Erazm Otwinowski (1529–1614) was a Polish Renaissance poet, Calvinist and

Socinian Socinianism () is a nontrinitarian belief system deemed heretical by the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions. Named after the Italian theologians Lelio Sozzini (Latin: Laelius Socinus) and Fausto Sozzini (Latin: Faustus Socinus), uncle ...

activist. Born at Liśnik Duży, Poland to a noble family. He was sent as a boy to the

Wiśnicz Wiśnicz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Małogoszcz, within Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Małogoszcz, north-west of Jędrzejów, and west of the ...

Castle where he received his early education. There he came in contact with Protestants. Later he served for a Polish magnate

Stanisław Tęczyński Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

(important propagator of Reformation in Poland) as secretary and diplomat. Tęczyński sent him with many diplomatic missions abroad (e.g. to Turkey,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and Denmark). In 1555 Otwinowski adopted Calvinism, but after 1570 until his death became an ardent supporter of the nontrinitarian Polish Brethren Church. In 1564 he became famous because of his public “

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

” against the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation during the Corpus Christi procession in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

. After Tęczyński’s death in 1561, Otwinowski returned to Poland for good, where he remained active as a humanist, theologian, and Renaissance poet. He wrote numerous Polish-language verse forms (many were lost afterwards) based on

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, social, and erotic motives. He died in poverty in his estate in Liśnik Duży.

Bibliography

Piotr Wilczek Piotr Antoni Wilczek (born 26 April 1962 in Chorzów) is a Polish intellectual historian, a specialist in comparative literature and a literary translator, who served as the Ambassador of Poland to the United States (2016–2021) and the United K ...

, ''Erazm Otwinowski. Pisarz ariański'', Gnome Books, Katowice, 1994 Stanisław Tworek, ''Z dziejów powiatu kraśnickiego: Materiały z sesji naukowej. Z zagadnień reformacji w powiecie kraśnickim''. - UMCS Lublin. Stanisław Kot, ''Erazm Otwinowski, poeta – dworzanin i pisarz różnowierczy'' n:''„Reformacja w Polsce”'', band 6. 16th-century Polish poets Polish Calvinist and Reformed Christians Polish Unitarians 1529 births 1614 deaths Polish male poets {{Poland-noble-stub