Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski () (20 September 1503 – 1572) was a Polish
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
scholar,
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
, called "the father of Polish
democracy
Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
". His book ''De Republica emendanda'' (''O poprawie Rzeczypospolitej'') was widely read and praised across most of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
Europe, influencing thinkers such as
Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin (; ; – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of reli ...
,
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...
and
Johannes Althusius
Johannes Althusius (1563 – August 12, 1638). was a German–French jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.
He is best known for his 1603 work ''"Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata"'' which revised edit ...
Wolbórz
Wolbórz is a town in Piotrków County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Wolbórz.
It lies approximately north-east of Piotrków Trybunalski and south-east of the region ...
(also known as Woybor, Voibor, Woibor, Wojbor, Woyborz and Wolborz), near
Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the capital of Piotrków County and the second-largest city in the Łódź Voi ...
, the son of Jakub Modrzewski (1477–1529). Modrzewski family belonged to the gentry (though some authors speak of impoverished nobility), bore
Jastrzębiec coat of arms
Jastrzębiec () is one of the most ancient Polish heraldry, Polish coat of arms. Dating back to the 10th century, it has been used by Poland's oldest szlachta families — Poland's Immemorial nobility — and remains in use today.
History
Legend ...
, and held the hereditary title of mayor (''wójt/
vogt
An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...
Primate of Poland
This is a list of archbishops of the Archdiocese of Gniezno, who are simultaneously primates of Poland since 1418.Lutheran University he met
Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
and other early Protestant reformers in
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...
. He also took care of the library of
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
bought by Łaski.
From 1540 onwards, he served as the titular
parish priest
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
in
Brzeziny
Brzeziny (; , ''Brezin'') is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County and has a population of 12,326 as of December 2021. It is situated on the Mrożyca River within the historic Łęcz ...
and Skoszewy. In 1541, during his stay in the capital, he met with
Mikołaj Rej
Mikołaj Rej or Mikołaj Rey of Nagłowice (4 February 1505 – between 8 September/5 October 1569) was a Polish poet and prose writer of the emerging Renaissance in Poland as it succeeded the Middle Ages in Poland, Middle Ages, as well as a po ...
. Modrzewski advocated sending a mixed ecclesiastical and secular delegation to the 1545
Ecumenical
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...
(where he would be sent as a Polish delegate). He supported Irenicism (the importance of unity) and the democratic and ecumenical element in the Church. He became an official at the court of
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...
in 1547. Since he was leaning strongly towards the reformist circles (especially Calvinian and
Arian
Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...
/ Polish brethren), he became in danger of being accused of heresy and was ultimately stripped of his ecclesiastical titles and offices. The king, however, issued a letter of protection for him. In 1553 he retired to his native Wolbórz.
Modrzewski debuted as a writer in 1543 with the work called ''Lascius, sive de poena homicidii'' (''On The Penalty for Manslaughter''; or ''Łaski, czyli O karze za mężobójstwo'' in Polish). In it, Modrzewski criticized the inequality prescribed by the law for different social classes: for example, 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 ''On the Improvement of the Commonwealth'' (''De Republica emendanda'') that brought him eternal and international fame. In it, he advocated a strong monarchy that would protect the rights of all citizens. He postulated equality of all before the law, and criticized the 1565 ban on land-owning by non-nobles. He wrote that peasants should own the soil which they work, and that townsfolk should be able to buy land and be elected to offices (those rights were being reserved only for the nobility back then), demanded the
reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
(
secularization
In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...
) of education, and division between state and church. This treatise was translated into many European languages and earned him many enemies in the Church. Pope
Paul V
Pope Paul V (; ) (17 September 1552 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a mem ...
placed the book on the ''
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...
'' (list of prohibited books).
De Republica emendanda
Modrzewski's crowning achievement printed in 1551 was: ''Commentariorum De Republica emendanda libri quinque'' (''Five Books of Commentaries on the Improvement of Commonwealth'', or ''Rozważań o poprawie Rzeczypospolitej ksiąg pięć'' in Polish) published in the printing house of Łazarz Andrysowic. Originally it was to include all five manuscripts: 1. ''De Moribus'' (''On Customs''); 2. ''De Legibus'' (''On Laws''); 3. ''De Bello'' (''On War''); 4. ''De Ecclesia'' (''On Church''), and 5. ''De Schola'' (''On School''). However, as some of Modrevius' theses were considered unorthodox by the Church and opposed, only the three first books were included in the original publication.
The first complete edition – consisting of all five beforementioned books, and dialogues entitled: ''De utraque specie Coenae Domini'' ('On the twofold nature of the Lord's Table') – was published in 1554 in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
by Johannes Oporinus, after which Modrzewski was forced to leave the capital. The first Polish translation by Cyprian Bazylik was published in Łosk in 1577. The book was widely read and praised across Renaissance Europe. It was translated into German, French, Spanish, and Russian in the 17th century.
Other works
*1543: ''Lascius sive de poena homicidii'' (''On The Penalty For Manslaughter'', Polish title: ''Łaski albo o karze za mężobójstwo'')
*1545: ''Oratio Philatelis Peripatetici in senatulo hominum scholasticorum de decreto conventus, quo pagi civibus adimi permittuntur, habita...'' (''The Discourse Of A Truthful Peripatethic spoken among the learned men about the parliamentary decree, which allows country estates to be taken away from townfolk'', Polish title ''Mowa Prawdomówcy Perypatetyka o postanowieniu sejmu zezwalającym na odbieranie mieszczanom wiejskich posiadłości, wypowiedziana w kole ludzi uczonych)
*1561: ''Narratio simplex rei novae et eiusdem pessimi exempli...'' (''Simple story considering the curious case and the bad example which it is...'', Polish title ''Prosta opowieść o niezwykłej sprawie stanowiącej zgubny przykład, a zarazem użalenie się na krzywdy i skarga przeciw Stanisławowi Orzechowskiemu z Rusi'')
*1590: ''Silvae'', including Modrevius' four theological discourses (''De tribus personis et una essentia Dei'', ''On the three Persons and one essence of God''; ''De necessitate conventus habendi ad sedandas religionis controversias'', ''On the necessity of gathering to cease the religious controversies''; ''De Iesu Christo'' ''On Jesus Christ''; ''De Homousio'' ''On Homousia")''
Lineage
Descendants of Modrzewski's daughter, include Victor Modrzewski, Polish President
Lech Kaczyński
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...
*"Without laws there can be no true freedom." (''Bez praw nie może być prawdziwej wolności.'')
*"The peasant is not your slave, he is your neighbor."
See also
*
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...
*
Piotr Skarga
Piotr Skarga (less often Piotr Powęski, incorrectly: Pawęski; 2 February 1536 – 27 September 1612) was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-Reformation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealt ...
History of philosophy in Poland
The history of philosophy in Poland parallels the evolution of philosophy in Europe in general.
Overview
Polish philosophy drew upon the broader currents of European philosophy, and in turn contributed to their growth. Some of the most momentous ...
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...
Polona
Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006.
Colle ...