue producing emotional reactions among researchers involves unconfirmed information about a medal granted to Szela by the Viennese court for his part in the Galician peasant revolt. One could hazard, therefore, the opinion that the life story of this protagonist is immersed in myths and stereotypes. The article resolves the majority of the queries thanks to an extensive survey carried out in the archives and press of Austria, Poland, Romania, Germany and Ukraine. The collected material was subjected to a thorough analysis making it possible to establish facts from Szela’s life. Consequently, after an almost sixty years-long interval the demythologisation of the “peasant king” has been intensified.The article makes an essential contribution to the relatively least examined Polish national uprising of the nineteenth century – accomplished by the Polish democrats in 1846 – that unexpectedly ended with a bloody insurgence of the peasants.