“Idźcież już precz!” [Come on, get out already!]: The Origins and Development of the Earliest Anti-Jesuit Literature in the Commonwealth of Poland–Lithuania, 1577–1614

Abstract

This article is the first account in English of the origins and development of the earliest anti-Jesuit literature in the Commonwealth of Poland–Lithuania from the publication in 1577 of the first anti-Jesuit work, Jakub Niemojewski’s (c.1532–84) Diatribe abo kolacyja przyjacielska z ks. Jezuitami poznańskimi o przedniejsze różnice wiary krzescijańskiej (Diatribe or a friendly supper with Poznań Jesuit fathers about the main differences of the Christian faith), until the publication in 1614 of the most famous and most influential anti-Jesuit work not only in Poland but also in other parts of Europe, the Monita privata [secreta] (Private [hidden] instructions) ascribed to the Polish (ex-)Jesuit, Hieronim Zahorowski (c.1582–1634). The essay places the Polish anti-Jesuit literature, written mostly in Latin but also in Polish, within its broader context of such literature in western Europe, of which it was an integral part, for the texts from both younger and older Europe influenced each other and borrowed from each other. (Younger Europe refers here to the Scandinavian–Baltic–Slavic–Hungarian–Balkan part of the continent that was Christianized some centuries after Older Europe). Such a presentation aims at showing the indisputable importance of anti-Jesuit literature for the culture and politics not only of the early modern and but also of the modern history of Europe, including Poland, whose contours were shaped by the Jesuits, for better or worse, to a degree exceeding that of all other Catholic religious organizations. Several topoi examined here fed into anti-Jesuit conspiracy theories, which constitute one of the core themes of this special issue of the jjs. These conspiracy theories gave legitimacy to the aim of expelling the Jesuits, who were portrayed as forming a secretive society that had invaded Poland–Lithuania to fulfill the agenda of foreign powers through deception and assassination.