Editing Szczerbiec (section)

=== From a sword of justice to a coronation sword ===
The sword currently known as Szczerbiec was forged and decorated in a style characteristic of the late 12th and 13th centuries, so it could not have belonged to any of the three great Boleslauses of the 11th and early 12th centuries. Additionally, it is a purely ceremonial sword which, unlike the original Szczerbiec, was never used in combat. It was originally used as a [[sword of justice]] (''gladius iustitiae''), or insignia of the sovereign's judicial power, by one of the many local dukes during Poland's [[Age of Fragmentation (Poland)|Age of Fragmentation]].{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=69–70|ps=}} A silver plate, now lost, on the sword's grip bore an inscription which indicated a duke by the name Boleslaus as its original owner.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} An inscription on the Radziwiłłs' replica of Szczerbiec, now also lost, could provide an additional hint as to the duke's identity: "Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, [[Masovia]], and [[Łęczyca]]" – except that no duke of this name and titles ever existed. Historians have variously identified the duke in question as [[Bolesław IV the Curly|Boleslaus the Curly]] ({{nowrap|r. 1146–1173}}),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=76|ps=}} [[Bolesław V the Chaste|Boleslaus the Chaste]] ({{nowrap|r. 1226–1279}}),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=77|ps=}} [[Boleslaw I of Masovia|Boleslaus I of Masovia]] ({{nowrap|r. 1229–1248}}){{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=76|ps=}}  or [[Bolesław the Pious|Boleslaus the Pious]] of [[Greater Poland]] ({{nowrap|r. 1239–1247}}).{{sfn|Czyżewski|ps=}}

As a coronation sword, Szczerbiec was first specifically mentioned by [[Jan Długosz]] in his account of the crowning of King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] ({{nowrap|r. 1447–1492}}), but it was probably first used in a coronation ceremony by King [[Ladislaus the Short]] ({{nowrap|r. 1288–1333}}) in 1320,{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|p=135|ps=}} by which time he had reunited most of the core territories of Poland. If Szczerbiec had previously belonged to his uncle, Boleslaus I of Masovia, or his father-in-law, Boleslaus the Pious, then he could have inherited it. If it had belonged to any of the two Boleslauses who had ruled from [[Kraków]] as high dukes of all Poland, then Ladislaus could have simply found it in the [[Wawel Cathedral]].{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=76–77|ps=}} Thereafter, Szczerbiec became an integral part of the [[Polish Crown Jewels]], shared their fate, and was the principal ceremonial sword used in coronations of all [[List of Polish monarchs|Polish kings]] until 1764,{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} except [[Jogaila]] (1386),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=79|ps=}} [[Stephen Báthory of Poland|Stephen Báthory]] (1576),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=89|ps=}} [[Stanislaus I of Poland|Stanislaus I Leszczyński]] (1705), and [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III Wettin]] (1734).{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=105|ps=}}

[[File:Bacciarelli - Chrobry.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Boleslaus I of Poland|Boleslaus the Brave]] holding Szczerbiec,{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} as painted by [[Marcello Bacciarelli]] in  1771. Note the lack of a slit in the blade and the chipped edge.]]

Szczerbiec, together with other crown jewels, was removed from the [[Wawel Hill]] on several occasions during that period. After his Polish coronation in 1370, King [[Louis I of Hungary]] took the crown jewels with him to [[Buda]]; his successor on the Hungarian throne, [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Sigismund]], rendered them to Poland in 1412.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=135|ps=}} On two occasions, in mid-17th and early 18th centuries, they were evacuated across Poland's southern border to protect them from invading Swedish armies. In 1733, during the [[War of the Polish Succession]], supporters of King [[Stanislaus I of Poland|Stanislaus I]] concealed the jewels in a [[Warsaw]] church for three years to prevent [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]] from using them in his coronation. In 1764, they were sent to Warsaw again, to be used in a coronation for the last time – that of [[Stanislaus II of Poland|Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski]]. They were returned to Kraków afterwards.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=137|ps=}}

During a typical Polish coronation ceremony in the times of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the king-elect received Szczerbiec after his [[Anointing|anointment]] and before being crowned and [[enthronement|enthroned]]. The [[List of archbishops of Gniezno and primates of Poland|primate of Poland]], that is the archbishop of [[Gniezno]], picked up the unsheathed sword from the altar and handed it to the kneeling king. At the same time, he recited a formula which asked the monarch to use the sword to rule justly, defend the Church, fight evil, protect widows and orphans, and to "rebuild what is damaged, maintain what is rebuilt, avenge what is unjust, reinforce what is well managed," etc. Then, the king handed the sword to the Crown sword-bearer (''[[miecznik]] koronny''), who slid it into the scabbard and passed on to the primate. The primate, aided by the Crown and Lithuanian sword-bearers, fastened the scabbard to the king's belt. The king stood up and, facing onlookers, withdrew Szczerbiec, made three times the [[sign of the cross]] with it, and wiped it against his left arm before replacing it in the scabbard.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=40–42|ps=}} The king's sword-wielding abilities were closely watched by his new subjects during this part of the ritual. When Augustus III betrayed his poor fencing skills at his coronation, nobles joked that they were going to have "a peaceful lord".{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=54–55|ps=}} After Szczerbiec, a bishop handed the sovereign the [[Grunwald Swords]] symbolizing the monarch's reign over the two constituent nations of the Commonwealth.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=42|ps=}}

Throughout the period from [[Casimir III the Great|Casimir the Great]] ({{nowrap|r. 1333–1370}}) to Stanislaus Augustus, Polish crown jewels were commonly believed to date back to the times of Boleslaus the Brave. This conviction helped maintain a sense of continuity of Polish statehood and provide [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimacy]] for the nation's kings, implicitly making each Polish monarch a successor of the ancient and glorious legacy of the first king of the [[House of Piast]]. Accordingly, the coronation sword took over the name and the legend of the original Szczerbiec.{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|p=136|ps=}} The corrosion-induced slit in the blade became associated with the fabled ''szczerba'', or notch that Boleslaus had purportedly made on his sword in Kiev. The power of tradition was so strong that when Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, [[Marcello Bacciarelli]], who had made detailed studies of Polish crown jewels, painted an imaginary portrait of Boleslaus the Brave, he chose to depict Szczerbiec so that its appearance agreed with legend rather than reality. The images of the [[Crown of Bolesław I the Brave|coronation crown]] and sword are overall meticulously accurate, but Bacciarelli's Szczerbiec lacks the slit and has a chipped edge instead.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=70–72|ps=}}
{{clear}}