Castle in Legnica during the siege by the Mongols in 1241., 1353/1972

The pictorial legend about St. Jadwiga, known as the Code of Lubin, was founded in 1353 by the then prince of Lubin, Ludwik I, a promoter of the holy cult. The author of the text was Mikołaj Pruzia. The anonymous author of miniatures presenting the godly life of Princess Jadwiga, four of them devoted to the fate of her son - Prince Henry II the Pious, who died in the battle with the Mongols in 1241. One of them shows the invaders besieging the castle in Legnica. Above the group of Tatar warriors, one can see the head of the defeated prince, impaled on a spear. According to reports, in this way the Mongols tried to weaken the spirit of the defenders and force the castle to surrender. The image of the Legnica stronghold in the life of St. Jadwiga, however fantastic, is one of the oldest ideas of an architectural monument from Silesia.
The collection of the Copper Museum includes a facsimile edition of the pictorial legend about St. Hedwig from 1353, published in 1972 in Berlin, in a limited number of 850 copies. The original of the code was then owned by the German industrialist, lawyer, art historian and art patron Peter Ludwig in Aachen, which was noted on the title page of the copy. In 1974, Ludwig gave the museum in Legnica a facsimile copy of the code no. 717. In 1983 the Code of Lubin was sold and is now in the United States at the J. Paul Getty, California, in the Department of Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts.