[344] “Annatae ab episcopis juxta constitutiones sunt omnes retentae, nullus enim illorum eandem thesauro r. p. intulit, praeter olim Krasiński episcopum Cracoviensem et modernum episcopum Cujaviensem” (Note in “Ks. Kwarty 11” of the year 1578. Similar notes are found in “Ks. Kwarty 12” of the year 1580 and in Bk. 15 of the year 1581). Regarding Bishop Myszkowski the Crown Register under date of March 13, 1578, contains this note: “annatam ex episcopatu Cracoviensi intulit, quam nos in usum belli Gedanensis conversam esse hisce literis nostris testamur” (Źr. dz., vol. viii, p. 143). [345] Vol. leg., vol. ii, fol. 782, par. 12, fol. 908, par. 9. It looks as if the actions of the Diets of 1569 and of 1576 had produced some results. [346] Vol. leg., vol. i, fol. 262 ff., 302 ff. [347] Źr. dz., vol. viii, pp. 383, 385. [348] A. Sokolowski, History of Poland (Dzieje Polski), Vienna, 1904, vol. ii, pp. 220, 227. [349] Ibid., p. 220. [350] Źr. dz., vol. iv, p. xxiii. [351] Korzon, Internal History of Poland, vol. iii, p. 169. [352] Sokołowski, vol. ii, pp. 282-283. [353] See above, pp. 60-61. [354] Vol. leg., vol. ii, Laws of 1576. CHAPTER IV THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE POLISH NOBILITY AND THE CLERGY: ITS ECONOMIC ASPECTS Besides the great wealth of the church as such, there existed a whole series of potent causes, all essentially economic in their nature, leading to a revolt from the established church and furthering the spread of religious reform. The social classes in Poland affected by the Reformation were the townspeople and the szlachta or nobility. Of the two the most influential class as well as the most instrumental in the promotion of the religious reform movement was the nobility. The townspeople were unfortunately largely of German nationality, foreigners in a foreign land, and consequently without either social or political influence. The nobility, however, was both Polish and politically powerful. In the sixteenth century it constituted not only the Polish nation but also the Polish state. Hence, as in Germany the Reformation owed its firm foothold to the protection of the German princes, so in Poland it owed its spread to the protection of the Polish nobility, particularly the magnates.