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Renaissance Studies in Honor of Joseph Connors edited by Machtelt Israëls and Louis A. Waldman with Guido Beltramini, Bianca de Divitiis, Anthony D’Elia, Alison Frazier, Giuseppe Gerbino, Guido Guerzoni, Estelle Lingo, and Marica Tacconi Florence Villa I Tatti The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies 2013 The Polish Castiglione: Łukasz Górnicki, Padua, and the Education of the “Domestic Pole” Michael T. Tworek i H ighly praised and widely read throughout Europe since it first appeared in 1528, Baldassare Castiglione’s Il cortegiano made its Polish debut in Cracow as Łukasz Górnicki’s Dworzanin polski (The Polish Courtier) in 1566. Górnicki was more than qualified to translate and transpose the learned disputations of Castiglione’s courtiers into Polish. Though born into a modest burgher family, Górnicki (1527–1603) had become a successful courtier and official of the Polish kings through his service at various courts in his youth and subsequent studies in Padua.1 Górnicki’s aims were simple – to free his reader from ignorance and demonstrate the proper behavior for a courtier to the “Polak domowy” (“domestic Pole”) – one who had never traveled outside of PolandLithuania nor received the benefit of a foreign education.2 A translation, Górnicki claimed, would not have worked because of the vast cultural gap between Italians and Poles. Rather, he had to make his work palatable to Polish sensibilities by excluding or adapting certain discussions and topics from the original, while preserving its elegance and wisdom. Nevertheless, Górnicki left in topics and references that only a courtier who had studied and traveled in the Italian peninsula could have understood. Why would he have included material incomprehensible to the beneficiaries of his work? An examination of the preface of The Polish Courtier in light of Górnicki’s education and court experience reveals not 1. In 1561 Sigismund Augustus ennobled Górnicki. 2. Łukasz Górnicki, Dworzanin polski (The Polish Courtier), ed. Roman Pollak, Wrocław 1958, p. 49. This is the standard critical edition based on the 1566 edition. 475 michael t. tworek the polish castiglione only the importance of Italy’s place in the Polish Renaissance but also Poland’s place in the Italian Renaissance. Górnicki entered Polish court life as an adolescent, serving Samuel Maciejowski (1499–1550), Bishop of Cracow. After finishing preliminary studies in Cracow and accompanying royal diplomats to Vienna and Königsberg, Górnicki with the financial help of Maciejowski, studied in Padua for two long periods (ca. 1543–48, 1556–59). Although we cannot pinpoint the precise dates of his stays since he did not officially matriculate, Padua greatly affected Górnicki. Firstly, after returning to Poland, he maintained close friendships and court connections with former Polish Paduans such as Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), the leading vernacular poet of the Polish Renaissance, and Andrzej Patrycy Nidecki (1522–1587), an outstanding classical scholar and collaborator of Carlo Sigonio and Paolo Manuzio. Given their similar careers and mutual acquaintances, the educational paths of other Polish Paduans such as Kochanowski closely mirrored Górnicki’s.3 Secondly, Górnicki’s training in law, philosophy, and classical literature in Padua clearly marked not only his Polish Courtier but also his works on Polish-Lithuanian government and society and his later translations of ancient authors.4 Finally, his admiration for and familiarity with Italian language (Tuscan in this case), customs, and literature were prominent characteristics of Paduan Poles. Padua’s impact upon Górnicki was clear; to quote a contemporary fellow Paduan: “Patavium virum me fecit.”5 His wide humanistic learning, courtly experience and contacts, and familiarity with Italian culture certainly contributed to Górnicki’s becoming the personal secretary of the Polish king, Sigismund Augustus (1520–1572), in 1559. Reared in the highly cultured, humanist atmosphere around Bona Sforza, his Italian mother, Sigismund recognized how classically trained courtiers educated abroad added to the prestige of his court and strengthened royal authority.6 The arrival in 1518 of Bona and her large retinue of attendants in Poland had revolutionized the royal court and the role of the courtier politically and culturally.7 Based on her experiences in Milan, Bari, and Naples, Bona wanted simultaneously to strengthen royal authority and make the Polish court a more attractive place for courtiers, since Polish nobles preferred to remain in their lands or at the courts of local magnates. She increased artistic patronage and diversified the hierarchy of king and nobles through elaborate ceremonies and dress. These Italian ‘graftings’ required more people at court to perform these expanded duties. Similarly, the rise of Poland-Lithuania as a major European power, along with the accompanying cultural and political demands, required well-rounded courtiers, well versed in the classics and foreign languages, and capable of wit and charm.8 For Sigismund Augustus, Górnicki proved the ideal fit. Unsurprisingly, Górnicki showed his erudition and his gratitude for his success at court by dedicating The Polish Courtier to Sigismund. Just as Castiglione had honored friends and learned contemporaries as characters, Górnicki paid homage to “the highest virtues of dignity” present in his former patron, Samuel Maciejowski, and his courtiers.9 A famous patron of the arts and a graduate of Padua himself, Maciejowski attracted leading intellectual figures to his Italian-styled palace near Cracow. Many of them belonged to the Akademia Padewska mie˛dzy Polaki (Paduan Academy among Poles) – an informal group of humanists who had studied in Padua and maintained close contact with each other in emulation of academies, such as the Accademia degli Infiammati of Padua, which they had encountered in Italy. They themselves testified to the growth of learning in Poland, to which Górnicki had referred in his dedication. Górnicki, like them, would contribute to this flourishing by bringing Castiglione’s work to Poland as well. 3. Raphael Löwenfeld, Lukasz Górnicki: Sein Leben und seine Werke. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Humanismus in Polen, Breslau 1884, pp. 29–30. 4. Another Italian-related work is Rozmowa Polaka z Włochem o wolnościach i prawach polskich (published posthumously in 1616). 5. Attributed to Jan Zamoyski, a powerful magnate and military leader (hetman) of the Polish crown. 6. Maria Bogucka, Bona Sforza, Warsaw 1989. 7. Kenneth F. Lewalski, “Sigismund I of Poland: Renaissance King and Patron”, Studies in the Renaissance, XIV, 1967, pp. 49–72. 8. David J. Welsh, “Il Cortigiano Polacco (1566)”, Italica, XL, 1963, pp. 22–27. 9. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 30. 476 477 michael t. tworek the polish castiglione To do so, Górnicki had to reveal the vast cultural and intellectual lacunae that still remained. “Castiglione”, Górnicki pointed out, “wrote in Italian for Italians, whose customs are very far removed” from those of Poles.10 The gulf that Górnicki perceived was not necessarily between Italy and Poland but rather between “domestic Poles” and those who had studied abroad in Italy. Through a clever combination of rhetoric, humor, and erudition, Górnicki’s preface offered a rationale for his transposition that contrasted the seemingly “simple” tastes of Poles with the “sophisticated” ones of Italians. For the “domestic” Pole had not accepted the influx of Italian influences without resistance or suspicion. Górnicki even had one of the main interlocutors who typified the “domestic Pole” lambast the excessive preoccupation of Italianate Poles with bookish pursuits, lamenting the days when Poles spent their time rather with swords. However, the more Górnicki claimed that certain topics (and hence the need to exclude them) were incomprehensible to Poles, the more obvious his critique of “domestic Poles” became. The irony of his critique would not have been lost on Górnicki’s fellow Italophiles. Italian anecdotes and customs, Górnicki suggested, did not have a place among Poles. References to serenading would also have to go, as Poles “did not love from the windowsill”, as would discussions on comedy and tragedy, since they had not seen them nor knew what a histrio was – at least those Poles who did not “have any literas” did not.11 Furthermore, expressions such as “matto nato” or “come puo esser egli dotto, se non ha letto”, he claimed, could not be rendered into Polish.12 If translated, perhaps, they might have offended a “domestic Pole”. As for literature, Górnicki would leave out Italian writers such as Boccaccio, since “those Poles who do know them are those who have lived in Italy”, and would instead include Polish writers such as his friend Kochanowski.13 Perhaps most drastically, Górnicki excised female characters from his work because “it was not agreeable to include them in a Polish dialogue”, for the simple reason that Polish ladies were “not as learned as Italian ones nor would their ears tolerate certain things spoken here and there”.14 However, later in The Polish Courtier, in his courtiers’ discussion of the ideal woman, Górnicki cited Kochanowski’s mother as a prime example of a courtly Polish woman known for her wisdom, learning, and wit, and ushered forth strong arguments (in part from Il cortegiano) for the intellectual equality of women.15 Certainly, many domestic Poles (not all, of course) would have missed the irony of this contrast, given their strong opposition to the power that cultivated women, such as Bona, could exercise in a court setting. As regards philosophy, Górnicki conceded that Poles only understood it “corporeally, considering the words, not the meaning”.16 He lamented, quite ironically once more, the impossibility of translating “Facci sentir quelli odori spirituali, che vivifican le virtù dell’intelletto”, because he feared that his Polish readers would take his rendering, perhaps that of the “odori”, too literally.17 Górnicki hinted that his “domestic Pole” was a practical man with little time for excessive philosophical pondering.18 He was no Marsilio Ficino, Górnicki noted, however, when it came to the task of translating difficult philosophical concepts into Polish, and did not see the value of translating them since they were not translatable into Italian either and were “all Latin [in origin] anyway”.19 Despite such claims, Górnicki still engaged in philosophical discussions – especially Platonic debates, for instance on beauty – throughout his work by adapting other related dialogues from Castiglione or, more significantly, by drawing from commentaries of Ficino. While his “domestic” readers would probably have known little or nothing about Platonic philosophy, much less anything about Florentine translators of 10. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 53. 11. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 53. 12. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 55. 13. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 56. 478 14. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 53. 15. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 331. 16. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 60. 17. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 55; see Balth. Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice 1528, IV, 64, p. 234. It is uncertain whether Gornicki’s use of quelli instead of quegli is his mistake, the printer’s, or one in the edition of Il cortegiano he read. 18. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 55. 19. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 59; James Hankins, “Renaissance Philosophy and Book IV of Il Cortegiano”, in Baldesar Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier, trans. Charles Singleton, ed. Daniel Javitch, New York 2002, pp. 377–388. 479 michael t. tworek Plato, Górnicki’s fellow Paduans and those educated in Italy would have delighted in recognizing allusion after allusion from texts of classical and vernacular authors that they had read and discussed while studying in Italy. If, indeed, someone truly did not like his Courtier (or felt that he could offer a better rendering), Górnicki quipped, then that person could always turn to the original.20 For all his irony in the preface, The Polish Courtier illustrates Górnicki’s serious aims on two important levels. On the one hand, it highlights the strong cultural differences in Poland-Lithuania between those who studied abroad and those who did not. These groups, in Górnicki’s mind, comprised, very broadly, two different communities with different ideas of what constituted “Polish”. While the specific disagreements ranged from political privileges and religion to language and learning (in this case), the broader differences between them lay in whether development within these areas should be static or dynamic, open to outside influence or not. On the other hand, The Polish Courtier is Górnicki’s attempt to demonstrate how Polish could become a language of learning, literature, and culture only by emulating, adapting, and ultimately reshaping the best aspects of foreign culture and localizing them. Górnicki rendered the lessons from Castiglione meaningful and useful for those Polish nobles who had not studied abroad and frequently were suspicious of all things and persons “foreign”, such as Bona Sforza. What better way for Górnicki to dispel their fears and ignorance than by showing how his Paduan education had enabled him to enrich Polish language and culture with his Courtier? While his Polish Paduan readers would have appreciated the finer points of erudition in his book, his “domestic” readers could see that Castiglione and Italy had more to offer them than just garrulous diplomats, vegetables, and scheming queens. 20. Górnicki (as in n. 2), p. 56. 480