Folia Historica 28. (Budapest, 2013)

II. KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Ewa Letkiewicz: The Hungarian King's Daughter Kinga's 13th Century Jewel in Polish Collections

to it the town of Sejcz and 29 villages, together with the right to collect customs duties.36 She died on the 24,h day of July 1292. In the hour of her death - as we read in her life - in a mystic vision her spiritual patron, St. Francis, appeared to her.37

The life of Kinga, written several years after her death, about the years 1317-1329,38 informs us that the Duchess was a very wealthy person, thanks to her dowry and the income from the dominium of Sqcz. Besides the expenses for the maintenance of convent she provided enormous sums for God's ornament, presenting churches with 'all kinds of magnificent chasubles, glittering with splendor, differently ornamented with precious stone, golden embroideries... Where she could, she multiplied gold calices, set with precious stones, gilded, silver.'39

From the information repeated in The Life..., about the Duchess' enormous dowry and wealth, her royal origin, ordering and founding gold valuables ornamented with precious stones, we can assume that the 13th century objects kept in the convent till today, found themselves there thanks to her.

The Saint's life, where the presence and role of St. Francis of Assisi in her spiritual life is constantly emphasized, led us to his person and images known from the iconography created by Giotto (1266-1377), in the cycles devoted to that saint in the Basilica named after him in Assisi in the years 1290-1296 and in the later frescoes from the Bardi Chapel in Santa Croce Church (1325). In a few paintings devoted to the life of the Saint from the upper Basilica in Assisi, such as: Spreading the Coat before St. Francis (photo 5); The Miracle with the Cross; St. Francis gives his Coat to a Poor Man; Sleeping in the Palace, Francis wears the identical tight little cap, showing curls on his temples, (photo 6) In the scene of renouncing Earthly Goods Francis wears no cap, his hair is uncovered, has no fringe on his forehead, like on the gem from Sejcz. The grasped similarity allows for putting forward the hypothesis that the person portrayed in the gem could be St. Francis. His iconography had already existed when St. Kinga was still alive. St. Francis is one of these rare saints-heroes, whose portraits were made when they were still alive. This was caused by the fame of his sanctity, the conviction about the heroism of his virtues and his broadly spreading cult in Europe

.40 The indirect prerequisite for strengthening this hypothesis is the eager worship that St. Kinga presented the Holy 'Poor Man' for all her life with. It is not difficult to imagine that Kinga - who was brought up in the spirit of the Franciscan idea from her earliest years, implementing the directions of her spiritual father in her life - owned her portrait. This hypothesis is strengthened by the crucified Christ - being the Saint's attribute, placed on the perforated reverse of metal box with the gem.

36 Borkiewicz, Izydor OFMConv: Swi^ta Kinga w swietle legend i historii. Stary S^cz, 1999. 33-34, 36.

37 Niezgoda, C. OFMConv op. cit. 268.

38 Witkowska, Aleksandra OSU: Hagiografia. In: Dzieje teologii katolickiej w Polsce. Vol. 1. Lublin, 1975.350.

39 Niezgoda, C. OFMConv op. cit.. 245.

40 Knapinski, Ryszard-. Vera effigies - zagadnienie prawdziwosci i autentycznosci wizerunku swi^tego. Biuletyn Komisji do Spraw Kultu Bozego i Dyscypliny Sakramentów Episkopatu Polski. Katowice, 2004. www.kkbids.episkopat.pl/anemnesis/40/16htm# (2011.11.15.)

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