book j n th i s c i ty t h e a r t of p r i n t i n g was f i r f t i n t r o d u c e d in to
— . >Poland by Haller; and one of the earlieft hooks was the
conftitutions and ftatutes compiled by Cafimir the Great,
and afterwards augmented by his fucceffbrs. The characters
are Gothic, the fame which were univerfally ufed
at the invention of printing: the great initial letters are
wanting, which ihews that they were probably painted
and afterwards worn away. The year in which this compilation
was printed is not politively known; but its publication
was certainly anterior to 1496, as it does not contain
the ftatutes paired by John Albert in that year.
The moft flouriihing period of the univerfity was under
Sigifmond Auguftus in the fixteenth century, when feveral
of the German reformers fled from the perfecutions of the
emperor Charles V. and found an afylum in this city. They
gave to the world feveral verfions of the facred writings, and
other theological publications, which diffufed the reformed
religion over great part of Poland. The protection which
Sigifmond Auguftus afforded to men of learning of all denominations,
and the univerfal toleration which he extended
to every fe£t of Chriftians, created a fufpicion that he was
fecretly inclined to the new church, audit was even reported
that he intended to renounce the catholic faith, and publicly
profefs the reformed religion *.
Towards the fouthern part of the town near the Viftula
rifes a fmall eminence or rock, upon whofe top is built the
palace, furrounded with brick walls and old towers, which
form a kind of citadel to the town. This palace owes its
origin to Ladiflaus Jaghellon; but little of the antient
ftructure now appears, as the greateft part was demoliihed
* See p. 18.
by Charles XII. in 1702, when he entered this town in tri- chap.
umph after the battle o f Cliffow. It has been fince repaired : <—J ->
the remains of the old palace confift of a few apartments,
which are left in their ancient ftate as they exifted in the laft
Century. The walls o f the firft o f thefe apartments
are decorated with paintings of tilts and tournaments 5
thofe of the fecond with a reprefentaticn o f the coronation
of a king o f Poland, affirmed, by the perfon who ihewed the
palace, to be that of Ladiflaus the Firft, and to have been
drawn in his time ; but the ftyle of the painting befpeaks
it of a more modern date. The deling of the third apartment
is divided into different compartments, ornamented
with carved heads of extraordinary ihapes and grotefque
appearances. All the rooms ill the palace are of fine di-
menfions, containing feveral remains of antient magnificence,
but totally without furniture.
This palace was formerly the refidence of the kings of
Poland, who, from the time of Ladiflaus Loketec, have been
crowned at Cracow. The Polifh and German hiftorians
differ concerning the time when the title of king was firft
claimed by the fovereigns of this country ; but the moft probable
account is, that in 1295 Premiflaus affumed the regal
title, and was crowned at Gnefna by the archbifhop of that
diocefe. He was fucceeded by Ladiflaus Loketec, who, offending
the Poles by his capricious and tyrannical conduit,
was depofed before he was crowned ; and Venceflaus king
of Bohemia, who had married Richfa daughter o f Premiflaus,
being eleited in his ftead, was in 1300 confecrated and
crowned at Gnefna. Ladiflaus, after flying from his country,
and undergoing a feries of calamitous adventures, was at
length brought to a fenfe of his mifconduit. Having re-
Vol. I. u gained