LASKI, JAN. - Archbishop, primate of Poland and statesman, b. at Lask in 1456, d. at Kalisz on 19 May 1531. He was ambassador in 1494 to Rome, in 1496 in Flanders and in 1500 again to Rome.
The accession of King Alexander I Jagiellon (1501-1506) determined the clear political rise of L.: secretary of the crown in 1501, he was chancellor from 1503 to 1510.
In 1505 he provided for the first official collection of Polish laws, but he did not succeed in strengthening the crown against the magnates; he did, however, know how to place the predominance of the middle nobility on a firm footing (the constitution Nihil novi of 1505). Archbishop of Gniezno in 1510 and primate of Poland, he took an active part in the Fifth Lateran Council; he obtained from Leo X the bull of 9 Aug. 1515 that regulated the discipline of the Church in Poland and the title of Legatus natus; and he continued to speak out always in favor of a general council pro reformatione Ecclesiae.
A proud opponent of Protestantism and a distinguished patron of the arts, L., even after his chancellorship ended, retained considerable political influence; he opposed the policy of understanding with the Habsburgs that prevailed after 1515 and maintained the necessity of an alliance with France. After 1518, opposed by the new queen Bona Sforza, he rapidly lost all influence and, having not hesitated out of anti-German hatred to help Zápolya, the ally of the Turks, in his struggle against the Habsburgs, he was censured by the Holy See shortly before his death.
Bibliography3 works
Armando Saitta