Writings (1416–1432): The Struggle for the Self-Determination of Central Europe

Paweł Włodkowic (1370–1433) was a canon lawyer of deep erudition, who taught at the University in Kraków and engaged in diplomatic service on behalf of the Polish crown. Central to his legacy are the legal arguments he advanced on behalf of Poland in its longstanding conflict with the Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, during the Ecumenical Council of Constance (1414–1418), and in subsequent appeals to the Holy Roman emperor and the Pope.The volume under review is designed to increase awareness and appreciation of Włodkowic's contributions, which are little known outside of Poland. It includes a twenty-page foreword by Ewa M. Thompson, professor emerita of Slavic studies at Rice University, and an eighty-one-page introduction by Paul W. Knoll, professor emeritus of history at the University of Southern California. Both are immensely helpful in providing essential background information, an overview of Włodkowic's arguments against the Teutonic Order, and the significance of his work. The bulk of the book consists of eight texts Włodkowic wrote concerning the order, presented in English translation for the first time.Founded in the late twelfth century to defend Crusader holdings in the Holy Land, the Teutonic Order turned its attention to eastern Europe in the 1220s, and in 1226 Duke Conrad of Mazovia enlisted their assistance in his battle against the Prussians, a pagan tribe on his northern flank. Not content to serve as a vassal to a regional duke, the Teutonic Knights transformed the territory they conquered into a sovereign state. After pacifying the Prussians, they took the fight to other pagan tribes, including the Lithuanians, as well as Polish Christian rulers in their vicinity, expanding into a substantial regional power in the fourteenth century. Their position, as well and their raison d’être as agents of Christianization, was threatened in 1386, when Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Jagiełło in Polish) married Poland's Queen Jadwiga, became the Catholic ruler over both states, and committed himself to bringing his pagan subjects into the Church. Conflict between the order and Poland-Lithuania continued, even after Jagiełło's commanding victory at Grunwald in 1410. This led Jagiełło to seek a remedy at the Council of Constance, where the rulers of the Church and the leading states of Europe gathered to resolve the Western Schism and combat heresy and corruption within the Church. Włodkowic played a leading role in framing Poland's case against the order.In Saevientibus (1416), the first of the eight documents in this volume, Włodkowic analyzes and ultimately rejects the proposition that the Teutonic Order has the legitimate right, on the basis of privileges granted by past popes and emperors, to invade the territory of peaceful pagans, convert them by force, and assume control of their lands and property. At issue is the principle, associated with thirteenth-century canon lawyer Henry of Segusio (Hostiensis in Latin) among others, that non-Christians have no natural rights in the Christian era, and that any Christian aggression against them is inherently justified. Włodkowic gives voice to an alternative school of thought, rooted in earlier judgments of Pope Innocent IV and Thomas Aquinas, that non-Christians still have natural rights, including the right to live unmolested in their established homelands. Human laws cannot supersede this higher natural law. He summarizes and amplifies his argument in Opinio Hostiensis (1416), a much shorter document written for a broader audience at the council. Włodkowic followed up these early salvos with Articuli contra Cruciferos de Prussia (1416), an unsparing catalog of the order's crimes against their pagan and Christian neighbors, including mass murder, the destruction of villages, towns, and churches, the looting of property, and the enslavement of survivors. Keen to link his cause with a central concern of the council, he identifies this wanton trampling of natural law and Christian norms as the “Prussian heresy,” which he describes as even worse than the heresies currently under investigation in Constance.The next two documents in the volume are Włodkowic's rejoinders to two scholars the Teutonic Order enlisted to counter the Polish canonist's arguments. The first was Johannes Falkenberg, a Dominican who portrayed Poland as a land of pagans and heretics and called for the extermination of its people and the killing of its king. Thompson suggests that Falkenberg was the first European “to formulate the justification of genocide” (p. 19). Włodkowic rebuts Falkenberg's charges in Iste Tractatus (1417) and reiterates his argument that the order has no legitimate authority to attack its peaceful neighbors. The second scholar was Johannes von Urbach of Bamberg, who cited Hostiensis in justifying the order's campaigns against pagan tribes, and who criticized Poland for employing pagan soldiers in its wars against the order. In Quoniam Error (1417), Włodkowic argues that canon law does not prevent Poland from collaborating with pagans in what he characterizes as Poland's defensive war with the order. He also compares Falkenberg and Urbach with heretics like Wycliffe who were under scrutiny at the council.The Polish delegation fell well short of their ambitious hopes at Constance, which is not surprising considering the Teutonic Order's strong ties with the Holy Roman Empire and other centers of influence in western Europe. Knoll suggests, however, that its effort eroded the order's standing and raised Poland's profile in western European eyes (p. 75). Not long thereafter, renewed conflict with the order prompted Poland to appeal to Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg for mediation. Włodkowic reiterates Poland's case in Oculi (1420), in which he challenges the legitimacy of an order that no longer fulfills its original purpose, recounts the history of the order's mistreatment of Poland, and proposes that earlier judgments by papal courts against the order be enforced. After Sigismund ruled in favor of the order, Poland next turned to the papacy for redress. In Ad videndum (1421), Włodkowic questions the rationale for the order's existence and argues that past emperors did not have the power to grant the privileges that the order uses to justify its actions. Pope Martin V sought further information and ultimately issued a judgment favorable to Poland, but it proved ineffectual in deterring the order. The final document in the collection, Ad episcopum Cracoviensem (1432), is a letter Włodkowic wrote to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków, occasioned by renewed hostilities with the order. More personal in tone, Włodkowic expresses his sorrow and frustration over a problem he has not been able to resolve, and he offers the bishop advice regarding how to proceed.The eight texts in this volume are quite technical at points and can be repetitive, but a careful reading is well worth the effort. They offer an illuminating perspective on the longstanding conflict between the Teutonic Order and Poland-Lithuania, such as the wealth of evidence Włodkowic gathered concerning the order's abuses. They also showcase aspects of Polish culture as it was coming into its own in the fifteenth century, including its scholarly sophistication and relative tolerance of ethnic and religious differences. More broadly, Włodkowic's corpus provides fascinating insights into the European experience at the tail end of the Middle Ages. It demonstrates the complexity of late medieval law, in which scholars drew from Scripture, the Church's theological tradition, and religious and secular law to weave together compelling arguments. It gives the lie to negative stereotypes of the Middle Ages as inhospitable to reasoned debate and uniformly hostile to non-Christians.Knoll laments the failure of Włodkowic's arguments as a “missed opportunity” that could have oriented Europe in a future direction “less wedded to war and conquest” (p. 91). The grave consequences of that missed opportunity would become readily apparent less than a century in the future, in the wake of European expansion around the globe.