Works
Janicki was above all a writer of lyric verse, which can be proved by the contents of the 1542 volume. Inspired by Ovid, he created elegies developing personal motifs, sometimes giving topographical and personal details. Among these poems there is an autobiographical elegy De se ipso ad posteritatem ("On Myself for Posterity"), which is sometimes seen as a paraphrase of one of the elegies of the Roman master (Tristia IV, 10). With the title of his collection of poems Tristium Liber, the poet clearly refers to Ovid’s elegies written in exile, Tristia.
Apart from elegies, epigrams were the most common genre in the poet’s writing. Janicjusz expressed himself in various kinds of this genre: epitaphs, stemmata (poems on coats of arms) and in imagery poems similar to emblematic compositions. Using the examples of Martial, Propertius and Catullus, he undertook various erotic, laudatory, humorous and satirical motifs. There are two series of his epigrams: Vitae archiepiscoporum Gnesnensium and Vitae regum Polonorum. The first consists of 43 poems presenting the lives of the Gniezno archbishops, and was created owing to archbishop Krzycki. The characteristics of the clerical dignitaries are generally positive, however, there is some criticism or humorous overtones. The second series consists of 44 biograms of legendary (starting with Lech I) and historic rulers of Poland (starting with Mieszko I), this collection was initiated by Kmita.
Querela Reipublicae Regni Poloniae is of a completely different character. Poem, which refers to the events of the nobles’ rebellion known as the Chicken War, through the words of personified Poland, the artist complains about the nobility, magnates especially, their internal quarrels and their private interests.
A wedding song, Epithalamium Serenissimo Regi Poloniae, Sigismundo Augusto, written for the planned marriage of King Zygmunt August and Elżbieta, a daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor who was then King of the Bohemia and of Hungary, was the last work of Janicjusz. It contains two poems comprising over 500 verses as a whole. The first one, addressed to the King Zygmunt I the Old, was invented as a praise of the monarch and his military achievements among other things. The second, is a true wedding song and sings the praises of the bride and the groom.
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