Siedemnastowieczne odpisy najstarszych akt prowincji karmelitów w Polsce. Uwagi wstępne

The chapter describes the challenges associated with researching the oldest documents of the Polish province of the Carmelite order, highlighting the rarity and fragmentary nature of medieval archival materials caused by fires and destruction. It presents the work of 17th century historians of the order, such as Błażej Choicki, Aleksander Kośliński, and Marcin Behm, who copied and compiled lost provincial chapter acts. The author compares the surviving copies with analogous German manuscripts to reconstruct the probable form of the original, concise records. He analyzes differences in the copies, omissions, and problems with reading names, emphasizing that despite these difficulties, Behm’s copy remains a key source for the history of the Carmelite province in Poland.