Moreover, many of the Polish printer-publishers were either open
adherents of the Reformation or in sympathy with it. Some of the
Cracow printers, though remaining in the Catholic Church, yet for the
sake of business printed and circulated Protestant books. Wietor,
suspected of heresy, had to make a confession of the Catholic faith
before an episcopal tribunal. The printer Andrysowicz was placed on
the index.[205] Some were open adherents of the Reformation. The
court printer, Michael Wierzbięta, was a Calvinist, an elder in the
Reformed Church of Cracow, and in his establishment were printed
Calvinistic books and pamphlets as well as many of the best Polish
literary productions of the time.[206] Alexander Rodecki, another
Cracow printer-publisher, conducting printing establishments also at
Raków and at Łosk, was an Arian. His daughter Judith married Sebestian
Sternacki, who was also a publisher of Arian literature at Cracow and
Raków. Sebestian Sternacki’s son, Paul, married Catharine Siebeneicher,
and continued as publisher of Arian literature.[207] Other Protestant
printers were Daniel of Łęczyca, an itinerant printer, Bernard
Wojewódka, active at Brześć-Litewski, and Cyprian Bazylik, who married
a niece of one of the earliest Cracow printers, Wolfgang Lerma von
Pfaffenhoffen.[208]
Besides a number of printer-publishers, there was in Cracow and in
Poland in general a considerable number of booksellers thoroughly
sympathetic with the Reformation movement. One of the earliest Cracow
booksellers imbued with the new religious ideas was Georg Fenig, of
Crailsheim, Würtemberg. He had been in Cracow as early as 1515. In
1520 he was in Leipzig, where he had a bookshop and where he became
a Lutheran. In 1527 he returned to Poland, and settled in Poznań.
After his death in 1538 his widow carried on the business until 1551,
when she removed to Königsberg in East Prussia with her daughter, who
married there John Seklucjan, formerly of Poznań.[209] Other Cracow
booksellers, favoring the Reformation, were Sebestian Pech, Michael
Królik, Zachaeus Kessner, Jean Tenaud, of Bourges, and Estienne Le
Riche, of Lyon.[210] Pech and Królik were Calvinists, and were in
constant touch with Geneva, Zurich, and Basel. Just as soon as a new
book was published in Switzerland it at once found its way to Poland
through these intermediaries. Pech maintained a bookstore not only in
Cracow, but also in Lwów.[211] The largest Cracow bookseller in the
second half of the sixteenth century, and a very influential member of
the Lutheran congregation there, was Zachaeus Kessner. His business
connections extended throughout Poland and northern Hungary, and
he dealt chiefly in books of scholarly value.[212] John Policjusz,
a former business manager of Kessner’s, became a bookseller at
Zamość.[213] Jean Tenaudus was a Frenchman and a leading Calvinist,
who came into touch with Polish Calvinists through Geneva. He came to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account