KROMER, MARTIN. — Polish bishop and historian, b. at Biecz (near Cracow) in 1512, d. at Heilsberg on 23 March 1589. After completing his studies at Cracow and Bologna, he became secretary to the bishop of Cracow, Gamrat, and later in 1544 to the King of Poland. From 1557 to 1564 he served as ambassador to the imperial court, where he formed a friendship with Cardinal Hosius, bishop of Varmia, of whom he became coadjutor in 1569 and succeeded him at his death in 1579. Together with Hosius, Kromer carried out notable activity for the reform of the clergy and people through pastoral visits, new foundations, preaching, and catechetical writings.
A scholar of his country’s history and a meticulous researcher of national archives, he composed a history of Poland up to 1509 in thirty books, *De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum* (Basel 1555), in which he reveals himself as a keen critic and elegant Latinist. He also concerned himself with music (*De musica figurata*, Cracow 1534) and published an important geographical and historical work, *Polonia sive de situ, populis, moribus, magistratibus* (Cologne 1577).