The basis of this study are sixty-six testaments from 1539-1635, that have been inserted into the city authorities’ records. This is a selection that comprises final wills containing extraordinarily articulated eschatological beliefs, which means that they go beyond merely schematic declarations regarding the inevitability of death.
The testators represent the city’s elites, the commoners, and, moreover, a few courtiers. Thirty-two testators are Catholic, and, although rarely is this expressed straightforwardly, the choice of the St Mary’s parish cemetery usually testifies their adherence to that faith. The Protestants include ten Evangelicals and one Anti-Trinitarian. The religious inclinations of thirty-six per cent of the testators remain unclear. There are no premises to suppose that the Cracow citizens simply repeated suggested formulas which did not speak for their convictions. Unlike in Tudor England, the religious freedom in Poland at that time meant that religious preambles need not be influenced by political vicissitudes. Both the Evangelicals and the Catholics declare their participation in the universal Church, originating in the Bible and the Apostolic Symbol, the Evangelicals sharing unity of faith with other national churches. Christ is the head of the Church in Catholic opinion, and never is the pope and the hierarchy mentioned. The belief that there is no salvation outside the Roman Church was not exposed earlier than 1600. Both the Evangelicals and the Catholics pronounce their confidence that salvation is possible through the merits of Crucifixion, which absolves sins. It is impossible to say, however, whether the Catholic testators believed in justification by faith alone. On the other hand, nobody refers to traditionally important means of salvation such as
meritorious works and the sacraments. Only a few testators call on the intercession of Mary and the saints, who are mentioned collectively and not earlier than 1581. This corresponds with the observation that Cracow epitaphs which were erected in the last decades of the 16th century do not feature patron saints. Purgatory does not appear in the testaments either. The doctrine of “the elect” is reflected in some testaments of the Cracow Evangelicals and Catholics. The religious preambles of the majority of testators make identification of their confession impossible. Although seldom are Catholic testaments on the brink of orthodoxy, they do not feature those aforementioned tenets that are typical of Catholicism as a rule. The same irenicist views have been observed as regards England and some German lands. There is no way of guessing how many Cracow inhabitants shared those ideas between the 1560s and the 1620s.