Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki
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Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (Latin: Laurentius Grimaldius Gosliscius; 1530-1607) was a Polish bishop, political thinker and philosopher best known for his book De optimo senatore (1568; English translation: The Accomplished Senator, 1598).
After studying at Kraków's Jagiellonian University and at Padua, he entered the Roman Catholic Church. In 1569 he also joined the Polish royal chancery and served two kings, Zygmunt August and Stefan Batory, and was successively appointed bishop of Kamieniec Podolski (1586), Chełm (1590), Przemyśl (1591), and Poznań (1601). Goślicki was a man of affairs, highly esteemed by contemporaries, and frequently engaged in active politics. He was also a staunch advocate of religious tolerance in Poland. It was due to his influence and to a letter that he wrote to the Pope against the Jesuits that they were prevented from establishing schools at Kraków during his reign. He was the only prelate who, in 1587, acceded to the Warsaw Confederation.
Goślicki's book De optimo senatore (Venice, 1568) subsequently appeared in two English translations, as A commonwealth of good counsaile (1607) and as The Accomplished Senator... Done into English... By Mr. Oldisworth (1733). In this book Goślicki argued that law is above the ruler, and that it is illegitimate to rule over a people against its will. Many of the book's ideas comprised the foundations of Polish Nobles' Democracy (1505-1795) and were based on 14th-century writings by Stanisław of Skarbimierz.
In England, the idea of a king's responsibility to his subjects was so revolutionary that Goślicki's book was long banned there. His ideas became important foundations for future national constitutions. The book was read and commented on by Thomas Jefferson, friend or mentor of many of the framers of the United States Constitution[1] [2] [3] [4]. It was also an important influence in the framing of Europe's first modern codified national constitution, and the world's second, the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791.
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| Preceded by: Jan Tarnowski | Bishop of Poznań 1601–1607 | Succeeded by: Andrzej Opaleński |
