Paweł Włodkowic i Stanisław ze Skarbimierza [Paweł Włodkowic and Stanisław of Skarbimierz]

Abstract

This book is a reprint of a study first published in 1954 by the eminent Polish legal scholar and historian, Ludwik Ehrlich. It constitutes part of a series of classic studies on fifteenth-century Polish legal thought on the ius gentium, republished under the auspices of the Polish government-funded Narodowe Centrum Kultury and the private organization Teologia Polityczna devoted to "conservative liberal' thought on politics and religion and to expounding the contribution of religion to Polish culture. Ehrlich (1889-1968) was a noted expert in international law and jurist of a classically liberal nationalist stripe, and regarded himself as a positivist in his approach to the subject. Nevertheless, especially later in life and during the mostly uncongenial rule of the Polish People's Republic, he also published extensively on history, and especially on the late medieval Polish intellectual contributions to international law. This study is an example of his scholarship in this latter field, as it is his overview of the works of fifteenth century Poland's best-known thinkers of the subject, Paweł Włodkowic and Stanisław of Skarbimierz. Włodkowic is listed first in the title, and gets the most attention, as the study is focused mainly on his works in the context of the Polish delegation to the international council of the Western Church known Council of Constance (1414-1418), and the canonistic and theological debate there about the practices of the Teutonic Order and its war against unbelievers in the name of spreading the Christian religion. Also at issue was the Polish practice of alliance with unbelievers. The recently concluded campaigns between the two, known as the "Great War" (Wielka Wojna) with all the political and legal issues this entailed, made the matter urgent, and an important element of the conciliar discussions aiming to bring peace and concord between Catholic states.There has been considerable scholarship on these subjects since the midtwentieth century, so one might ask why a reprint of this sort is needed. The editors of the new edition say just about nothing explicitly about this. A comparison with the original edition shows that almost no new text has been added, except a brief, unsigned, biographical sketch of the author, and some minor changes in the notes, the vast majority non-substantive. More telling is what has been subtracted.