Master Polikarp's Dialog with Death

<h2 id="versions">Versions</h2>
<p>The original version of the <a href="/facts/Dialogue/a3etwdsd">dialogue</a> has been lost; what remains is an incomplete copy from c. 1463–1465, belonging to Mikołaj of Mirzyniec (Mikołaj z Mirzyńca). The ending of the work was known due to its 16th century <a href="/facts/Russian_language/ETXrTgHV">Russian</a> <a href="/facts/Translation/2foI82so">translation</a>. It has 498 lines, and presents the everyday life of members of different social classes in 15th century <a href="/facts/Poland/eXJ7fd0D">Poland</a>.
</p><p>A formerly unknown printed edition of <i>Rozmowa Mistrza Polikarpa ze Śmiercią</i> (<i>Master Polikarp’s Dialogue with Death</i>) from 1542 (Cracow, Maciej <a href="/facts/Scharffenberg_family/9qU3qgsh">Scharffenberg</a>) has been discovered in one of the European university libraries.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> The discovery was made by Professor Wiesław Wydra from the Institute of Polish Philology at <a href="/facts/Adam_Mickiewicz_University/owEGITX9">Adam Mickiewicz University</a> in <a href="/facts/Pozna%25C5%2584/WyM53M58">Poznań</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> In the contrast to the previously known version of the dialogue from the Płock manuscript, this text has been preserved in its entirety.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p><p>This discovery, with a complete Polish text of 918 verses, was the most important event in Polish language and literature scholarship for several decades.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> The critical edition of the discovered text has been published by prof. Wiesław Wydra and became available on 7 November 2018.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p>

<h2 id="characters">Characters</h2>
<ul><li>Master Polikarp – a well-educated person</li>
<li>Death – pale, skinny, bald, yellowish, without nose and lips, showing its ribs, naked, a rotten kind of a woman; it holds a scythe in its hands, and its appearance reminds the reader that <a href="/facts/Life_is_short/tuH9Hn5e">life is short</a>, and that after death, human bodies decay</li></ul>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Old_Polish/0f7py6EY">Old Polish</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Danse_Macabre/L1u01q1L">Danse Macabre</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Personifications_of_death/sjp81fjl">Death (personification)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Morana_(goddess)/wSII7yrs">Morana (goddess)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Santa_Muerte/1yy6BxuY">Santa Muerte</a></li></ul>

<h3>Citations</h3>

<h3>Sources</h3>
<ul><li><i>Polska poezja świecka XV wieku</i>, oprac. M. Włodarski, Wrocław - Warszawa - Kraków 1997, BN I, 60.</li>
<li><i>"Śmierci z Mistrzem dwojakie gadania…". Nieznany drukowany przekaz "Rozmowy mistrza Polikarpa ze Śmiercią" z 1542 r.</i>, wydał Wiesław Wydra, Poznań 2018.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.staropolska.pl/ang/middleages/sec_poetry/conversation.php3">English translation of the beginning of the manuscript (fragment) at staropolska.pl</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Professor Wydra's Great Discovery". The Polish Book Institute. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018. <a href="https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html" target="_blank">https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Professor Wydra's Great Discovery". The Polish Book Institute. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018. <a href="https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html" target="_blank">https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Professor Wydra's Great Discovery". The Polish Book Institute. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018. <a href="https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html" target="_blank">https://instytutksiazki.pl/en/news,2,professor-wydra%E2%80%99s-great-discovery,1307.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Nowacki, Aleksander (14 July 2018). "Full text of Polish literature's oldest masterpiece found". The first news. Retrieved 8 November 2018. <a href="https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/full-text-of-polish-literatures-oldest-masterpiece-found-1138" target="_blank">https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/full-text-of-polish-literatures-oldest-masterpiece-found-1138</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Niezwykłe odkrycie". Wydawnictwo "Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne" UAM. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018. <a href="http://psp.amu.edu.pl/?type=news&id_asset=1150" target="_blank">http://psp.amu.edu.pl/?type=news&id_asset=1150</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Master Polikarp's Dialog with Death open-in-new

Master Polikarp's Dialog with Death