The Pectoral Cross from the Grave of Zygmunt August

Abstract

In 1791 Tadeusz Czacki drew out of the opened grave of Zygmunt August a gold cross with a chain, ornamented with rubies, emeralds and pearls on its face, and on its reverse with an engraving of Our Lady holding the Infant, the coat of arms ‘Poraj’ and the date 1548.

In 1813 this unique jewel was bought by Princess Izabela Czartoryska and included in the collection of relics of the past kept in the so-called Royal Casket exhibited on the altar of the Sibyl’s Temple in Puławy.

In 1939 the cross, along with other jewels, was stolen by the Germans from the Czartoryski Princes’ palace in Sieniawa where the casket was hidden, together with other relics and works of art.

Fortunately, the photographs of the casket and of the objects collected in it were preserved. They were probably taken in 1939 by the custodian of the Czartoryski Princes’ Museum, Stefan Saturnin Komornicki.

In the existing literature the cross was connected with King Zygmunt August, however, from the preserved documents describing the death of the King it shows that the lonely ruler, without his family’s care at the moment of his death, robbed of his properties and jewels, was dressed in his courtiers’ clothes and jewels. The robes and the grave-clothes were given by Stanisław Czarnkowski and Bishop Franciszek Krasin´ ski. The jewels, including a gold ring with a costly stone, were put on the King’s chest by his secretary, Doctor Stanisław Fogelweder. The jewels were inherited by Doctor Fogelweder from the Cracow bishop, Andrzej Zebrzydowski.

It still remains a problem to find out who was the original owner of the cross from the grave of Zygmunt August. The coat of arms ‘Poraj’ engraved on the reverse points to an owner different from Bishop Zebrzydowski, as he bore ‘Radwan’ in his coat of arms.