Modrzewski was born in
Wolbórz (also known as Woybor, Voibor, Woibor, Wojbor, Woyborz and Wolborz), near
Piotrków Trybunalski, the son of Jakub Modrzewski (1477–1529). Modrzewski family belonged to the gentry (though some authors speak of impoverished nobility), bore
Jastrzębiec coat of arms, and held the hereditary title of mayor (
wójt/vogt/advocatus) of Wolbórz. After graduating from the
Kraków Academy, he was ordained a vicar and served under Archbishop
Jan Łaski (the Elder), and later under the Bishop of Poznań,
Jan Latalski. From 1530 he was connected to the court of
Jan Łaski the Younger, the
Primate of Poland and nephew of the elder Łaski. Having lived for a time in Germany, where he studied at the
Lutheran University he met
Martin Luther and other early Protestant reformers in
Wittenberg. He also took care of the library of
Erasmus bought by Łaski. From 1540 onwards, he served as the titular
parish priest in
Brzeziny and
Skoszewy. In 1541, during his stay in the capital, he met with
Mikołaj Rej. Modrzewski advocated sending a mixed ecclesiastical and secular delegation to the 1545
Ecumenical Council of Trent (where he would be sent as a Polish delegate). He supported
Irenicism (the importance of unity) and the democratic and ecumenical element in the Church. He became an official at the court of
Sigismund II Augustus in 1547. Since he was leaning strongly towards the reformist circles (especially
Calvinian and
Arian/
Polish brethren), he became in danger of being accused of heresy and was ultimately stripped of his ecclesiastical titles and offices. The king, however, issued a letter of protection for him. In 1553 he retired to his native Wolbórz. Modrzewski debuted as a writer in 1543 with the work called
Lascius, sive de poena homicidii (
On The Penalty for Manslaughter; or
Łaski, czyli O karze za mężobójstwo in
Polish). In it, Modrzewski criticized the inequality prescribed by the law for different social classes: for example, while the penalty for killing a nobleman ranged from 120
grzywna – through life imprisonment – to death, the penalty for killing a peasant was only 10
grzywna. Yet it was
On the Improvement of the Commonwealth (
De Republica emendanda) that brought him eternal and international fame. In it, he advocated a strong monarchy that would protect the rights of all citizens. He postulated
equality of all before the law, and criticized the 1565 ban on land-owning by non-nobles. He wrote that peasants should own the soil which they work, and that townsfolk should be able to buy land and be elected to offices (those rights were being reserved only for the nobility back then), demanded the
reform (
secularization) of education, and division between state and church. This treatise was translated into many European languages and earned him many enemies in the Church. Pope
Paul V placed the book on the
Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of prohibited books). ==De Republica emendanda==