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10
insteadofanintroduction
DuringhissayinToruń,throughhisrelative,aTeutonicOrderly,
heloyallyinformedtheGrandMaserabouttheundersatedlosses
ofHungarianandPolishforcesinthewaragainsTurkey.1Afer
1448,SweidniczerreturnedtoCracowandin1454,alongwithtwo
otherCracowmerdants,gavealoantoGdańskandToruńresidents
solicitingthesupportofCardinalZbigniewOleśniciforthewar
againstheTeutonicOrderinPrussia.2
Inthiscontext,thediluteovertheunationality”ofNicolausCo-
pernicusaduallymakesnosense.Troughouthislifehewasaloyal
subjedofthePolishkings.Copernicusprovedhisupatriotism”dur-
ingthePolish-Teutonicwarof1519-1521whenheconfirmedhis
loyaltytothePolishmonard.Tus,fromthepointofviewofthe
lawandhisownpoliticalviews,hewasaPole.Tiswasnothin-
deredbythefadthatprobablythefirslanguagehelearnedfrom
hisparentswasGermanandhismother)sfamilyundoubtedlycame
fromGermanyandlokeGerman.Duringthatperiod,onecould
hardlyleakofGermansasanation.Telandsinhabitedbypeople
leakingvariousdialedsoftheGermanlanguageweredividedinto
manyterritorieswithseparaterulers,andtheHolyRomanEmpire
alsoincludedsudcountriesasBohemiaandthepresent-day
Netherlands.Tus,thisdiscussioncanbeendedwiththeconclusion
thatNicolausCopernicuswasoriginallyaresidentofToruń,aPrus-
sian(i.e.aninhabitantofhissmallhomeland-RoyalPrussia),and
aGerman-leakingPole.Fromthepointofviewofmoderntimes,
thisisdifculttoundersandandaccept,butintheperiodwhen
Copernicuslived,itwasthemosappropriatedefinitionofhisuna-
tionality.”NeitherCopernicushimselfnorhiscontemporariesever
referredtohimasGermanandhisnotoriousafliationwiththe
GermannationduringhissudiesinBolognahadnoethnicaleds.
IthasbeenshownthattheGermannationalsoincludedCzeds,
1K.Kopiński,K.Mikulski,RebberAlbrechtIV(ok.1370-po1450),kupiector.,
szpiegkrzyżacki,[in:]Toruńskisłownikbiografczny,vol.5,ed.K.Mikulski,
Toruń2007,pp.175-176.
2MoreinformationonthisinterestingfactwillbepresentedinChapterV
.
