Gallus Anonymus

Gallus Anonymus (Polonized variant: Gall Anonim) is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author (fl. 11th–12th centuries) of Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum (Chronicles and Deeds of the Dukes or Princes of the Poles), composed in Latin about 1115.

Gallus is generally regarded as the first historian to have described Poland. His Chronicles are an obligatory text for university courses in Poland's history. Very little is known of the author himself.

Kromer
The only source for Gallus' existence is a note made by Prince-Bishop of Warmia Marcin Kromer (1512–89) in the margin of folio 119 of the "Heilsberg manuscript." It is not known why Bishop Kromer believed the author's name to have been Gallus.

The Heilsberg recension had been written down between 1469 and 1471, based on an earlier version of the text. From the mid-1500s to the 1700s the Heilsberg manuscript reposed in the German-speaking Prussian town of Heilsberg (today the Polish town of Lidzbark Warmiński), hence the name. It was published at the behest of Prince-Bishop of Warmia Adam Stanisław Grabowski (1698–1766). It is one of three witnesses to the historic work.

Kromer referred to the author of the Cronicae as "Gallus, doubtless a monk." "Gallus Anonymus" may mean "Unnamed Frenchman", but it is unclear whether Gallus in fact does mean "Frenchman," rather than being an individual's proper name. The Latin has been rendered into modern Polish as Gall Anonim.

Origin
The author of the Cronicae et gesta wrote little about himself and was not written about in contemporary sources. What Gallus did write about himself may be summed up as follows: Before going to Poland, he likely spent some time in Hungary, where he met Polish King Bolesław III Wrymouth; he was a pilgrim; he revered Saint Giles; and he knew little about Scandinavia.

Historians agree that Gallus' writing style indicates a substantial education, available only to nobles and monks; and that he was an experienced writer, thus likely also to have authored earlier works. The clericus de penna vivens ("cleric living by his pen") is suspected by Danuta Borawska and Marian Plezia to have earlier penned the Gesta Hungarorum (Deeds of the Hungarians) and the Translatio Sti Nicolai (The Transfer of St. Nicholas); and his writing style is thought to have been influenced by recent literary developments that were then common only in northern France and the Netherlands.

Budapest's Vajdahunyad Castle features an evocative bronze statue of a seated Anonymus in monk's habit, the cowl obscuring his face.

Gallus' place of origin is unknown. Several theories have been advanced. Traditional scholarship has assumed that he was French (hence Gallus), perhaps from France or Flanders. Plezia has suggested that he was a monk from Saint Giles' Monastery in Provence, France.

Some scholars have pointed out that Gallus' writing style resembles that of Hildebert of Lavardin (aka Hildebert of Tours) and have thought that Gallus had been educated at Le Mans or, according to Zathey, at Chartres or Bec in Normandy.

Before World War II, French historian Pierre David advanced a theory that Gallus might have been a Hungarian monk from Saint Giles' Monastery in Somogyvár who accompanied King Bolesław III in his return from Hungary to Poland. This theory enjoys little support.

Another theory has been gaining ground in Poland. Professors Danuta Borawska and Tadeusz Jasiński of Poznań University have presented a case for a Venetian origin. It has been argued that Gallus may have been a monk from St. Giles' Monastery at the Lido, Venice, Italy, and Professor Plezia has subsequently concurred.

The Venetian theory was first broached in 1904 by Polish historian Tadeusz Wojciechowski. In 1965 it was proposed again by Borawska but did not win acceptance. In recent years, however, it has been revisited and has now gained positive reviews from several Polish medievalists. It has been supported by Professors Janusz Bieniak, Roman Michałowski and Wojciech Fałkowski. Fałkowski has noted that the two theories—French and Italian—may be less mutally exclusive than some think, as Gallus might have been born in Italy, been a monk at the Lido, and have later traveled to France and Hungary.

According to Tomasz Jasiński, who in 2008 published a book on Gallus, the chronicler came to Poland over the Via Egnatia across the Slavic-speaking countries of "Epirus, Thrace, Dalmatia, Croatia, Istria." When Jasiński compared the Chronicle with the Transfer of St. Nicholas, he found over 100 similarities. Jasiński has concluded that Gallus, like many Venetian clergymen of the time, had a native knowledge of both Italian and Slavic languages.

However, Paul W. Knoll and Frank Schaer regard the Venetian suggestion as "too weak to be considered seriously." In Poland, medievalist Professor Jacek Banaszkiewicz supports a French over an Italian origin for Gallus Anonymus.

Influence
The anonymous author of Cronicae et gesta influenced the subsequent course of Poland's history, in that his version of early Polish history held the ruler's authority to be inferior to that of God, as expressed by the voice of the people (as in the Latin proverb, "Vox populi, vox Dei").

This concept reinforced Poles' electoral traditions and their tendency to disobey questioned authority. Via the Chronicles of Wincenty Kadłubek and the Sermons of Stanisław of Skarbimierz, it contributed to the development of the unique "Golden Liberty" that would characterize the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose kings were elected and were obliged to obey the Sejm (parliament).