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The Polish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical institution established in the 13th century to combat heretics. Permanent structures of the inquisition in Polish territories were established in the first half of the 14th century and always played a subordinate role to episcopal tribunals, which were already combating heretics in Poland in the mid-13th century. The final end of the existence of inquisitorial tribunals came with the Reformation and the victory of the idea of religious tolerance in Poland in the second half of the 16th century. Geographically, the jurisdiction of Polish inquisitors included territories within the Gniezno metropolitan province (including Silesia, and from the late 14th century also Lithuania) and Prussia, but did not include (except for a brief period in the 1460s) Western Pomerania, which, according to the bull of Boniface IX from 1399, was under the jurisdiction of inquisitors from the German province of Saxony. Meanwhile, Red Ruthenia, although it belonged to the Polish state from 1340 (with a brief interruption during the reign of Louis I of Hungary), until the mid-15th century formed a separate unit within the territorial structures of the papal inquisition. History of the inquisition in Polish lands Anti-heretical repressions in Poland until 1318 In Poland in the 12th and 13th centuries, there were no recorded instances of the mass heretical movements present in the West and South of the continent (such as the Cathars or Waldensians). Only in 1261 did the flagellants, a non-orthodox penitential movement, reach Polish lands. As can be inferred from chronicle references, the Church pacified this movement without triggering a larger-scale repression apparatus. Archbishop of Gniezno, Janusz Tarnowa, forbade the flagellants' processions under penalty of excommunication and imprisonment, and these regulations were approved by secular authorities. Most likely, the vast majority of flagellants complied with these prohibitions. It was only at the beginning of the 14th century that the Waldensian movement began to penetrate Silesia (probably from Bohemia). A Waldensian community was discovered in 1315 in Świdnica. Bishop of Wrocław, Henryk of Wierzbna, ordered a large-scale repressive action. He appointed his auxiliary bishop Paweł as the chairman of the tribunal. As a result of the action, a large number of individuals suspected of belonging to this group were captured in Wrocław, Świdnica, and Nysa. Around 50 people were burned at the stake, and many others had to flee. At the same time, repression against the Waldensians also took place in Austria and Bohemia. The persecution of the Waldensians in Silesia in 1315 was the work of the bishop's tribunal, not the papal inquisition, which did not exist in Polish lands at that time. However, these events may have influenced Pope John XXII's decision to appoint papal inquisitors for Polish dioceses. 14th century (since 1318) On 1 May 1318, Pope John XXII appointed the Dominican Peregrine of Opole and the Franciscan Mikołaj Hospodyniec as inquisitors for the dioceses of Wrocław and Kraków. Nine years later, in April 1327, John XXII issued further regulations, granting the Polish provincial superior of the Dominicans the authority to appoint inquisitors throughout the entire Polish province, and called on the Polish king and episcopate to support the inquisitors. This regulation, confirmed by Pope Eugene IV in 1432, became the basis for the functioning of the papal inquisition office in Poland. Both inquisitors appointed in 1318 either resigned or were dismissed from office, and from then until the time of the Reformation, this office was held exclusively by Dominicans. The papal regulations from 1318 to 1327 probably had a preventive character and were not associated with an increase in heretical activity in Polish lands. The persecution of the Waldensians in Silesia by the episcopal courts in 1315 was most likely effective and did not require support from the papal inquisition. This is also evidenced by the fact that the Dominican provincial did not rush to appoint new inquisitors in place of Peregrine of Opole and Mikołaj Hospodyniec. The new inquisitor for Kraków was appointed no earlier than 1328, and for Wrocław in 1330. In the 1330s, inquisitors were also appointed for Greater Poland, which was not under the jurisdiction of the inquisitors appointed in 1318, as well as for the Teutonic Order state, as Prussia belonged to the Polish Dominican province. Despite the papal inquisition's jurisdiction over all Polish lands, almost all specific information about its activities in the 14th century comes from Silesia, which politically was not part of Poland from 1327 onwards but a fief of the Czechs. In 1332, the Wrocław-Lubusz inquisitor Jan Schwenkenfeld conducted a trial against 16 Beguines from Świdnica, suspected of adhering to the so-called "Brethren of the Free Spirit". A few years later, this inquisitor became involved in a conflict between Bishop of Wrocław Nanker and the Wrocław city council on the side of the former, which ended in his murder in 1341. In 1349, another wave of flagellants passed through Polish lands, condemned by Pope Clement VI. Their leader in the Wrocław diocese was burned at the stake on the orders of Bishop Przecław of Pogorzela. Around 1380, houses of Beguines and Beghards were confiscated in Silesia, and in 1398, a supporter of John Wycliffe's teachings was burned in Wrocław. There is almost no information about inquisition trials in the Kingdom of Poland in the 14th century. Although the 16th-century historian Matthias Flacius claimed that around 1330, Poland, together with Bohemia, was the scene of a major inquisition action against the Waldensians, a more detailed analysis of Flacius's text and his sources has questioned this view. The German inquisitor Peter Zwicker noted around 1395 that one of the countries untouched by Waldensian teachings was the Kingdom of Kraków. 15th century The activities of Wycliffe and Jan Hus caused unrest in academic circles in Europe, including Kraków. Kraków's inquisitor, Piotr, attempted to counter the spread of "suspect" ideas and, in 1408, obtained an edict from King Władysław II Jagiełło obligating secular authorities to cooperate with the inquisition. In 1413, Jerome of Prague, a close associate of Jan Hus, nearly fell into the hands of Inquisitor Piotr while in Poland but was warned in time and fled to Lithuania. After the Council of Constance, where Jan Hus was burned at the stake in 1415 and Jerome of Prague in 1416, the Polish episcopate took steps against the spread of their ideas in Poland and sought royal support in this regard. Resolutions of the provincial synod in 1420 condemned Hussites and mandated faithful to denounce all suspects to the inquisitors, and in subsequent years, reminders of these resolutions were regularly given in sermons and resolutions of subsequent synods. On 9 April 1424, King Władysław Ja.... Discover the Tom Latkowski popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tom Latkowski books.