The reformation in Poland

by Paul Fox

Third Period, 1548-1573: Triumph and Dominance.—As the Reformation in Poland was steadily gathering strength and growing in influence, King Sigismund I died on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1548, and was succeeded by his son Sigismund Augustus, crowned since 1530 to succeed his father as king of Poland. Sigismund Augustus was a truly religious man, believing sincerely in the fundamentals of the Christian religion, but indifferent to the forms in which they were to be expressed. He adhered to the Church of Rome as the state church in which he had been brought up and to whose forms of worship he had become accustomed. At the same time he associated closely with Protestants, read Protestant books, and took part in discussions on theological questions. Calvin, as we have seen, had dedicated his Commentary on the Mass to him. Among his closest and most intimate friends were Protestants like Nicholas Radziwill the Black, grand hetman of Lithuania and brother-in-law of the young king, and Francis Lismanini, at one time private confessor of the king’s mother.[118]

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the Roman See and the Polish clergy were considerably apprehensive of the future of the Catholic Church in Poland, while the Protestants, on the other hand, looked forward with confidence, counting on the support of the young king. Just as soon as the news of the death of the old king reached the Pope, he at once dispatched to Poland a legate in the person of the Abbot Hieronimus Martinengo to carry to the young king his condolences, his congratulations, and his apostolic blessing, and to secure from him assurances of his loyalty to the Church of Rome and of his purpose to follow, in religious matters, in the footsteps of his father. The nuncio arrived in Poland in August, 1548. The king received him cordially, assured him of his respect for the Apostolic See, and advising him not to wait for the meeting of the next Diet, dismissed him.[119]

The Protestants, too, became now very active, preaching their doctrines openly, and holding services on the estates and in the villages of the szlachta. Their forces were strengthened by the arrival in Poland in the summer of 1548 of the Bohemian Brethren. They had been expelled from Bohemia and were on the way to East Prussia, where they were offered the hospitality of Duke Albert. On their arrival in Posen, they were cordially received by the Starosta-General of Great Poland, Andrew Górka, castellan of Posen. During their stay in Posen they preached publicly, and found many followers.[120] Ordered by the king, at the request of Bishop Idźbieński of Posen, to move on, they left; but their brief stay prepared the ground for future work, and established connections which enabled them to return later on.[121]

Scarcely had the bishop of Posen freed the city of the Bohemian Brethren, when he had a new case of heresy to deal with. The prebendary of St. John’s, Andrew Prażmowski, began to preach Calvinistic doctrines from the pulpit of his church. The bishop drove Prażmowski out of his diocese. However, this did not stop Prażmowski’s activity as a Calvinistic preacher. Finding refuge in Radziejów, Kuyavia, and protected there by the powerful magnate, Raphael Leszczyński, voyvoda of Brzezść and starosta of Radziejów, he prepared there the ground for the spread of Calvinism, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the Calvinistic Church in this voyvodship.[122] The same thing was happening in Little Poland, where Lismanini, though now under the ban of the bishop of Cracow, was nevertheless very active, spreading Calvinistic doctrines. Catholic priests one after another began now to leave the Church of Rome, to preach the Reformation doctrines, and to reorganize their churches and the form of worship by doing away with the mass and with pictures and by introducing the cup at communion.[123] Moreover, the aristocracy openly encouraged the spread of Protestantism in their possessions. Calvinistic churches sprang up at Alexandrowice of the Karmińskis, at Chrzęcice of the Filipowskis, at Pińczów of the Oleśnickis, and at Secynin of the Szafraniec family.[124] Karmiński and Filipowski had been members of the secret circle in Cracow, meeting for purposes of discussion of the new ideas.

At the Diet of Piotrków, 1547-1548, the szlachta had in the very first article demanded the preaching of the pure word of God without any human or Roman admixtures. All this, however, had been done rather quietly as yet. But now at the very first Diet, called by the new king to meet in Piotrków again in 1548, questions of religious reform were brought boldly to the front. The szlachta demanded freedom to speak of God freely in every place, which thing the clergy forbade. But when the issue was raised in the Senate, the king replied that to speak of God was the prerogative of the clergy, and that he would follow them.[125]

To such an extent had the reform movement spread, that it became necessary for the Calvinists of Little Poland to establish a better church organization. In effect they held the first synod in 1550 at Pińczów, in the possessions of Nicholas Oleśnicki, a descendant of the famous Bishop and Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki. Shortly thereafter they appointed Felix Krzyżak (Cruciger) of Szczebrzeszyn as superintendent of the Reformed Churches of Little Poland.[126] At the same time the clergy of the Roman Church were becoming more and more restless. Stanislaus Orzechowski, a canon of the cathedral chapter of Przemyśl and a man of noble rank, came out with denunciations of the evils of the church and with threats of marriage. Immediately a number of priests, Martin of Opoczyn, Martin Krowicki, Valentine, prebendary of Krzczonów, and others, proceeded to take wives unto themselves. In spite of their marriages, some of them still held to their charges, and argued for a married clergy.[127] Leonard Słończewski, who had openly criticized the Pope and the clergy while preacher of St. Mary’s, Cracow, now bishop of Kamieniec, preached against Peter’s primacy, the celibacy of the clergy, and their loose moral lives.[128] Maciejowski, bishop of Cracow, though by no means a supporter of the Reformation, yet favored certain reforms, like the cup at communion and a married clergy. Francis Stankar, professor of Hebrew in the University of Cracow, propounded views of the Trinity which were contrary to those held by the church. When charged with heresy and arrested by the bishop, he escaped with the help of the neighboring szlachta, found refuge at Dubieck in the possessions of the magnate Stanislaus Stadnicki, established a school there with five teachers, and continued to disseminate his ideas.[129]

This state of affairs stirred up the bishops to action. John Dziaduski, bishop of Przemyśl, having previously warned Orzechowski, who had married in spite of the warning, proceeded to try him along with some of the other married priests; but fearing interference from the szlachta, he condemned them in their absence without a hearing. Andrew Zebrzydowski, bishop of Cracow, summoned Conrad Krupka to justice; and when Krupka appeared accompanied by a number of friends, the bishop refused to hear him, and condemned him as a heretic without a trial. Orzechowski being a nobleman, his verdict had to be confirmed by the king before it could be executed. The king confirmed the verdict, and forwarded it to Kmita, starosta of Przemyśl for execution. Orzechowski was to be deprived of honor, his possessions were to be confiscated, and he was to be exiled. But Kmita, knowing the feeling of the szlachta in this matter, would not execute the verdict.[130]

In the ecclesiastical attack on Orzechowski, the szlachta saw an attack upon its own special privileges. When Orzechowski appealed his case to the Diet in 1550, the Diet took it up readily. The matter created such a commotion as to cause the Diet to break up without any results.[131] Instead of taking due warning, the bishops proceeded to exercise their authority in a still more high-handed way. In 1551 the bishop of Przemyśl condemned the magnate Stanislaus Stadnicki for protecting heretics. He did this in Stadnicki’s absence, without a trial, and against the protests of Stadnicki’s attorney. The Primate of Poland, Dzierzgowski, archbishop of Gnesen, showed his zeal by condemning as heretics Christopher Lasocki and James Ostrorog, two of the most powerful and distinguished magnates of Great Poland. In all these cases the bishops did not fail to declare distinctly that all the property of a condemned heretic was subject to confiscation.[132] The Polish szlachta, regardless of religious affiliation or sympathies, rose almost to a man in most indignant protests against such high-handed usurpation of power on the part of the hierarchy and against such brutal attacks upon their most fundamental rights. At the provincial diets in the fall of that year, at which delegates were chosen to the next Diet, the szlachta voiced their indignation against the clergy, and instructed the chosen deputies to the Diet of 1552 to protest against ecclesiastical jurisdiction and to demand its abolition.[133]

The Diet of 1552 met at Piotrków toward the end of January. The Chamber of Deputies elected as its president Raphael Leszczyński, starosta of Radziejów, an avowed Calvinist, who during the mass at the opening of the Diet stood in the church with his head covered. He was the chief spokesman of the injured and aggrieved szlachta. When the Chancellor had finished reading the appeal from the throne to consider problems of defense, Leszczyński rose in the name of the Chamber and the szlachta, stating that the Chamber would take no action on any matter until the grievances of the szlachta, arising from the abuse of ecclesiastical jurisdiction were removed. In this attitude the Protestants were supported even by loyal Catholics. In the ensuing debate the bishops were left without any support. The secular senators, among whom were several very influential Protestants, sided with the Chamber of Deputies. The leaders of the opposition to ecclesiastical jurisdiction were: in the Senate, John Tarnowski, castellan of Cracow and grand hetman of Poland, a loyal Catholic; in the Chamber, Raphael Leszczyński, starosta of Radziejów and president of the Chamber, an ardent Calvinist.[134] The struggle resulted in the suspension of ecclesiastical jurisdiction for a year, the szlachta agreeing to pay the customary tithes, the payment of which had in many instances already been stopped.[135]

From 1552 to 1565 the Protestants dominated all the Diets, electing invariably a Protestant as president of the Chamber of Deputies.