Gangraena i remedium, o herezjach i zwyrodnieniu religijnym w Anglii połowy XVII w.

Gangraena and its cure: on Heresies and Religious Perversions in mid-seventeenth century England The English Civil War saw an explosion in the production of printed material. Booklets, pamphlets, leaflets, and ballads of all types and covering all manner of subjects appeared in their thousands. Indeed, the number of titles printed during this period surpassed 2,000 per year. Among these we find a large category of prints denouncing religious heresy and perverse behaviors. The most elaborate of these was Thomas Edwards’s Gangraena, which ran to several thousand pages in length and spanned three consecutive volumes. In this article, the author looks at various religious sects in England and aspects of their beliefs and behaviors to examine how the Restoration England of Charles II tried to cure its population of unorthodox and perverse religious ideas.

Wiara a sympatie polityczne Albrychta Stanisława Radziwiłła

Faith and Political Sympathies of Abrycht (Albert) Stanisław Radziwiłł In his distinctly private opinions, Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł evaluated people according to their religious preferences. He took a similar approach when looking at distant international policy. This attitude changed when his close relatives or political issues of interest were at hand. In such a situation, pride for relatives’ achievements and successes took precedence regardless of religious affiliation. The same criteria were applied to foreign policy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, always prioritizing the state and its security. Religious considerations vanished. He also applied this approach to personal matters, supporting the advance of Protestants when the interests of the state were at stake. However, at the same time he did not ignore the Catholic Church and its commandments.

Zreformowana Anglia w oczach polskich podróżników

Reformed England in the Eyes of Polish Travelers in the Early Modern Period The aim of this article is to reconstruct and present the image of reformed England and the English people as perceived by the inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The primary source used is travel literature. The author analyses travellers’ impressions with research and educational journeys, “grand tour,” and diplomatic missions related to state or parliamentary activities. Travel literature containing descriptions of England reflect the author’s impressions, feelings, judgments and subjective opinions, as well as convey some knowledge about the world acquired not only during the trip, but also as a result of prior knowledge gained through learning and education. Moreover, the article discusses the emergence of a spectrum of perspectives and prejudices both for and against the English people, as well as the formation of national stereotypes.

Początki reformacji w Kurowie na Lubelszczyźnie: „heretyckie” lektury i pierwsi zwolennicy protestantyzmu

Beginnings of Reformation in Kurów in the Lublin Province: “heretic” readings and First Followers of Protestantism On the basis of excerpts of distinguished historian Stanisław Kot, deposited in the library of the Jagiellonian University, the author reconstructs the contents of a silva rerum of the Zbąski family from the Lublin Province. The silva rerum itself was destroyed during World War II, yet the remaining notes enable us to reconstruct many facets of the Zbąski family’s life in sixteenth-century Lublin Province, including the inventory of books kept by this noble family in their library in 1547. The author believes that this collection was the property of Abraham (Abram) Zbąski, son of the Lublin Castellan Stanisław (d. 1553). Abraham was studying in Wittenberg in 1544 and sympathized with Lutherans, a sentiment which finds its expression in the inventory. In 1553, the Knurów Catholic church was turned into a Protestant temple, but the local active Protestants were prosecuted by the Kraków diocese bishop, Andrzej Zebrzydowski. In the later Protestant historiography, one of them – vicar Mikołaj (Nicholas) – is named and considered a martyr of the Protestant case.

Obrona praw dysydentów na sejmie 1606 r. za szczególnym uwzględnieniem roli Stanisława Stadnickiego

Activity of Stanisław Stadnicki in Defense of Dissident Rights at the 1606 Parliament Session The article analyzes the attitude of Stanisław Stadnicki (~1551-1610) towards religious controversies, with special stress put on the 1606 parliamentary session. These issues have been studied in the past by Wacław Sobieski, yet over a hundred years have passed and new sources and methodology are available today. The presented research proves that the rereading of sources is necessary, as well as the inclusion of secondary findings over the last century and more. In particular, the article shows that Stadnicki’s activity among religious dissidents was wide and multilevel. It extended to the floor of the parliament at the turn of sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries.

Tumult i konfederacja

The Tumult and Confederation: Religious Significance of the Toruń 1724 and 1767 Events in the Light of Contemporary Manuscript Newsbooks In the eighteenth century, the town of Toruń, which was politically, religiously, and demographically dominated by Protestants, became twice the nucleus of a countrywide rebellion. The first insurgency occurred in 1724, when the town became the place of religious riots known as the Toruń tumult. The second rebellion appeared in the form of the dissident Crown Confederation of Toruń in 1767, which was founded in response to a Catholic confederation organized in Radom. Both incidents had meaningful impact on the overall situation in Poland-Lithuania. One can find information on these disturbances in contemporary political writings and press. In particular, we find interesting opinions about the Toruń tumult in handwritten newspapers, the only source of news in the Polish territory before the establishment of the first printed newspaper in 1729.

Spór o powołanie Kościoła narodowego w Koronie w okresie soboru trydenckiego (1545-1563)

Debate on the Creating of the Polish National Church in the Times of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) In the time of the Council of Trent, the Polish nobility often and loudly demanded the forming of the Polish National Church, which would enable them to execute state control over the clergy, its activity, and church property. Popular Protestant ideas coherent with such an idea fulfilled the role of useful weapon in their struggle against the clergy. Even though the idea of the church reform converged with many changes postulated by the contemporary noble reform movement, the state finances, homogeneity of Crown lands and the Polish-Lithuanian union took predominance over church matters. Appropriate conduct of debate, disabling discussion about a reform, was promoted by the clergy itself, which was not interested in loosening their dominant position in the society and becoming subject to civic laws. Protestant deputies to the parliament, who constituted the majority in the lower chamber, could have acquired more benefits, were it not for their reluctance to impose certain solutions on the Catholics, who still dominated in the society. The clergy, in particular bishops, sought some compromise with Protestants, until the Catholic Church itself undertook mild reforms in the third phase of the Council of Trent. The stand of the Polish monarch, Sigismundus Augustus, who – having been raised as a Catholic – opposed the forming of new church and his attitude was also important.