Jan Łaski (1456–1531)

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For the Protestant reformer (1499–1560), see Jan Łaski.
Jan Łaski
Kingdom of Poland
Coat of armsJan Łaski's coat of arms

Jan Łaski (1456 in

Archbishop of Lwów
.

From 1510 Łaski was

Primate of Poland
.

Biography

He was the uncle of his namesake

Protestant reformer, who helped reform the Church of England, and who was called home by King Sigismund II to effect similar reforms in the Commonwealth. John à Lasco is also famous for his achievement as an auto-didact.[citation needed
].

Secretary to the Chancellor

He became a priest, and in 1495 was secretary to the Polish chancellor Zawisza Kurozwęcki, in which position he acquired both influence and experience. The aged chancellor entrusted the sharp-witted young ecclesiastic with the conduct of several important missions. Twice, in 1495 and again in 1500, he was sent to Rome, and once on a special embassy to Flanders, of which he has left an account. On these occasions he had the opportunity of displaying diplomatic talent of a high order.[1]

Secretary to the King

Polish king (left) and Chancellor Jan Łaski

On the accession to the Polish throne in 1501 of

Catholicism there.[1]

Chancellor of Poland

So struck was the king by his ability that on the death of the Polish chancellor in 1503 he passed over the vice-chancellor Macics Dzewicki and confided the great seal to Łaski. As chancellor Łaski supported the szlachta, or country-gentlemen, against the lower orders, going so far as to pass an edict excluding henceforth all plebeians from the higher benefices of the church. Nevertheless, he approved himself such an excellent public servant that the new king, Sigismund I, made him one of his chief counsellors.[1]

Primate of Poland

In 1511, the

Albert, Duke in Prussia, a solution which would have been far more profitable to Poland than the ultimate settlement of 1525. In 1513, Łaski was sent to the Lateran council, convened by Pope Julius II, to plead the cause of Poland against the knights, where both as an orator and as a diplomatist he brilliantly distinguished himself. This mission was equally profitable to his country and himself, and he succeeded in obtaining from the pope for the archbishops of Gnesen the title of legati nati.[1]

In his old age, Łaski's partiality for his nephew,

excommunicated him, and the shock of this disgrace was the cause of his sudden death in 1531.[1]

Works

Collections of synodal legislation

  • Statuta provincialia (1512)
  • Sanctiones ecclesiasticae tam expontificum decretis quam ex constitutionibus synodorum provinciae excerptae, in primis autem statuta in diversis provincialibus synodis a se sancita (1525)
  • Statuta provinciae Gnesnensis (Kraków, 1527)
  • De Ruthenorum nationibus eorumque erroribus (Nuremberg)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Bain 1911.
Attribution
  • Ott, Michael (1913). "John Laski" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Laski" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 234–235 see para 2. Jan Laski, the elder (1456–1531),; which in turn cites:
    • Heinrich R. von Zeissberg, Joh. Laski, Erzbischof in Gnesen (Vienna, 1874)
    • Jan Korytkowski, Jan Laski, Archbishop of Gnesen (Gnesen, 1880)

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Archbishop of Gniezno

1510–1531 		Succeeded by
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