Two years later the college was elevated to the status of university by King Stephen, and its influence increased accordingly. By the 1620s, with the Jagiellon University sinking into clerical sophistry and that of Zamość lapsing into provincialism, Wilno had only two rivals: the Arian academies of Raków and Leszno. Raków, founded under the spiritual aegis of Fausto Sozzini (Socinius) and the patronage of the magnate Jan Sienieńki, had become the principal centre of Arian thought in the early 1600s, attracting teachers and students from all over Europe. During the next decades it gave rise to a canon of Socinian literature which was disseminated far and wide (Spinoza and Locke are among those thought to have been influenced by these writings). In 1638 two students of the academy desecrated a Catholic wayside shrine, and the ensuing scandal resulted in the closure of the academy and its press. The Brethren moved these to the estate of another Arian magnate, but they were gradually undermined by continual legal harassment from the Catholic hierarchy. The Arian college of Leszno, founded in the previous century by the Leszczyński family, was enhanced in the 1620s when the Czech philosopher Jan Amos Komensky (Commenius) joined it. His teachings were particularly influential in Holland and England, which he visited under Cromwell’s Protectorate (it was during this visit that he was invited to preside over the college of Harvard in New England). Leszno was sacked during the Swedish war of 1655, just three years before the banishment of the Arians, so by the second half of the century the Jesuit University of Wilno had no serious rival.
Between their arrival in 1564 and the end of the century, no fewer than 344 books by Jesuits were published in Poland. This literature, much of it on subjects of general interest, subtly promoted their vision, political as well as spiritual. The Jesuits ranged themselves behind the crown, particularly after the accession of Zygmunt III in 1587, and displayed marked hostility towards the szlachta. This stemmed not only from the Jesuits’ genuine sympathy for the peasantry, but also from the realisation that the real foe of Catholic absolutism was not so much the Arians or the Calvinists, the Jews or the Muslims, but the democratic Catholics who made up such a large proportion of the szlachta.
The constitution of the Commonwealth stood in the way of the Counter-Reformation and the szlachta were the guardians of the con—stitution. Little could be achieved through the power of the crown, so the Jesuits looked for other weapons. They even began to use the pulpit to incite the downtrodden to raise their heads: the spectre of a nationwide peasants’ revolt in support of the King and the Church was not a pleasant prospect for the szlachta. It never came to that. The Zebrzydowski rebellion, which voiced some unequivocal intentions where the Jesuits were concerned, frightened them. As the Jesuits attracted more and more minor szlachta into their ranks, they learnt to operate more adroitly within the system, while their schools turned out thousands of young szlachta imbued with religious, social and political principles honed by them.
The magnates were a different matter. Although they had collected wealth and office with single-minded egoism, often behaving like petty tyrants, they nevertheless entertained a view of themselves as pillars of the constitution. They were fond of likening their families to the senatorial houses of ancient Rome—to the extent, in the case of the Lubomirski, of claiming descent from Drusus (the Radziwiłł, not to be outdone, published a family tree showing Hector of Troy as their ancestor). They were, in consequence, far harder for the Jesuits to snare. But even they were tamed.
A characteristic figure in this respect was Jerzy Ossoliński, born in 1595 into an old family of substance which his generation carried into the top league. After a Jesuit education, he set off on a grand tour through Holland, England, France, Italy and Austria. He distinguished himself at the siege of Moscow in 1618, and subsequently as a diplomat before embarking on a parliamentary career. In 1631 he was elected Marshal of the Sejm, an opportunity he used to put forward a project for reform of voting procedures. In 1636 he entered the Senate as Palatine of Sandomierz, two years later he was appointed Vice Chancellor, and in 1642 Chancellor of Poland. An intelligent statesman, he inspired respect for himself and the king he served by his strong yet moderate approach, but his Jesuit upbringing showed whenever there was talk of religious toleration, and he was instrumental in the closing down of the Raków Academy.