Bible of Queen Sophia

The Bible of Queen Sophia (or Queen Sophia's Bible, Polish: Biblia królowej Zofii, also Sárospatak Bible, Biblia Szaroszp(a)otacka) is the oldest surviving translation of the Old Testament into the Polish language and the first complete translation of the Bible into Polish.^[1] The work is seen as a significant milestone in the history of the Polish language,^[2] and the most extensive example of the medieval Old Polish language.^[3][4]

The bible was commissioned by Sophia of Halshany, wife of the Polish king Jogaila.^[5] Queen Sophia did not know Latin, and wished for a bible she could read herself.^[6] The translation started in 1433 and ceased in 1455; the work was not fully finished (some illustrations were completed only two centuries later).^[4][5] The primary author of the translation was the Queen's chaplain, Andrzej z Jaszowic.^[4]The fate of the codex between 1455 and 1562 is unknown . In the mid-16th century, the codex was the property of Jan Krotoski, a scholastic of the Poznań chapter. The Krotowski family funded its binding in 1562, as evidenced by the initial "IC" and the date MDLXII . In 1603 or 1604, the manuscript was found in the Krotowski family's private library by Symeon Teofil Turowski, the head of the Congregation of the Czech Brethren for the whole of Greater Poland . Later, one of the relatives donated it to the Czech Brethren from Baranów. In Baranów, it became part of the rich library of the Bełz voivode, Rafał Leszczyński (d. 1636) . In 1656, during the Swedish Deluge and after the burning of Protestant Leszno by Polish troops, Queen Zofia's Bible, together with Leszczyński's book collection, was to be taken away by Jan Jonston (1603–1675), a Scot by birth, to his estate in Składowice . However, on the way Jonston was attacked in Wschowa and the volumes of Queen Zofia's Bible were divided. Volume II went to the bookbinder Jonas Dittmann from Jawor, who used the Bible pages to bind other books, which is why volume II was almost completely destroyed.

Volume I was taken to Hungary in unknown circumstances. Since 1708, the Bible was in the library of the Calvinist college in Sárospatak in Hungary . The second name of this literary monument, created after 1822, comes from the name of this town. However, Queen Zofia's Bible remained unknown in scholarly circles. In 1806, information about the Polish codex of the Bible located in Sárospatak was received by Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie , but the account he gave did not arouse interest in scholarly circles. It was only the description of the manuscript published by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz in Volume II of " Zbiór pamiętników historii o dawnej Polszcze... " (1822) that initiated research work [12] .

Until World War II, 185 leaves survived, and on them the Old Testament up to the book of Esther . Fragments of further books of the Old Testament were also found, but it is not certain whether the New Testament was also translated. The relic was lost at the end of World War II , probably destroyed during the battles for Budapest in 1945 or taken to the Soviet Union . Only three individual leaves survived (two leaves in the University Library in Wrocław and a fragment of a leaf in the Library of the National Museum in Prague ).

A copy of the bible was held by the library at Sárospatak in Hungary^[5] from at least 1708;^[7] hence the other name for this book.^[6] The bible was composed of two parchment folios^[6] numbering 470 pages in total.^[8] Only 185 pages of the first folio survived to the 19th century,^[8] as the second had been destroyed to provide bindings for other books.^[6] The first volume was also lost (presumed destroyed^[4]) during World War I, but Ludwik Bernacki published a facsimile edition in 1930.^[6] Several pages were recovered during the interwar period but most were lost during World War II. Today only two and a half pages remain: two at the University of Wrocław and half a page at the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague.^[4]Only three fragments of the original manuscript belonging to the second volume of the original have survived to the present day. The University Library in Wrocław has two leaves (ref. R 3164). This is a fragment of chapter 48 of the Book of Isaiah and a fragment of chapter 1 of the 1st Book of Maccabees. They were found by Erdman Hanisch in 1921 in the covers of books from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries from the collection of the Evangelical community in Wierzchowice [18] .

The third preserved fragment measuring 17×23.5 cm contains part of chapters 2 and 3 of the Book of Daniel. It is kept in the National Museum in Prague (ref. 1.Ac23/1). Before 1834, it was found by Heinrich Hofmann Fallersleben in the covers of books from 1604 and 1610 from the Church of St. Dorothy in Wrocław . This fragment was used to bind the book: " Theatrum scholasticum Io. Hern. Alstedii. De nobiblium puerorum educatione Petri Pauli Vergerii "

The text of the bible is known through reproductions. The first complete printed edition of the work was in 1871, through the effort of Antoni Małecki.^[3]