Delegates of the Gniezno Archbishops to Prussia in the 15th century : contribution to the study of the inner circle of Polish primates in the late middle ages

This article presents the people who delivered messages to Prussia on behalf of the Gniezno Archbishops in the 15th century. In this respect, the period of Mikołaj Trąba’s and Wojciech Jastrzębc's pontificates (i.e., the years 1419-1436) is of most interest, as only two such delegates can be identified in the second half of the 15th century. This state of affairs was probably influenced by the regulations of the so-called Second Peace of Thorn from 1466, which mandated that Royal Prussia shall become a dominion of the Crown. When individual metropolitans of Gniezno required delegates, they turned to representatives of their own families (Mikołaj from Baruchów and Tłuchów, Maciej from Służew), courtiers (Piotr from Mniszków), lower-rank church and business officials (Kamieński Bernard and Szymon from Staw, non-judicial Poviate Governor of Uniejów [tenutariusz uniejowski] Franciszek from Sąspow) or the clergy of the secular archdiocese of Gniezno (the prelates of the Cathedral Chapter in Gniezno, the canon of Łęczyca Adam from Drzewców, Mikołaj the priest in Pieran). In the light of the presented source material, Szymon Maciejowic from Staw definitely stands out in terms of the number of completed missions, which may indicate his high position in the Archbishop’s inner circle.