St. Melchior Grodziecki the son of a Cieszyn town dweller?
In 1995 Pope John Paul II canonized Melchior Grodziecki, a Jesuit martyr. According to the tradition and subject-related literary sources he was born to the noble family of Grodziecki from Brody living in the Cieszyn Duchy in the 16th and 17th centuries. A lot of researchers have shown interest in Melchior Grodziecki, but despite a large number of existing biographies they show numerous inaccuracies or even factual discrepancies. No truly critical biography has been written so far.
The account of the tragic events that took place in early September 1619 in the Slovak Koszyce, when three Catholic priests, Stephen Pongracz, Mark Stephen Križ and Melchior Grodziecki were killed by Bethlen Gabor’s soldiers, was written by their Jesuit contemporaries and submitted to the monastic archive. At the same time the stories of the priests’ tragic death were probably passed on among people and that is why they soon became the source of interest of contemporary researchers. The life of the future saint was described for the first time sixty three years after his death by a renowned Czech historian, a Jesuit Bohuslaw Balbin. This distinguished researcher was also a literature teacher at the Jesuit college in Czech. He was one of several such people working in Brno, where presumably he supported his research with the monastic archive resources. In this way he had access to excellent materials related to Melchior Grodziecki. The result of his studies was an extensive biography which particularly focused on Melchior’s life as a monk. According to B. Balbin, Melchior Grodziecki came from the noble Grodziecki family from Brody in Cieszyn Silesia. In his study he even gave details of Grodziecki’s relationship with his family, namely the fact that John Grodziecki, the Bishop of Ołomuniec, was his uncle on his father's side. It is certain that the historian was familiar with the 16th century work by B. Paprocki ‘Zrcadlo Slawneho Margkrabstwy Morawsko ‘ from 1593 which provided a detailed description of the Grodziecki family from Brody. That is why, in Balbin’s opinion, Melchior’s father was Henry, Bishop John’s brother. He presumably reached the conclusion in the following way: he didn't know the Slavic spelling of his name but he knew of Bishop John Grodziecki, whose Latin name was Grodecius and whose family hailed from the Cieszyn Duchy. Moreover, Grodziecki’s two companions in misery were of noble origin, so consequently he assumed that Melchior had also been born to a noble family. His writings influenced subsequent studies devoted to this martyr from Koszyce.
The next biographical note was written by Nicolaus Henelius von Hennenfeld, who knew Balbin’s work. On the basis of it he gathered the most important events from Melchior’s life, including his noble origin and relation to the Bishop of Ołomuniec. Another major biography of the future saint was published in instalments in the multi-volume history of the Czech province of the Jesuit Order by the 18th century Jesuit historian John Szmidl. He resourced extensive records of the Jesuit archive and consequently Szmidl's findings constituted the basic source of Melchior-related data in subsequent studies. After the Order’s dissolution, following the order of the Vienna court office in 1774 and 1782, the most valuable archive records were transferred to Vienna where they are still kept. The records were partially restored to Czechoslovakia in 1920 and presently they are kept in the Prague archive. Studies on Melchior Grodziecki were intensified only at the end of the 19th century, which was closely connected to the beatification process completed in 1905. The second stage of the studies regarded his canonization which resulted in further works published mainly in Poland and Slovakia. Further information related to Grodziecki can be found in hagiographic Jesuit-devoted literature.
Summarizing the information on his origin and childhood gathered so far, the findings have been modest. According to the literature there are four plausible dates of his birth: (1581, 1582, 1583 or 1584), although Szmidl already claimed that Melchior was twenty two on entering the Jesuit monastery on 22 May 1603, supporting his claim with the enrolment book data. According to his findings then, Melchior was born in 1581 or in early 1582 at the latest. All the works published so far agree that his father was Henry Grodziecki from Brody, with the Radwan coat of arms, the master of Grodziec in the Cieszyn Duchy. The thesis, however, has not been supported with any source materials. The literature says nothing about Melchior's mother. Another chronological piece of information on Melchior Grodziecki dates back to 1595 when he presumably entered the Jesuit college in Vienna. The only researcher dubious about Melchior's origin was Prof. Hermann Zebisch who, in his letter of 23 September 1932 written to the Director of the Cieszyn Museum Wiktor Karger MSc, wondered whether Melchior was not a monastic name since he had no evidence on Melchior’s family ties with the Grodziecki family from Brody.
The later and older literary sources on Melchior Grodziecki claim that his father was Henry (†1587). In the 17th century B. Balbin already wrote about Melchior coming from Cieszyn in the Cieszyn Duchy, from the noble Grodziecki family from Brody. The only explanation why the Czech historian claimed his noble origin might be that he had no documents regarding his bloodline and the Latin version of his name and the name of the 16th century bishop were identical. Furthermore, as has already been mentioned, his two companions in misery were of noble origin and thus Melchior might have been too. In any case, the above claim has been uncritically accepted by the literature.
Comparing the facts given earlier with the published Melchior-related information, the following reservations arise. If he had been born in the early 1580's, between 1581 and 1584, then his mother should have been Sophie Tschammer, his father's second wife. In his work, the above mentioned B. Paprocki, who knew the family very well, provides a biographical note of each male member of the Grodziecki family but he does not mention Melchior at all. The only persons he mentions from among Henry and Sophie’s children are the two sisters Ann and Helen, who were still not married around 1593. He does not mention Melchior either among the children born by his father's first wife. It might be argued to what extent Paprocki's words are credible. It is known that after the lost battle of Byczyna in 1588 as the supporter of both the Zborowskis and Habsburg on the Polish throne, he fled to Moravia. At the beginning he stayed at the houses of Moravian nobility. His longest stay was at the castle of Stanislaus Pawłowski from Pawłowice, the Bishop of Ołomuniec. At the bishop's castle in Kromierzyż he collected materials for his work Zrcadlo Slawného Margkrabstwy Morawského. His patron, Bishop Pawłowski, not only offered his hospitality and financial support but also enabled Paprocki access to the archive of the Archdiocese of Ołomuniec, plus provided him with other valuable information sources. The Bishop was raised at the Pawłowice estate located in the state of Pszczyna, on the border of the Cieszyn Duchy. At the beginning of his career as a clergyman he won the support of the Grodziecki brothers John and Vaclav. They had long been in a close relationship with the Pawłowski family. Ann, the Bishop's niece, was the wife of Christopher Grodziecki, Melchior’s presumed stepbrother. During Paprocki’s stay in Kromierzyż Christopher’s brother Frederick Grodziecki, probably related to the bishop’s castle, lived there. At this point it should be added that Pawłowski’s brother Christopher stayed at his house in his youth. According to a Czech heraldist, August Sedláček, Paprocki had studied the family archive of the Horeckis from Horka, Frederick Grodziecki’s wife’s family, which resulted in an extremely detailed genealogical lineage. Consequently we can suspect that Frederick was Paprocki’s source of information concerning the Grodzieckis. Thus, the information came from a reliable source and the possibility of the lack of data on Frederick's step-brother should be rendered as almost unlikely.
The dubiousness of the family ties is supported by additional facts. When the issue of the two surviving children Ann and Helen Grodziecki was argued during a session of the land court in Cieszyn, Melchior should have been about 10 years old and consequently would have been appointed a legal guardian and provided for, but there’s no mention of a Melchior in this source. According to the Cieszyn Duchy land statute of 1572, amended in 1591, each surviving child of noble origin was legally provided for and appointed a legal guardian acting as their legal representative until maturity. There is also no mention of Melchior in the documentation regarding the inheritance from Henry Grodziecki. Although the estate was taken over by the children from the first marriage, he surely would have been bequeathed some money or other property.
Few archive records are directly related to St. Melchior Grodziecki. If we take a look at the sources created directly after Melchior's death, including his obituary as well as the written correspondence of the Jesuit superiors mentioning Melchior, we cannot find anything about his origin. In all the documentation and Grodziecki’s monastic vows of 1619, his name is not accompanied by the nobilis title. His personal data have survived in the files of the Jesuits in Brno. An entry made in the enrolment book of the Jesuits in Brno mentioned the twenty-two-year old Melchior Grodecius from Cieszyn. The data were also given partially in the enrolment book of the Jesuit college in Brno, in the third probation, where he was called a Ślązak from Cieszyn - Tesinensis Silesius, and hence it is certain that he was from the capital of the Cieszyn Duchy. Jesuit archive records and the three antique books currently discussed were in Latin, which is why his name was originally known in its Latin spelling. It is worth noting that Melchior's biographers from the period before his beatification gave different translations of his name from the Latin spelling: Grodecz, Grodecky or Grodziecki. Thus we may assume that they did not have direct data regarding his origin.
On the basis of the analysis of the literature produced so far it turns out that there is virtually no evidence of Melchior being related to the noble Grodziecki family from Brody. In my opinion, the decisive evidence against his noble origin is the fact that in second half of the 16th century there were town dwellers with a similar name among Cieszyn’s citizens.
3. In the court books of Cieszyn dating back to 2nd half of the 16th century we can find documentation regarding three town families with the Grodski name, occasionally spelled as Grodeczki, Grodczki, and Grodczski. Since it is impossible for me to establish the place of origin of the town Grodski family, the name's spelling cannot be finally decided on. If they were from Cieszyn, their name had originated on the basis of the word ‘gród’ (gród + ski = Grodski). If they were from Grodziec however, then the name should be spelled as Grodziecki. One of the town Grodski families owned a corner house at Polska St. (presently Głeboka St.). Grodski (first name unknown) and his wife Agnes had numerous offspring, namely George, Eve, Ann and Hedwig. Their daughters married wealthy Cieszyn town dwellers: Eve – John Rambousek, Ann – Jacob Kozłowski and Hedwig – a rope maker called George Lizoń. Their son George inherited the above-mentioned house, where he lived with his wife. In the source document she is called Beranka which probably is not her real name but a description of her being Beranek’s (Baranek’s) daughter. That’s the only information we have. In 1577 George sold the building to his mother, Agnes, but he and his wife probably continued to live there. It is also where presumably their only child Melchior was born. It is possible that soon after George’s death in April 1584 his mother sold the house and the homestead to George Lizoń, referred to in the source materials as the son-in-law and brother-in-law. George’s son Melchior was bequeathed 40 talars and the remaining part of the inheritance was taken over by George’s sisters and their families. The issue of George’s son Melchior’s share was discussed during the meeting of the city council of Cieszyn in July the same year. Melchior was represented by his uncle Jacob Kozłowski. The above mentioned sum of money was divided in the following way: Melchior’s mother Beranka received 2.5 talars to raise her son, Kozłowski received 1.5 talars and the remaining 36 talars were entrusted to the above mentioned uncle until the boy’s maturity.
Melchior, George Grodski’s son, may be St. Melchior Grodziecki since he came from Cieszyn and was born at more or less the same time, i.e. in the early 1580’s. The Latinized form of his name can be Grodecius as well. In 1584 a note was made in the court book of his being a small child. It seems that it may be possible to decide on the location of the house where Melchior Grodski may have been born on the basis of these court books, however this requires further painstaking studies of the archive records. In any case, the house’s location at Polska St. (the city’s main street) and its value prove that the family belonged to a rich group of Cieszyn town dwellers. We can guess that he spent his childhood in the house of his legal guardian, uncle Jacob Kozłowski. His aunt Eve, Jacob’s wife, died in 1587. Since that date no mention of Melchior Grodski can be found in the Cieszyn documentation which would be in line with the information on St. Melchior Grodziecki who, according to the literature, started his education in a Jesuit college in Vienna around 1595.
The house of the other Grodski family was located at Srebrna St. In 1580 the widow Magdalena Grodska, referred to in the source document as the old or the blind, sold the house for 50 talars to John Suchy, with the reservation to run the tavern until her death. She ran the tavern together with her son Simon. Catherine, whose name was similar to her brother’s, appeared in source materials until 1600, was also her child. The proof of a close relationship between the two families is the fact that in 1586, after George Lizoń's death, Magdalena Grodska together with Simon and Catherine inherited the proceeds for the house at Polska St. sold at that time.
In the Cieszyn suburbs, beyond the Long Bridge, lived John Grodski, mentioned in the duke’s chamber census in 1577. His son was probably Szczęsny (Stiasny) Grodecki, a cloth-maker. His name appears in the source materials between 1588 and 1627. In 1588 he bought a small house beyond the Long Bridge from Martin Wratny and in 1617 he enlarged his fortune with a huge plot of land plus a house bought in the Frysztak suburbs from Hanusz Jerys, known as Dykhans. Later he was one of Catherine’s witnesses, widowed by Nicholas (Mikulasz) Barski, in a document dated 1623 regarding the sale of the house to John Birawski her son-in-law and his wife Agnes. He died around 1627, after which his wife, whose name is unknown, sold the house located at the Long Bridge to John Pelikan from Lipnik for 200 talars, 30 talars of which were for the surviving child.
4. Summing up the whole discussion, we can state that:
- in the documentation regarding the Grodziecki family from Brody there is no mention of Melchior Grodziecki, which is especially important as far the documentation on the inheritance from Henry Grodziecki who died in 1587 is concerned, since it would completely contradict the binding law and practice,
- there is no mention of Melchior among the Grodzieckis from Brody in the work by B. Paprocki, who knew the family very well,
- there is no information on Melchior’s family in the documentation produced by the Jesuits.
The above arguments have convinced me to draw the conclusion that St. Melchior Grodziecki did not come from the noble Grodziecki family from Brody. Since he hailed from Cieszyn, where he was born either in 1581 or early 1582, he might be Melchior Grodski born in the early 1580's in Cieszyn to the town family of George and his wife, Beranek's daughter, in one of the corner houses at Głęboka St. Undoubtedly his full biography is still to be written.
Wacław Gojniczek, Skrivanek Centrum Tłumacvzeń Katowice Sp. z o.o.