Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Poland-Lithuania
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation characterized the denominational development in the Royal Republic of Poland-Lithuania from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
First Reformation Movement (1518–1548)
Reformation ideas first spread in the German cities of Danzig , Thorn , Elbing in Polish Prussia , through local people who had studied in Wittenberg, and from merchants. The Dominican monk Jacob Knothe preached Lutheran ideas in Danzig as early as 1518 . Since 1525, evangelical preachers have been employed in five churches in the city in the wake of the Danzig uprising . In 1526 King Sigismund I stopped this development with his personal appearance, some Protestants were executed, others fled.
This made the official establishment of Protestant congregations in Poland and Lithuania impossible for the next two and a half decades. Nonetheless, Protestant communities formed in cities and on aristocratic estates in Polish-Prussia, Greater Poland and Lesser Poland, although these mostly existed in a private environment (so-called crypto - Protestantism ). Catholic priests and scholars who disseminated Lutheran ideas in their office were deposed, such as Jakob von Iłża in Kraków in 1534, Pankratius Klemme in Thorn in 1537 and Jan Seklucjan in Poznan in 1543. Protestants from Poland-Lithuania were taken by the Duchy of Prussia .
Second Reformation (1548–1573)
Only after the king's death in 1548 did the situation slowly change. In that year the Bohemian brothers , who had been expelled from Bohemia and Moravia because of their Protestant sentiments, came to Poland, who were allowed to practice their religion freely by the new King Sigismund II August . Their religious practice had an impact on the Polish environment.
Although the king issued an edict in 1550 that further criminalized Protestant activities for the other residents of Poland and Lithuania, the majority of secular senators at the Sejm (Reichstag) were already Protestant that year. In 1552 the execution of the edict of 1550 was suspended. The first Protestant parishes officially emerged, of the Lutheran denomination, especially in the cities of Polish Prussia (Danzig, Thorn, Elbing, Marienburg, Graudenz) and reformed in Lesser Poland and Lithuania, there especially encouraged and under the protection of Chancellor Prince Mikołaj Radziwiłł .
In 1555 the Sejm officially approved to have Protestant communities on aristocratic estates. In that year there was a first union of Reformed and Bohemian Brethren in Lesser Poland. In 1557 the king issued an official privilege that allowed Protestant communities to exist.
In the years that followed, further congregations arose in Polish Prussia, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and Lithuania, with the Reformed (Calvinist) influence also increasing in the Lutheran congregations. In 1562, the Unitarian Church of the Polish Brothers split off from the Reformed , rejecting , among other things, the Trinity of God and infant baptism . The Reformed Church, which adhered to the Trinity and infant baptism, was then referred to as Ecclesia reformata maior (≈ Great Reformed Church), the Unitarian as reformata minor (≈ Small Reformed Church).
In 1570 Lutherans, Reformed (Calvinists) and Bohemian Brothers met in Sandomir to discuss the formation of a Polish Protestant national church. However, there was only a mutual acceptance of the respective confessions and the possibility of exchanging clergy, but not a union ( consensus from Sandomir ). The radical Reformation Unitarians were not included in the Sandomir consensus.
In 1573, King Sigismund II. August issued an edict of tolerance that made it possible for every resident of the republic to practice religion freely, including Jews and Muslims. This was unique in this form in Europe at that time.
Counter Reformation (1575–1768)
When the new king took office, the situation of the Protestants deteriorated again. In 1595, the Lutherans canceled the Sandomir consensus and thus ended joint action by the three major Reformation churches in the country.
In the 17th century, repression against Protestants increased. In 1648 the Polish Brothers were expelled from Poland.
In 1717 the Sejm passed a law prohibiting Protestants from building new churches and holding high government posts. In 1724 Protestants were executed in Thorn and almost all Protestant churches in the city returned to the Catholics. In 1730 and 1734 the legal situation was worsened by new laws.
Not until 1768 was there an official equality for Protestants (and Orthodox), but only under massive Russian and Prussian pressure. Only after the first partition of Poland could these laws be implemented in 1775.
Reformatory writings
Since the 1540s, Lutheran writings in Polish have been published in the printing works of Johann Seclutian in Königsberg , and since 1553 Reformed writings have also appeared in the printing works of Prince Mikołaj Radziwiłł in Brześć (Brest) and other places.
- 1545 Luther's small catechism from Seclutian
- 1546 Psalms of David by Nikolaus Rej in Seclutian
- 1547 Luther's large catechism at Seclutian
- 1547 hymn book by Seclutian
- 1551–53 New Teatament , translated by Stanisław Murzynowski for Seclutian
- 1563 Brest Bible (Radziwiłł Bible) , first complete Protestant Bible, translated by Reformed theologians
literature
- Ingė Lukšaitė: The Reformation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Prussian-Lithuania. (1520s to the beginning of the 17th century) . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2017.
- Jacek Wijaczka: Poland . In: Helga Schnabel-Schüle (Ed.): Reformation. Historical and cultural studies manual . 2017. pp. 273–281
- Alfons Brüning: Unio non est unitas. Poland-Lithuania Path in the Denominational Age (1569–1648) . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008 ( Google Book ).
- Janusz Tazbir: Reformacja, contrreformacja, tolerancja . Wrocław 1996.
- Gottfried Schramm : The Polish Nobility and the Reformation 1548–1607 . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1965.
- Bernhard Stasiewski: Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Poland. New research results . Aschendorff, Münster 1960.