Instalment Six

They Decided the Fate of People and Lands
Sources of Law

The collections of the Kórnik Library contain manuscripts that for centuries helped shape European legal culture. Among them is a true treasure – a beautifully illuminated 13th-century manuscript containing a fragment of the Corpus iuris civilis, the body of Roman law compiled by order of Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. In the Middle Ages, this code gained new life, becoming the foundation of many legal systems.

The collection also includes diplomas and charters issued in royal chancelleries, bearing the handwritten signatures of Polish rulers and the impressions of their seals. A peace treaty, a grant of land, the confirmation of a privilege, the settlement of a dispute – all these were accomplished through the document. The written word did not merely describe reality; it established a new legal order.

Today, only the silence of parchment and paper remains – yet from the sentences written there emerged, over centuries, the borders, laws, and institutions that built states.

A

BK 824
Kodeks Justyniana
Rękopis iluminowany
XIII w.

B

D 96
Dokument króla
Władysława IV Wazy,
wystawiony dla dominikanów w Nowogrodzie Siewierskim
Warszawa
1639

C

D 73
Pieczęć koronna króla
Stefana Batorego
1576

D

D 15
Zaprzysiężenie warunków pokoju kaliskiego zawartego przez króla Kazimierza Wielkiego z Zakonem Krzyżackim
1343