Martin Cromer

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Martinus Cromerus

Martin Cromer (Polish Marcin Kromer , * 1512 in Biecz , Lesser Poland ; † March 23, 1589 in Heilsberg , East Prussia ) was a theologian , Prince-Bishop of Warmia and chronicler .

Life

Martin Cromer had a father of German descent and was born in Biecz in Lesser Poland . He studied in Cracow and became a canon there. He later became secretary and travel companion to Prince Sigismund and, after his accession to the throne, was entrusted with the organization of the Imperial Archives in Krakow.

Martin Cromer was ennobled and envoy to the court of Emperor Charles V , the Pope, and later to Emperor Ferdinand I. He accompanied Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius to the Council of Trent . Cardinal Hosius made him administrator of the Principality of Warmia in 1569 . In 1574 he became coadjutor and in 1579 himself Prince-Bishop of Warmia. At first he was rejected as not born in Prussia, but under papal pressure he was granted the Prussian indigenous status ( Ius indigenatus ). He described himself as a single man who came from Masovia and Poland and was of part German descent.

He was one of the most learned theologians and the most violent opponent of the Reformation . His work De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum (Basel, 1555) was considered the best Polish history; it lasted until the death of King Sigismund I and is written in elegant Latin , but is often uncritical. His geographic-statistical work Polonia, sive de situ, populis, moribus etc. Poloniae (Basel, 1586) is more valuable .

Cromer described a Gallus Anonymus as the first historian in Poland who is said to have written a chronicle in 1115. Gallus Anonymus was not mentioned in any documents up until Cromer's time, but the Gallus Anonymus History of Poland is a compulsory subject in Polish universities.

The sermons of the Warmia Bishop Hosius and Martin Cromer are described in The German Sermons and Catechesis of the Warmia Bishops Hosius and Cromer (F. Hipler, Cologne, 1885)

Together with Hosius, Cromer was one of the most important representatives of Catholicism and the Counter-Reformation in Poland and in the Prussian Warmia .

Fonts

  • Martini Cromeri de origine et rebus gestis Polonorum libri XXX - On the origins and history of the Poles, in 30 volumes in Latin, Polish translation in 1611, (Basel, 1555) ( online ).
  • Polonia, sive de situ, populis, moribus etc. Poloniae. Basel, 1586.
A German translation of the description of the Kingdom of Poland by Andreas Schott was printed in Dan (t) zig by George Marcus Knoch in 1741:
  • Description of the Kingdom of Poland . Edited by Andreas Schott with some comments. Dantzig 1741 ( online ).
Schott dedicated the book of Martin Cromers Bishop of Warmia Description of the Kingdom of Poland to the Danzig councilor Valentin Schlieff .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Anneliese Triller:  Cromer, Martin von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 422 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Book: The Other Prussia, Karin Friedrich
  3. ↑ Dedication by Andreas Schott, online
predecessor Office successor
Stanislaus Hosius Bishop of Warmia
1579 - 1589 		Andreas Bathory
personal data
SURNAME Cromer, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marcin Kromer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish historian, theologian and bishop
DATE OF BIRTH 1512
PLACE OF BIRTH Biecz , Kleinpole
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1589
Place of death Heilsberg , Warmia