“The Courage of the Citizen” (πολιτικὴ ἀνδρεία) in Sixteenth-Century Polish Thought

Abstract

The article considers the issue of the presence of the concept of civic courage (πολιτικὴ ἀνδρεία) in Old Polish political thought, particularly during the sixteenth century. This term originated in classical (Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, the Stoics) and Christian philosophy (St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas) and was discussed within the broader context of the virtue of courage. In classical thought, a distinction was introduced between martial courage and the courage of peacetime, the latter being associated with participation in political life. The article argues that classical and Christian reflections on “civic courage” were adopted in Old Polish discourse, though they were closely tied to the issue of decisionmaking processes. In the writings of Frycz Modrzewski and other thinkers (as well as in Jan Kochanowski’s Odprawa posłów greckich [The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys], this theme is intriguingly linked with the problem of individual resistance against the majority. The article also points to a crystallizing understanding of citizenship in political practice as a form of “opposition”– particularly evident in the treatise Krótkie zebranie rzeczy potrzebnych z strony wolności [A Brief Summary of Matters Essential to Liberty], as well as in reflections associated with the Sandomierz Rebellion. Finally, the question is posed whether the institution of liberum veto was ever connected with the concept of “civic courage.” The article suggests that these issues were most likely not associated with one another.