Mikołaj Rej

Mikołaj Rej (1505–1569) was a Polish nobleman, politician and writer, the first major author to write entirely in Polish. After one year at the Kraków Academy he largely educated himself through Latin literature and served voivode Andrzej Tęczyński at Sandomierz from about 1524. In 1543 he made his name with the verse dialogue A Brief Discussion between a Lord, a Bailiff and a Priest.

A convert to Calvinism in 1541 or 1548, he attended synods, founded Protestant schools and communities on his lands, and sat in the sejms. He founded Rejowiec in 1547 and died there in 1569, remembered as a father of Polish literature.