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Singing in the Battle. About the "Bogurodzica" |
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Singing in the Battle. About the "Bogurodzica"
„Senoji Lietuvos Literatura”, (31), 2011: 47-64.
Different liturgical issues have given shape to the close
relations between war and religion in the Middle Ages. Devotional
behavior accompanied military phenomena from introductory drill
via the knightly accolade to actual fighting in battles. Even the political
dimension of warfare was at times partly regulated by religious
intervention (the Pax Dei and Treuga Dei).
The famous Polish Bogurodzica was reportedly sung before the
Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). The question “Why” bothered
generations of historians. Recent research seems to have brought
us closer to a solution of this enigma. The connection of the song’s
origin to the circumstances of the Battle of 1410 appears to be possibly
much closer than previously assumed. Consequently, the song
as we know it from two manuscripts dated not before 1408 may be
not much older than that. On the other hand, the musical roots,
e. g. the melody of the main phrase of the song can be followed as
far back as the year 1025.
Keywords: Middle Ages; war; liturgy; battle songs; Bogurodzica.
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