Hang him high: The elevation of Jánošík to an ethnic icon

Slavic Review

Volumn 65, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 24-44

  Votruba, Martin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33744762452     PISSN: 00376779     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/4148521     Document Type: Article

References (90)

1. The major proponent of Jánošík's myth under communism became Andrej Melicherčík, Jánošíkovská tradícia na Slovensku (Bratislava, 1952).
2. His subsequent publications, as well as those by dozens of other authors, followed this lead. It still resonates, for example, in the views of Dušan Škvarna, Zaǐatky moderných slovenských symbolov: K vytváraniu národnej identity od konca 18. do polovice 19. storočia (Banská Bystrica, 2004).
3. A well-argued major break with that legacy came from Joanna Goszczyńska, Mit Janosika w Folklorze i Literature Stowackiej XIX Wieku (Warsaw, 2001).
4. "Literally hundreds of songs about him [Jánošík] survive to the present day," Eric Hobsbawm, Bandits (New York, 1969), 47.
5. Similar comments occur in several English novels, for example, "Jánošík, the Slovak outlaw hero, who took to the hills ... in revolt against the feudal tyranny that kept his countrymen serfs." Ellis Peters [Edith Pargeter], The Piper on the Mountain (New York, 1966), 70. (There are several reissues, most recently in 1996.)
6. To aid orientation and simplify the references to the localities in the Carpathians, I have standardized their diverse historical spellings to those identifiable on modern maps of central Europe. For unusual locales, bibliographical references give the spellings of the places of publication from the title pages followed by their customary English or modern local names in brackets.
7. Due to inclement weather, a decrease in travelers and the winter closures of high-elevation sheepfolds, where shepherds sometimes sold the brigands food, bought their loot for resale, or passed on intelligence about police searches, brigand bands in the western Carpathians would traditionally disperse on or not long after Michaelmas (29 September) and agree to reassemble on St. Adalbert's Feast-Georgemas (23-24 April).
8. The most recent reconstruction, with some confused geography and details, is by Stanislaw A. Sroka, Janosik - prawdziwa historia karpackiego zbójnika (Kraków, 2004), 29-60; Stanislaw Dziȩciolowski, the author of several papers on Jánošík, has announced his forthcoming reconstruction Juraj Janosik hetman zbójnicki.
9. Anon. [Friedrich Schiller], Die Räuber Ein Schauspiel (Stuttgart, 1781).
10. A revised version was published before its Mannheim premiere: Die Räuber. Ein Trauerspiel (Frankfurt, 1782).
11. The geographic and cultural distance worked both ways: when imitations of South Slavic poems from Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina caught Aleksandr Pushkin's interest in 1834, he translated them and called them "Songs of the Western Slavs."
12. "Spasit nás může jen Jánošík." Hana Formánková, "Spravedlnosti za dost by mohl učinit jen Jánošik," 1 October 2003 at http://www.neraweb.cz/ index.php?stype=all&id=632 (last consulted 4 November 2005).
13. Danuta Frey, "Janosik chce rozgryźć program Płatnik," Rzeczpospolita 6-7 (December 2004).
14. Felicitas Maukšová, "Recepcia Bottovej Smrti Jánošíkovej v školskej praxi," in Július Bolfík, ed., Ján Botto - život a dielo (Rimavská Sobota, 1983), 93-100.
15. In addition to being included in numerous anthologies, it has appeared in at least eleven single-poem editions. Ján Botto, "Smrt' Jánošíka. Romanca," Lipa 2 (1862), 251-78. (There are numerous reeditions and reprints under the title "Smrt' Jánošíkova.")
16. Patricia Ann Krafcik, "Jánošík, the Slovak Robin Hood: The Brigand Metes Out Justice" (paper, American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Pittsburgh, 21-24 November 2002).
17. Also spelled Paul/Pavel Joseph/Josef Schaffarik/ Šafařík, and Jan Kollár.
18. Jiří Horák and Karel Plicka, Zbojnícke piesne slovenského l'udu (Bratislava, 1965);
19. and Viera Gašparíková, ed. Jánošík, obraz zbojníka v národnej kultúre (Bratislava, 1988).
20. Maurus, Bishop of Quinque Ecclesiae (†1070), "Vita sanctorum heremitarum Zoerardi confessioris et Benedicti martiris a beato Mauro episcopo Quinecclesiastensi [sic] descripta," in Emericus Szentpétery, ed., Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum, tempore ducum regumque stirpis Arpadianae gestarum, vol. 2 (Budapest, 1938), 357-61. (There are several editions and translations.) Bishop Maurus's seat is now called Pécs in Hungary. He learned of the story from St. Hippolyte's Benedictine Monastery at Zobor near the town called Nitra in Slovakia. Zoerardus is rendered as Swierad in Polish, Svorad in Slovak, Zoerárd/Szónid in Hungarian; the legend identifies him as having come from Poland, which extended over parts of today's Slovakia for several decades in the eleventh century.
21. Dacianischer Simplicissimus [probably Daniel Speer], Ungarischer Oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus, Vorstellend Seinen wunderlichen Lebens-Lauff Und Sonderliche Begebenheiten gethaner Räisen. Nebenst Wahrhaffer Beschreibung deβ vormals im Flor gestandenen und öffters verunruhigten Ungerlands, So dann Dieser Ungarischen Nation Sitten, Gebräuch, Gewohnheiten und führenden Kriege. Sambt Deβ Grafen Tekely Heikommen, und biβ auf jetzige Zeit verloffenen Lebens-Lauff. Denck-würdig und lustig zu lesen (n.p., 1683; facsimile, Constance, 1922). (There are numerous reissues and translations.)
22. Jan Reychman, introduction to Wegierski badź Dacki Simplicissimus, trans. and ed. Danuta Reychmanowa and Jan Reychman (Kraków, 1967), as related by Goszczyńska, Mit Janosika, 48.
23. Johann Phillip Abelinus, et al., Theatrum Europæum. This is a series with multiple issues covering the period from 1618 to 1738 starting with volume 1: Theatrum Europæum oder Auβfuerliche und Warhafftige Beschreibung aller und jeder denckwuerdiger Geschichten ... vom Jahr Christi 1617. biβ auff das Jahr 1629. exclus. (Frankfurt am Main, 1662). Also available online at http:// www.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/de/dda/dr/hist/werke/we_00001-00021/ index.html (last consulted 21 November 2005).
24. German Schleisheim von Sulsfort [Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen], Der Abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teusch - Das ist: Die Beschreibung deb Lebens eines seltzamen Vaganten - genannt Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim - wo und welcher gestalt Er nemlich in diese Welt kommen - was er darinn gesehen - gelernt - erfahren und auβgestaden - auch warumb er solche wider freywillig quittirt. Uberauβ lustig und männiglich nutzlich zu lesen (Monpelgart [Nuremberg], 1669; facsimile, Tübingen, 1954). (There are numerous reissues and translations.)
25. Friedrich Schiller, "Vierter Aufzug - Der Tyrannenmord, Dritte Szene," Wilhelm Tell (Tübingen, 1804).
26. Jánošík directed by Jaroslav Jerry Siakel (Chicago, 1921);
27. Jánošík directed by Martin Frič (Prague, 1935);
28. Jánošík I and II directed by Pal'o Bielik (Bratislava, 1963).
29. In reference to the Slovaks, the author writes Slovaken oder Wenden, Slovakisch oder Wendisch, sometimes he uses just one or the other word; he also spells the latter one as Windisch, and the former one once as Schlowacken. In reference to the Rusyns (Ruthenians) he says Rusnaken, Rusnakisch.
30. Stanisław Szczotka, Materialy do Dziejów Zbójnictwa Góralskiego z lat 1589-1782 (Lublin [Łódź], 1952).
31. He says that the inhabitants of Liptov (the Slovak spelling is employed in the book) are called Liptace, but nicknamed Zliptace: "von den Zliptaken ... gedencken; dieses Wort Zliptak heist Deutsch ein schlimmer oder böser Vogel dann Zli heißt böß und Ptak heißt ein Vogel und im plurali numero heissen böse oder schlimme Vögel Zliptace." Simplicissimus, Ungarischer Oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus, 145.
32. Links of five of the potential literary motifs to the nineteenth century can be found in Goszczyńska, Mit Janosika. The explication is insignificantly at variance with the German original.
33. This conclusion is based on my random interviews in Slovakia, including in Liptov County, in June and July 2004, and on Internet searches for related words and phrases in Polish and Slovak, which yielded no current usage.
34. Karel Drož, Život na Tatrách (Prague, 1906), 192. The author says that shepherds from Liptov would take terrible revenge on Polish Górals and they, in turn, called the people from Liptov "Bad Birds": "Liptáci mstili se góralům strašně, tak že ti jim přezdívali 'źly [sic] ptacy (zlí ptáci).'"
35. Johann Christian Seiz, ed., Ungarischer oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus ... (Leipzig, 1854).
36. Frant. Václav Peřinka, Veselé putovanie po Slovensku, kniha l'udového humoru a vtipu (Prague, 1929; reprint, 1934).
37. He says these brigands were Rusyns: "ich sagte Windisch und halb Rusnakisch weil sie alle diese Rauber Rusnaken." Simplicissimus, Ungarischer Oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus, 182.
38. The first one is also spelled Beyhuβ. Beyhus is probably from the Hungarian bajusz, "whiskers," which entered the Carpathian Slavic and Germanic vernaculars. The author-narrator plausibly explains the meanings of the other two: Hafran as "raven" (although that would be a Slovak, that is, West Slavic version of the word, while the contemporary standardization of Rusyn has East Slavic roots) and Janko's nickname as "bold guy." "vom Janko einem Pacholek ... das ist einem tapffern Kerl" related to the word boy/guy: "ich werde Pacholce das ist auf Deutsch Kerl." Simplicissimus, Ungarischer Oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus, 195, 182.
39. Literally, "the empty-handed traveler will sing vis-à-vis a brigand," but its contextual meaning was "a person who has nothing has nothing to lose or fear," which would have been more characteristic of students than of merchants and other travelers. It was probably first written down around 100 C.E. in satire "X-Omnibus in terris." Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Saturae, ed. Ulrich Knoche (Munich, 1950), verse 22. There are several wordings of the saying, always with latro (brigand).
40. John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause: Brigandage and Irredentism in Modern Greece, 1821-1912 (Oxford, 1987).
41. Jozef Kočiš, Neznámy Jánošík (Martin, 1986) creates a weighty narrative about Jánošík's apparent revolutionary intentions from a historical report that guns and substantial amounts of cloth were discovered in some of his hiding places.
42. "Vlha, vlha, pekný vták," in Jozef Minárik, ed., Slovenská renesančná lutna, Antológia zo slovenskej renesančnej poézie (Bratislava, 1982), 378;
43. and Viera Gašparíková, ed., Jánošík, obraz zbojníka v národnej kultúre (Bratislava, 1988), 129.
44. "Ide furman dolinou." Available online at http://supermusic.sk/ skupina.php?action=piesen&cidpiesne=4070 (last consulted 4 November 2005).
45. "Ide furman dolinami." Manuscript by Rehor Pauliny, Zborník Rehora Paulinyho (Poltár, 1830-1832), Archív literatúry a umenia Slovenskej národnej knižnice, Martin: MJ 446.
46. Reprinted in Jozef Minárik, ed., Po chodníčkoch kamenných po cestičkách krvaých alebo Piesne a verše o živote, láske a smrti urazených, ponížených a nevol'ných, ale aj nepokorených, hrdých a proti krivde sa búriacich slovenských dedov, pradedov a prapradedov, ktorí veky trpeli na panských dvoroch, bojiskách a šibeniciach. Výber slovenskej rukopisnej sociálnej poézie (1577-1870) (Bratislava, 1980), 325-26.
47. Anon., "Jak Janosik tańcył z hrabinom," in Teresa Komorowska and Viera Gašparíková, eds., Zbójnicki dar, Polskie i słowackie opowiadania tatrzańskie (Warsaw, 1976), 29-30.
48. István Szakolczai, "Praedonum cantus" (1762). Published as "Zbojnícka pieseň," in Jozef Minárik, trans. and ed., Z klenotnice staršieho slovenského písomníctva 3: Antológia barokovýh literárnych textov I (Poézia) (Bratislava, 1989), 171-72.
49. Anon., "Znamenitá kázeň gednoho Kazatele za dnu hlawnjho zbognjka Jánošjka," Staré nowiny liternjho uměnj (May 1785): 65-68.
50. Wacław z Potoka Potocki (†1696), "Kazanie do zbojcow," in Aleksander Brückner, ed., Ogrod fraszek (L'viv, 1907), 2:238-39.
51. Not to be confused with the like-named English series, this volume was first published in Amsterdam in 1649 and republished at various times and locations including in 1770 in Bratislava, then called Pressburg (German), Prešporok (Slovak), and Pozsony (Hungarian). It got as far as Russia in the same century, translated as Demokretus smeiushchiisia. Anon. [other editions attributed to J.-P. Langius, i.e., Johann Peter Lange], "Milites cui sunt similes," Democritus ridens: Sive campus recreationum honestarum cum exorcismo melancholie [sic] (Presburg [sic] [Bratislava], 1770), 206.
52. The anecdote was first suggested as a source by Rudo Brtáň, "Prvý l'udový motív o Jánošíkovi z roku 1785," Elán 10, nos. 1-2 (1939): 5-6.
53. Written around 400 C.E. by Sulpicius Severus, Vita Sancti Martini Episcopi et Confessoris, chap. 5. Available at www.thelatinlibrary.com/ sulpiciusseverusmartin.html (last consulted 4 November 2005).
54. English translation (microfilm) by Mary Caroline Watt, St. Martin of Tours the chronicles of Sulpicius Severus done into English from the French of Paul Monceaux and with an introduction by him (London, 1928).
55. "Gakowau offeru tento Kazatel za swau horliwau kázeň obdržel, nenj známo" (What alms the Preacher received for his passionate sermon is not known). Anon., "Znamenitá kázeň," 68.
56. Jan Vilikovský, "Tři nejstarší slovenské zbojnické písně," Bratislava 9 (1935): 550-70;
57. and Jan Nehýbl, "Kramářská píseň o Ondrášovi," Slezský sborník, Acta silesiaca 48, no. 8 (1950): 484-85. (There are several reprints of the songs.)
58. The songs may have first been recorded around 1780, or perhaps even earlier. The other three songs concern Surovec, Adam and Ilčík, and Ondráš.
59. Kočiš, Neznámy Jánošík, 86;
60. Sroka, Janosik, 41.
61. Samuel Timon, Imago novæ Hungariæ, repræsentans regna, provincias, Banatus, & Comitatus ditionis Hungaricæ (Cassoviæ [Košice], 1734). (There are several reeditions and partial translations.)
62. Patrice M. Dabrowski, "'Discovering' the Galician Borderlands: The Case of the Eastern Carpathians," Slavic Review 64, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 381-402.
63. Anon., "Píseň o Jánošíkovi zbojníkovi," verses 162-74, in Vilikovský, "Tři nejstarší slovenské zbojnické písně." (There are several reprints of the song.)
64. Giřj Palkovič [also spelled Juraj/Gur/Georg Palkowitsch/ Palkovics], Wětssj a zwlásstněgssj Nowý y Starý Kalendár na rok Páně 1807 (n.p., 1806). In the calendar and on other occasions, Palkovič identified himself as professor of the Slovak language, but his position was also advertised as professor of the Czechoslovak language, partly in order to help secure funds from Czech-speaking sponsors in the neighboring Margraviate of Moravia and Kingdom of Bohemia.
65. Giřj Palkovič, Muza ze slowenských hor: Swazeček priwnj (We Wacově [Vác], 1801). (There are several reeditions of the individual poems.)
66. Bohuslaw Tablic [also spelled Bohuslav], Slowensstj Werssowcy. Collecta revirescunt. Swazek druhý (We Wacově [Vác], 1809), 120-37. (There are several reprints.)
67. Bohuslaw Tablic, a three-page unnumbered footnote to "Jánossjk Liptowský Laupežnjk," in Tablic, Slowensstj Werssowcy, 120-23.
68. Such pan-Slavic generalizations of Jánošík have shown up sporadically in West Slavic cultures into the present. Rather than attribute Jánošík to the local Polish or Carpathian culture, a Polish blogger recently wrote that "Janosik was a kind of Slavic Robin Hood" (Janosik był takim słowiańskim Robin Hoodem). Małgorzata Musierowicz, "Placek zbójecki Janosika," 23 August 2001 at http:// serwisy.gazeta.pl/edukacja/1,51819,408775.html (last consulted 4 November 2005).
69. Perhaps the earliest one, "the wood of Belregard," appeared in 1304-1307 in four verses of the Anglo-Norman poem usually called "The Outlaw's Song" written by an unknown author. Gillian Spraggs, Outlaws & Highwaymen: The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century (London, 2001). The poem is available online at www.outlawsandhighwaymen.com/trail.htm (last consulted 4 November 2005).
70. Palkovič, "Oda na horu Synec," Muza ze slowenských hor, 28-29.
71. Slovak and some other Slavic languages commonly use the same word for both heaven and sky: nebo.
72. Paul Joseph Schaffarik, Geschichte der slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten (Ofen [Budapest], 1826). It was the first, and for a long time the only, voluminous academic work in German on the topic. Schaffarik published several other influential works.
73. An impetus for Kollar's collection came from the German romantic author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who asked Kollár for samples of Slovak folk songs during Kollár's stay in Jena in 1817. Goethe metrified and published some of them. Jan Kollár, ed., Národnié zpiewanky čili pjsné swětské Slowáků w Uhrách gak pospolitého lidu tak i wyššjch stawů, sebrané od mnohých, w pořádek uwedené, wysvětlenjmi opatřené, 2 vols. (W Budjně [Budapest], 1834-35). (There are several reeditions, reprints, and adaptations.)
74. Johann Gottfried Herder, "Slawische Völker," Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (Riga, 1791), pt. 4, vol. 16.4. Available online at http://www.textlog.de/5663.html (last consulted 4 November 2005).
75. As a colorful interposition, but also as a bow to the local lore, Kollár actually invoked the Slovak proverbial brigands' command in one sermon: "Give your soul to God and ducats to us!" (Daj Bohu dušu a nám dukáty!), a parallel of the English "Stand and deliver!" Jan Kollár, "W den Petra Pawla a w nedčli ssestau po S. Trogici (1822) I," and "Neděle gedenátá po S. Trogici," Nedčlnj, swátečné i přjlžitostné Kázné a Řeči (W Pessti [Budapest], 1831), 497-511 and 280-94.
76. Jan Kollár, sonnets 572-73 of the Fifth Cantos "Acheron," Sláwy dcera, Lyrickoepická báseň w péti zpěwjch. Úpelné wydánj (W Pešti [Budapest], 1832). (There are numerous reeditions, reprints, and translations, some with an altered numbering of the sonnets; the original is not paginated.)
77. Kollár also had an incidental personal motivation for his dislike of brigandage: according to his posthumously published memoir, he grew up with stories of how his maternal ancestors had been assaulted by brigands, and he treasured one of the thaler coins that they had saved during the fight, presumably stained with their blood. Ján Kollár, Pamäti z mladších rokov života (Liptovský Mikuláš, 1997), 9.
78. The character is called Mína. Although Kollár chose this name and referred to his college love as Vilma Fridriška (i.e., Wilhelmina/Minna Friderika) in one instance in his memoirs, she was baptized Johanne Auguste Friederike Schmidt, and Kollár called her Rickchen (from Friederike, a nickname used by her family) in his letters to Jena. She used the name Friederike with her German family and friends, and Friderika in Kollár's Slovak circles in Budapest and Vienna after she was finally able to marry him in 1835. One of her brothers was baptized Wilhelm.
79. Johann Csaplovics [also spelled Ján/János Čaplovič], "Räuber," Gemälde von Ungern [sic] (Pesth [Budapest], 1829), 268-71;
80. and Alois von Mednyanszky [also spelled Aloyz/Alajos Mednyánszky], Erzählungen, Sagen und Legenden aus Ungarns Vorzeit. 2 Theile (Pesth [Budapest], 1829). (There are several reeissues and translations.) The story by Mednyánszky is that of a robber-nobleman's family. Csaplovics was a lower nobleman; Mednyánszky was a baron.
81. Kašpar Fejérpataky [also spelled Gašpar Fejérpataky-Belopotocký], "O zbogstwj Gura Jánossjka, gináče Jánossjaka řečeného, rodilého z Ťarchoweg zbognjků a laupežnjků hlawnjka (hadnád'a)," Nowý y Starý Wlastenecký Kalendář na rok Páně 1832 (W Lewoči [Levoča], [n.d]). Fejérpataky was a lower nobleman.
82. Ján Chalupka, Kocaurkowo, anebo Gen abychom w hanbč nezůstali: Weselá hra we 3 gednánjch (Lewoča [Levoča], 1830). (There are several reeditions and adaptations.)
83. Jan Kollár, Wýklad čili Přmětky a Wyswětliwky ku Sláwy Dceře s obrazy, s mappau a s Přjdawkem drobněgšjch básnj rozličného obsahu (W Pešti [Budapest], 1832), 453.
84. Štefan Marko Daxner, "Poklad Jánošíkou," Orol Tatránski 1, no. 6 (1845): 1-2;
85. Samo Chalupka, "Jánošíkova númka," Orol Tatránski 2, no. 35 (1846): 273 -74;
86. Janko Maginhradskí [Ján Botto], "Pjeseň Jánošikova," Holubica, levočský rukopisný zábavník s prílohou Sokol 5 (24 November 1846; facsimile, Martin, 1977). (There are numerous reissues, Chalupka's poem revised by the author under the title "Jánošíkova pamiatka," and "Likavský väzeň," Botto's poem both in the original and principally reworked and expanded as "Smrt' Jánošíka," then renamed "Smrt' Jánošíkova.") All three were Lutherans, Daxner became a lawyer, Chalupka was a pastor, and Botto became a civil engineer, but none of them went to study in Germany. Daxner was Kollár's parishioner in Budapest when he published this poem. Samo Chalupka's older brother was Ján Chalupka, the author of the play Kocaurkowo.
87. Slavko Churý, "Zbojníctvo v Liptove v prvej polovici 19. storočia," Vlastivedný sborník Považia 8 (1966): 25-36.
88. The amateur troupe Diwadlo slowanské swato-mikulášske premiered Ján Chalupka's Kocaurkowo on 22 August 1830; the county seat was called "Saint Nicholas" in the kingdom's languages then.
89. This was noted in Greece with similar geographic conditions, Koliopoulos, Brigands and with a Cause.
90. S[amo]. Chalupka and pseud. Samo, "Na Krá'ovej Holi," Jánošíkova pamiatka," "Junák"; and Š[tefan]. Daxner, "Poklad Jánošíkov," in Emil Černý, ed., Slovenská čítanka: Pre nižšie gymnasia (Vienna, 1864), 57-58, 257-59, 281-82, and 323-25. (A version of "Na Král'ovej Holi" is known as "Král'ovohol'ská."