THE POLANIAN DYNASTY 65to 4 days per year. A detailed agreement signed in 1227 by Henry the Bearded
with the Bishop of Wroclaw was adopted as the model for most subsequent
rural colonies elsewhere in Poland. In the new villages, the colonists enjoyed
considerable autonomy. Under their so-called 'German law', they were subject
only to the rule of the hereditary soltys (Schultbeiss) or 'Headman', appointed
by the lord, and to the jurisdiction of the 'village bench' over which he presided.
They were in a much better position than the rest of the rural population who
remained in subjection to the tributes and impositions of the ius ducale, or
'Polish law' of the princes. Many of them retained their separate identity until
modern times. At Wilhamowice near Oswiecim in the district of Cracow, a
Frisian settlement established in 1242 has preserved its own unique dress and
dialect until the present day. In the case of the towns, the ancient 'Law of
Magdeburg' was generally adopted as the model for new corporations. Old Slav
towns such as Wroclaw, Poznan, and Krakow, in 1242,1253, and 1257 respec-
tively, were incorporated as 'German' cities. They tended to attract citizens of
German origin, and gradually developed a distinct burgher class. Henceforth,
they were known to the outside world by their German names of 'Breslau',
Tosen', and 'Krakau'. Elsewhere, entirely new cities were founded and popu-
lated with German immigrants from the start. Thorn (Torun) on the Vistula,
was founded in 1231 by the Teutonic Knights, and Neu Sandez (Nowy Sacz) in
the Carpathians was founded in 1292 by Vaclav of Bohemia during his dispute
with Lokietek. This process, leisurely enough in the thirteenth century, was des-
tined to gather pace in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries.
Cultural life in Piast Poland is largely obscured by the deficiencies of the
sources. Secular society was overwhelmingly illiterate. Popular art forms were
either oral or ephemeral. Such artefacts and writings that have survived are
mainly the products of imported Catholic religious influences. In architecture,
the Polish record begins with a number of churches in the Romanesque style,
such as St. Andrew's in Cracow from the eleventh century, and the cathedral of
Plock from the twelfth. The Gothic begins with the Cistercian abbeys of Sulejow
and Wachock. The magnificent bronze doors of Gniezno cathedral, which have
been dated to c. 1175 and whose bas-relief panels depict scenes from the mar-
tyrdom of St. Wojciech, were probably of Flemish manufacture. In literature,
Latin texts claimed a virtual monopoly until the end of the thirteenth century.
The ancient Roczniki (Calendars), the chronicles of Gallus Anonimus and of
Kadlubek, and the numerous hagiographies, all belong to the universal Latin
tradition. The earliest work of Polish prose, the fragmentary Kazania
swietokrzyskie or 'Holy Cross Sermons', was composed around 1350 by a monk
of Cze stochowa. Its content is entirely devotional, and its language contains a
strong admixture of Church Latin. Since Poland did not possess its own univer-
sity, young men in search of higher education were obliged to travel abroad,
especially to France and Italy. The names of several such emigrant scholars,
such as Martin the Pole in Paris, a historian, or Nicholas the Pole of
Montpellier, a physician, serve to underline the constant cultural intercourse