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Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 97 (2002): Our Past

Articles

The bourgeois "cathedral". Patronage over St Mary's Church in the Middle Ages

  • Elżbieta Piwowarczyk
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2002.97.25-64  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2002-06-30

Abstract

The Church of the Virgin Mary, the principal landmark of Cracow’s Old Town, was built as a burgher church under the patronage of the Bishop of Cracow. One of the indicators of St Mary’s privileged position was the fact that its incumbent had the rank of archpresbyter with the right to use episcopal robes and insignia; the day-to-day duties of running the parish fell to the prepositor. However, by the end of the 14th century the City Council stepped up pressures to wrench the patronage over St Mary’s from the hands of the bishop. First, they succeeded in getting Pope Boniface IX to give the Council the right to present their candidate to the office of sacristan (1397) and to abolish the office of the prepositor (1402). In 1415 the Bishop of Cracow lost his prerogatives — including patronage over St Mary’s and 17other churches — to the king. For the next two hundred years the royal patrons contented themselves with exercising their right to present the archpresbyter and neglected by and large everything else about the church.This was exploited by the Cracow aldermen, who with the backing of the city’s burghers, became de facto patrons of the church, securing their hold on it by a series of minor concessions and privileges. The burghers were keen to embellish their church and make it more impressive. The additions included a new presbyterium, alterations to the church hull (late 14th c.) and the construction of a row of side chapels (the second third of the 15th c.). Initiatives envisaging large-scale architectural improvements drew their strength from a continuous flow of legacies both from individual and corporate donors.The German patriciate that predominated in Cracow until the late 15thcentury patronized St Mary’s with rich gifts, a circumstance which earned it the name of „the German church”. The German affiliation was also a source of discords over principal nominations and the language of sermons (until the end of the 15th century they were in German). The 15th century saw a rise of Polish-speaking patriciate which led eventually to the replacement of Ger­man by Polish in St Mary’s in 1537.

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