Gertrude of Poland: A Forgotten Writer of the Middle Ages

gertruda_mieszkowna_.jpg, default, Miniature of Gertruda Mieszkówna at St Peter’s feet, Gertrude’s Prayerbook, 11th century, photo: public domain

#language & literature

Daughter of the king of Poland, consort of the ruler of Kievan Rus, mother of princes, devout Christian. She went down in the history of literature as the first Polish writer known by name. If indeed she was the author of the Latin prayerbook known as the Gertrude Codex…

Let us try to dispel doubts. Now stored at the National Archaeological Museum in Cividale del Friuli, Italy, the prayerbook consists of two parts. The older one is the richly illuminated Egbert Psalter, written by the Benedictine monk Ruodprecht for the Archbishop of Trier. The younger one is a vellum codex decorated with miniatures and filled with personal religious texts and parascientific notes (an astrological dream book and a nature forecaster). That part was undoubtedly compiled by Gertrude Mieszkówna (daughter of Mieszko) of Poland, but was it she who wrote it down?

Some scholars have doubts about the authorship of the codex, pointing to the variable handwriting on individual sheets. However, given that the prayerbook was created over a period of over a dozen years and using different colours of ink (and probably types of quill pen), allowance must be made for the different sizes of the letters or the degree of care taken in writing, while the shape of the letters remains essentially the same. Is this the handwriting of Gertrude herself? It is difficult to say unequivocally. Even if the prayers were noted down and corrected by the hand of some priest – a common practice in the Middle Ages – it was Gertrude herself who supervised their content.

This is evidenced both by the biographical allusions present in the codex and by the style of the narrative. Suffice it to mention, for example, the consistent use of the first-person feminine form (as early as the ninth century, women were given a voice in individual prayer) or the name Gertrude repeated three times (an unprecedented act at the time). In addition, the woman who was the granddaughter of Bolesław the Brave and the daughter of Mieszko II and the aristocratic German Richeza was an educated woman involved in politics, and the personal – sometimes quite bold – content of the prayerbook allows this unique work of medieval religious literature to be treated as the autograph of a duchess. Let us take a look at the life of the first Polish woman writer and her manuscript.

A wedding gift

The story of Gertrude’s Prayerbook begins on the day of the wedding of Richeza and Mieszko II, which took place in the year 1013. Created in Germany, the Egbert Psalter (the older part of the codex) was most likely a gift bestowed by the bride’s parents. The couple had three children; the youngest, Gertrude, was born either in Kraków before her father’s coronation in 1025 or shortly afterwards in Gniezno, in which case she was born as a king’s daughter. It is likely that the future writer spent her childhood in Poland’s first capital before taking refuge with her mother and siblings in Richeza’s homeland. Due to the political situation in Poland, Mieszko II fled to Bohemia.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Miniature of Christ crowning Gertrude, Yaropolk (Gertrude’s son) & his wife, Kunigunde, 11th century, photo: public domain

Picture image

christ_irina_egbert_psalter.jpg

The education of the six- or seven-year-old girl and her elder sister, whose name is unknown, was taken care of by her aunts. According to Teresa Michałowska, author of Ego Gertruda, Adelaide, Theophanu, Helvig, Matilde, Ida and Sophia were superiors of the Benedictine convents in Cologne, Mainz, Essen, Nivelles, Neuss, Dietkirchen, Vilich and Gandersheim. It is not known which of these Gertrude went to, but it is known that the education of girls in convent schools was similar. A psalter was the medieval primer. Pupils would meticulously transcribe the verses of the psalms and then learn them by heart. They would do that with other passages of the Bible, too. In addition, girls learned music (by ear), calculus (calculating the lunar and solar cycle), Latin (from grammar and lexis to prosody – reciting and composing poems), and even how to decorate books with miniature illustrations. Having acquired the above mentioned skills, Gertrude could undoubtedly have created a prayerbook herself.

While Gertrude studied religious books, her brother Casimir (the Restorer, Kazimierz Odnowiciel) returned to Poland to seize power and restore the country devastated by wars. Arranged marriages were to help him consolidate his position on the international stage. Casimir wedded Maria Dobroniega, whose brother, Yaroslav the Wise, ruled Kievan Rus. He married one of his sisters to the Hungarian prince Béla, while the youngest, Gertrude, soon married Izyaslav (son of Yaroslav the Wise). The nuptials were celebrated either at Wawel Castle (Casimir the Restorer moved the Polish capital to Kraków) or in Kiev – probably at the end of 1043. Did Richeza then give her daughter the family prayerbook? Very likely.

A game of thrones

Let us summarise the following years with a few highlights. The couple settled first in Turov (currently Turaŭ, Belarus), then in Veliky Novgorod and in Kiev after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. Gertrude gave birth to three sons – Mstislav, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (Michał) and Yaropolk Izyaslavich (Piotr) – and perhaps a daughter whose name remains unknown. Following her mother-in-law’s example, she probably founded a female congregation under the name of St Nicholas. Turmoil in Rus forced the princely family to flee from the country, and that happened twice within a few years (in 1068 and 1073). The first time, Gertrude’s nephew helped Izyaslav regain the Kievan throne; the second time, Bolesław the Bold was not so generous. The exiled couple took refuge at the German court, where they received support from King Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. Gertrude took an active part in the negotiations, as evidenced, for example, by a letter from the head of the Church addressed to them both. After several unexpected twists and turns, the princely couple returned in glory to Kiev in the summer of 1077. However, they did not enjoy their happiness for long.

The first Polish writer was… a woman

Let us pause the unfolding of historical events for a moment and turn to literature. The uncertain fate of the duchess and her family and the loneliness resulting from the involvement of her husband and sons in the fight for the throne must have led Gertrude to seek consolation in prayer. The family psalter did not quite serve its purpose. She yearned for a stronger, more individualised relationship with God. As Michałowska writes, private prayerbooks were ‘a response to the deep spiritual demand of the Christian elite of the Latin West’, to which Gertrude – with her royal lineage – certainly felt that she belonged. It is not surprising that she decided to supplement Egbert’s Psalter with her own confessions and supplications.

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Miniature of Virgin Mary & Child, Gertrude’s Prayerbook (Egbert’s Psalter), 11th century, photo: public domain

Picture image

theotokos_egbert_psalter.jpg

The vellum sheets (233 in total) later attached to the existing psalter were filled with successive verses of Latin prayers from around the year 1075 onwards. It is true that Mieszko’s daughter used ready-made formulas and themes (which has allowed researchers to isolate around a hundred texts), but the content itself differs significantly from medieval models. While it was common to confess one’s own sins (Gertrude mentions bodily impurity, adultery, hypocrisy, desire for vainglory, jealousy among others), expressing contrition for the transgressions of living persons was not practised. Yet the duchess does not hesitate to accuse her beloved son Yaropolk Izyaslavich of gluttony, promiscuity, pride, aggrandisement, greed, manslaughter, theft or perjury. However, one must bear in mind the conventionality of such phrases, which do not necessarily find confirmation in reality. Either way, Michałowska considers these kinds of confessional prayers and direct references to family biography to be ‘unconventional testimonies of maternal care’. And, considering not only the content but also the visual aspect of the Gertrude Codex, it is hard not to agree with the researcher.

Ego

Pictures decorating the prayerbook were created in parallel to its literary part. Although, as we recall, Mieszko’s daughter may have been familiar with the art of book illumination from the convent school, the illustrations were most likely commissioned to a professional. The most interesting of the five Gertrudian miniatures is the first one, depicting an unnaturally sized figure of St Peter, Yaropolk and his wife, Kunigunde Irine, who are praying to him, and a blurred female figure kneeling at the saint’s feet. This creature resembling a tortoise (possessing demonic powers in Christianity) is Gertrude herself. This portrait is the only surviving image of the first Polish writer.

The duchess’s son and his wife were said to have personally asked the pope for support for the family exiled from Kiev. Yaropolk Izyaslavich appears once more in a miniature depicting his and Kunigunde’s coronation by Christ sitting on the throne. Other illustrations portray the nativity of Jesus, the crucifixion and the Virgin Mary and Child. Gertrude’s prayerbook is perhaps the first such explicit tribute paid to motherhood in Polish writing.

The author of the codex speaks as a mother and as a woman in the first-person singular, signalled by the ego form (Latin for ‘I’), commonly used in medieval private prayers for denoting every Christian. What was certainly innovative was to mention one’s own name. This demonstrated a conscious and personal confession and supplication addressed to God. Gertrude also referred to herself as a ‘handmaid’, ‘wretched handmaid’, ‘unworthy handmaid’ and even ‘slave’.

Mieszko’s daughter did indeed fall into captivity. After Izyaslav’s death, the widow was taken care of by their youngest son, Yaropolk, the ruler of Turov and Vladimir. His conflict with his recent ally Monomakh led to the imprisonment of the duchess. In the end, peace was made, and Gertrude regained her freedom around the year 1086. Not long afterwards, her beloved son was assassinated, and the Kievan throne was taken over by Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Mieszko’s daughter probably did not write down any more prayers. She lived for almost 86 years.

Translated from Polish by Agnieszka Mistur

_{Bibliography: Grażyna Borkowska, Małgorzata Czermińska and Ursula Phillips, Pisarki polskie od średniowiecza do współczesności: Przewodnik, Gdańsk 2000; Bożena Listkowska, Gertruda Mieszkówna i jej modlitwy, Warsaw 2010; Teresa Michałowska, Ego Gertruda, Warsaw 2001; gertruda.eu}

Language English

Middle ages

Medieval authors