Prominent Poles
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (aka Andreas Fricius Modrevius) writer, Renaissance scholar, humanist, theologian, royal secretary, called "the father of Polish democracy".
Born: September 20, 1503, Wolbórz (also known as Woybor, Voibor, Woibor, Wojbor, Woyborz and Wolborz), Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died: 1572 in Wolborz
Quotes. "Without laws there can be no true freedom" , "The peasant is not your slave, he is your neighbor"
Early days. He was born to an impoverished noble family (coat of arms Jastrzebiec), the son of Jakub Modrzewski. who held a hereditary title as the Mayor of Wolbórz and used the soubriquet Frycz. When he was 11 years old he left for Cracow where he attended a parochial school. In 1517 he started studies at the Cracow Academy. In 1519 he finished his studies getting bachelor’s degree.
Work. After graduating from the Cracow Academy Modrzewski was ordained as a vicar and served under archbishop Jan Łaski (the Elder), and later under the bishop of Poznan, Jan Latalski. From 1530 he was connected to the court of Jan Łaski the Younger, the Polish Primate and nephew of the elder Łaski. Having lived for a time in Germany, where he studied at the Lutheran University he met Martin Luther and other early Protestant reformers in Wittenberg. He also took care of the library of Erasmus. He returned to Poland in 1541 and in 1547 he became the royal secretary at the court of Zygmunt II August (Sigmund Augustus), King of Poland. Since 1553 he retired to his native Wolbórz, where he became the Mayor. Since he was leaning strongly towards the reformist (especially Calvinian and Arian/Polish brethren) circles he was in danger of being accused of heresy and stripped of his ecclesiastical titles and offices. The King, however, issued in 1556 a letter of protection for him. In 1560 he married Jadwiga Kamienska with who he had three children: Andrzej, Elzbieta and Lucja. His works: Lascius, Or On The Penalty For Manslaughter (1543, in Latin De Poena Homicidi); The Discourse Of A Truthful Peripatethic (1545, in Latin Oratio Philalethis peripatetici); On the Improvement of the Republic (1554, in Latin De Republica emendanda, first printed in Basel); Silve Quator (1590, posthumously). In Lascius, Or on The Penalty for Manslaughter he criticized the inequality in terms of law faced by various social classes: while the penalty for killing a nobleman ranged from 120 grzywna through life imprisonment to death, the penalty for killing a peasant was only 10 grzywna. Yet it was the On the Improvement of the Republic that brought him internal and international fame. It was composed of five books: De moribus (About morality), De legibus (About laws), De bello (About war), De Ecclesia (About the Church), De schola (About school). He advocated a strong central monarchy, where the king should protect the rights of all. He postulated equality of all citizens before law, criticized the ban (1565) on land-owning by non-nobles and wrote that peasants should own the earth they work on and townsfolk should be able to buy the land and be elected to official positions (those rights was reserved for nobility only), demanded the reform (secularizing) of education, division between the State and the Church. This treaty was translated into German and earned him many enemies among the Church. Pope Paul V put his book on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of forbidden books). Modrzewski was in favor of sending a mixed (ecclesiastical and secular) delegation to the Tridentine Council (where he eventually was sent as one of the Polish delegates). He was a supporter of irenism and the democratical and ecumenical elements in the Church. He died in 1572 of morowe powietrze the term used in Poland to denote epidemics of the plague, cholera, syphilis etc.(bacterias have not been known yet). As a heretic he was buried secretly in an unknown location, possibly in Malcz.
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Aleksander Fredro" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia
See also:
Encyclopedia Britannica
Prof.Edmund Kotarski
English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
Return to home page:
Prominent Poles
