The historical prototype of Serionice from „A Dorio ad Phrygium” (transl. by Tadeusz Karłowicz)

Abstract

On the basis of analysis of the text of Norwid's poem A Dorio ad Phrygium Jan Zieliński reconstructs Serionice, the place that is described in it; Serionice was a self-proclaimed state in the borderland of the Austrian and Russian partitions. Zieliński proposes the hypothesis that the Minkowce State was the prototype of Serionice; the Minkowce State was established by Ignacy Ścibor Marchocki called Redux. Next he gives a review of literary works and memoirs, Polish and French, written in Norwid's lifetime, where the figure of Marchocki – as one playing the main or only an episodic part – and his Minkowce appear (Sylwester Groza, Klementyna Hoffmanowa nee Tańska, Aleksander Jełowicki, Ludwik Mierosławski, Aleksander Przeździecki, Julian Słowacki). He points to a report signed by the name or pseudonym Bożydar Saszor, published in “Przegląd Europejski” (May 1863) edited by Józef Ignacy Krasicki, as the probable direct source of Norwid's inspiration for writing the poem. The article is concluded with a rhetoric question: “Why has the historical prototype of Serionice been unnoticed for 140 years?”