Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
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Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (Andreus Fricius Modrevius) (ca. 1503-1572) was a Polish Renaissance scholar, humanist and theologian, called "the father of Polish democracy". He was born in Wolbórz (also known as Woybor, Voibor, Woibor, Wojbor, Woyborz and Wolborz) (near Piotrków Trybunalski at present), the son of Jakub Modrzewski (1477 - 1529).
He was of the lower gentry and held a heritable title as the village head of Wolbórz. After graduating from the Jagiellonian University he was ordained as a vicar and served under archbishop Jan Łaski (the Elder), and later under the bishop of Poznan, Jan Latalski. From 1530 he was connected to the court of Jan Łaski the Younger, the Polish Primate and nephew of the elder Łaski. Having lived for a time in Germany, where he studied at the Lutheran University he met Martin Luther and other early Protestant reformers in Wirttemberg. He also took care of the library of Erasmus.
He returned to Poland in 1541, and became an official at the court of Sigmundus Augustus in 1547. Since 1553 he retired to his native Wolbórz, but since he was leaning strongly towards the reformist (especially Calvinian and Arian/Polish brethren) circles he was in danger of being accused of heresy and stripped of his ecclesiastical titles and offices. The king, however, issued a letter of protection for him.
His works: Lascius, Or On The Penalty For Manslaughter (1543, in Latin, Polish title "Łaski albo o karze za mężobójstwo"); The Discourse Of A Truthful Peripatethic (1545); On The Improvement Of The Commonwealth (1554, in Latin De Republica emendanda, first printed in Basel, Polish title "O poprawie Rzeczpospolitej"); Silve Quator (1590, posthumously).
In 'Lascius, Or On The Penalty For Manslaughter' he criticized the inequality in terms of law faced by various social classes: while the penalty for killing a nobleman ranged from 120 grzywna's through life imprisonment to death, the penalty for killing a peasant was only 10 grzywna's.
Yet it was the 'On The Improvement Of The Commonwealth' that brought him eternal and international fame. He advocates the strong central monarchy, where the king should protect the rights of all. He postulated equality of all citizens before law, criticized the ban (1565) on land-owning by non-nobles and wrote that peasants should own the earth they work on and townsfolk should be able to buy the land and be elected to official positions (those rights was reserved for nobility only), demanded the reform (secularizing) of education, division between the State and the Church. This treaty was translated into many European languages, earned him many enemies among the Church and Pope Paul V put his book on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of forbidden books).
He was in favour of sending a mixed (ecclesiastical and secular) delegation to the Tridentine Council (where he eventually was sent as one of the Polish delegates)
He was a supporter of irenism and the democratical and ecumenical element in the Church.
[edit] Quotes
- Without laws there can be no true freedom (bez praw nie może być prawdziwej wolności)
- The peasant is not your slave, he is your neighbour
