the full and official capital, however, only in 1596.

The man himself stands out in the mind of Poles
chiefly as the centre and embodiment of the high
culture and intellectual glory of their " Golden Age",
which was at its height during his reign, an impression
somewhat reinforced by the wonderful arras tapestries
made for him and now displayed in the castle at
Cracow, and by the historical opera bearing his name
which brings the events and incidents of his reign to
popular memory in a most attractive setting of music,
drama, costumes, and noble deeds.

THE REFORMATION IN POLAND [1519—1570]

There is no phase of Polish history so hard to
characterize in 500 words as is the Protestant Reforma-
tion, yet there is no phase so interesting. For the
story of the Reformation in Poland is like that in no
other land. How it came to Poland, by whom it was
taken up, the causes, nature, and extent of its spread,
the nature of the opposition, and its final failure after
it had, as Sir Stanley Leathes says in the Cambridge
Modern History, ' pursued its course for nearly half a
century without material hindrance either from the
national government or the authorities of the Church ',
these are fascinating themes. Perhaps the core of
this interest is the absence of early official persecution,
so general throughout Europe, so absent in Poland.
But there are other aspects and side-lights and
complications far too numerous to be explored or
reported here. The Reformation began in Poland in