^{This unit was developed by Beata Poręba    Bibliography   Didactic Comments}

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In the middle of the 16th century, there were ten parish schools and one cathedral school in Kraków. The lower classes had access to knowledge and education through parish schools. These schools were of high quality, and mainly reading and writing skills were taught there. The best example was the Mariacka School, where Jerzy Liban from Legnica was a Greek lecturer.

Protestants had the Kraków School based on the educational principles of the Strasburg pedagogue, Johannes Strum. Learning there focused on humanistic and religious studies. Krzysztof Tracy, the school organizer and principle, was glad about the school’s popularity among students from Lesser Poland and Hungary. He lectured on protestant theology and gave seminars on rhetoric based on Cicero’s speeches. Students were required to use Latin, deliver speeches and recite poetry.

In 1588,  Bartłomiej Nowodworski founded St. Ann's School (Szkoła św. Anny) situated at the intersection of the streets Jagiellońska and Gołębia. Today, the Bartłomiej Nowodworski High School is one of the most famous Polish high schools with numerous remarkable Poles among its alumni, for example Józef Bem, Jana Matejko, Stanisław Wyspiański i Sławomir Mrożek.

Marcus Tullius Cicero: (106-43 BC) a Roman politician who was a famous orator (=someone who is good at making speeches) and one of the greatest Latin writers

Rhetorics: the art of speaking or writing to persuade or influence people