Portrait

Marcin Kromer (1512-1589) was a 16th century bishop of Warmia, cartographer, diplomat, and historian in Poland and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the personal secretary of Kings of Poland Zygmunt I Stary and Zygmunt II August.

Biography

Marcin Kromer was born in 1512 to a notable burgher family of Biecz in Lesser Poland. There he finished his education in a church-run school. In 1528 he moved to Kraków, where he graduated as a bachelor of the Royal Academy in 1530. Between 1533 and 1537 he worked in the Royal Chancellery. After that he moved to Italy, where he studied law for two years. He returned to Poland in 1540 and became the secretary of archbishop Piotr Gamrat. As his personal advisor, he was also his envoy and representative in Rome, where he spent two years until 1544. Then he became the canon of the Catholic canonry of Kraków.

In 1545, after the death of his promoter and tutor he took his post as the personal secretary of King of Poland Sigismund the Old. He was also one of the associates of Samuel Maciejowski, who later became the chancellor of the Crown. As a specialist in the matters of Prussia and Warmia, in 1551 he became the head of the Warmia canonry. However, his church career did not proceed as planned, since he was seen as one of the best Polish diplomats of the epoch and the court frequently made him abandon his post to serve as an envoy in various diplomatic missions. For his service to the Polish king in 1552 he was ennobled and granted with a coat of arms.

Between 1558 and 1564 he served as the Polish envoy to the Emperor Ferdinand I, who also added the coat of arms of his family to Kromer's emblem in recognition of his service. Among his duties was promotion of king Sigismund's claims to the heirloom of late queen-consort Bona Sforza, claimed also by the king of Spain, who based his claims on a forged testament.

In 1564 Kromer was called off to Poland, where he was promoted within the church hierarchy and took the post of a coadiutor (de facto bishop) of the Warmian diocese, after late bishop Stanisław Hozjusz. After 9 years at that post he was officially promoted to bishop. He spent the rest of his days in Warmia, writing several books on the history of Poland and diaries. He died March 23, 1589, in Lidzbark.

In his works Marcin Kromer promoted the idea of reforms of the Polish scientifical and cultural life. One of his most notable demands was providing the Kraków Academy with new privileges to restore its position as one of the most notable universities of Central Europe. He also promoted the active defence of the Catholic Church against the growing Reformation.

Bibliography

• De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum libri XXX from 1555 (About origins and history of Poles in thirty tomes) in Latin, Polish translation (O sprawach, dziejach i wszystkich innych potocznościach koronnych polskich) in 1611
• Polonia sive de situ, populis, moribus, magistratibus et Republica regni Polonici libri duo published in Cologne in 1577 (Poland, about location, culture and offices) in Latin, Polish translation (Polska, czyli o położeniu, obyczajach, urzędach Rzeczypospolitej Królestwa Polskiego) in 1853
• Rozmowa dworzanina z mnichem from 1551-1554, in Polish (Discource between a courtier and a monk)
• Historyja prawdziwa o przygodzie żałosnej książęcia finlandzkiego Jana i królewny polskiej Katarzyny from 1570, (true history of sad adventure of Fin prince Jan and Polish queen Katarzyna) a prose telling of love between Jan Waza and Katarzyna Jagiellonka (parents to Zygmunt III Waza).

See also

• Bishops of Warmia

External links

• Polish bio with a picture (http://www.karpaty.edu.pl/teams/drugac/ludz/kromer.htm)
• Another Polish site with coats of arms (http://akromer.republika.pl/herbarz_mkromer.html)