Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki

Wawrzyniec Goślicki (between 1530 and 154031 October 1607), in Latin called Laurentius Grimaldius Goslicius, was a Polish nobleman, Bishop of Poznań (1601–1607), political thinker and philosopher best known for his 1568 book De optimo senatore.

Biography

He was the son of Paweł Goślicki and Ewa Kamieniecka. Born near Płock, after studying at Kraków's Jagiellonian University and at Padua and Bologna, He was the only prelate who, in 1587, acceded to the Warsaw Confederation.

Goślicki's Latin book De optimo senatore (published during his stay in Italy in Venice, 1568

In this book Goślicki shows the ideal statesman who is well versed in the humanities as well as in economy, politics, and law. He argued that law is above the ruler, who must respect it, and that it is illegitimate to rule over a people against their will. He equated godliness with reason, and reason with law. read by Elizabeth I of England, it was also known by Shakespeare, who used his depiction of a senator as a model for Polonius in Hamlet. ), but there is no evidence of a direct link with Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.

Goślicki argued that distinguished senators were more useful to a state than the king or the common people: For the king, being alone, cannot see everything and it often happens that either he yields to desires or his emotions disturb his ability of discretion. Also an ignorant crowd without a thought and head (as a proverb says) cannot by any means possess such prudence, while the senate, composed of men distinguished by virtue, prudence, and glory of accomplished deeds is capable from its middle position, as if from an observation point, of caring for the common weal of the state, perceiving those matters which are beneficial, and freeing it from disturbances, rebellions, and dangers.

He was an influence in the framing the Polish Constitution of 3 May 1791, which historian Norman Davies calls "the first constitution of its kind in Europe".