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 THE GOTHIC AGE combined the printer's trade with the embroiderer's. of Torun (Thorn), concluded in 1465, opened new routes to The peace commerce.

In spite of the proverbial saying, Civis Cracoviensis nobili par, the social position of the citizens of Cracow in their relation to the nobility was considerably lowered in the fifteenth century. The patricians, of course, remained on good terms with both the king and the nobles, and defended the rights and privileges of the city, but they looked down contemptuously on the "populace," and did not care at all for its struggles to obtain a firm legal standing in society. This, together with an event now to be narrated—insignificant as it otherwise appears—drew down on the patricians themselves, and the whole city, a fatal defeat. Thus it happened: in 1461 a city armourer, Clement, was late in furnishing a polished suit of armour which had been ordered by the noble lord Andrew Tenczynski, and would not be satisfied with the payment offered to him. High words passed between them, and Tenczynski laid violent hands on Clement. The injured armourer complained to the city authorities, but these thought it most prudent to indefinitely delay the consideration of the grievance. On this, Clement appealed to the common people to right him, and succeeded in stirring them up to sedition. The mob stormed Tenczynski's house, followed the magnate, who had fled, to the vestry of the Franciscan Church, killed him there, and cast the mutilated body out into the street. At the diet of Korczyn, Tenczynski's family took their revenge on the city: in spite of Queen Elizabeth's personal intercession, six of the most distinguished citizens were beheaded. The aversion of the nobles to the foreign element was constantly growing, and exerting itself more and more effectively. For a long time there was to be no agreement between these two classes, but the national assimilation of the townspeople made rapid progress from this time. About the middle of the sixteenth century by far the greatest number of the town's inhabitants are entirely Polish.