page_title: Polish Golden Age
section_title: Literacy, education and patronage of intellectual endeavors
hierarchical_section_title: Polish Golden Age / Culture of Polish Renaissance / Literacy, education and patronage of intellectual endeavors
caption_attribution_description: English: Collegium Novum at right, Collegium Witkowskiego at left, Kraków, Poland
context_page_description: The Polish Golden Age refers to the Renaissance period in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which lasted from the late 15th century to the death of Sigismund II Augustus, the last member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, in 1572. Some historians claim that the Golden Age continued until the mid-17th century, when in 1648 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was ravaged by the Khmelnytsky Uprising, and the Swedish invasion. During its Golden Age, the Commonwealth became one of the largest kingdoms of Europe, stretching from modern-day Estonia in the north, to Moldavia in the east, and Bohemia in the west.
  In the 16th century, the area of the Commonwealth reached almost 1 million km², with a population of 11 million. The country prospered due to its enormous grain, wood, salt and cloth exports to Western Europe via Baltic Sea ports of Gdańsk, Elbląg, Riga, Memel and Königsberg. The Commonwealth had several major cities, such as Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Lviv, Vilnius, Toruń and temporarily held Kiev in the 17th century. The Commonwealth army was able to defend the realm from foreign invasion, but also participated in aggressive campaigns against Poland's neighbours.
context_section_description: The Polish printing industry began in Kraków in 1473, and by the early 17th century there were about 20 printing houses within the Commonwealth: eight in Kraków, the rest mostly in Gdańsk, Toruń and Zamość. The Academy of Kraków possessed well-stocked libraries; smaller collections were increasingly common at noble courts, schools, and in townspeople's households. Illiteracy levels were falling, as by the end of the 16th century almost every parish ran a school.
  The Lubrański Academy, an institution of higher learning, was established in Poznań in 1519. The Reformation resulted in the establishment of a number of gymnasiums, academically oriented secondary schools, some of international renown, as the Protestant denominations wanted to attract supporters by offering high quality education. The Catholic reaction was the creation of Jesuit colleges of comparable quality. The Kraków University in turn responded with humanist program gymnasiums of its own.
  The university itself experienced a period of prominence at the turn of the 15th/16th century, when especially the mathematics, astronomy and geography faculties attracted numerous students from abroad. Latin, Greek, Hebrew and their literatures were likewise popular. By the mid 16th century the institution entered a crisis stage, and by the early 17th century regressed into Counter-reformational conformism. The Jesuits took advantage of the infighting and established in 1579 a university college in Vilnius, but their efforts aimed at taking over the Academy of Kraków were unsuccessful. Under the circumstances many elected to pursue their studies abroad.
  Sigismund I the Old, who built the presently existing Wawel Renaissance castle, and his son Sigismund II Augustus, supported intellectual and artistic activities and surrounded themselves with the creative elite. Their patronage example was followed by ecclesiastic and lay feudal lords, and by patricians in major towns.
caption: Jagiellonian University in Kraków
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