POLAND
185
POLAND
priests from the villages, substituted Protestant
preachers, and ordered their dependents to attend the
Calvinistic or Hussite devotions. But the common
people opposed this propaganda.
The Reformation failed in Poland; but it stimulated the intellectual activity of the Poles and contributed very largely to the creat ion of a national Polish litera- ture in place of the hitherto prevalent Latin litera- ture. The sectarians were compelled to employ the vernacular in their addresses, if their teachings were to be effective with the masses. The Reformation gained momentum and growth especially after the death of Sigismund I, when his son Sigismund Augus- tus (1548-72) succeeded him. There was at the time much discussion as to convoking a national synod and establishing a national Church, independent of Rome. The representatives of various denominations in 1550 demanded the abolition of the ecclesiastical courts and complete religious liberty; they furthermore pro- posed the confiscation of church lands, the permission of marriage to the clergy, and communion in both kinds. But the king would not consent to these de- mands. The diet even passed strin- gent laws against the Protestant agitators, placing I hem on the footing of persons guilty of high trea- son. Nevertheless a decree was issued forbidding the pay- ment of any and all tribute to the pope; at the same time the ecclesiastical courts were deprived of jurisdiction in cases of heresy, and the civil power was no longer obliged to ex- ecute their sentences. The heretics, how- ever, did not gain complete equality of rights under the law. This curtailment of their liberty was because the sects were at variance with one another and because, furthermore, the Refor- mation was hardly more than a matter of fashion with the magnates, while the gentry and common people remained true to the Church; so that the heretics were unable to secure a majority in any part of Poland.
Still the number of Catholic churches converted to Protestant uses amounted to 240 in Great Poland and more than 400 in Little Poland, in addition to which the various sects had built SO new churches, while in Lithuania, where Cahinism was particularly prev- alent, there were 320 Reformed churches. As many as 2000 families of the nobility had abandoned the Faith. But the Protestants, although a very con- siderable portion of the population, were rendered incapable of successful effort by endless dissen.sions, while the Catholics, led by Hosius, Bishop of Ermland (see Ermland), sought to strengthen their position more and more. The latter took advantage of all the blunders committed by the sectarians, organized the better part of the Polish clergy, and with great energy carried into effect the reforming decrees of the Council of Trent. Furthermore, the Catholics adopted all that was good in the policy of the heretics. Polish works no longer ajipeared in Latin but in Polish, and it wa.s even decided to translate the Holy Scriptures into Polish. In the field of science the Jesuits also developed great activity after the year 1595. As a result of these measures, the dissidents steadily lost ground; the Senate and the Diet were exclusively
Catholic. The plan of creating a national Church
lost ground, and at last was entirely abandoned
(1.570).
Sigismund Augustus endeavoured to bring the na- tions under his sway into closer relations with one another, and he succeeded in effecting the union of Poland with Little Russia and Lithuania at the Diet of Lublin (1569), after which these three countries formed what was called the Republic (see abo\'e, un- der 1). With Sigismund the House of Jagiello came to an end. After Iiis ilcath the Archbishop of Gnesen, Primate of Polaml, ;issiimed the reins of government during the interregnum. As early as the reign of Sigismund the Old, the nobility had secured a funda- mental law in virtue of which the king was to be elected not by the Senate but by the entire nobility. After the death of Sigismund the nobles elected Henry of Valois king (1574). But after five months, upon receiving news of his brother's death, he secretly left Poland to assume the Crown of France. Stephen Bathori, Prince of Transylvania, was next chosen king. His wise administration (1576-86) had many good results, more particularly in ex- tending the boun- daries of the king- dom. After his death the Swedish prince, Sigismund 111, of the House of Vasa (1587-1632), was elected. This king was one of the most zealous champions of Catholicism. His main object was, be- sides completely checking the propa- ganda of the Refor- mation, to give Po- land a stable form of government. In the very first years of his reign Cathol- icism gained consid- erably. At this time, also, the Jesuits came into Poland in larger numbers and very soon made their influence felt among the entire population. Their schools, founded at enormous expense of energy and capital, were soon more numerously attended than the schools of the heretics. Jesuit confessors and chaplains became indispensable in great families, with the result that the nobles gradu- ally returned to Catholicism. Among the masses the Jesuits enjoyed great esteem as preachers and also be- cause of their self-sacrifice in the time of the plague. Lastly, they pointed out to the nobility the exalted mission of Poland as a bulwark against the Turks and Muscovites. After the influence of the heretics in Poland had been destroyed, the Society of Jesus re- solved to reclaim from the Greek schism the millions of inhabitants of Little Russia. To these efforts of the Jesuits must be ascribed the important reunion of the Ruthenian bishops with Rome in 1596. Eccle- siastically, the Polish dominions were at this time divided into two Latin archbishoprics with fifteen suffragan dioceses, while the Uniat Greeks had three archbishoprics with five bishoprics. The schismati- cal Greeks had the same number of archbishoprics (JNletropolia), besides four bishoprics.
Under Sigismund III Poland waged wars of self- defence with Sweden, Russia, the Tatars, and the Turks. Poland's power at that time was so great that the Russian boyars requested a Polish prince, the son of Sigismund III, to be their ruler; but the king refused his consent. Sigismund transferred the royal resi- dence from Cracow to Warsaw. After his death the
