When a treasure of medieval coins is unearthed in the Holy Cross Mountains, or Świętokrzyskie, in south-central Poland, a three-century-old case is reopened. The pieces are believed to be linked to Antoni Jaczewicz, an 18th century hermit who became a false prophet, who took advantage of a plague epidemic to build a veritable criminal empire in these austere reliefs.
For seven years, members of the Świętokrzyskie Exploration Group have been crisscrossing these mountains, a few hundred kilometers from Warsaw, equipped with their metal detectors. In 2024, their patience is finally rewarded, says Popular Mechanics: a first small cluster of parts appears underground, soon followed by other caches, all dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Enough to give substance to local stories about the “hermit’s treasure”.
The loot turns out to be as eclectic as it is informative: coins from different origins are found, but the centerpiece is a gold ducat from Hamburg minted in 1648, representing a Madonna and Child. A hole drilled in the piece suggests that it was worn as a medallion, perhaps by a devotee, perhaps by Antoni Jaczewicz himself.
According to the provincial office for the protection of monuments in Kielce, Antoni Jaczewicz appears in the archives as a character on the border between legend and news item: hermit, adventurer, self-proclaimed prophet… and notorious crook. At the start of the Great Northern War, as the plague ravaged the region, he presented himself as a man endowed with healing powers transmitted directly by the Virgin Mary, who would live alongside him in his isolated hermitage.
False prophet, true bandit
In a Poland terrorized by disease, the promise of healing brings in donations. Offerings, fees and votive gifts accumulate to the point that the hermitage is transformed into a small fortress, guarded by henchmen responsible for protecting this providential treasure. Quickly, the line between protection and predation becomes blurred: Antoni Jaczewicz sends his guards to rob passing pilgrims and pillage surrounding properties.
History eventually catches up with the false prophet. Arrested for the first time, he managed to escape during the proceedings before the ecclesiastical justice of Krakow, before being recaptured and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1712, only four years after the start of his activities in the Świętokrzyskie mountains. If his men are scattered, his loot will never officially be found.
It is this gray area which motivated the research of the Świętokrzyskie Exploration Group, with the green light from the heritage authorities. Specialists now believe that the pieces discovered could correspond to a mixture of donations collected by the hermit and objects stolen from the local nobility, buried in haste when Antoni Jaczewicz knew he was threatened. For now, the link remains partly speculative, but the profile of the currencies coincides with the chronology of the case.
The treasure was handed over to the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, then entrusted to the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. The pieces must be preserved, restored and subjected to an in-depth numismatic and historical analysis, which could clarify their provenance and, perhaps, decide their association with Antoni Jaczewicz. Researchers hope to have answers by the end of the year.
The story may not be over. According to local officials cited by the Polish and international press, other deposits could still lie dormant under the forest, in this area already rich in remains. The treasure – and the legend of Antoni Jaczewicz – may well continue to grow as researchers dig into the undergrowth.
