The Sandomierz Agreement (or Sandomierz Consensus; lat. ''Consensus Sendomiriensis'') was an agreement reached in 1570 in

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Prov ...

between a number of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

groups in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

. It was intended to unite different creeds of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

, such as the Calvinists, the

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

, and the Bohemian Brethren, and to face Counter-Reformation as a united front. The

Polish Brethren The Polish Brethren (Polish: ''Bracia Polscy'') were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a Nontrinitarian Protestant church that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658. By those on the outside, they were called " Arians" or " Socinians" ( ...

did not participate in the talks that resulted in the agreement, signed on April 14, 1570. Signatories of the consensus agreed to respect each other's

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

s and sacraments. Furthermore, united synods were planned. The idea of a

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

bill was raised, in which Protestants were to be treated on equal terms with Catholics. By the mid-1550s, the Protestant Reformation was accepted by several members of the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

in Lesser Poland. They, however, were deeply divided, which made it impossible to create a national Protestant church of Poland. Facing counter-reformation, Jan Laski came with the idea of a united front, but it turned out to be a failure, when in the 1560s, the radical movement of the

emerged, dividing the Calvinists. Due to efforts of Laski and Feliks Krzyzak, the agreement between the Calvinists and the Bohemian Brethren was signed in 1555 in Kozminek. Due to several dogmatic differences the agreement formally existed only for ten years. In 1565, at a synod in Gostyn, Greater Poland, the idea of unification of Protestant churches in the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

was raised once again. The synod turned out to be another failure, and another meeting of the Protestant nobility took place in early April 1570 in Sandomierz. The

did not participate in it, so after lengthy discussion, Protestant activists decided to expel the Brethren from their community. Each creed retained its ceremonies, and all participants pledged to cooperate with each other, and to invite each other to synods. In the province of Lesser Poland, Feliks Krzyzak emerged as a leader of Protestant communities. In Greater Poland, this task was taken over by Erazm Gliczner, while leaders of the local Bohemian Brethren were Jakub Ostrorog and Rafal Leszczynski. In the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

, the Protestants were led by Szymon Zaciusz. The expansion of both Bohemian and Polish Brethren was stopped after 1577, and in the late 16th century, the Roman Catholic church managed to weaken the influence of the Calvinists in the

. In the first half of the 17th century, the number of Calvinist prayer houses in Lesser Poland was reduced from 260 to 155. The only Protestant creed that retained its position was Lutheran Church, which was very strong among German-speaking residents of

Royal Prussia Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...

Sources

External links

Excerpts of the Sandomierz Agreement
(in Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandomierz Agreement Sandomierz, Agreement Sandomierz Protestantism in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Protestant Reformation History of Lesser Poland