Planned purchase of books. The gift of Benedykt z Koźmina (1559) to the University of Krakow

We are pleased to invite you to the next seminar in the “Renaissance Mind” series, featuring prof. Justyna Kiliańczy-Zięba from Jagiellonian University in Krakow on March 12 at 2 pm. Prof. Kiliańczyk-Zięba will delve into the story of how Benedykt z Koźmina’s donation in 1559 transformed the Collegium Maius at the University of Krakow. Discover the scholarly and symbolic significance of this remarkable collection, from the beautifully bound volumes to its influence on the academic and social

“Planned purchase of books. The gift of Benedykt z Koźmina (1559) to the University of Krakow”

Abstract:

My talk will be devoted to a particular episode in the history of the book collections in the University of Krakow: a donation by Benedykt z Koźmina (Benedict of Koźmin), who in 1559 bequeathed to the Collegium Maius of the University a thousand florins. The income from this money was assigned by his will to the purchase of new books of scholarly value.

In my talk I will show the purposes of the collection acquired thanks to Benedikt of Koźmin, as suggested by the way it was developed and presented. I will argue that the books that formed it served first as instruments of research, tools of academics’ trade. Secondly, put to public usage, they were symbols of the extraordinary value of learning, as well as social aspirations of scholars. Thirdly, the volumes – lavishly bound in red leather, glittering with gold and polished brass – offered a way to impress the users and visitors of Collegium Maius libraria, among them monarchs and prelates, lay and ecclesiastical dignitaries. Finally, the collection constituted a monument to the benefactor, who also bequeathed the college a portrait of himself, instructing in his will that it was to be hung in the library room.

Biography:

Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba is professor of Jagiellonian University and habilitated doctor of humanities in the field of literary studies – based on the monograph Printing Signets in Rzeczpolspolita XVI. Iconographic Sources and Ideological Content (11 May 2016). She defended her doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Janusz Gruchała at the Faculty of Philology of the Jagiellonian University in 2005 with the dissertation ‘Jan Januszowski – writer, translator and publisher’. She obtained her master’s degree in Polish philology in 2001 with a thesis entitled ‘The oldest guide to Krakow from 1603 – text edition’.
She is interested in early literature, the history of the book, and the visual culture of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, especially as it is reflected in 16th and 17th century prints.
She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine ‘Terminus’. She works at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

When: 12 March 2025 at 2 pm.

Where: The event will take place in room 143 of the Staszic Palace and on the Google Meet platform.

Link: https://meet.google.com/iui-wjmc-dph

The event is organized within the ERC Research Project KnowStudents, no. 864542, headed by Prof. Valentina Lepri, and hosted by the Centre for the History of Renaissance Knowledge, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, in Warsaw, Poland.

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