Always Faithful? Confessional Situation in Sixteenth-Seventeenth-Century University of Cracow

Abstract

The article aims at showing in a new light the confessional situation of the University of Cracow in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, using sources omitted in previous research into the topic and thanks to a more detailed analysis of the sources used by other scholars (e.g., Acta rectoralia, university conclusions, rectors’ and professors’ diaries). The Academy of Cracow (as it was called then) was a Catholic institution, thus portraying the attitude of the university’s authorities to non-Catholics in a period of confessional struggle in Cracow and in the Commonwealth seemed promising. Another point was to analyse the possibilities for non-Catholics to function within the walls of the University in different periods of time, as well as to describe the most important events and regulations, which influenced the University’s policy. The author also tried to bring to light the subsequent stages of administrative exclusion (on various levels) of non-Catholic students. However, the contacts of the Academy with religious minorities in Cracow is a matter so complex, that it remained beyond the scope of the article.