Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/290

 220 ox THE BROXZK DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF GNESEX. murder, had invaded their country, dug it up, and agreed to sell it to him for its weight in silver. When put into the scales it was, however, balanced by the duke's ring, or a widow's mite ; or, according to Dlugosz, so small a weight of silver, that nearly all that the Poles had brought with them was replaced in their chests, " non sine magno Pruthenorum cruciatu."' When Boleslaus had obtained the holy remains, he carried them with great pomp to Gnesen, and there interred them in the cathedral. In the year 1001 the shrine of the saint was visited by the Emperor Otho the Third, who on that occasion ^ bestowed the title of king on Boleslaus, and placed the regal crown upon his head. In 103S Brzetislaus, Duke of Bohemia, pillaged the cathedral of Gnesen, and according to the Bohemian historians, carried off the body of St. Adalbert. This the Poles obstinately deny, and assert that the body carried off was that of St. Gaudentius, (See Dlugosz and the "Dissertatio de relatione Corporis Pragam " of B. Balbinus, in the Acta Sanctorum.) A splendid shrine of solid silver, supported by angels of the same metal, the gift of King Sigismund the Third, stands in the centre of the nave of the cathedral of Gnesen, and is believed to contain his remains. On the day of his martyr- dom crowds still flock to attend the solemn service performed in his honour, and to hear sung the celebrated hymn " to the Virgin ^lary, beginning, "Boga rodzica dziewica " {i.e. Virgin mother of God), both the words and the music of which are said to be the composition of the saint. (Wspomnienia Wielkopolski, vol. ii. p. 325.) At Prague, on the other hand, a magnificent shrine adorned "uith gold gems and pearls, and costing more than 7000 florins, was made in 1129 in order to contain the bones brought from Gnesen, and was placed on the altar dedicated to the service of the martyr. (Acta Sanct., vol. iii., April, p. 992). " Non nostrum tantas componere htes." The subjects on the doors are arranged in regular order ' Boleslaus, in return, presented him reniark.ible as being (even in its present with many gifts, and among them an arm form, which is supposed not to be older of St. Adalbert, which the emperor placed than the I4th century) the oldest known in the church of St. Bartliolomew at monument of the Polish language. (Tahi, R^me. Languages and Lit. of the Slavic Xations) • It was sung by the Polish armies It is given, with the music to which it is before going into battle, and was prefixed sung (but without a translation), in Bow- by the Kings of Poland to their codes of rings Specimens of the Polish poets. It laws, and to treaties of peace. It is has no poetical merit.