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Here a More Joyous Scene Unfolds

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Here a More Joyous Scene Unfolds HOWARD LOUThAN From the Rhine to the Vistula The Low Countries, Germany and Religious Reform in Renaissance Poland The construction had lasted more than a decade and had engaged the ener- gies of an entire workshop. The result, though, pleased the city council beyond measure. Worshippers entered the church early to stare open-mouthed at what was the largest altarpiece ever assembled. The figures of the central panel measured nearly three meters high. But it was not the monumentality as much as the altar’s sheer emotive power that left a lasting impression on the believers. The German artist who had so patiently and skillfully shepherded this project to completion had created a moving tableau that captured both the sorrow and joy of the Virgin’s earthly passing. In the hour of her death, the grieving ­Apostles have come to join her and share her last moments. A bearded Saint Paul supports her sagging body while to her immediate right a distraught Peter casts his melancholy eyes down to the book he is holding. To her left the Apostle John visibly shaken grabs his robe in distress. Others of the twelve, though, have turned their gaze upwards where a more joyous scene unfolds. There surrounded by angels, Mary is received by her son in heaven. The pres- entation reaches its climax above this depiction of her apotheosis, indeed above the central panel itself. Here the Virgin is flanked by a series of life-size figures who witness her glorious coronation. Though altarpieces of this type could be found up and down the Rhine, a closer examination of this wooden monument would show that the saints surrounding the Virgin were neither those of Brabant­ or Cologne but of Poland, and the artist, Veit Stoss (c. 1450-1533), was work- ing not in Strasbourg or Colmar but Cracow. The Veit Stoss altarpiece (1477-89) of the St. Mary’s church is an appropri- ate image to begin an article aiming to identify parallels between the Low Countries and the Polish capital.1 The spiritual tone and tenor of early six- teenth-century Cracow raises a number of important questions concerning the progress of the Reformation and the nature of late medieval piety in central Europe. When we examine the period, 1517-45, developments in Poland sug- gest that we may want to reconsider some basic issues of chronology in a Reformation context. To begin let us consider more closely this Polish city and its inhabitants. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 1500, Cracow was slightly smaller than both Breslau and Prague. Even within Poland the city was the kingdom’s second largest behind Danzig with its booming grain trade. Numbers notwithstanding, the city enjoyed pride of place in the Polish lands. During the Renaissance humanists such as Aeneas Sylvius lavished praise on 1 Veit Funk, Veit Stoß. Der Krakauer Marienaltar (Freiburg: Herder, 1985). Ons Geestelijk Erf 87(1-2), 179-199. doi: 10.2143/OGE.87.1.3200544 © Ons Geestelijk Erf. All rights reserved. 180 Howard LoUthan Altar of Veit Stoss, St. Mary’s Church, Cracow, Poland a city where “the liberal arts flourished” while several generations later the engraver Matthäus Merian described Cracow as “the most celebrated and famous city in all of Poland”.2 Though the city’s origins can be traced back to the seventh century, its great turning point came in the thirteenth. Nearly com- pletely destroyed by the Mongols in 1241, Cracow was speedily rebuilt with its civic constitution now based on Magdeburg law. As such, it enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy and quickly developed into an important trade 2 Ignacy Zarębski, Stosunki Eneasza Sylwiusza z Polską i Polakami (Cracow: Nakładem Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, 1939) 77; Jan Pirożyński, “Cracow, the Center of Polish Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Printing,” Villes d’imprimerie et moulins à papier du XIVe au XVIe siècle, ed. Fernand Vercauteren (Brussels: Crédit communal de Belgique. Centre culturel, 1976) 140. From the Rhine to the VistUla 181 Altar of Veit Stoss, St. Mary’s Church, Cracow, Poland and commercial center. The guilds were particularly strong here perhaps best seen visually in the famous Renaissance Cloth Hall that still dominates the main town square. Apart from its commercial significance, the city had been the royal capital and seat of a bishopric since the eleventh century and an ­academic center with the university. 182 Howard LoUthan Cracow lay on the juncture of two important trade routes, one stretching from Russia to Germany while another heading south to Hungary and north to the Baltic. Its geographical positioning contributed to its cosmopolitan charac- ter. In the late sixteenth century an Italian merchant identified communities of Flemish, French, Turkish, Muscovite and even Persian traders. Approximately fifteen ethnic groups resided in Cracow and the immediate surroundings.3 The German population is particularly important for our discussion. By the end of the fifteenth century, a wealthy merchant class, primarily of German origin, had gained the support of the king and dominated Cracow’s administration. German speakers constituted approximately a fourth of the citizenry in 1500.4 Many of them had emigrated from regions along the Rhine such as Alsace and the Palatinate. Two of the most influential figures in early sixteenth-century Cracow were in effect Rhinelanders, the wealthy banker and financier, Seweryn Boner, and the powerful royal secretary, Justus Decius. The thriving town of Wissembourg in Alsace was particularly important and illustrative of the con- nections that developed between the Rhine and the Vistula. In the second half of the fifteenth century a number of groups and individuals from Wissembourg immigrated to Cracow including members of the Bethmann, Boner, Schilling, Herstein and Decius clans.5 The favor was actually returned in the eighteenth century when Poland’s deposed king Stanisław Leszczyński found refuge in Wissembourg in 1725. Religious developments in Cracow and Poland more broadly challenge those hoary stereotypes of the Late Middle Ages as an era of decay and decline. The Devotio Moderna spread to Poland. North of Cracow on the Vistula, the Brothers of the Common Life set up a school at the town of Chełmno. Some in fact have speculated that printing was introduced to the kingdom through their school.6 An array of important clerical leaders including Bartłomiej z Jasła, Jan Isner and Mikołaj z Błonia, wrote a series of pastoral treatises that clearly articulated the ideas and ideals of the Modern Devotion.7 The Observant movement also flourished in Poland, most specifically with the emergence of the Bernardines, the name given to the reformed branch of the Franciscans.8 3 Jan Gintel, ed., Cudzoziemcy o Polsce, vol. 2 (Cracow: Wyd. Lit, 1971) 188. 4 Henryk Samsonowicz, “Gesellschaftliche Pluralität und Interaktion in Krakau,” Krakau, Prag und Wien, eds. Marina Dmitrieva and Karen Lambrecht (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000) 121-122. 5 Janina Bieniarzówna and Jan Małecki, eds., Dzieje Krakowa, vol. 2, Kraków w wiekach ­XVI-XVIII (Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie Kraków, 1994) 19. 6 Stanisław Herbst, “The Country and the World of Copernicus,” The Scientific World of ­Copernicus, ed. Barbara Bieńkowska (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1973) 3; Pirożyński, 139. 7 Włodzimierz Bielak, Devotio moderna w polskich traktatach duszpasterskich powstałych do połowy XV wieku (Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2002); Marek Derwich, “Les ordres religieux et le développement de la ‘nouvelle piété’ en Pologne,” in, Die ‘Neue Frömmigkeit’ in Europa im Spätmittelalter, eds. Marek Derwich and Martial Staub (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004) 171-185. 8 Jerzy Kłoczowski, A History of Polish Christianity (Cambridge: CUP, 2000) 61; Kłoczowski, “L’Observance en Europe centrale-orientale au XVe siècle,” in Kłoczowski. La Pologne dans From the Rhine to the VistUla 183 The new university in Cracow provided critical leadership for the Church. The university was also a bastion of conciliar thought. Poles sent delegates who played active roles at Pisa, Constance and Basel. The school, in fact, was the last university in Europe to acknowledge the election of Pope Nicholas V after Felix, the candidate put forth by Basel, was forced to step down in 1449. Later in the century there was an efflorescence of devotional literature. One of the great “bestsellers” of the period, the Hortulus animae, was translated into Polish for an audience eager to use this popular prayer book. Additionally, there were the many lives of Christ produced specifically for pious reflection.9 And then of course there was the devotional art of the day best represented by the Stoss masterpiece. For a fuller sense of the religious context of this period, let us focus more closely on two important figures active in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Matthew of Cracow (1335-1410) illustrates the links that joined a common cultural space running from the Rhine to the Vistula.10 This prominent church man had a significant impact on three cities: Cracow, Prague and ­Heidelberg. Though born in Cracow, he came of age in Prague as a student at central Europe’s first university. After earning his degrees, he stayed in Bohemia and became a fixture both as a professor and popular preacher. Apart from Latin he preached regularly in Czech, German and Polish. In the heady period of religious reform before Hus, Matthew advocated frequent celebration of the Eucharist. Like Hus, he was a great critic of simony. During this period he led an embassy to Urban VI to whom his delegation submitted a petition of reform. His career reached its height, however, during his Heidelberg period. He moved to Heidelberg in 1395 and was appointed rector of the university the following year. There he wrote what may have been his most important work, De praxi Romanae curiae, a text that became particularly influential during the conciliar debates.11 He also had a successful career as a diplomat for the Palatine princes.
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