The text analyses the problem of the sanctity of rulers, especially non-martyrs, in Latin Europe in the Early and High Middle Ages. The starting point for this discussion is a frequently asked question about the reasons for the lack of such a phenomenon in Poland.

FICTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF PIETRO DE’ NATALI’S (1330-1406) VITA SANCTI ALBANI IN GIOVANNI BATTISTA MORONI’S (D. 1645) PRINCIPE SANTO

this article describes the rewriting process of Pietro de’ Natali’s Vita Sancti Albani in Giovanni Battista Moroni’s Principe Santo. through contextualising the experience among the canons of the 17th-century devotional novel and detecting the cultural and literary influences, this study explores the traits of the didactical project underpinned in the book, in which devotional purposes, moral meditations and political precepts are strongly intertwined. Finally, specific analyses are dedicated to the new geographical setting evoked in the novel, an ahistorical medieval Sarmatia (Poland); these examine the perception of a distant land and show the functional use of geographical elements to testify the historicity of an incredible story.