Porträt von Nawojka
Photo credit:
Portrait of Nawojka. Radosław Dąbrowski / Muzeum Ziemi Dobrzyńskiej, Free access - no reuse

Amore Studii. Out of love of learning

The legend of Nawojka, Poland’s first female student
,
News from the Copernico portal
Our newsletter keeps you informed about new content in the portal and the news from the Copernico editorial team.
Subscribe to the newsletter now
In the Middle Ages, even though no formal education for females existed, we know that there were powerful and educated women.
On October 15, 1384, a ten-year-old girl was crowned King Hedwig / Jadwiga (1373/74-1399) of Poland. She was the daughter of Elizabeth of Bosnia (1340-1387) and Louis I (1326-1382), personal union king of Poland, Hungary and Croatia. Her grandfather had been Casimir the Great (Kazimierz III Wielki, 1310-1370), the last of the  Piasts
Piast dynasty
 The Piasts were a Polish ruling dynasty that produced kings and other important nobles over a period of more than 700 years. Their last Silesian bloodline came to an end in 1675. The Piasts have remained present in the Polish culture of remembrance up to the present day.  and the only Polish king to be attributed the title “Great”. Hedwig had grown up in 
Buda
deu. Ofen, srp. Budim, srp. Будим, deu. Buda

Buda, today part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, was an independent city until 1873. It was formed from the 13th century on the right bank of the Danube around the newly built castle, not far from the older settlement, which was known as Óbuda (Old Buda) starting in the 14th century. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1541. In 1849, Óbuda was incorporated into Buda.

Buda at Google Maps
 and had been prepared for her future role since early childhood; she was educated, polyglot, musical and religious. As there was no provision for a female succession to the throne, she was not made queen, but king, Król Jadwiga (Hedvigis Dei Gracia Rex Poloniae).

The beginning of the Jagiellonian era

The strategic marriage to the pagan Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (around 1364-1432) on February 18, 1386, sealed the personal union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, known to this day as the Union of Krewo. Jogaila, a convert to Christianity, ruled as Władysław II. Jagiełło ruled Poland together with Hedwig. Hedwig, still a child herself, initially remained childless, but gave birth to a daughter on May 22, 1399. The girl, who was named Elizabeth Bonifacia (Elżbieta Bonifacja), died after seven weeks. Four days later, Hedwig also died on July 13, 1399, at the age of 25. Jogaila was now sole ruler on the Polish throne and became the progenitor of the  Jagiellons
Jagiellon dynasty
also:
Jagiellonian dynasty, Jagiellons, Jagellonian dynasty, Jagellons
 The Jagiellons were an important Lithuanian-Polish dynasty of rulers at the end of the Middle Ages and in the early modern period. The name goes back to Jogaila (before 1351-1434), who first became Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1377 and was also crowned King of Poland in 1386 as Władysław II (Jagiełło). The coronation was made possible by his marriage to the Polish Queen Jadwiga of Poland (1373/4-1399) and established the personal union between Lithuania and Poland, which had already been agreed in 1385 (Union of Krewo). Until 1572, the Jagiellons provided all Polish kings and, definitively from 1440, all Lithuanian grand dukes. Representatives of the Jagiellons also ruled Bohemia and Hungary intermittently in the 15th and early 16th centuries.  through his sons from a later marriage. Hedwig’s tomb is situated in the Royal Cathedral on the Wawel in 
Kraków
deu. Krakau

Krakow is the second largest city in Poland and is located in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in the south of the country. The city on the Vistula River is home to approximately 775,000 people. The city is well known for the Main Market Square with the Cloth Halls and the Wawel castle, which form part of Krakow's Old Town, a UNESO World Heritage Site since 1978. Krakow is home to the oldest university in Poland, the Jagiellonian University.

Kraków in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Kraków at Google Maps
. She was beatified in 1986 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in Krakow on 8 June 1997 – almost 600 years after her death.
Hedwig was very popular with the people, especially as she devoted herself to caring for the poor and elderly, which gave rise to many legends. She also invested in education: in her will, the queen bequeathed her fortune to the Krakow Academy, now the Jagiellonian University1, which was founded in 1364 – although it would be 500 years before women were able to study there.

Women students at universities

In the summer semester of 1895, almost 130 years ago, the first three female students were admitted to lectures at the University of Krakow, initially without the right to take examinations. The year before, in the summer of 1894, Marie Skłodowska (1867-1934) had unsuccessfully applied for a position at the University of Krakow and is said to have tearfully decided to return to Paris for another year2. There she met Pierre Curie (1859-1906), whom she married on July 26, 1895. After his accidental death, she took over his chair at the Sorbonne and became the first woman to hold such a position. Marie Curie-Skłodowska was the only female to receive a Nobel Prize twice: in 1903 for physics and in 1911 for chemistry. She is still highly revered in Poland today. Just ten years after her death in 1944, the university in Lublin was named after her.
However, there does appear to have been a female student before this. We know this because of an event that took place in Krakow, described in a source that has been documented several times – in two manuscripts3 and a printed work from the 18th century.4 The original source is a text written by Martin von Leibitz (around 1400-1464).

Martin of Leibitz

Martin was born around 1400 in Leibitz, in the County of Spiš, which at that time was situated in Upper Hungary and is now in Slovakia. He died in Vienna in 1464. He was a Benedictine monk and religious reformer, attended Latin schools in Krakow and 
Nysa
deu. Neisse, deu. Neiße, deu. Neise, deu. Neysse, lat. Nyza, pol. Niżą, pol. Nyssa, lat. Nice, lat. Nissa, pol. Nissa, pol. Nisa, deu. Nysa, deu. Nisza

Nysa (population 2023: 40,685) is a district town in the Opolskie Voivodeship in south-western Poland. Nysa emerged as a Silesian settlement in the 10th century, but was granted city rights in 1223. In the 13th/14th century, it became the capital of the same-named duchy and at the same time the residence of the prince-bishops of Breslau. Its historical relationship with Lower Silesia ended with the secularization and reorganization of administration in Prussia at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1815, it was assigned to the Upper Silesian administrative district of Oppeln. Since then, it has been more closely associated with this region. The old town, known for its baroque architecture, was largely destroyed during the Second World War. Nysa has belonged to Poland since 1945

Nysa in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Nysa at Google Maps
, studied in Vienna from 1420 and graduated with a master's degree in 1424. During a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the Benedictine order, returned to Vienna and took his vows in the Schottenkloster monastery there, which had adopted the Melk Reform in 1418. He was appointed prior in 1435 and elected abbot in 1446, which he remained until 1460/61. He was a religious reformer, a promoter of scientific exchange with Melk Monastery and the University of Vienna, and wrote several theological works. Of particular interest to us is a late work, the “Senatorium”. It is written in dialog form – for didactic reasons, as he himself writes in theprologue.5

An autobiographical text

In 1464, probably shortly before his death, Martin wrote what is presumably an autobiographical text for the instruction and edification of Benedictines and novices, lay brothers, students and those with a general knowledge of Latin; it was possibly also read aloud in the refectory. The author used a dialog format: an old man tells a young man about his life experiences, alternating between questions and answers. His story begins with his childhood and youth, culminating in his student days in Krakow. he mentions the story of a young woman, who disguised herself as a boy in order to study and makes some remarks about the legendary “Pope Joan”.
Martin retells the legend with the following lines – translated from the originalLatin6:
THE OLD MAN. I spent my whole childhood in my home country, and then, as was the custom at the time, I began moving around, visiting other places to study and to acquire richer knowledge. First, I came to Krakow, Poland’s metropolis.
THE YOUNG MAN. Is this city ruled by the Poles, not the Germans?
THE OLD MAN. I tell you, although both languages predominate, the Germans prevail. So it is in Kaschau, so it is in Buda: wherever the Germans may be in the Kingdom of Hungary, they dominate in the towns. The German preachers preach in the main church, the Hungarian preachers preach in the chapels. Thus, in Krakow, in the main church of the Holy Virgin, the word of God is preached by the German preacher; in the chapel of St. Catherine and in the cemetery, a Polish preacher preaches the word of God.
THE BOY. Tell me if there is anything there that you think might serve for edification.
THE OLD MAN. King Władysław of Poland7, who had only converted from paganism as an adult, could not drink wine at all. It was at this time that King Wenceslaus King Wenceslaus Wenceslas, also Václav, Wenceslaus of Luxembourg (1361-1419) from the House of Luxembourg, nicknamed the Lazy One, was King of Bohemia from his coronation as a child in 1363 until his death as Wenceslas IV and Roman-German King from 1376 until his deposition in 1400. , King of Bohemia, passed away and the Bohemians devised a plan to make the King of Poland also King of Bohemia. They sent him solemn messages requesting him as king, but on the condition that he should comply with their terms. He asked: And what are your conditions? They replied: We believe that no one can be saved unless he receives the sacrament of the Eucharist in both forms. Then he said to them: Go, away from me! You clearly want to condemn me, for it is impossible for me to receive the sacrament in the form of wine. And so they withdrew, already confused by the first condition, and made no further attempt to approach him.
THE BOY: Our glorious God, who foresaw the future when he created this king, added to his nature a disgust for wine, that the earth might be spared this error at that time.
THE OLD MAN. You feel it very well, and the whole university and kingdom felt it: they praised God in view of so excellent a response from the newly baptized king. THE BOY: I like what you're telling me. Tell me something unusual that happened in Krakow. THE OLD MAN. When I lived there, it turned out that a certain girl, who professed to be a virgin, had been studying for two years, disguised as a man and a student, and was about to receive her master's degree. She lived in the dormitory, behaved decently towards others, did not go to the bathroom often, and attended classes diligently. She had had a schoolteacher in Greater Poland, where she had learned about the basics of boyhood together with other boys. When her parents died, she received her inheritance and secretly came to study, dressed in men's clothes.
THE BOY. How was she discovered and what was done with her afterwards?
THE OLD MAN. A soldier in the house of a citizen called Kaltherbrig who saw her passing by downtown said to his comrades: 'If that person walking around dressed as a student isn't a girl, I'll buy you a drink. If she is, you will buy me a drink. This challenge appealed to them. As she arrived at the front door, he approached her to talk to her and sat her down at the table with his companions. When she was then stripped naked, her sex was obvious. She was handed over to the judge. When asked why she had concealed her sex, she replied: “Out of love for learning”. When the head of the home was questioned under oath, he could say nothing dishonorable about her. She wanted to be handed over to the nunnery, and so it happened. Later, she became magister and abbess, and I believe she is still alive because I heard about her just the other day from someone who had stayed in Krakow.
The only protagonist mentioned by name is the owner of a house, Kaltherbrig. This unusual name is actually found in a very similar form in the archives of the city and the university, as Michael H. Shank, a historian of science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, discovered:8 From him we learn that the matriculation registers list a Mr. Keldeherberg as a benefactor of the university,9 who seems to be identical to Petrus Kaldherberg, whose name appears in the records of the city and the university between 1392 and 1421. Petrus Kaldherberg10 was a prominent Krakow citizen and merchant. A contemporary in Krakow with a similar name, Mikołaj Kaldeherberge, came from 
Wrocław
deu. Breslau, lat. Wratislavia, lat. Vratislavia, ces. Vratislav, deu. Breslaw, deu. Bresslau, deu. Wreczelaw, deu. Wrezlaue, lat. Vuartizlau, lat. Wrotizlaensem, lat. Wortizlava, deu. Brassel

Wrocław (German: Breslau) is one of the largest cities in Poland (population in 2022: 674,079). It is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in the southwest of the country.
Initially under Bohemian, Piast and at other times Hungarian rule, the Habsburgs took over the Silesian territories in 1526, including Wrocław. Another turning point in the city's history was the occupation of Wroclaw by Prussian troops in 1741 and the subsequent incorporation of a large part of Silesia into the Kingdom of Prussia.
The dramatic increase in population and the fast-growing industrialization led to the rapid urbanization of the suburbs and their incorporation, which was accompanied by the demolition of the city walls at the beginning of the 19th century. By 1840, Breslau had already grown into a large city with 100,000 inhabitants. At the end of the 19th century, the cityscape, which was often still influenced by the Middle Ages, changed into a large city in the Wilhelmine style. The highlight of the city's development before the First World War was the construction of the Exhibition Park as the new center of Wrocław's commercial future with the Centennial Hall from 1913, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.
In the 1920s and 30s, 36 villages were incorporated and housing estates were built on the outskirts of the city. In order to meet the great housing shortage after the First World War, housing cooperatives were also commissioned to build housing estates.
Declared a fortress in 1944, Wrocław was almost completely destroyed during the subsequent fightings in the first half of 1945. Reconstruction of the now Polish city lasted until the 1960s.
Of the Jewish population of around 20,000, only 160 people found their way back to the city after the Second World War. Between 1945 and 1947, most of the city's remaining or returning - German - population was forced to emigrate and was replaced by people from the territory of the pre-war Polish state, including the territories lost to the Soviet Union.
After the political upheaval of 1989, Wrocław rose to new, impressive heights. The transformation process and its spatial consequences led to a rapid upswing in the city, supported by Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004. Today, Wrocław is one of the most prosperous cities in Poland.

Wrocław in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Wrocław at Google Maps
, named after his house “dy Kaldeherberge”, Wrocław 1387. “Kalte Herberge” exists as the village of Kalteherberge, today Świerznica, Gmina Stegna (Steegen) near 
Malbork
deu. Marienburg, lat. Marianopolis, lat. Mariaeburgum, deu. Malbork

Malbork (population 2023: 36,709) is a district town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the north of Poland. Its development began in 1274 with the construction of the name-giving Marienburg (the Polish name is derived from it), which was the seat of the Teutonic Order from 1280. The same-named town was granted city rights in 1286. From 1309-1457, Marienburg was the capital of the Order's state. In 1454 the town belonged to Poland, and in 1772 it was annexed to Prussia. Malbork only became Polish again in 1945.

Malbork in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Malbork at Google Maps
 (Marienburg), also as a field name in the Black Forest, in the Taunus and in Monschau.
Peter Kaldherberger’s name appears in the Krakow city registers between 1392 and 1443. Between 1393 and 1417 he sat on the city council several times, in 1417 he was appointed to the city council and in 1418 and 1421 he became councilman and thus mayor. He was also a financial advisor to the newly refurbished university and, in 1400, on behalf of the executors of Queen Jadwiga's will, he bought the house that was intended to be the seat of the university, the Collegium Maius. He held the position of elder of the merchant community and traded in cloth, silver, and lead as building materials, granted loans to citizens and noblemen as a banker and owned several houses, including one on the market square. He died in 1423.
This mention by name gives the anecdote that the old abbot tells his young listener a plausible truthfulness, and there is no reason to doubt the statement at the end of his account that he had heard the news about the disguised student's new life as abbess from a traveler.
This story is still circulated in various versions today11, where the protagonist is given a name that we do not find in the source: Nawojka. It is said that in 1414 the fifteen-year-old Jakub (or Andrzej as some records name him) began his studies at the University of Krakow. In reality, it was Nawojka, disguised as a boy. Legend has it she was the daughter of the mayor of Dobrzyń on the Vistula (Dobrin) or, according to other sources, the daughter of the rector of the parish school in Gniezno. She learned to read and write Polish and Latin at home. Further education was prevented by the customs of the time, which forbade the admission of women as students. According to legend, Nawojka secretly fled Dobrzyń on the day of her planned wedding in 1407. In 1417, after three years of study, when she was preparing for her final exams, she was discovered by the son of an alderman from Gniezno, who was beginning his studies at the Krakow Academy at the time. According to another version, Nawojka fell ill and the doctor who examined her uncovered the secret. There is also a version which says that Nawojka was unmasked when, according to a Polish custom, she was doused with a bucket of water on Easter Monday (Śmigus-dyngus).12
 
The author Aleksandra Katarzyna Maludy has developed a different narrative13: here, the heroine has a twin brother whose death has a great impact on her, but also creates the opportunity to change her fate. Nawojka assumes his identity and sets off as Jakub to study at the Krakow Academy. “The Double Life of Nawojka” is a historical novel with a broad scope that describes the reality of life in 15th century Poland and at the same time tells the story of an extraordinary woman who wanted to live as millions of contemporary women now do.
The so-called “Prayer Book of Nawojka”, which dates from the 15th century and is a typical example of the late medieval genre of liber precum, is associated with the legend of Nawojka. According to recent research, the manuscript was written between 1525 and 1550 in Lesser Poland and is one of the oldest written records of the Polish language. Based on linguistic comparisons, it is probably a copy of an older codex from the end of the 15th century14. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that there is a connection with the protagonist of the legend, whose name is still a mystery in terms of its origin and attribution.
The first dormitory for female students at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow was founded in 1929 and named after Nawojka. In 1963, Maria Kwiatkowska (1926 - 1999) made a short film about the dormitory, “The Girls of Nawojka ”15, which offers an insight into both the living conditions in the dormitory and the views of the young women who studied philosophy and law in Krakow. The dormitory has since been converted into a hostel, which is very popular, for example for visiting school groups from Germany.16
The Polish state education platform Navoica17, which offers free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)18 taught by lecturers from the best universities and institutions, also refers to Nawojka's legend. Its explicit aim is to make learning available to anyone who desires it, regardless of their age or place of residence. The Rectors' Conference, which brings together all academic educational institutions in Poland, supports this non-commercial initiative: Amore Studii: For the love of learning.
Nawojka - Studentinnenwohnheim in Krakau, Władysława Reymonta 11, PL 30-059 Kraków, 12. Mai 2010
Nawojka - Studentinnenwohnheim in Krakau, Władysława Reymonta 11, PL 30-059 Kraków, 12. Mai 2010
Nawojka – Student dormitory in Kraków, Władysława Reymonta 11, PL 30-059 Kraków, May 12, 2010. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Nawojka – Student dormitory in Kraków, Władysława Reymonta 11, PL 30-059 Kraków, May 12, 2010. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
English translation: William Connor
Stephan Heinrich Nolte
Stephan Heinrich Nolte
Go to author biography

Footnotes
1.
https://en.uj.edu.pl/en_US/about-university/history viewed on 21.2.2024.
2.
Sławomira Walczewska: Ein Jahrestag an den polnischen Universitäten. L`Homme Europäische Zeitschrift für Feministische Geschichtswissenschaft (ZFG) 6 (1995) p. 103.
3.
The manuscripts, copies, can be found in the Melk Abbey Library, Cod. 139 (older no.: 632, L 59 C 19) 185r-217r; and in the Abbey Library of St. Peter in Salzburg, Cod. a. VI. 46, 1r-45v (15th century) (both copies) https://bibliotheca-gemnicensis.univie.ac.at/handschriften/martinus-leibitzensis-senatorium.
4.
H. Pez, Scriptores rerum Austriacarum veteres ac genuini, 2, Lipsiae 1725, 626-674 (BV) after the Melk manuscript, which has gaps in comparison to the Salzburg manuscript.
5.
https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/jancke-quellenkunde/verzeichnis/l/leibitz/index.html viewed on 8.2.2024.
6.
New translation by the author of the Latin text from 1725.
7.
Władysław II. Jagiełło (around 1362-1434).
8.
Michael H. Shank: A Female University Student in Late Medieval Kraków. In: Signs, Journal of women in culture and society 12/2 (1987) University of Chicago Press pp. 373-380.
9.
Album studiosorum Universitatis Cracoviensis, vol. 1, 1400-1489 (Krakow, University Publishing House 1887).
10.
https://www.poczetkrakowski.pl/tomy/show_article,piotr-kaldherberg-278.html viewed on 21.2.2024.
11.
Mirosława Olszewska, 101 kobiet polskich (101 Polish Women) Warsaw 1988 pp. 18-19 and http://webnews.textalk.com/nawojka/dobrzyn-upon-vistula viewed on 21.2.2024.
12.
Mirosława Olszewska, 101 kobiet polskich (101 Polish Women) Warsaw 1988 pp. 18-19.
13.
Maludy Aleksandra Katarzyna: Podwójne życie Nawojki. Rytm 2017 ISBN:9788373997158.
14.
Patrick Szatan : Modlitewnik Nawojki. Studium źródłoznawcze. Analecta Cracoviensia" 46 (2014), pp. 171-189 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15633/acr.961.
15.
https://womenundercommunism.com/films/the-girls-from-nawojka/ viewed on 21.2.2024.
16.
https://nawojka.hotelestudenckie.pl/en/ viewed on 21.2.2024.
17.
https://navoica.pl Viewed on 21.2.2024.
18.
https://www.mooc.org/.

Citation
Zitierempfehlung
License
Geographical context
People and organizations
Key words
Follow us