POLAND
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POLAND
mand for the celibacy of the clergy had also been dis-
regarded. Pope Innocent III first undertook to free
the Polish clergy from dependence upon the temporal
sovereign; he found an active supporter in the Arch-
bishop of Gnesen, Henry Ivietticz. The latter en-
forced the celibacy of the clergy under him and ob-
tained for the decrees of the ecclesiastical courts both
force and vahdity ; he also excommunicated the senior
prince, Wladislaw Laskonogi (1202-06), for trying to
keep the Church in its condition of dependence and
refusing to give up the old royal prerogatives of ap-
pointment of bishops, jurisdiction over the church
lands, and the exaction of fees and other payments
from them. From that time a growing movement for
the deliverance of the Church from oppression by the
State is manifest, a relief which had already been
secured in the neighbouring kingdoms to the west.
The Church, now freed from the guardianship of the
State, made an energetic stand against the encroach-
ments of the princes and the immorality of the people.
At the synods held at this time severe penalties were
imposed, by the direction of the papal legates, upon
those laymen who claimed for themselves the right of
granting benefices. From that time bishop and
prince were considered titles of equal rank in Poland.
In 1210 two Polish princes jointly conferred privi- leges upon the clergy, thereby recognizing the inde- pendence of the Church, not only within its own organization, but also (within the confines of church lands) over all its own subjects, together with exemp- tion from taxation. The Church of Poland was now organized in conformity with the canon law; its juris- diction covered, not only the clergy, but also the inhabitants domiciled on the church lands and, in many matters, the whole Catholic community as such. The Church wielded the powerful weapons of inter- dict and excommunication. Church and clergy to- gether formed an independent political di\asion of the population, endowed with complete power of self- government. Not only had the dependence of the bishops on the princes ceased, but the lesser clergy, too, no longer sought the favour of the prince: it was well known to them that, if they preserved the spirit of the Church and guarded its interests, distinction and honours awaited them within its domain. Thanks to their really enormous financial resources and their influence in the domain of morals, the clergy repre- sented a power with which temporal rulers had to reckon. The highest legislative bodies of the Cath- olic Church in Poland, the synods, pro\'ided for the independence of the Church, and occupied themselves in strengthening its influence over the laity. Litera- ture and all that pertained to education were wholly in the hands of the clergy, the members of the various religious orders, in particular, rendering great ser\'ice in this direction.
In this period, also, religious life developed to a high degree among the people, as a result of the severe afflictions caused by the wars and invasions of the Tatars (12-11, 1260, 12S7). The horrors of the time acted as a powerful stimulant upon the general piety, which revealed itself in religious endowments and pri\dleges conferred upon the clergj'. In the next period (from the beginning of the fourteenth to the end of the fifteenth century) churches and convents were especially numerous. The clergy added to its popularity by striving for the union of the Polish principalities into a great kingdom. Archbishop Pelka, for instance, in 1257 ordered that the people should learn the Lord's Prayer in Polish, and the synod under Archbishop Swinka (128.5) forbade the granting of benefices to foreigners or the appointment as teacher of any person who was not master of the national tongue. The consolidation of Poland having been efTected under Lokietek (130&-33), the clergy were dissatisfied with him because he would not exemjjt them from taxation. This grievance gave
rise to a quarrel between the clergy and Lokietek's
successor, Casimir the Great (1333-79). Casimir's
life was far from faultless, and Bodzanta, Bishop of
Cracow, after admonishing him without effect, placed
him under excommunication. The cathedral vicar,
Martin Baryczka, notified Casimir of this censure, and
the king had him drowned in the Vistula (1349).
Casimir sought to make amends for the murder by
lavish alms giving, pious bequests, and privileges
granted to the clergy. At Cracow he founded, under
the patronage of the bishop, a more advanced school
or university — the first in Northern Europe (1364) —
which was approved by Pope Urban V. He also
brought order into ecclesiastical affairs in Little Rus-
sia by establishing the archiepiscopal See of Halicz,
in 1367, with Chelm, Turow, Przemysl and Wlnd-
zimiesz for its suffragans. The Archbishopric of
Halicz was afterwards transferred to Lemberg. The
archbishops of Gne-sen became the foremost princes of
the realm, and the clergy were hereafter relieved of all
taxes. This displeased the nobility, who, moreover,
had to pay the tithes to the clergj', with the alterna-
tive of exclusion from the Church.
Under Louis of Hungary (1370-82) the clergy re- ceived new privileges, but in the same reign the bish- ops of Poland began to be nominated by the State: the kings, having established the bishoprics, believed that they had the right of patronage. Beginning with the reign of Jagiello (1386-1434), the Church of Po- land worked in a new field, spreading religion among the neighbouring heathen peoples. The Lithuanians accepted Christianity, and Jagiello caused many churches to be built. But the morals of the clergy were declining. The Church of Poland took part, it is true, in the Synod of Constance, at which Hus was burnt, but had not the strength to oppose effectively the reactionary tendency of the nobility, which sought to use heresy as a counterpoise to the influence of the Church. That influence, attaining its maximum when the Cardinal Bishop of Cracow, Zbigniew Olesnicki, wielded political power at Court, roused the emulation of the secular lords. With the appearance of Hus in Bohemia there arose in Poland an anti- church party composed of Hussites. The ecclesiasti- cal synods issued severe decrees against these heretics, whom Jagiello, in 1424, also adjudged guilty of high treason. The Inquisition became active against them.
It was clerical influence, too, that led King Wladis- law III (1434-44) to take the field against the Turks in defence of Christendom. During the reign of his brother, Casimir the Jagellon (1446-92), the Church of Poland i)roduced a number of saintly men, and was so highly esteemed, even in Bohemia, that it was the general wish there that the Pole Dlugosz should be made their archbishop. Nevertheless, the tem- poral power sought to free itself from the domination of the spiritual. The nobility insisted more and more on the taxation of the clergy. With the death of Cardinal Olesnicki the political power of the Church in Poland was at an end. During the succeeding periods the Reformation made ominous progress. It found a soil prepared for it by the moral decline of the clergy and the indifference of the bishops. In 1520 a Dominican named Samuel rose against the Roman Church at Posen; in 1530 Latatski, Bishop of Posen, appointed a Liitheran preacher; in 1540 John Laski, a priest of Gnesen, renounced the Catholic faith and openly married, as did many others; under Modrzew- ski efforts were made to establish an independent state church. King Sigismund I the Old (1506-48), a zealous Catholic, was opposed to a reformation of that nature; he issued rigorous edicts against the preaching of the new tioctrinos and the introduction of heretical writings (152:1, 15261. The populace re- mained indifferent to the Reformation, only the nobil- ity took part in it. The clergy adopted precautionary
