Page:Cracow - Lepszy.djvu/139

MODERN TIMES, the German element is to some extent supplanted by the Italian, and the native Polish middle-class gains in strength. The immigration of numerous Italians, occasioned by the marriage of Sigismund I to Bona Sforza, gave the town a wholly new aspect. The melodious language of Italy was heard in the streets, in some of the churches Italian songs were sung, at court the band played Italian airs. The city records are full of documents written in Italian, and Italian artists are at work in building up the monumental structures of the Renascence, which are among the first works in that style on our side of the Alps. Soon the Italian element blended with the Polish, and the very next generation are Poles in all respects. The prelates, who either reside at Cracow or occupy its episcopal see, rival the royal court in favouring literature and the arts. Thus the illustrious Canon Erasmus Ciolek (d. 1522) builds a magnificentissimum palatium for himself, calls learned men of Italy and Spain to his side, and employs miniature painters in illuminating MSS. Another famous ecclesiastic, Bishop Peter Tomicki (d. 1535), equally distinguished as statesman and scholar, being one of the most zealous humanists, reformed the University, of which he was professor, on Renascence lines. Several occupants of the Cracow see followed his example. Thus, Bishop Samuel Maciejowski (d. 1550) assembled in his castle at Pradnik, near Cracow, the very flower of humanist society; the debates of these circles supplied ample literary material to Lucas Gornicki for his Polish Courtier, written in imitation of Castiglione's Cortegiano. The immediate successors of Maciejowski, Bishops Zebrzydowski (d. 1560) and Padniewski (d. 1572) kept up the literary salon he had established, and the most eminent writers of the time, Kochanowski, Gorski, Nidecki, Montanus, and others, were frequently inspired in their work by these conversations. The patricians of the town, owing to their high intelligence and great riches, were able to hold their own in social rivalry with the ruling class. They are still in close relations with and of great influence at the royal court. The two Boners, father and son, are, in the true