The time of constructing the castle tower in Lublin in the light of newest archaeological data

Abstract

The article concerns the time of constructing and the identity of the founder of the castle tower in Lublin, which is also sometimes called a donjon. It summarizes historians’ discussion on those issues, referring to the most prominent views. It also briefly discusses the reliabi lity of Jan Dlugosz’s mention, which asserts that the tower was built by Prince Daniel of Halych, and later historians’ comments on this mention. Until recently the mention had been assumed to be a mistake and the foundation of the tower had been ascribed to one of the thirteen-century rulers of Cracow, from Leszek the Black to Henry the Bearded. It was also hypothesised that the tower had been built later, even under the rule of Ladislaus Jagiełło (Stanisław Kuraś). In addition to a survey of historians’ discussions on written sources the article presents results of research on the donjon undertaken by other specialists, mainly archaeologists, but also art historians and geologists. Much attention is given to the newest archaeological research carried out in 2006–2008 by Edmund Mitrus and Mariusz Matyaszewski. Their excavations revealed relics of wooden building on the castle yard, dated dendrochronologically to the 13th century. This, as well as the arrangement of strata adjacent to the foundations, led them to hypothesize that the tower had been built much later than previously assumed, at the end of the 13th c. or even at the beginning of the 14th c. This hypothesis was supported by other researchers in the newest publications on the Lublin donjon (Andrzej Rozwałka, Marek Florek). The last part of the article offers a critical evaluation of these conclusions, arguing that some may be too hasty and may stem from overinterpreting the results of the 2006–2008 excavations.