Mikołaj Dzierzgowski

Mikołaj (Nicholas) Dzierzgowski (1490-1559) was Archbishop of Gniezno and primate of Poland.^[1][2][3] He was born in 1490 into a szlachta family of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms. He was born out of wedlock to Jeżewskiego de Dzierzgów and either Zbigniewy Wilkanowskiej or Catherine Wilkanowskiej.

After studying in 1518AD at the Academy of Cracow, he became a royal notary where he became the protégé of Andrzej Krzycki, Bishop of Plock. In 1528, he continued his studies at the University of Padua and in 1541 became bishop of Chełm followed by bishop of Kujawy in 1543. In 1545 he became the archbishopric of Gniezno.^[4]

Like his predcessor Jan Laski, he was a leader of the national anti-Habsburg party. A conservative, he actively opposed Jews (especially in Sochaczew) and protestants (issuing an edict against them on January 13, 1557), and what he a saw as the rampant apostasy in Poland. He once threatened a conference held by Sigismund II Augustus. He called a Synod in Łowicz in 1556AD and a conference of bishops in Warsaw. On December 7, 1550 in Wawel Cathedral, he crowned Queen Barbara Radziwiłł and on July 30, 1555 performed her wedding there. He also crowned Catherine of Habsburg, Sigismund second wife.

He died on Jan. 18, 1559.

References

1. Catholic heirachy entry.
2. Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 3, Page 336, and Page 204
3. Stanisław Hozjusz; Mikołaj Dzierzgowski; Otto H F Vollbehr; Confessio fidei Catholicae Christiana(Dilingae : Excudebat Sebaldus Mayer, anno salutis humanae 1557.)
4. A. Gąsiorowski, J. Topolski, Wielkopolski Słownik Biograficzny. (Warszawa–Poznań: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981, p170.) ISBN 83-01-02722-3.