Esterka

{{Short description|Mistress of Casimir III the Great}} thumb|190x190px|Esterka (undated, pre-1839)

'''Esterka''' (also Estera) is the name traditionally given to a Jewish woman who, according to later chronicles and folklore, became the mistress of Casimir III the Great, King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. Medieval Polish and Jewish writers often treated the story as historical, recounting a celebrated romance between the king and the beautiful Jewish woman. <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3-xVOCy_68C&q=Esterka+medieval+chroniclers+the+story+as+historical+fact&pg=PA125|title=Sparks Amidst the Ashes: The Spiritual Legacy of Polish Jewry|last=Sherwin|first=Byron L.|date=1997-04-24|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195355468|pages=125|language=en}}</ref>

==Legend== thumb|Esterka Małach|227x227px The first account of Esterka can be found in scripts of the 15th-century Polish chronicler Jan Długosz and recorded again, a century later, by the famous Jewish chronicler David Gans, who even maintained that Esterka was married to the king.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Esterke|title=YIVO {{!}} Esterke|last=Haya|first=Bar-Itzhak - Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature and Head of Folklore Studies, University of Haifa|website=yivoencyclopedia.org|publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|access-date=2018-12-30|quote=The earliest written version of the Esterke legend by a Jewish author appears in David Gans's sixteenth-century chronicle, Tsemaḥ David. Gans wrote that Casimir, King of Poland, took as his concubine a Jewish girl named Esther, a maiden whose beauty was unparalleled in the entire country, and she was his wife for many years. The King performed great favors for the Jews for her sake, and she extracted from the king writs of kindness and liberty for the Jews.}}</ref> Gans wrote: {{Blockquote |text="Casimir, the king of Poland, took for himself a concubine - a young Jewess named Esther. Of all the maidens of the land, none compared to her beauty. She was his wife for many years. For her sake, the king extended many privileges to the Jews of his kingdom. She persuaded the king to issue documents of freedom and beneficence."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFLnCwAAQBAJ&q=David+Ganz+version&pg=PA126|title=Sparks Amidst the Ashes: The Spiritual Legacy of Polish Jewry|last=Sherwin|first=Byron L.|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195106855|pages=126|language=en|quote="1370. Casimir, the king of Poland, took for himself a concubine - a young Jewess named Esther. Of all the maidens of the land, none compared to her beauty. She was his wife for many years. For her sake, the king extended many privileges to the Jews of his kingdom. She persuaded the king to issue documents of freedom and beneficence."}}</ref>}}

According to the legend, Esterka was the daughter of a poor tailor from Opoczno named Rafael. Her beauty<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y6AZAAAAYAAJ&q=Estera+by%C5%82a+%C5%BCyd%C3%B3wk%C4%85%3B+musia%C5%82a+by%C4%87+pi%C4%99kn%C4%85&pg=PA139|title=Przyjaciel ludu: czyli, tygodnik potrzebnych i pożytecznych wiadomości|date=1840|publisher=Nakładem i drukiem E. Günthera|location=Leszno|pages=139|language=pl|trans-title=A friend of the people: a weekly of vital and useful news|quote=Estera was a Jewess; she had to be beautiful..}}</ref> and intelligence were legendary. She was later installed in the royal palace of Lobzovo near Krakow.<ref name="Remembering Esterka">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/jewess-press/impact-women-history/remembering-esterka/2018/02/16/|title=Remembering Esterka|website=jewishpress.com/}}</ref>

thumb|Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. Krakowska street 46. Esterka Building (1872).|180x180px Esterka was said to have played a significant role in Casimir's life. In the legend, she performed as a King's adviser in support of various initiatives: free trade, building stone cities, tolerance to representatives of different religious faiths and support of cultural development. Casimir was loyal to the Jews and encouraged them. For many years, Krakow was the home of one of the most important Jewish communities in Europe.<ref name="Remembering Esterka"/> He was called The Great King for his intelligence and bright vision, which helped him to increase the size and wealth of Poland. During the years of the Black Death Esterka's influence helped to prevent the murder of many Polish Jews who were scapegoated for the disease.

[[Image:Łuszczkiewicz-Kazimierz Wielki u Esterki.jpg|thumb|"Casimir the Great Arriving to the House of his Mistress Esterka", by Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (1870)|220x220px]] King Casmir had several wives, but Esterka was said to have been the only one who gave him male offspring despite the fact that they never were officially married. Their sons, Pelko and Nemir, were said in the legend to have been baptized on the request of their father. The two became the mythical ancestors of several Polish noble families. To develop legal and commercial relations between Jews, Poles, and Germans, Pelko was sent to Kraków. In 1363, Nemir was sent to Ruthenia to establish a new knightly order, which later became the patrimonial nest of the Rudanovsky dynasty.<ref name= A>{{cite web|url=http://www.aapjstudies.org/index.php?id=176|title=The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies - Nathan Cohen Esterka|website=aapjstudies.org}}</ref> She also had two daughters brought up as Jews.<ref name="Remembering Esterka"/>

After Casimir's death, his nephew Louis of Hungary became the King of Poland. During his reign, riots broke out against the Jews, especially violent in Krakow. According to the legend, rioters broke into Esterka's palace in Lobzovo and murdered her and her two daughters.<ref name="Remembering Esterka"/> Rudanovsky from Rudawa River was considered Esterka's burial.

==Places== '''Esterka House'''

Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków is located at Krakowska street 46.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museums.krakow.travel/en/muzea/id,86,title,the-seweryn-udziela-museum-of-ethnography-in-krakow.html|title=The Seweryn Udziela Museum of Ethnography in Krakow|website=museums.krakow.travel}}</ref>

''' Wawel Castle'''

Several places such as villages, streets and monuments in Poland are named after Esterka including a street in Cracow<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WAqAQAAIAAJ&q=Imieniem+Esterki+nazwana+jest+jedna+z+ulic+Krakowa|title=A : akcent|date=1998|publisher=Wydawnictwo Lubelskie|language=pl|quote=One of Krakow's streets is named Ester after Esterka.}}</ref> and usually ones associated with her and the King. In some sources Esterka is presented as King's consort who actually lived with him at Wawel Castle.

'''Royal Palace in Łobzów'''

King Cazimir built a fortalicium on the trade route leading to Silesia. It was a castle with a tower whose function was to defend the city from the north. But according to the legend, the King built it for his beloved Esterka.

'''Esterka Mound'''

Esterka Mound was situated on Rudawa river, more than 3 km to the northwest of Wawel Hill in the gardens of the royal palace at Łobzów. The mound was excavated at the end of the eighteenth century on the initiative of King Stanisław August Poniatowski in the belief that it would contain Esterka's medieval grave. The mound was completely destroyed in the 1950s during the construction of a sports stadium.<ref>[https://brill.com/view/title/14250 The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland]</ref>

<gallery> File:Royal Palace in Łobzów.jpg|Royal Palace in Łobzów File:Kopiec Esterki.jpg|Esterka Mound </gallery>

==In modern culture== A historical mural at Joseph Street was introduced in 2016. It portrays people associated with the district: King Kazimierz the Great and Esterka. <gallery> File:Esterka Graffiti.jpg|Historical Mural at Joseph Street File:Kazimir and Esterka.jpg|Casimir the Great and Esterka mural </gallery>

==In literature== * Marcin Bielski “''Kronika wszystkiego świata''” (Chronicle of everything in the World) (1551)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://polona.pl/item/kronika-wszystkiego-swiata,MTEyMzI1NTg/4/#info:metadata|title=Polona|website=polona.pl|access-date=2018-12-29|quote=Kazimierz chował miłośnicę z Czech Rokiczankę, która była niepospolitej cudowności, ale nią potem wzgardził, a Esterkę Żydówkę na jej miejsce wziął}}</ref> * David Gans ''Chronicle'' (1595)<ref name="sicher" /> * Ludwig Giesebrecht - "Esther" (from ''Gedichte vol. XVIII: Buch der Hebräer'') (1836) * Józef Ignacy Kraszewski ''"Król chłopów"'' (Peasant King), Book Six<ref name=sicher/> * Yitshak ben Moshe Rumsch ''"The Book of Esther the Second"'' (1883)<ref name=sicher/> * Shmuel Yosef Agnon ''"In Esterka's House"''<ref name=sicher/> * Karl Emil Franzos ''"Esterka Regina"'' (The Queen Esterka) in ''"The Jews of Barnow"'' (1872)<ref name=sicher/> * Aaron Zeitlin ''"Esterke"'' (1932)<ref name=sicher>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LsUpDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Jew%27s+Daughter%3A+A+Cultural+History+of+a+Conversion+Narrative The Jew's Daughter: A Cultural History of a Conversion Narrative (Efraim Sicher)]</ref> * Thaddeus Bulgarin “''Esterka''” (1828)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIxgAAAAMAAJ&q=Jana+Tadeusza+Bu%C5%82haryna+Esterka|title=Pamiętnik literacki: czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej|date=1988|publisher=Zakład im. Ossolińskich|pages=312|language=pl|trans-title=Diary of literature}}</ref>

==In art== * Franciszek Żmurko – ''"Casimir the Great and Esterka"'' (1891) * Wandalin Strzałecki – ''"Casimir the Great and Esterka"'' (1879, lost) * Władysław Łuszczkiewicz – ''"Casimir the Great visiting Esterka"'' * Maurycy Gottlieb – ''"Esterka and King Casimir"'' (1879)<ref name=sicher/>

==In music== * Carl Loewe - ''Esther: A Song-cycle in the form of a Ballad'' (after Giesebrecht), Op. 52 (1835)

==In historical works== * Simon Dubnow – ''"History of the Jews in Russia and Poland"'' (1916)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/jewess-press/impact-women-history/remembering-esterka/2018/02/16/|title = Remembering Esterka}}</ref> * [https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Shmeruk_Khone Chone Shmeruk]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academy.ac.il/Index2/Entry.aspx?nodeId=835&entryId=18495|title=Prof. Chone Shmeruk|website=academy.ac.il|language=en|access-date=2018-12-30}}</ref> – "''The Esterke Story in Yiddish and Polish Literature''"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwdjAAAAMAAJ&q=Esterke+story|title=The Esterke Story in Yiddish and Polish Literature: A Case Study in the Mutual Relations of Two Cultural Traditions|last=Shmeruk|first=Chone|date=1985|publisher=Zalman Shazar Center for the Furtherance of the Study of Jewish History|isbn=9789652270245|language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://esterka168078242.wordpress.com/ Esterka – Jewish wife of Casimir III the Great] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212143337/http://www.apetycik.pl/teksty.php?tekst=347&kat=12 Hamlet in Kazimierz?] {{In lang|pl}}

Category:Medieval Jewish women Category:Legendary Polish people Category:Mistresses of Polish royalty Category:Medieval Polish Jews Category:Casimir III the Great Category:14th-century Polish women Category:14th-century Polish people Category:14th-century Jews Category:Jewish concubines Category:Concubines Category:Legendary Jews Category:Murdered Jews