Mikołaj Trąba

Mikołaj Trąba (; 1358 – 2 December 1422), of Trąby coat of arms, was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Royal Notary from 1390, Deputy Chancellor of the Crown 1403–12, bishop of Halicz 1410–12, archbishop of Gniezno from 1412, and first primate of Poland 1417–22.

Biography

Born in Sandomierz, he was the son of priest Jakub of Collegiate Chapter, and was adopted into the nobility (szlachta).

Confidant to Władysław Jagiełło He was one of the advisors of king of Poland, Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), becoming his confessor in 1386 and accompanying him during the baptism of Lithuania in 1387. At court he held the titles of Royal Notary from 1390 and Deputy Chancellor of the Crown from 1403 to 1412. In 1391 with the help of queen Jadwiga of Poland he was allowed by Pope Boniface IX to undertake higher Holy Orders. He was known for his opposition to the Teutonic Knights, and become trusted advisor of the king who often would discuss his plans only with him and his cousin Vytautas the Great.

Trąba accompanied the king into many battlefields, including the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where he was one of his chief clerks and officials. Because of Jagiełło's support, he became the bishop of Halicz from 1410 to 1412, and later an archbishop of Gniezno from 1412 onwards.

Council of Constance As the leader of the Polish delegation to the Council of Constance (1414–1418) (along with Andrzej Łaskarz, Jakub z Korzkwi Kurdwanowski, Paweł Włodkowic and Zawisza Czarny), he was part of the larger German delegation. After they arrived in Konstanz in 1415, Trąba was, according to Ioannes Longinus, briefly considered as one of the candidates for papacy, although historians still debate the reliability of this information. Certainly Trąba temporarily abandoned his support for the Polish cause, supporting pro-Teutonic candidate Oddone Colonna, the future Pope Martin V against pro-Jagiełło Antipope John XXIII. In 1418 Pope Martin V was elected to that office, and quickly annulled Antipope John XXIII's papal bulls supporting Poland against the Teutonic Knights.

Mikołaj and other members of the Polish delegation felt betrayed and demanded reparations, at one point forcing an entry into a papal audience. Eventually Martin condemned some of the more vocal and "anti-Polish" declarations of the Teutonic Knights, particularly that of Johannes Falkenberg. He offered Trąba the title of cardinal as a consolation, however Mikołaj refused, not willing to become a such close servant of the new Pope, accepting in exchange the honorary title of primate of Poland (Primas Regni); since then, all archbishops of Gniezno were also primates of Poland, which elevated them above the archbishops of Lwów. and promulgated the Statutes of Trąba in 1420. The statutes became an important body of legal precepts lasting for many centuries.