Zbigniew Oleśnicki (cardinal)

Zbigniew Oleśnicki ( born December 5, 1389 Sienno, † April 1, 1455 in Sandomierz ) was a Polish cleric and statesman. He was bishop of Krakow, Cardinal, diplomat, Duke of Siewierz and Regent of Poland.

Life

Oleśnicki was the son of Cracow country judge. He was trained in Sandomierz, Breslau and at the Jagiellonian University. Since 1410 when he was with the law firm King Władysław II Jagiello in conjunction, which he at the battle of Tannenberg saved the life of the same year. As an attorney, prothonotary and bishop, he filled from 1411 to 1429 important diplomatic missions, including the court of Emperor Sigismund, at John XXIII. and the Brandenburg Elector Frederick I. At the same time he became the leader of the church hierarchy and the small Polish oligarchy. 1435 Oleśnicki had obtained favorable for Poland Treaty of Brest Kujawy with the Teutonic Knights.

During the reign of King Władysław III. , Who was crowned in 1434 as a ten- year-old in Poland, Oleśnicki was the real ruler.

In foreign policy Oleśnicki entered for the recovery of Silesia, advocated a closer relationship with Lithuania (as opponents of a coronation Witold and the Government Svidrigailas ) and strengthened the Polish- Hungarian alliance with the goal of a common struggle against the Ottoman Turks. 1440 ascended Władysław III. also the Hungarian throne. However, he fell in battle in 1444 against the Turks at the Battle of Varna.

Domestically Oleśnicki represented the interests of the magnates oligarchy and the Church. Royal reform initiatives he stepped contrary. In his diocese he fought against all signs of heresy, especially the Hussite movement. After the accession of King Casimir IV in 1447 he lost his position of power and joined the opposition to. Pope Eugenius IV appointed him on December 18, 1439 cardinal, but he did in 1447 Pope Nicholas V obedience, which in 1449 again gave him the cardinal's hat. He was assigned the titular church of Santa Prisca.

In 1443 he became the Duke of Siewierz, which remained a possession of the bishops of Cracow until the end of the Polish kingdom.

Oleśnicki liked to surround himself with scholars and men of letters (to them belonged January Dlugosz ) and held an exchange of letters with Enea Silvio Piccolomini.