Knight Jurand despises Teutonic knights because they killed his wife, Danusia’s mother. His endless, ferocious vengeance is the reason poor Danusia is kidnapped. And Jurand keeps paying and paying, losing his kin and his own body parts, destroyed, bloodied and broken. The scene, when the hopeless, humiliated Jurand goes berserk and confronts his enemies with a gigantic two-handed sword, which he wields with one hand ‘like a feather’ is one of the most visceral scenes in Polish literature. Sienkiewicz was not a subtle psychologist, but he could write about duels and killing.
As I already said, the very reason for writing this book was the battle at Grunwald. Sienkiewicz clearly worked to achieve this final effect. After all the kidnapping, cheating and plotting, as well as the atrocities and betrayals performed by the brazen Teutonic Knights, the reader just wants to see them pay. It’s an act of justice. I won’t summarise the battle here, but he fulfils those expectations. His description of Grunwald is very dramatic and film-like, comparable to the battle of Pelennor Fields in Lord of the Rings. The battle is also shown in the classic movie by Aleksander Ford.
Without computer effects, but with thousands of real soldiers acting – that’s how you got your crowd artists in the communist era – great music and screaming horses, this analogue battle scene still feels epic.
But the true legacy of the novel, apart from strengthening our prejudices toward German crusaders, is a particular vision of historical language. Sienkiewicz recreated – or perhaps faked mediaeval Polish by using a cant from Podhale, the mountain region, which, being backward and isolate, possibly preserved elements of much older dialects. But this vision, whilst convincing, is not flawless. Problem is, that it’s a folk, peasants cant. It has a plebeian, lowly vibe, practical and down to earth. At the same time, Zbyszko is obsessed with high ideals form chansons the geste, knightly vows and such. The language in the novel sounds unfitting and strange when used by the knights, who should refer to different images and values. But the influence of this vision still lasts. For example, the ‘semi-mediaeval’ language used by Andrzej Sapkowski in the Witcher novels – which you may know from Netflix and the game – together with dialogues and character creation, is highly influenced by Henryk Sienkiewicz and his Teutonic Knights.