Casimir III the Great reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king from the Piast dynasty.
Veit Stoss was a leading German sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque". He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland.
Casimir IV was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under him, Poland defeated the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War and recovered Pomerania.
Sigismund I the Old was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and younger brother of Kings John I Albert and Alexander I Jagiellon. He was nicknamed "the Old" in later historiography to distinguish him from his son and successor, Sigismund II Augustus. Before ascending to the Polish and Lithuanian thrones, he was Duke of Głogów from 1499, Duke of Opava from 1501, and governor of Silesia from 1504 on behalf of his brother, King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary.
Arachne is the protagonist of a tale in Greek mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE), which is the earliest extant source for the story. In Book Six of his epic poem Metamorphoses, Ovid recounts how the talented mortal Arachne challenged the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. When Athena could find no flaws in the tapestry Arachne had woven for the contest, the goddess became enraged and beat the girl with her shuttle. After Arachne hanged herself out of shame, she was transformed into a spider. The myth both provides an aetiology of spiders' web-spinning abilities and was a cautionary tale about hubris.
Władysław I Łokietek, in English known as the "Elbow-high" or Ladislaus the Short, was King of Poland from 1320 to 1333, and duke of several of the provinces and principalities in the preceding years. He was a member of the royal Piast dynasty, the son of Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia, and great-grandson of High-Duke Casimir II the Just.
Albert Bitzius was a Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf.
The Wawel Royal Castle and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on the orders of King Casimir III the Great and enlarged over the centuries into a number of structures around an Italian-styled courtyard. It represents nearly all European architectural styles of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Mieszko IV Tanglefoot was Duke of Kraków and High Duke of Poland from 9 June 1210 until his death one year later. He was also Duke of Silesia from 1163 to 1173, Duke of Racibórz from 1173, and Duke of Opole from 1202.
The only surviving original piece of the Polish crown jewels from the time of the Piast dynasty is the ceremonial sword Szczerbiec. It is currently on display along with other preserved royal items at the Wawel Royal Castle Museum in Kraków.
Dame Judith Weir is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.
Elizabeth of Austria was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the wife of King Casimir IV of Poland. Orphaned at an early age, she spent her childhood in the court of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. As one of the three surviving grandchildren of Emperor Sigismund, she had a strong claim to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. That made her an attractive bride for a Polish prince. The Polish nobility, seeking to increase Polish influence in Hungary and Bohemia, pursued marriage with Elizabeth since she was born and finally succeeded in 1454. Her marriage to Casimir was one of the most successful royal marriages in Poland. She gave birth to thirteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. Four of her sons were crowned as kings.
St. Leonard's Crypt under the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland, is a Romanesque crypt founded in the 11th century by Casimir I the Restorer who made Kraków his royal residence as the capital.
Blond Eckbert is an opera by Scottish composer Judith Weir. The composer wrote the English-language libretto herself, basing it on the cryptic supernatural short story Der blonde Eckbert by the German Romantic writer Ludwig Tieck. Weir completed the original two-act version of the opera in 1993, making Blond Eckbert her third full-length work in the genre. Like its predecessors, it was received well by the critics. She later produced a one act "pocket" version of the work. This uses chamber forces rather than the full orchestra of the two act version and omits the chorus. The pocket version receives frequent performances, especially in Germany and Austria, while the full version is available in a recording featuring the original cast.
Kent Opera was a British opera company active between 1969 and 1989. It was based in Ashford and regular venues included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford; Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; Kings Theatre, Southsea; Theatre Royal,Norwich, and the Derngate, Northampton. Its operas were performed in English, usually with new translations of the libretto by professor Michael Irwin, but also by Norman Platt or Anne Riddler. For the first two years it performed with the Midland Sinfonia but later had its own orchestra.
Casimir II the Just was a Lesser Polish Duke of Wiślica from 1166 to 1173, and of Sandomierz after 1173. He became ruler over the Polish Seniorate Province at Kraków and thereby High Duke of Poland in 1177; a position he held until his death, though interrupted once by his elder brother and predecessor Mieszko III the Old. In 1186 Casimir also inherited the Duchy of Masovia from his nephew Leszek, becoming the progenitor of the Masovian branch of the royal Piast dynasty, and great-grandfather of the later Polish king Władysław I the Elbow-high. The honorific title "the Just" was not contemporary and first appeared in the 16th century.
Gryfina, or Agrippina was a Princess of Kraków by her marriage to Leszek II the Black in 1265; she later became a nun and abbess.
The Black Spider is a novella by the Swiss writer Jeremias Gotthelf written in 1842. Set in an idyllic frame story, old legends are worked into a Christian-humanist allegory about ideas of good and evil. Though the novel is initially divided, what is originally the internal story later spills over into the frame story as well. The story is characterized by its complex narrative structure, its conservative Christian motifs and symbolism and its precise descriptions of the social dynamics of the village.
The Black Spider is an 1842 novella by Jeremias Gotthelf.
The tomb of Casimir IV Jagiellon, located in Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, is a late 15th century masterpiece created in red marble by German sculptor Veit Stoss in the late Gothic style. Casimir IV, a King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania of the Jagiellonian dynasty, was interred in the tomb following his death in 1492. His wife, Elizabeth of Austria, was placed with him in the tomb when she died in 1505.
