Paweł Włodkowic

Paweł Włodkowic z Brudzenia (Latin form of the name Paulus Vladimiri ; * around 1370 in Brudzeń near Dobrzyń nad Wisłą ; † after October 9, 1435 in Kraków ) was a Polish lawyer, writer and diplomat .

Life

Paweł Włodkowic came from the Dołęga family association. Włodkowic is not his last name, but means something like "son of Włodko" (Włodzimierz). He studied liberal arts and law at Charles University in Prague , which he graduated in 1393. In 1401 he was appointed canon in Plock . Paweł continued his legal education in 1404–1408 in Padua . After his return to Poland, he received his doctorate in canon law at Kraków's Jagiellonian University in either 1411 or 1412 . Then he started his lectures there. He was rector of the university from 1414 to 1415, and vice-rector from 1418 . His philosophical thinking was strongly influenced by the teachings of Wilhelm von Ockham , Stanisław von Skarbimierz and Matthew von Krakow .

The focus of his legal work was the dispute with the Teutonic Order . As early as 1413 he had appeared as the envoy of his king Władysław II Jagiełło in Buda . However, his role as Polish representative at the Council of Constance was decisive . There he presented the treatise Tractatus de potestate papae et imperatoris respectu infidelium . In it he proved to be a staunch supporter of conciliarism and reflected on the balance of power between the emperor and the pope. He also attacked the Teutonic Order because of its policy of conquest and the bloody pagan persecution in Lithuania and Prussia. Towards the end of the council he contributed to the official condemnation of the order jurist Johannes von Falkenberg for his attacks on Poland and its king. The trials against the order continued even after the council, including in Breslau in 1420, without a final decision on the dispute. Włodkowic retired from public life in 1424 and became a pastor in Kłodawa .

Web links

• Paulus Vladimiri in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"