Märtyrer der Reformation? Die ersten Prediger in Polen

Abstract

In the aftermath of the first Reformation upheavals in Gdańsk in 1525, 41 laypeople and preachers were either executed or banished from the city. While Protestants who suffered for their faith were often stylized as martyrs in other parts of Europe, the events in Gdańsk did not draw the attention of a wider audience and none of the victims were regarded as martyrs in early modern Protestant historiography. The author argues that several factors contributed to this outcome, among others the fact that the preachers involved escaped with their lives and that the condemned laymen were decapitated rather than burnt at the stake or hanged, drawn, and quartered. The most important factor, however, was the conduct of the Polish king’s chancellery and the new Catholic city council of Gdańsk. These authorities did their utmost not to “make martyrs” by describing the upheavals as a revolt against the established order rather than a religious uprising. Ptaszyński ARG_109_Inhalt_DD.indd 230 10.09.2018 12:50:09