Tumult of Thorn (Torun)
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
supreme court under Augustus II the Strong
Augustus II the Strong
Frederick Augustus I or Augustus II the Strong was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania ....
of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. During a religious conflict between Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
townsfolk represented by mayor Johann Gottfried Rösner, and the Roman Catholic students of the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
college in the city of Thorn (Toruń)
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
in Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia was a Region of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Polish Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land , Malbork Voivodeship , Gdańsk , Toruń , and Elbląg . It is distinguished from Ducal Prussia...
, the Jesuit collegium had been besieged, profaned and devastated by a crowd of German Protestants. The mayor and nine other Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
officials were blamed for neglect of duty, sentenced to death and executed on 7 December 1724. The executions damaged Poland's reputation in Protestant Europe and among the German thinkers of Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
.
Historical background
The city of Thorn (Toruń) was founded by crusading German knights of the Teutonic Order and granted Kulm law city rights in 1233. More settlers soon arrived with FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
and Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
monks. In the 15th century, after becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the policy of the Order, citizen of the Order's monastic state organized themselves into the Prussian Confederation
Prussian Confederation
The Prussian Confederation was an organization formed in 1440 by a group of 53 gentry and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia to oppose the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. It was based on the basis of an earlier similar organization, the Lizard Union...
, and seceded 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 province of Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia was a Region of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Polish Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land , Malbork Voivodeship , Gdańsk , Toruń , and Elbląg . It is distinguished from Ducal Prussia...
was created and incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
.
After the secularization of the Teutonic Order, the newly formed Duchy of Prussia and the remaining Prussian territory adopted Lutheranism in 1525, the first state to do so. During the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, also the mostly German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
-populated Royal Prussia adopted Protestantism in 1557, while the majority of the Kingdom of Poland remained Roman Catholic. During the tenure of office of the mayor (Bürgermeister) Heinrich Stroband (1586–1609), the city became centralised and power went into the hands of its city council. At that time, Poland was largely tolerant in religious affairs. However, this gradually changed with the advent of Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
.
In 1595, the Jesuits arrived to promote the Counter-Reformation, taking control of the Church of St. John. Protestant city officials tried to limit the influx of a 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
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
and Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
, in the once very tolerant Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
the situation was worsening. From 1682, St. Mary's Church had to be guarded by a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
Bürgerwehr (militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
) during the Feast of Corpus Christi processions, as the assembled Catholics might have occupied this church as well. More violent conflicts occurred in 1688 and 1721.
1724 Events
After this event, both Jesuits and Dominicans tried to persuade the mayor, Johann Gottfried Rösner, and ten other leading citizens, all of them Prussian German Protestants, to convert to Roman Catholicism. They declined, and stayed in the city despite the pressure when the Jesuits sued them at the royal supreme court in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. The court was held during the second monarchy of August II the Strong of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
in the era of the Silent Sejm
Silent Sejm
Silent Sejm is the name given to the session of the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1 February 1717. A civil war in the Commonwealth was used by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great as an opportunity to intervene as a mediator...
, a time in which the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
dictated Polish internal policy. August, who had converted to Catholicism to be elected to the Polish throne, regretted not to be in a position to pardon the convicts.
Rösner and twelve other Lutherans were sentenced to death on 16 November. Prince Jerzy Dominik Lubomirski
Jerzy Dominik Lubomirski
Prince Jerzy Dominik Lubomirski was a Polish noble .He was the son of Grand Marshal and Hetman Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski and Barbara Tarło. In 1695 he married Urszula of Altenbockum. The marriage was dissolved by the Pope and c...
led a regiment of soldiers to the city to execute the verdict. Rösner and other officials were to be decapitated
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
for "neglecting their duty and countenancing tumult", while two others accused of profaning the Virgin were to be mutilated, quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
and burned
Execution by burning
Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....
.
One of the convicts converted to Catholicism and was spared, as was Rösner'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. He received amnesty on 12 December and emigrated to Danzig (Gdańsk).
The only remaining Protestant church, St. Mary's, was also made Catholic again and given to Franciscan monks who celebrated a mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
there on the day of the execution, 7 December 1724, which is now observed in remembrance of the Protestant martyrs. In addition, the majority of the town council was required to be Catholic from then on, but the citizens never elected that many Catholics to office since they were perceived as less educated. Lutheran possessions such as a school, a chapel and a printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
had to be handed over to Catholic control.
Aftermath
The event was presented by Brandenburg-PrussiaBrandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
as a proof of Polish intolerance.
In large parts of Protestant Europe, the "blood court
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
" or "blood-bath of Thorn", reminiscent of witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
s, damaged Poland's reputation of tolerance. Over 165 publications and countless newspapers reported about the event. Decades later, during the Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
recalled the sentencing of Protestants an example "of the religious intolerance of the Poles".
A later pastor at Thorn, Franz Jacobi, researched and wrote about the events and stated that the onesided unjust convictions and executions outraged and nearly caused a European war.
In Polish history books, the event rarely finds mention. The Polish name Tumult Toruński avoids mentioning the ensuing executions, as does Tumult of Thorn, used by some historians. Norman Davies
Norman Davies
Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
states that it was the sole event for which the name of Copernicus's birthplace was remembered in Protestant Europe.
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 http://www.thorn-wpr.de/fqDGT000.htm
- Martina Thomsen: Zwischen Hauptwache und Stockhaus. Kriminalität und Strafjustiz in Thorn im 18. Jahrhundert, 2005, ISBN 3-87969-325-0 http://www.herder-institut.de/index.php?lang=de&id=1003&band=13