Yazlovets is a town in historical Podolia in the pre-war Buczac District of the Ternopil Voivodeship. It has been linked to Poland since the time of Casimir the Great (14th century). At first, it was the property of the Buczackis of the Abdank coat of arms, who adopted the surname Jazłowieckie, and later of the Radziwiłłs, Koniecpolskis and Błażowskis, among others. It is mentioned as the place of residence and eternal rest of Gomółka - and since his name is not engraved in stone, this may refer to Mikołaj, the most outstanding Polish composer of the Renaissance, as well as Michał, most probably his son.

Gomółka's tombstone - inscription
The Latin text of the epitaph is as follows:

D.O.M.A.
GOMOLCAM HIC LAPIS INDICAT SEPULTUM
QUEM CUM DEVORAT ATRA MORS CHORAULAE
OMNES INGEMUERE MUSICIQUE
MAGNATUM DOMUS STETERE MUTAE
AT RECTE CINERES TUI QUIESCANT
GOMOLCA HOC TUMULO A TUIS PARATO
URBEM NEC PATRIAM CRACI REQUIRANT
OBIIT ANNO D. MDCIX
DIE V. MARTII AETATIS XLV.

translated into Polish is:
To God the Best and Most High.
The stone indicates the Gomolka buried here.
When a cruel death claimed him
all the choristers and musicians wept.
The houses of the magnates stood silent.
And may your ashes rest in peace
Gomółko, in this grave prepared by Your
and may they not miss your native city of Krak.
Died in the year P. 1609
on 5 March at the age of 45 years".

Does the epitaph located in the former jazłowiec parish church belong to Mikołaj Gomółka? If so, there were misrepresentations in its inscription (the age, and probably the date of death). If, on the other hand, was it not dedicated to Nicolaus? It can be presumed that it was dedicated to Mikolaj Gomolka - if it was Mikolaj's son, the date of death and age are not mistaken. Or perhaps it belonged to yet another Gomolka, unknown by name, who was also a musician, which cannot be ruled out given the musically talented family.

A fairly well-documented biography of Nicolas, a stone slab with an inscription preserved in the jazłowiec church, and a critical analysis of previous publications will help to dispel these doubts.

Mikołaj Gomółka - who he was
Nicolas Gomolka (Gomulka, Gomolca) was born between 1532 and 1536 in Sandomierz (some mention Kraków). He was the son of Sandomierz burghers Tomasz and Katarzyna (according to some Agnieszka). It is known that in 1545 he found himself at the court of Sigismund Augustus. Initially, he was among the pageants as a 'boy singer' in the choir. Between 1548 and 1550 he was apprenticed to the musician Jan Klaus to become a royal trumpeter (tubicinator) and then a flutist (fistulator). He stayed with the court in Kraków, Vilnius, Knyszyn, Piotrków, Gdańsk, and perhaps also in Königsberg.

In 1563, he left the royal chapel to appear in his hometown of Sandomierz, where he held the offices of alderman and bailiff, but relinquished these official duties in 1573. Between 1567 and 1570, or possibly earlier (1563), he married Jadwiga Kuszniewiczówna (or Kuszmierowiczówna), and it may be assumed that it was with her that he had a son Michał, also a musician, born in Sandomierz. It is most likely that in the following years he stayed in Pińczów and Miechów as a musician of the monastery band. He later found himself in Kraków, where his epoch-making work Melodie na Psałterz polski ułożone na cztery głosy do 150 psalmów Dawida, translated by Jan Kochanowski ("Melodie na Psałterz Polski przez Mikołaja Gomólka uczynione, w Krakowie, w drukarni Łazarzowej Roku Pańskiego 1580") was published. He may also have been musician to the Bishop of Cracow Piotr Myszkowski (c. 1505-1591) at the time, until 1586.

In the following years, most probably 1590-1591, Mikołaj was a member of the band at the court of Chancellor Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605) together with the already mentioned Michał Gomółka. The last information on Nicolas bears the date 30 June 1591, with no news of him from a later period. It is possible - but these are only speculations - that he and his presumed son later settled in Jazłowiec, at the court of Hieronim Jazłowiecki (1570-1607), Voivode of Podolia, in whose band Michał was a musician and conductor.

Church in Jazlovets and Dominicans
A few words should be dedicated here to the church in Jazlovets and the historical epitaph in it today.

The former Dominican Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built around 1590 in Renaissance-Gothic style. It was built as a single-nave church with a pentagonal chancel and two chapels. The church had a cross vault, while the façade retains a three-storey tower and interesting Renaissance portals.

Today, the church is a half-collapsed ruin, and of the interior decoration only fragments of wall paintings can be discerned on the chancel vault and the inner wall of the nave. The destruction of the church probably started as early as the time of the partitions, but it nevertheless served worshippers until the end of the Second World War. It was not until the Soviet years, when it was used as a warehouse for alcohol products, that the church was actually destroyed.

Gomółka's tombstone - a brief history
Gomółka's epitaph was subjected to various, so far not fully explained, turns of fate. Initially, it was probably located inside the church, although it cannot be ruled out that its original location was the outer wall of the temple or that it was a separate sepulchral object in its immediate vicinity.

As ethnographer and folklorist Zygmunt Gloger (1845-1910) wrote in the 'Encyklopedia staropolska ilustrowana': "the tomb was used for the walls of a nearby distillery", which may suggest just its external location. It was saved by the local priest (Łuszczyński), who had the tombstone placed in the church - this took place in the first half of the 19th century. According to another version ("Semper Fidelis" 3/1996), the tombstone was found in the cemetery wall and "by order of Baroness Rozalia Błażewska, it was taken out, cleaned and restored, and then in 1830 moved and placed at the main entrance [...], where it remained until 1939".

The reading of Gomolka's epitaph is now much more difficult due to surface damage, including spontaneous damage (involving powdering of the limestone) and obliteration of the letters. Nevertheless, a full reconstruction of the old Latin text was also possible thanks to its former publication (albeit with slight distortions) in 1828 in both the Lviv periodical ("Rozmaitości" No. 49, supplement to "Gazeta Lwowska") and the Warsaw periodical ("Gazeta Polska" No. 339). This testifies to a wider interest in the person of the composer, despite the period of partitions. The author of the text has no doubt that the tombstone belongs to Mikołaj Gomółka. However, he mistranslates the word "choraulae", which means choristers and not the name of the village of Chorawla, where Gomółka would end his life. It is also unfounded to say that Gomolka was born in Kraków. The text of the epitaph could only be the basis for such a presumption.

Gomółka's tombstone - contemporary
At present, the tombstone is located in the porch, embedded in the projection of the wall supporting the music choir. However, it is not known whether this was its original location. Only a slab of limestone (measuring 71 x 75.5 cm) with the inscription quoted above appears to be original, 17th-century in it. It is incorporated, it seems, into a younger, probably 19th century monument of grey sandstone (all about 200 cm high). Above the aforementioned inscription panel is a bas-relief with Christ on the cross and a kneeling figure to the right. This part of the monument is topped by a triangular plaque with a bas-relief of an angel's head with wings. The front surface of the tombstone is 21 cm forward of the plane of the wall.

Tombstone of Gomółka - Michael or Nicholas
Gomolka's age carved into the stone - 45 at the time of his death in 1609. - implies that he was born in 1564. If it is hypothesised that it refers to Nicolas, it would have to be a mistake, as he could not have made his life so young, as it is known that nineteen years earlier (in 1545) he had been at the royal court. It is therefore likely that this refers to Michael, who in turn is known to have died suddenly in Jazłowiec. Based on this supposition, his year of birth (1564) corresponds with the assumed date of Nicolas' marriage (probably in 1563) and the assumption that he is Michal's father.

However, opinions that this is Michael's epitaph come from a later period. Earlier researchers do not recognise the inconsistency of the dates on the plaque with Nicolas' biography, so they have no doubt that it is dedicated to him. However, the fact that he would have been (sic!) 16 years old at the time of composing the 'Melody for Psalter', they probably take as a sign of his compositional genius. Consequently, they assume that Nicolas' place of birth is Kraków - mentioned in the tombstone inscription. This position, which is also shared by Zygmunt Gloger, may be due to the fact that Nicolas was an eminent and widely known musician and composer, whereas Michał remained in his shadow, barely noticed.

This view also calls for attention for the reason that - as it seems - opinions formed by researchers less distant "in time" from the epoch in which Gomółka lived, when his memory was more vivid and historical sources more complete, should be closer to the truth. However, it is known that old publications did not always present satisfactory factual accuracy. Today we have only the certainty that the gravestone is the same as it once was. Indeed, it is undisputed that the description of the slab from 1828 is consistent with the one preserved today. Only the inscription was the basis for first stating and then only guessing to whom the epitaph was dedicated.

The roofless church of Zywół is visible from afar, and a country lane leads easily to its walls. Inside them, we will easily come across Gomolka's epitaph. Although we are not sure if it was dedicated to Nicolaus, let us stand in contemplation of his outstanding musical work, once resounding at the courts of the Jagiellonian and probably also the Vasa monarchy, may it not sink with the memory of its author into the silence of today's destruction and oblivion.