Watching the Virtues

Playbills, Drama and the Teaching of Civic Virtue in the Jesuit Theatre of Poland-Lithuania
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-69726-3
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 142, 708 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Library of the Written Word / Library of the Written Word - The Handpress World

In Watching the Virtues, Jolanta Rzegocka offers an account of the Jesuit theatre in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through the playbills, which record an astonishing variety of story designs and tales crafted for the stage. Her study reveals the profound role of Jesuit theatre (1564–1773) in the education of Polish-Lithuanian youth, mostly of Catholic but also of other faiths, aiming to instil virtues within the political and social fabric of the Commonwealth.

Drawing from over 800 playbills, college playbooks, diaries as well as newly uncovered plays, Rzegocka paints a picture of a theatre deeply engaged with contemporary political and moral issues. She demonstrates how Jesuit theatre extended beyond educational institutions, influencing broader political discussions and public life, particularly regarding issues of authority, faith, and ethical behaviour. The study presents as a cultural phenomenon the diffusion through Jesuit theatre of Anglo-Scottish themes and narratives in Poland-Lithuania and discusses a hitherto unknown play about Thomas More (1765).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rzegocka, Jolanta

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Maps

Abbreviations

A Note on Usage

Key Dates

Introduction Jesuit Theatre as a Form of Cultural Mediation Virtues in Action The Playbill The Jesuit Art of Condensation The Uses of Rhetoric Polish-Lithuanian Jesuits and Their Interest in ‘Images of Great Men’ Printing the Playbills Setting the Standard: the Braniewo Printing House Jesuit Playbills from Vilnius Playbills: Production, Distribution, Print Run, Costs

Part 1: Through the Looking Glass: the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania Viewed through a Jesuit Theatrical Lens

1 Enter the King: Monarchs as Role-Models and Bearers of Christian Virtues 1.1 Medieval Kings in Early Modern Jesuit Drama 1.2 Women in Jesuit Drama 1.3 Royal and Heroic Names in Jesuit Historiography and Drama 1.4 Monarchs as Role-Models in Jesuit Drama 1.5 Ancient Rulers as Bearers of Christian Virtues: the Case of Duke Mieszko 1.6 The Jagiellonians on the Jesuit Stage 1.7 Jesuit Readings of the Life of Saint Casimir Jagiellon

2 The Public Spirit of Jesuit Theatre: the Sejm, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Stage 2.1 The Public Spirit of Jesuit Theatre 2.2 The Sejm, the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies 2.3 The Senate and the Senators

3 Polish-Lithuanian Noblemen in Jesuit Drama 3.1 Politics on Stage 3.2 Enter the Szlachcic 3.3 Szlachta Ancestors: Champions of Virtue

4 Books and Prize Giving as a Celebration of Knowledge and Virtue 4.1 The Genius of the Noble Family in Jesuit Drama 4.2 The Family Coats of Arms on Stage 4.3 Heraldic Emblems

5 Legality, Law, and the Tribunal on the Jesuit Stage 5.1 Authority in Epitome: St. Stanislaus Play, Lublin 1638 5.2 Grandia monumenta, Lublin 1726 5.3 Conclusion

Part 2: Fact and Fiction: English and Scottish-Themed Plays in Polish-Lithuanian Jesuit Drama

6 The Earliest Jesuit Theatre in Poland-Lithuania: Themes and Contexts 6.1 From Local to Universal 6.2 The Earliest Jesuit Theatre in Poland-Lithuania: Themes and Contexts 6.3 Braniewo – the Mission in the North 6.4 Saving the Virtuous: Susanna Play in Braniewo 1569 6.5 Addressing the Waivering in Faith: the Evangelicus fluctuans Play in Braniewo in 1570 6.6 Chastity as Political Virtue: the Earliest English Link

7 English and Scottish Catholics in Poland-Lithuania: Geography and Stage 7.1 English and Scottish Catholics in Poland-Lithuania 7.2 English and Scottish History on Jesuit Stage 7.3 Campion in Kalisz 7.4 The Two Traditions of English Theatre in Poland-Lithuania 7.5 Poznan: Franciscus Valsingamius 1619 7.6 English History as Shrovetide Entertainment: the War of the Roses 7.7 St Alban Play Vicarius Christi (Warsaw, 1701) 7.8 Jesuit Theatre and the Scottish History 7.9 King Coenred of Mercia: Jesuits and the Echoes of Morality Plays 7.10 English History and the Rewards of Learning on the Jesuit Stage: Nieswiez (1724) and Mohylev (1732)

8 Thomas Pounde and Vandamorillus in the Eighteenth-Century Polish-Lithuanian Jesuit Theatre 8.1 Lusus in seria (Vilnius 1733) 8.2 Józef Katenbring, Próznosc nad próznosciami (Vanitas vanitatum) (Nieswiez, 1755) 8.3 Jan Bielski, Vandamorillus, Kalisz 1747

9 Thomas More Plays from Poland-Lithuania 9.1 Messis immortalium trophaeorum Thomae Mori (Zamosc, 1736) 9.2 Morus Angliae Cancellarius (Lviv, 1765)

Conclusions

Appendix 1: Jesuit Playbills Printed in Vilnius: a Chronology

Appendix 2: Anglo-Scottish Themes, Authors and Sources in the School Theatre of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth [1597–1755]

Glossary

Gazetteer

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jolanta Rzegocka, Ph.D. (1975), is an Associate Professor of Anglo-American Literature at Ignatianum Jesuit University in Krakow, Poland. She specialises in early modern drama and Jesuit theatre, examining their roles in teaching public virtues and shaping collective memory. She hosted Res Poloniae, a TVP Kultura interview program exploring Poland's cultural connections with Britain, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Italy and Georgia. As wife of the Polish Ambassador in London and Dublin she helped promote literary and cultural events.