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 sixteenth-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).

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 character. 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 connections 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. In this capacity he served as an ambassador for Ruprecht III at the council of Pisa in 1409. As for Poland, Matthew’s primary influence was educational. In 1387 he travelled to Frombork, Copernicus’ future home, where he had extended discussions with the bishop most likely on the organiza- tion of a university at Chełmno. His work in Cracow was more substantive. The university established by King Casimir the Great (1333-70) had essentially collapsed at his death. Matthew’s efforts in reorganizing the theological faculty were particularly important. He was also instrumental in bringing the ideas of the Devotio Moderna to the city.

l’Eglise médiévale (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1993) 171-191. 9 See in particular Baltazar Opec, Żywot Wszechmocnego Syna Bożego Pana Jezu Krysta (Cracow: Wietor, 1522). 10 Matthias Nuding, Matthäus von Krakau. Theologe, Politiker, Kirchenreformer in Krakau, Prag und Heidelberg (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007). 11 Phillip Stump, The Reforms of the Council of Constance, 1414-18 (Leiden: Brill, 1994) 244. 184 Howard Louthan

If Matthew of Cracow through his peripatetic career highlights the links that developed between the Rhine and Vistula, James of Paradyż (1380/1-1464/5) illustrates the influence a church man active in Poland could exercise along the Rhine and into the Low Countries.12 Born in a German-speaking village west of Poznań, James entered a nearby Cistercian monastery where his intellectual acuity and spiritual sensibilities were recognized by his superiors. In 1420 they sent him to the university in Cracow where he remained for two decades, first as a student and then as a professor. During this period of his career he worked to reform his order and address the broader problems facing the Church at large. He emerged as a great champion of conciliarism and had a significant influence on a Polish delegation that attended the Council of Basel. In the early 1440s he left both Cracow and the Cistercians. He joined the Carthusians and settled at their monastery in Erfurt where he devoted himself primarily to writing. In one of the last sermons he delivered in Cracow he observed, “Whoever wishes to bring about unity, should first attain, by means of unity, a moral integrity, in its entirety; within his own self.”13 As he alluded in this homily, James felt the need to shift his gaze from institutions to individuals as he wrote a series of spiritual texts aimed for the reform of a both a monastic and lay audience. Scholars have noted that James’ program had much in common with the Devotio Moderna and his ideas certainly did resonate along the Rhine and into the Low Countries. In Basel university professor Wilhelm Textoris looked to him for inspiration. Three editions of his work rolled off the city’s presses in the 1460s and 70s. At Strasbourg the charismatic preacher Geiler von Kay- sersberg made significant use of his sermons. Jakob Wimpfeling, the humanist from Sélestat, turned to him as well, and further up the Rhine in Cologne, the Carthusians planned to publish a large collection of his writings. In north Germany his work connected with the Observant movement and the Bursfelde Congregation, and in the Low Countries it fed into and influenced the Wind- esheim reform.14 Though he was influential in the years before the Reforma- tion, memory of James was essentially swept away by Luther and his allies who saw monastic reform as a flawed enterprise propping up a failing institution that should be abolished altogether.

12 On James see Dieter Mertens, Iacobus Carthusiensis. Untersuchungen zur Rezeption der Werke des Kartäusers Jakob von Paradies (1381-1465) (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1976); “Jakub z Paradyża,” Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. 46 (Wrocław: Zakład narodowy imienia Ossolińskich wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1963) 363-364; Bronisław Geremek, “Géographie et apocalypse: la notion de l’Europe chez Jacques de Paradyż,” Acta Poloniae Historica 56 (1987): 5-17. 13 Cited in Thomas Wünsch, “Between conciliar thought and mystical theology. The development of ideas for church reform by James of Paradyż,” Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. A Cultural History, eds. Piotr Górecki and Nancy van Deusen (London: I.B. Taurus, 2009) 166. 14 Jarosław Stoś, Mistrz Jakub z Paradyża i devotio moderna (Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Akademii Teologii Katolickiej, 1997); Dieter Mertens, “Jakob von Paradies,” Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters Verfasserlexikon, vol. 4 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1983) 485-486. From the Rhine to the Vistula 185

Erasmus and Humanist Reform in Poland

If, as the evidence indicates, the model of decline, a long story of corruption, anticlericalism and stagnation does not seem to fit the Polish context, what is happening here in the early sixteenth century? The accession of King Sigismund I (1506-48) marked the beginning of what is justly recognized as a golden age for the kingdom. In a period of celebrated Renaissance princes, Sigismund has been shouldered aside by his more dynamic contemporaries. Admittedly, he did not have the charm and charisma of Henry VIII, the elegance and refinement of Francis I or the ambition and imagination of Maximilian I. Nevertheless, Sigismund was in many ways the most successful monarch of this memorable Renaissance cohort. During his long reign, Poland emerged from a period of instability to become a leading continental power economically, politically and militarily. His achievement is all the more remarkable when we consider that he was never expected to accede to the throne in the first place. Sigismund was the eighth child and fifth son of King Casimir IV (1447-92). But with Casimir’s eldest becoming King of Bohemia and Hungary and a subsequent series of early deaths, Sigismund, whose greatest attribute may have been his sturdy constitution, surprisingly found himself on the Polish throne in 1506. He turned out to be a great success. On the military and diplomatic front, he maneuvered deftly between Poland’s tradi- tional enemies and rivals as he secured his kingdom’s frontiers with the Teutonic knights, the Muscovites, Tatars and Habsburgs. Tutored by Italian humanists and shaped by the cultural currents of the Renaissance, he renovated the Polish court and capital following classical models. Under his leadership Cracow emerged as one of central Europe’s most significant cultural and intellectual centers. After Prague, it boasted the region’s oldest university, a school that reached the height of its prestige and influence in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. From 1470-1520 more than 14,000 students attended. Scholars have estimated that during this period the students and masters of the university constituted approximately ten percent of the city’s total population.15 Then, there were the printers. Printing had begun in Cracow in the 1470s and quickly became an important hub for the industry across the region. Apart from Polish, the city played a critical role in the development of Hungar- ian printing and produced the first book in Cyrillic characters, a psalter published in 1491. Though other centers developed around the kingdom, more than two thirds of all titles published in Poland during the sixteenth century were from Cracow printing houses.16 In this heady atmosphere of cultural and intellectual exchange, a series of very interesting conversations was taking place between the kingdom’s elites

15 Paul Knoll, “A Pearl of Powerful Learning.” The University of Cracow in the Fifteenth Century, unpublished manuscript, appendix II, 1-3; Pirożyński, 26-28. 16 Pirożyński, 161; on Hungarian see Katalog wystawy rękopisów i druków polsko-węgierskich XV i XVI wieku (Cracow: Gebetner & Wolff, 1928). 186 Howard Louthan concerning the reform of Church and society. Two points should be noted here. First, these discussions tended to focus on spiritual and moral issues rather than confessional and doctrinal matters. Second, there was one figure in particular who, time and time again, came to the fore in these conversations—the Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus. In a famous letter to England’s Archbishop Warham, Erasmus boasted of his devoted following in Poland.17 While Erasmus may have first become acquainted with Poles during his time in Italy, he did not begin corresponding with them until relatively late. His first letter to a Polish colleague was addressed to Justus Decius in 1523.18 Once the epistolary exchange began, however, it quickly accelerated. Nearly one hun- dred letters survive between Erasmus and a Polish correspondent.19 Erasmus lavished praise on a land of philosopher kings and a kingdom “flourishing in literature, law, customs and religion”. 20 The Poles, for their part, filled their letters with flattery, and many undertook what became in some circles almost an obligatory pilgrimage to Basel. Stanislas Hosius, who later became Poland’s great champion of Catholic reform, captured the feelings of many when he penned a flowery epigram praising the “immortal Erasmus who draws men to himself from across the entire world.”21 Let us examine this relationship more closely by considering a small portion of Erasmus’ correspondence with his Polish friends. Here I will highlight the “Rhineland connection” by focusing on his friendship with Justus Decius (1485-1545). Decius or Jost Ludwig Dietz had emigrated from the bustling Alsatian town of Wissembourg where his father had served as mayor. For a time he travelled about central Europe before settling in Cracow where he eventually became one of Sigismund’s most influential advisors. Decius’ relationship with Erasmus began in 1522 when after a trip to Italy he stopped in Basel to meet the humanist. They maintained a lively correspondence, and a close friendship developed between the two. Decius is important as he shows us a different side of the Dutch humanist. While scholars have devoted significant energy studying Erasmus the great Biblical scholar or brilliant humanist critic, they have given far less attention to an interior Erasmus. A generation ago, scholars frequently characterized Erasmus’ personal piety as detached and abstract. Roland Bainton contended that the Dutchman “spiritualized” external expressions of Christianity “to such a degree that he was accused of reducing Christianity to an attitude.”22 His correspondence with Decius in particular and the Poles more generally offers fascinating insights into an Erasmian spirituality that challenges these stereotypes. We discover an

17 P.S. Allen, ed., Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, vol. 5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924) letter 1488. 18 Allen, vol. 5, letter 1393. 19 Particularly useful for this correspondence is Maria Cytowska, ed., Korespondencja Erazma z Rotterdamu z Polakami (Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1965). 20 Allen, vol. 9, letter 2533. 21 Stanisław Hozjusz, Poezje (Olsztyn: Pojezierze, 1988) Poem 19, lines 59-60, 44. 22 Roland Bainton, Erasmus of Christendom (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969) 67. From the Rhine to the Vistula 187 individual who offers a devotional model of interior vibrancy and passionate intensity. After they had first met, Decius asked Erasmus to write a treatise on the Lord’s Prayer. Erasmus complied, but instead of producing an abstract theological reflection or detailed scholarly commentary, he wrote a prayer book. The 1523 Precatio Dominica was a great success. By the following year there were six Latin editions and two translations, one in German and one in English rendered by Margaret Roper, Thomas More’s gifted daughter. It eventually appeared in Polish (1533) and even in Dutch by the end of the century.23 The text itself was quite simple. Following Decius’ instructions, Erasmus had divided it into seven sections. Each was an independent prayer elaborating on a single petition of the Our Father. Each had an illustration highlighting specific attitudes or practices of piety Erasmus was promoting. The prayer as a whole reflects key aspects of his reform agenda: an Erasmian Biblicism, a Christo- centric orientation and an emphasis on ecclesial peace and unity. But above all, we see Erasmus promoting a piety that far from abstract and distant is acces- sible and near. For him the prayer was a clear and open invitation to respond to God’s love and enter his kingdom that has come down from heaven and now “may ever flourish in us”.24 When we examine the prayer book more closely, three themes in particular emerge that cast an important light on this pastoral Erasmus who sought to instill spiritual virtues in his readers. Expounding on the first petition, he observed, “Words of love and devotion have pleased you more than words showing fear. You would rather hear ‘Father’ than ‘Master’. Your wish is for us to return your love as your children rather than to fear you as your servants.”25 While Erasmus the satirist was often caustic in his critique of society, he infused his spiritual writings with a sense of God’s great generosity and love. Unlike Luther and Calvin who had a more jaundiced view of human nature, Erasmus saw the problem of sin less as an issue of innate corruption and more as a product of human weakness. God’s love for humanity rouses within us a desire for Him that can transform our weakness and strengthen our inner character. Prayer, for Erasmus, created the proper disposition for the cultivation of spiritual virtues. The Precatio Dominica was part of a broader series of writings on prayer. The following year he wrote his most important work on the subject, Modus orandi Deum, which he dedicated to Jerome Łaski, yet another of his Polish friends. Here, too, he emphasized the transformative nature of God’s love. A second theme that Erasmus emphasized was that of unity and peace. “Hear our prayers for harmony,” he intoned in the first petition, “for it is not right that brothers, whom you in your goodness have made equal in your freely given

23 Desiderius Erasmus, The Lord’s Prayer in Collected Works of Erasmus vol. 69, ed. John O’Malley (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999) xii. 24 Erasmus, 66. 25 Erasmus, 60. 188 Howard Louthan gift, should contend with each other through ambition, rivalry, hatred and jealousy.”26 Erasmus made reference to harmony, peace or concord in nearly every petition of the prayer. Writing in the mid-1520s, he was obviously con- cerned with the growing polarization of the Christian community and worked hard to prevent its fragmentation. Poland was so important to him as it offered an example to the rest of the continent where unity could be maintained under wise Christian leadership. The irenic Erasmus with his pacifist leanings is of course well known. What may be less appreciated is the extent to which his ideas grew out of a deep spirituality. In one of his most famous tracts against war, “The Complaint of Peace” (1517), he embedded a discussion of the Lord’s Prayer into his arguments on violence. He wondered aloud how Christians who seek their daily bread from a common Father, can then turn around and destroy each other’s crops, families and livelihoods.27 The third major theme of the Precatio Dominica highlights an alternative model that Erasmus put forward. He hearkened back to the Devotio Moderna and a tradition of lay piety marked by the imitatio Christi. This motif literally jumps out at the viewer in his treatment of the third petition, “Thy will be done”. The corresponding illustration shows a powerful God the Father sitting in the heavens with scepter and globe and surrounded by the heavenly hosts who turn to him in worship and adoration. Below him we see a very different scene unfolding on earth. There is a beaten and suffering Christ who with slow and stumbling steps bears a heavy cross forward to his place of execution. He is not alone, though. Ordinary men and women, some rich, some poor, some healthy, some sick, surround him. They carry their own smaller crosses and move forward with him as they seek to imitate in their life his passion and death. Erasmus called on his readers to mortify fleshly desires, turn inward and cultivate an interior life with Christ. “We pray that your kingdom may ever flourish in us too… Whenever because of love of you we spurn the kingdom of this world and follow the promises of the heavenly kingdom, whenever we reject mammon and grasp that unique pearl of the gospel, whenever we repudiate all the apparent pleasures of the flesh that temporarily allure us and endure bravely all cruelty in the hope of eternal happiness… on all these occa- sions you conquer through us the kingdom of Satan and reveal the power of your kingdom.”28 How did the Poles respond to Erasmus’ spiritual writings? Though there was a range of reactions, the voice of Jan Antonin was representative. Antonin (c.1499 - c.1549) was one of Erasmus’ closest friends in Poland. He had studied medicine in Padua before travelling to Basel where Erasmus hired him as his personal physician and later praised him as the most effective doctor he had

26 Erasmus, 60-1. 27 For a summary see Hilmar Pabel, Conversing with God: Prayer in Erasmus’ Pastoral Writings (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) 111. 28 Erasmus, 66-7. From the Rhine to the Vistula 189 ever had.29 Though offered a permanent post in Basel, Antonin, to Erasmus’ great chagrin, returned to Cracow. There he established a successful practice serving the city’s elites. The two remained in regular contact. In the last letter he ever wrote Erasmus, Antonin praised one of his friend’s most important spiritual writings, De puritate ecclesiae Christianae, as a “jewel of great value”. This “jewel of great value” was a commentary of Psalm 14 and a summation of Erasmus’ reform program. While Erasmus never thoroughly mastered Hebrew, he made regular use of the language in his expositions on the Psalms. In this last commentary, however, he suspended his philological interests, worked exclusively from the Vulgate, and composed a meditation that recapitulated the key elements of his “heavenly philosophy”.30 Two major themes emerge. The first is the Christocentric focus of his exposition. He explains how Christ is the true David and the royal palace his church.31 Genuine worship and faith must ultimately center on him. The second is an emphasis on interior piety. Reform begins with a pure heart devoted to God. From this position Erasmus criticizes both empty rituals of the Church and theological innovations of the reformers who insist on the power of faith without evidence of good works.32 True devotion, as Erasmus argues, works out- ward and restores external forms of worship. It validates faith through a gener- ous lifestyle of charity. Bringing piety out of the monastery and into the world, Erasmus closes his commentary with an impassioned appeal, “Recognize, O Christian, your dignity and take pride in it… Trample beneath your feet what is unworthy of your high status. It is you I am talking to, whether you are a man or a woman, child or old man, rich or poor, high- or low-born, king or peasant… you have been reborn in Christ. You are a king, you are a priest, you are blessed.”33 This was Erasmus’s vision of reform, a vision that preserved the unity of the Church but subjected it to critical review. It was also a view shared by many in Poland as reflected by the religious literature produced in this period by the Church’s leaders. Here the work of the colorful Polish noble Andrzej Krzycki (1482-1537) is particularly important. Like many of his class, Krzycki studied in Italy. When he returned home, he began a career in the Church. He became known, though, as a great literary talent. His early work, in fact, had a pronounced anti-clerical tone. Fearless, he composed brilliant parodies of church hymns and aimed his barbed wit at many in the royal court including the king’s mistress and later the queen herself. As he grew older, however, his mercurial temperament gave way to a more sober and serious side. He rose through the church hierarchy, eventually to the office of primate. In the process, he became a fierce opponent

29 Allen, vol. 5, letter 1512. 30 Erasmus, An Exposition of Psalm 14 in Collected Works of Erasmus vol. 65, ed. Dominic Baker-Smith (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010) 224. 31 Erasmus, An Exposition of Psalm 14, 230. 32 Erasmus, An Exposition of Psalm 14, 246-7, 250. 33 Erasmus, An Exposition of Psalm 14, 264. 190 Howard Louthan of Lutheranism and turned his satirical weapons in the direction of Wittenberg. In what was in all likelihood a subtle tip of the cap to Erasmus, he composed a series of satirical verses attacking Luther that he entitled Encomiae Lutheri. Late in his career, he developed an intriguing if quixotic scheme to separate the more moderate Melanchthon from Luther. With the support of Popes Clement VII and Paul III, he endeavored to woo Melanchthon back to Rome through flattery and an offer to settle and teach in Cracow.34 Earlier, he had written Erasmus directly in an attempt to entice him to Cracow for an extended visit. Though Erasmus never came, he was well aware of Krzycki’s work. A portion of the correspondence between the two survives, and Erasmus did receive a number of Krzycki’s writings. Krzycki clearly modeled himself after Erasmus. One of the best examples that we have in this regard is his 1522 The Complaint of Religion and the Commonwealth (Religionis et reipublicae querimonia). The text is a verse dialogue between the allegorical figure of Religion and the Commonwealth . Commonwealth begins with a lengthy lament of the decline of the Polish state. The greed and pettiness of her citizens have led to a sorry state of affairs. Moral standards are held in general contempt. Honor and tradition, piety and virtue have little influence in this corrupt society. With preternatural foresight, Commonwealth proclaims that these cancerous vices, which are eat- ing away at the integrity of the state, also leave it dangerously weakened and vulnerable to the rapacious appetites of its neighbors who would eagerly assist in devouring its carcass. Concluding on a note of promise, Commonwealth proclaims that Religion can reverse this decline and save the kingdom. The figure of Religion, though, has her own set of complaints. Many in the Church have abandoned her, and their poor conduct disgraces those who have remained faithful. Within the state, moral laxity is even worse. It seems certain that calamity awaits. There is, however, a final hope as Commonwealth and Religion come together in a closing scene. They foresee the emergence of a “pious ruler” who will rally those who have remained faithful and then lead a thorough reform of both Church and state, for as they conclude, “Christ never torments or abandons those who remain steadfast in their loyalty to him.”35

The Erasmian Legacy in Sixteenth-Century Poland

I want to shift our focus now away from texts that are obviously Erasmian in tone and consider more generally the nature and direction of reform in sixteenth-century Poland. Towards that end we will focus on three individuals who represent three different confessional trajectories. Despite their real and

34 Halina Kowalska, “Andrzej Krzycki,” Contemporaries of Erasmus vol. 2, ed. Peter Bietenholz (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986) 276. Joanna Pietrzak-Thébault, “Andrzej Krzycki- Andreas Cricius (1482-1537): Évêque des paradoxes,” Seizième Siècle 11 (2015): 43-57. 35 For a summary of the text see Segel, 222-223; Andrzej Krzycki, Poezje, ed. A. Jelicz (Warsaw: PIW, 1962) 103-105; 110-115. From the Rhine to the Vistula 191 apparent theological differences, however, they illustrate the extent to which Erasmus continued to exercise an influence on the region even after his death. Reform in early sixteenth-century Poland drew on older ecclesiastical traditions and newer humanist currents but was slow to embrace the more dogmatic confessional distinctives that characterized the Christian community at the end of the century. Though Erasmus forged ties with many of Poland’s prominent church men including two of its primates, his closest friendship was with the influential bishop of Cracow, Piotr Tomicki. The talented Tomicki had become the kingdom’s vice-chancellor in 1514 and bishop of Cracow in 1525. As a holder of these two offices, Tomicki was arguably the most powerful individual in the kingdom next to the king. He also left his imprint on the university as chancellor of the school, a position he held from 1523. Here he promoted a humanist agenda and was a key advocate for instruction in Greek and Hebrew. There were obvious natural affinities between Tomicki and Erasmus who began corresponding in 1527. Belonging to the same generation, their relationship was one between peers. In one of his letters Tomicki noted the parallels of their respective careers.36 Though they never met in person, one scholar has claimed that Erasmus’ grande amitié with Tomicki was one of the three closest epistolary friendships he ever developed.37 Erasmus’ relationship with Tomicki highlights a number of themes critical to our discussion. Once more with Tomicki, we see this hidden Erasmus, Erasmus the pastoral theologian keen to cultivate devotion and virtue in the lives of ordinary believers. In his longest letter to the bishop, Erasmus entered into an extended discourse on Seneca. It was a Seneca, though, who had a very real relevance for the work of the Church. From his rhetoric to his influence on the Church Fathers, Erasmus pointed to the practical lessons that Seneca could teach Christian leaders today.38 In their later correspondence Erasmus discussed the forthcoming publication of his Ecclesiastes, a long awaited handbook for preachers. He was keen to pass a copy on to Tomicki and discuss his ideas.39 The Ecclesiastes is the last major but least studied of his works, and yet as John O’Malley has argued, its significance was “revolutionary”.40 It was the first study to examine the entire history of Christian preaching. Erasmus, though, was offering far more than a neutral overview of sacred rhetoric. Attacking the medieval/scholastic sermon, he offered a model that essentially transformed Christian preaching of his day. What was this new standard that Erasmus so aggressively promoted, and how does it relate to these other developments in Poland? Erasmus saw Tomicki as his partner in Poland, and the

36 Cytowska, letter 83. 37 Charles Béné, “Le De Puritate Tabernaculi: Testament spirituel d’Erasme?,” Actes du colloque international Érasme, ed. Jean-Claude Margolin, et al. (Geneva: Droz, 1990) 207. 38 Cytowska, letter 40. 39 Cytowska, letter 86. 40 John O’Malley, “Erasmus and the History of Sacred Rhetoric: The Ecclesiastes of 1535,” Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook 5 (1985): 12. 192 Howard Louthan

Ecclesiastes as a means to equip the clergy with the necessary tools for the renovation of piety. Again we hear the echoes of the Rhineland with Erasmus’ new homiletic program. As Marc Fumaroli has summarized, for Erasmus, “the essence of Christian eloquence consists in the piety that renders the heart docile to the imitation of Jesus Christ.” Moving away from the rigid structure of the thematic sermon of the Middle Ages, Erasmus advocated an approach that reunited theology with an affective spirituality, a division that he believed had been set in place by the scholastics.41 A second theme that quickly emerges from the Erasmus-Tomicki correspondence is their mutual desire for peace and unity within the Christian community. In his very first letter to Tomicki in 1527, Erasmus praised the bishop as a model of wise and conciliatory leadership in troubled times. Two years later he saluted Sigismund and Tomicki as the twin bastions of stability in Polish society and the best hope of preserving peace and unity in both Church and state. Tomicki, for his part, sought to inculcate Erasmian virtues in Poland’s future king, Sigismund Augustus. For the young prince, he recommended an educational program based on Erasmus’ Institutio principis christiani. With its pacifist overtones Tomicki believed the text to be an ideal guide for the enlight- ened Christian ruler.42 The letters between the two friends illustrate the growing difficulties of charting a middle course and preserving a common ground for a range of Christian beliefs in an increasingly polarized environment. Still, there was hope even in these dark hours. In August 1535 Erasmus wrote Tomicki that Paul III had offered him a cardinalate. A weakened Tomicki, responding only a few days before his own death, summoned up his energy in an effort to convince his friend to accept the pope’s offer. He brushed off Erasmus’ complaints of old age and poor health claiming that even one year in that office would be of inestimable benefit to Christendom. He counted Erasmus among a small cohort of pious and learned men who could “build up the Christian Republic which now woefully has been shaken greatly and nearly even shat- tered.” Ironically, by the time the letter reached Basel, both its sender and recipient were already dead.43 Let us move now to the other end of the confessional spectrum. At first glance it may seem that Jan Łaski, better known in the west as Johannes a Lasco, had little in common with Bishop Tomicki. A Lasco (1499-1560) was after all Poland’s most important Protestant Reformer. His friends and mentors included individuals such as Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Philip Melanch- thon, Thomas Cranmer, and John Calvin. Nevertheless, a Lasco is in many ways a surprising figure and challenges our understanding of religious reform in this period. A Lasco came from a privileged background.44 His famous uncle served both as primate and royal chancellor. The primate took a special

41 Marc Fumaroli, L’âge de l’éloquence (Geneva: Droz, 1980) 107. 42 Allen, vol. 7, letter 1519; vol. 8, letter 2091. 43 Allen, vol. 11, letter 3049, letter 3066. 44 Best on a Lasco in a western European language is Henning Jürgens, Johannes a Lasco in Ostfriesland (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). From the Rhine to the Vistula 193 interest in his nephew and supervised his education. Besides a lengthy stay in Italy, part of that training included a trip to France and the brilliant court of Marguerite of Navarre who sought to bridge the growing divide between Cath- olics and the new Protestants. At both ends of the journey, a Lasco stopped in Basel where he stayed for several months as a guest of Erasmus. Erasmus evidently grew quite fond of his young guest and wrote glowing reports of his character. For his part a Lasco facilitated Erasmus’ contact with other Polish nobles including King Sigismund and helped negotiate the sale of the Dutch- man’s extensive library that was to be shipped to Poland upon his death.45 A disastrous political decision by his family dashed a Lasco’s hopes for a successful career at home. He stayed abroad and spent significant time along the Rhine and in the Low Countries. He developed close links with Strasbourg and Cologne. He studied in Louvain where he encountered the Devotio Mod- erna. He married there, and scholars have speculated that his wife may have come from this circle.46 He later moved to Emden where he served as super- intendent of the Church in East Frisia. He continued on to England and organ- ized a Church for the many Protestant refugees who had come to London for safe haven during the reign of Edward VI. After the king’s death he travelled back to the continent and eventually found his way to Poland where he established a Calvinist Church. Reflecting the eclectic nature of Polish Protestantism, Johannes a Lasco was a late convert to the new faith. His theological views developed slowly and were shaped by discussions with a broad range of Protestant interlocutors. It was Erasmus, though, who had the greatest impact on his understanding of Christianity. A Lasco wrote years later that during the period he lived with Erasmus he learned the meaning of “true religion”.47 To what extent did Erasmus’ scholarly activities at the time of a Lasco’s visit affect the young Pole? Most suggestive in this regard were his efforts editing the opera of Hilary of Poitiers, the fourth-century bishop who confronted the Arian heresy. Somewhat surprisingly, Erasmus found Hilary most commendable for his reluctance to engage in excessive speculation on the nature of the Trinity, a whole notion that Erasmus found ineffable. Although Hilary did speak out against the Arians, he did not engage them in what Erasmus saw as “vain” debates. As Erasmus explained, the Christian faith in Hilary’s time expressed itself more as a way of life than as a doctrinal system. Throughout his career, Erasmus consistently emphasized that immoderate interest in philosophy can lead Christians away from the simple message of the gospel.48 Whatever

45 Ambroise Jobert, De Luther à Mohila (Paris: Institut d’études slaves, 1974) 97-98; Konstanty Zantuan, “Erasmus and the Cracow Humanists: The Purchase of his Library by Laski,” Polish Review 10 (1965): 3-36. 46 Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. 18, 239. 47 A Lasco to Bullinger, March 1544 in Johannis a Lasco Opera vol. 2, ed. A. Kuyper (Amster- dam: F. Muller, 1866), letter 16, 568-569. 48 On Hilary see Allen, vol. 5, letter 1344; Irena Backus, “Erasmus and the Spirituality of the Early Church,” Erasmus’ Vision of the Church, ed. Hilmar Pabel (Kirksville, Sixteenth Century Journal, 1995) 102-103. 194 Howard Louthan influence Erasmus’ writings on the early Church may have had on a Lasco, he, like his mentor, believed that a simple rule of faith was sufficient and the best way to guard the Church’s purity and integrity. There was no need to develop more complicated confessional standards when the Bible and the Apostles’ Creed were used. A Lasco represents the most ecumenical wing of the Reformed tradition. As one of the great leaders of international Calvinism, he was remarkably non-theological. On issues such as free will, original sin and Christology, a Lasco was actually closer to Erasmus than Calvin. It is significant that his few ventures into confessional theology were not successful. When he composed a doctrinal statement for the East Frisian Church, Bullinger and Melanchthon received it critically. Somewhat later, he engaged in a series of debates on the Eucharist with the Swabian Reformer Johannes Brenz. Most observers claimed that Brenz easily bested a Lasco. While a Lasco is relatively well known in the west, the same cannot be said for his colleague Andreas Fricius Modrevius (1503-72). Within his native land, however, Modrevius or Frycz as he is more commonly known is traditionally viewed as a central figure of the Polish Renaissance.49 Son of a minor noble, he first attended the university in Cracow before studying in Wittenberg where for three years he worked with Luther and Melanchthon. Though he did not convert, he grew particularly close to Melanchthon in whose house he lived. At the death of Erasmus in 1536, he journeyed to Basel where he had been commissioned to organize the transport of the humanist’s library to Poland. Back home, he found employment at the royal chancellery. While his diplomatic activity had him busily shuttling across the continent, on the literary front he produced a sizable body of texts aimed at the reform of Polish Church and society. His greatest work, Commentariorum de Republica emendanda, was published in Basel at midcentury (1551-4). On the Reform of the State is quite frankly a remarkable text, the highpoint of Christian humanism in sixteenth- century Poland and a work that should be considered alongside the writings of Thomas More and Jean Bodin. It was quickly translated into German, French and Spanish and provoked an intense reaction from French critics in particular.50 In his later years, Frycz was increasingly marginalized in Poland where his reform proposals did not pass muster with new post-Tridentine standards. His ideas did have a second life, however, when they were popularized by the Polish Antitrinitarians. From this source the French critic and philosopher Pierre Bayle rediscovered Frycz in the seventeenth century and included an entry on him in his famous dictionary (1696).

49 The fullest assessment of Frycz is offered in A. Séguenny and W. Urban, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, vol. 18, Bibliotheca dissidentium (Baden-Baden: Koerner, 1997). 50 The first three books were published in Cracow in 1551. The opposition of the church com- pelled Frycz to publish the entire work in Basel in 1554. For a brief summary of its contents see Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) 40-1. From the Rhine to the Vistula 195

Frycz published his first treatise on religious matters in 1546, a short tract on the Council of Trent, which Paul III had officially opened in December of the previous year.51 From his vantage point in Poland, Frycz was both con- cerned by the apparent apathy of the Polish nobility at home and suspicious of the council itself. He worried that Trent was a sham, the delegates mere pawns deployed by a pope eager to centralize power. “Those who are to be sent to the council,” he averred, “should truly debate and discuss.”52 Early in the text, he pointed to the Council of Basel and the high point of the conciliar movement within Poland.53 The kingdom’s delegation to Basel had taken a strong anti- papal position while the council itself mandated that all future pontiffs swear an oath upholding the superiority of conciliar authority. In later writings, Frycz was highly critical of Eugenius IV whom the council deposed.54 At the base of Frycz’s critique was the conviction that the Church was fallible in matters of doctrine. He pointed to the famous confrontation between Peter and Paul when the new apostle publicly rebuked and corrected his colleague.55 It was inevita- ble for error to creep into the Church. Yet the Church was not without resources to confront these challenges. As at Constance, Basel and now Trent, learned experts could assemble and honestly work through these complex theological questions together. Minimizing the gap between laity and clergy, Frycz noted rhetorically, “What is the Church other than the body of believers?” He had little concern for social standing, rank and office. Expertise, especially linguis- tic, was most critical. The Church was best served when erudition and virtue came together.56 This emphasis on learned piety combined with a trenchant critique of the Church as an institution was a hallmark of Frycz’s writings. Frycz followed up this initial blast with a series of tracts promoting a typical humanist agenda of ecclesiastical reform: abolition of clerical celibacy, com- munion in two kinds, and use of the vernacular. By stressing education, promoting the authority of Scripture and reflecting an optimistic view of human nature that bordered on Pelagianism, Frycz remained close in spirit to Erasmus throughout his career. He focused consistently on issues of morality while seek- ing to minimize theological difference. He often claimed that Protestants and Catholics were closer than they realized on matters of doctrine. He never left the Church and remained hopeful that the new king Sigismund Augustus would call a national council that unlike Trent would truly be inclusive and sincere in its desire to restore ecclesial unity.

51 Originally published as A. F. Modrevius, Oratio de legatis ad concilium mittendis (Cracow: Scharffenberg, 1546). Reprinted in C. Kumaniecki, ed., Andreae Fricii Modrevii opera omnia, vol. 2 (Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1954) 175-195. 52 Modrevius, 181. 53 Modrevius, 179. 54 A. F. Modrevius, Commentariorum de republica emendanda (Basel: Oporinus, 1554). Reprin- ted in Andreae Fricii Modrevii opera omnia vol. 1, ed. C. Kumaniecki (Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1953) 322-23. 55 Modrevius, Oratio de legatis ad concilium mittendis, 181. 56 Modrevius, Oratio de legatis ad concilium mittendis, 187. 196 Howard Louthan

Concluding Observations

What broader conclusions can we reach from this overview of ecclesiastical developments in early sixteenth-century Poland? Most obviously, the period under consideration in this volume, the interval between Martin Luther’s open break with Rome and the beginning of the Council of Trent, was one of intense discussion concerning reform among Polish elites. As I have argued throughout, these elites resisted the extremes of the new evangelical movement. Tra- ditional confessional divisions came late to Poland, and they often remained permeable. Johannes a Lasco’s definitive break with Rome did not occur until 1542. An early seventeenth-century history of the Polish Reformation does not begin its narrative until 1546.57 Poland’s loose political system, the power of the nobility against a weak central authority, created the necessary space and freedom in this decentralized kingdom for these fascinating theological discussions, and ecumenism remained a hallmark of Polish Protestantism throughout the century. The kingdom’s Protestant factions formed a variety of alliances during this period. As late as 1600, there were even negotiations for a possible union between Poland’s Protestant and Orthodox communities.58 Such evidence suggests that we need to think more carefully about the period 1517-45 and how it fits into a broader conception of ecclesiastical history in the late medieval and early modern periods. This Polish case study supports an argument made a few years ago by the medieval church historian John Van Engen. Van Engen depicts the religious world of late medieval Europe not in decline but one with an array of devotional practices and theological options. He argues for a long fifteenth century where the real turning point does not come until after Luther’s death (1546), when elites within Church and state ally and impose a more limited set of confessional alternatives.59 On this point Erasmus is absolutely critical. In many respects he was the last great representative of late medieval piety and belief that as Van Engen notes, expressed itself in “a world of multiple and even contradictory options.”60 While Luther, Calvin and Loyola were prescribing ever narrower and tighter confessional parameters, Erasmus was moving in the opposite direction. He reveled in ambi- guity and resisted precise theological and doctrinal formulations so favored by

57 For a modern edition of the original see Stanislas Lubieniecki, History of the Polish Reforma- tion and Nine Related Documents, translated and interpreted G.H. Williams (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995). 58 Most famous is the 1570 Union of Sandomir between Lutheran, Brethren and Calvinist communities; for the Protestant-Orthodox negotiations see K.E.J. Jørgensen, Ökumenische Bestre- bungen unter den polnischen Protestanten bis zum Jahre 1645 (Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk Forlag Arnold Busck, 1942) 318-325. 59 John Van Engen, “The Church in the Fifteenth Century,” Handbook of European History, 1400-1600 vol. 1, eds. Thomas A. Brady Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy (Leiden: Brill, 1994) 324. 60 John Van Engen, “Multiple Options: The World of the Fifteenth-Century Church,” Church History 77 (2008): 257-284. From the Rhine to the Vistula 197 the Reformers. His interaction with his Polish correspondents reflects this per- spective. His friends and followers in the kingdom would have heartily agreed with his advice to Charles V’s advisor Jean de Carondolet, “The sum and sub- stance of our religion is peace and concord. This can hardly remain the case unless we define as few matters as possible and leave each individual’s judg- ment free on many questions.”61

Bibliography

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61 Allen, vol. 5, letter 1334. 198 Howard Louthan

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Abstract

The article examines connections and parallels between lay spirituality of fifteenth and early sixteenth-century Poland with better-known developments along the Rhine in the Low Countries and Germany. It begins with an examination of Cracow with special attention on its German population and its links to the Rhineland. In the late Middle Ages prominent Polish churchmen played significant roles in central Europe. In the fourteenth century Matthew of Cracow forged critical links with Prague, Cracow, and Heidelberg where he served as rector of the university. In the fifteenth the Polish Carthusian James of Paradyż became a preaching celebrity whose influence reached up and down the Rhine. The essay then turns to the early sixteenth century and considers the influence of Erasmus in the Polish lands. We look at two of Erasmus’s texts that harken back to the spirituality of the Devotio Moderna, his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, commissioned by his friend and royal secretary Justus Decius, and his exposition on Psalm 14 that was highly praised by Erasmus’s personal physician, the Pole Jan Antonin. The article concludes by considering the Erasmian legacy in Poland through the work and activity of three individuals: bishop Piotr Tomicki of Cracow, the Protestant reformers Johannes a Lasco and the royal secretary Frycz Modrzewski.

Address of the author: Department of History, University of Minnesota – Mailing address: 2180 Carter Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota 55108 USA ([email protected])