| Revision as of 20:16, 3 November 2007 editSciurinæ (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Rollbackers12,786 edits →Aftermath: rm original personal attack against Voltaire that was also out of line with what the source says← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:27, 3 November 2007 edit undoMolobo (talk | contribs)13,968 edits Voltaire also declared his desire to become a murderer for Catherine in Partitions of Poland, so let us put his statements in contextNext edit → | ||
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| == Aftermath == | == Aftermath == | ||
| In large parts of Europe, this "]", reminiscent of ]s, damaged Poland's reputation of tolerance. Over 165 publications and countless newspapers reported the event. |
In large parts of Europe, this "]", reminiscent of ]s, damaged Poland's reputation of tolerance. Over 165 publications and countless newspapers reported the event. The sentencing of Protestants who devastated Jesuit collegium was recalled during ] by Voltaire, who among enthusiastic praises to Catherine the Great like "I am not a murderer but I think I could become one to serve you"<ref>"Catherine the Great and French Philosophers of the Enlightenment" Inna Gorbatov Published 2006 | ||
| Academica Press,LLC page 91 </ref>denounced the event as an example "of the religious intolerance of the Poles".<ref>Martin Schulze Wessel,Jörg Requate, Europäische Öffentlichkeit Transnationale Kommunikation seit dem 18. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt/Main, 2002, ISBN 3-593-37043-3 </ref> | |||
| In Polish history books, the events are rarely mentioned{{fact}}, or marginalized{{fact}} to a "Toruń Tumult" (''Tumult Toruński'') that avoids mentioning the ensuing executions{{fact}}. ] states that the event made the name of Copernicus's birthplace remembered in Protestant Europe.<ref>], ]: A History of Poland : in Two Volumes, p.139-141, </ref> | In Polish history books, the events are rarely mentioned{{fact}}, or marginalized{{fact}} to a "Toruń Tumult" (''Tumult Toruński'') that avoids mentioning the ensuing executions{{fact}}. ] states that the event made the name of Copernicus's birthplace remembered in Protestant Europe.<ref>], ]: A History of Poland : in Two Volumes, p.139-141, </ref> | ||
Revision as of 20:27, 3 November 2007
The Blood Tribunal of Toruń (Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-pl) refers to the execution of the mayor and nine other Lutheran citizens of the city Thorn (Toruń) by the Catholic Polish government on 7 December 1724, following riots between the Protestant and Roman Catholic inhabitants of the town. The executions damaged Poland's reputation in Protestant Europe.
History
The city in modern-day Poland had been founded in the years 1230-31 within the pagan Old Prussia by crusading German knights of the Teutonic Order who built a castle here and soon conquered their Ordensstaat along the Baltic Sea. The nearby settlement was granted Kulm law city rights in 1233. Soon, more settlers arrived, mainly from Germany, and Franciscan and Dominicans monks as well. In the 15th century, getting increasingly dissatisfied with the policy of the Roman Catholic Order, citizens organized themselves in the Prussian Confederation, and seceded from the Order in 1454 with the help of the Polish crown. The resulting Thirteen Years' War ended in 1466 with the Second Peace of Thorn, in which the city became part of autonomous Royal Prussia under protection by the Polish king.
After the Order was ousted also from the other part of the former Ordensstaat in 1525, the newly formed Duchy of Prussia adopted Lutheranism as the first state to do so. During the Protestant Reformation, the mostly German-populated city adopted Protestantism in 1557, while the majority of the kingdom of Poland, to which Thorn and Royal Prussia was affiliated, remained Roman Catholic. Anyway, during the time of the mayor ("Bürgermeister") Heinrich Stroband (1586-1609), Thorn became centralised and power went into the hands of its city council.
In 1595, Jesuits arrived to promote the Counter-Reformation, taking control of the Church of St. John. Protestant city officials tried to limit the influx of the Catholic population into the city, as Catholics (Jesuits and Dominican monks) already controlled most churches, leaving only St. Mary to the Protestant citizens.
In the second half of the 17th century, tensions between Catholics and Protestants grew. In 1645, a Colloquium Charitativum, a discussion between the leaders of the rival creeds, resulted in no agreement. Just as the religious tensions in the rest of Europe settled down after the bloody Thirty Years' War and Peace of Westphalia, in the once very tolerant Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the situation was worsening. From 1682, St. Mary's Church had to be guarded by a Lutheran Bürgerwehr (militia) during the Feast of Corpus Christi processions, as the assembled Catholics might have occupied this church as well.
1724 Events
On 16 July 1724, when the Jesuits held another procession, a fight with pupils of the Lutheran Gymnasium led to the devastation of the Jesuit collegium.
After this event, both Jesuits and Dominicans tried to persuade the mayor, Johann Gottfried Rößner, and ten other leading citizens, all of them Prussian German Protestants, to convert to Roman Catholicism. They declined and did not leave the city despite the pressure. The Jesuits then appealed to the royal supreme court in Warsaw. The court, held during the monarchy of August II the Strong of Saxony, sentenced Rößner and twelve other Lutherans to death on 16 November. Prince Lubomirski led a regiment of soldiers to the city to execute the verdict. Rösner and other officials were to be decapitated for "neglecting their duty and countenancing tumult", while two other accused of profaning the Virgin, were to be mutilated, quartered and burned.
Only two converted to Catholicism and were spared. Rößner's predecessor and proxy, Jakob Heinrich Zerneke (1672-1741), a well-respected citizen and historian who had written the Thornische Chronica or Chronica Thornica in 1711, was amnestied on 12. December and emigrated to Danzig.
The remaining Protestant church, St. Mary's, was also made Catholic again and given to Franciscan monks who celebrated a Mass there on the day of the execution, 7 December 1724, which is remembered for the Protestant martyrs. Also, the majority of the town council was required to be Catholic from then on, Lutheran possessions like a school, a chapel and a printing-press had to be handed over.
Aftermath
In large parts of Europe, this "blood court", reminiscent of witch hunts, damaged Poland's reputation of tolerance. Over 165 publications and countless newspapers reported the event. The sentencing of Protestants who devastated Jesuit collegium was recalled during Partition of Poland by Voltaire, who among enthusiastic praises to Catherine the Great like "I am not a murderer but I think I could become one to serve you"denounced the event as an example "of the religious intolerance of the Poles".
In Polish history books, the events are rarely mentioned, or marginalized to a "Toruń Tumult" (Tumult Toruński) that avoids mentioning the ensuing executions. Norman Davies states that the event made the name of Copernicus's birthplace remembered in Protestant Europe.
Notes
- Jacob Heinrich Zernecke, Thornische Chronica,in welcher die Geschichte dieser Stadt zusammen getragen worden. Zweyte vermehrte Auflage, Berlin, MDCCXXVII
- Nicolas Lenglet Dufresnoy, New Method of Studying History,
- Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe, Akademie Verlag ISBN 3050038489, ]
- Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon: Märtyrer des Thorner Blutgerichts,
- "Catherine the Great and French Philosophers of the Enlightenment" Inna Gorbatov Published 2006 Academica Press,LLC page 91
- Martin Schulze Wessel,Jörg Requate, Europäische Öffentlichkeit Transnationale Kommunikation seit dem 18. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt/Main, 2002, ISBN 3-593-37043-3
- Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland : in Two Volumes, p.139-141,
Literature
- Ewald: Das betrübte Thorn. Erzählung aus dem Anfange des vorigen Jahrhunderts. 1826
- Krieger, Arnold: Empörung in Thorn. Weichseldeutscher Roman 1939
- Pederzani-Weber, Julius: Das Thorner Blutgericht. Erzählung um 1910
- Prowe, Adolf: Das Thorner Blutgericht. Eine Erzählung 1866
- Strobl, Karl Hans: Der dunkle Strom. Roman 1922
- Wichert, Ernst: Die Thorner Tragödie. Roman 1902
- George Gottlieb Dittmann: Beyträge zur Geschichte der Stadt Thorn aus guten und zuverlässigen Quellen gesammlet, Thorn, 1789
- Martina Thomsen: Zwischen Hauptwache und Stockhaus. Kriminalität und Strafjustiz in Thorn im 18. Jahrhundert, 2005, ISBN: 3-87969-325-0
External links
- Template:De icon Deutsche&Polen: 1724 Das Thorner Blutgericht
- Template:De icon Johann Gottfried Rösner
- Template:De icon Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon: Märtyrer des Thorner Blutgerichts
- EB1911: "blood-bath of Thorn"
- Visiting Toruń : Churches on the Old Town