] Bogurodzica (, calque of the Greek term ''

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or '' Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations a ...

''), in English known as the Mother of God, is a medieval

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

hymn composed sometime between the 10th and 13th centuries in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It is believed to be the oldest religious hymn or patriotic anthem in the

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

, which was traditionally sung in

Old Polish The Old Polish language ( pl, język staropolski, staropolszczyzna) was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language. The sources for the study of the Ol ...

with the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

phrase ''

Kyrie eleison Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives f ...

'' – "Lord, have mercy". While its origin is not entirely clear, several scholars agree that Saint

Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague ( la, Sanctus Adalbertus, cs, svatý Vojtěch, sk, svätý Vojtech, pl, święty Wojciech, hu, Szent Adalbert (Béla); 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch ( la, ...

is the likely author. Polish knights chanted Bogurodzica prior to their engagement at the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...

and it also accompanied the coronation ceremonies of the first Jagiellonian kings.

History

Bogurodzica w Statutach Łaskiego z 1506 roku

] It was recorded in writing at the beginning of the 15th century. Two records preserved till today date back to that time: # the

Kcynia Kcynia (german: Exin) is a town in Nakło County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,712 inhabitants (2004). It is located in the Pałuki ethnographic region in the northern part of historic Greater Poland. History Kcynia started ...

record including two initial stanzas together with musical notation; # the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

record covering thirteen stanzas without notes. Other records date back to the second half of the fifteenth century, the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and to the beginning of the 16th century. In 1509, the hymn was printed in Kraków and incorporated into the "Statutes of Bishop Jan Łaski". The origin of the song is not clear, although Saint Adalbert is widely believed to be its author or contributor. It heavily reflected

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and Christian liturgy as a whole. The two initial stanzas were created first - possibly in the middle or at the end of the thirteenth century, or possibly at the very beginning of the fourteenth century. Bogurodzica is a prayer hymn whose first stanza contains an invocation to

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

through the intercession of Mary. It begins with an apostrophe to her - to the Mother of Christ, the Virgin, praised by God, the chosen one. After the apostrophe, there is an appeal to Mary to win favour for people from her Son. The second stanza begins with a direct addresses to Christ (called God's Son) - with an invocation to

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

who can support human imploring. The prayer closing this stanza contains a request that Christ give people a blissful stay on Earth and, after death, everlasting existence in heaven. The subsequent stanzas develop various motifs such as

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, the

Passion of Jesus In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

and

litany Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin '' litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''lit ...

- with invocations to the saints. Bogurodzica was initially associated with religious mass and procession, however, by the fifteenth century it became a war hymn and a battle cry. According to

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

, historian and author of ''Annales seu Cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae'', Bogurodzica was sung at Grunwald in 1410 as well as before other notable battles in the subsequent years. It also accompanied the coronation of

Władysław III of Poland Władysław III (31 October 1424 – 10 November 1444), also known as Ladislaus of Varna, was King of Poland and the Supreme Duke (''Supremus Dux'') of Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1434 as well as King of Hungary and Croatia from 1440 until h ...

. Długosz defined the tune as "carmen patrium" – 'the hymn of the fatherland'. In spite of this, the hymn lost its significance over the upcoming centuries to new patriotic anthems, notably " Rota" and "

Poland Is Not Yet Lost ( "Dąbrowski's Mazurka"), in English officially known by its incipit Poland Is Not Yet Lost, is the national anthem of the Republic of Poland. The original lyrics were written by Józef Wybicki in Reggio Emilia, in Northern Italy, between ...

Lyrics

Old Polish

English
Virgin, Mother of God, God-famed Mary!
Ask Thy Son, our Lord, God-named Mary,
To have mercy upon us and hand it over to us!
''

!'' Son of God, for Thy Baptist's sake,
Hear the voices, fulfill the pleas we make!
Listen to the prayer we say,
For what we ask, give us today:
Life on earth free of vice;
After life: paradise!

Quotations in modern music

Andrzej Panufnik Sir Andrzej Panufnik (24 September 1914 – 27 October 1991) was a Poles, Polish composer and conductor. He became established as one of the leading Polish composers, and as a conductor he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the Warsaw ...

- ''Sinfonia sacra'' (1963) *

Wojciech Kilar Wojciech Kilar (; 17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award a ...

- ''Bogurodzica'' for choir and orchestra (1975) *

Krzysztof Meyer Krzysztof Meyer (born 11 August 1943) is a Polish composer, pianist, and music scholar, formerly Dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music (now Academy of Music in Kraków), and president of the Union of P ...

- Symfony No. 6 "Polish" (1982) * Chłopomania - ''Bogurodzica'' (from Ludomania) (2008) * Anna Witczak Czerniawska & Maleo Reggae Rockers feat Mazzoll - Bogurodzica (2015),

References

Bibliography

* Bogurodzica. Oprac. J. Woronczak, wstęp językoznawczy E. Ostrowska, oprac. muzykologiczne H. Feicht, Wrocław 1962. Biblioteka Pisarzów Polskich. * J.Birkenmajer, Bogurodzica Dziewica. Analiza tekstu, treści i formy, Lwów 1937. * S.Urbańczyk, "Bogurodzica". Problemy czasu powstania i tła kulturalnego, w: Prace z dziejów języka polskiego, Wrocław 1979. * A.Czyż, Bogurodzica - między Wschodem i Zachodem. Kilka myśli o duchowej jedności Europy, w: Światło i słowo. Egzystencjalne czytanie tekstów dawnych, Warszawa 1995. * W. Wydra
Dlaczego pod Grunwaldem śpiewano "Bogurodzicę"? Trzy rozdziały o najdawniejszych polskich pieśniach religijnych
Poznań, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne, 2000.

External links