The secularization of the bishopric of Cracow
The secularization of the bishopric of Cracow
On 17 July 1789 the sejm took the estates of the bishopric of Cracow for the treasury, leaving the future bishop an annual salary of 100,000 złotys. This decision followed months of ‘intrigues and simonies’ — as the nuncio put it — in which the king, the primate, the opposition, the envoys of Russia and Prussia, and aspirants for promotion participated. A week later the law Fund for the Army extended the principle to the other bishoprics of both rites, as they became vacant, and invited the nuncio and the episcopate to participate in the redrawing of diocesan boundaries. This decision provides a case study of the interaction between high politics and political culture. Besides threatening schism between the Commonwealth and Rome and driving the primate abroad, the affair further undermined the royal prerogative, and contributed to the political realignment that ended the first phase of the Polish Revolution.
Keywords: Bishoprics, republicanism, King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Prussia, Girolamo Lucchesini, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, Papacy, Primate Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, Bishop Ignacy Krasicki, Wojciech Suchodolski
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