156 Casimir III the Great
Amalric of Marseilles, 1248(Toronto: Pontifical Institute
of Mediaeval Studies, 1981).
Casimir III the Great(Kazimerz Wielki)(1310–
1370)successful and respected king of Poland
Casimir was born on April 30, 1310, in Kujawira in
Poland and became king of Poland in 1333. He was the
third son of the king Ladislas I the Short (r. 1314–33)
and Princess Jadwiga of Kalisz and was to be the last
ruler of the PIASTfamily. When Casimir attained power in
1333, the kingdom was besieged on all sides. Casimir
wisely negotiated with his stronger neighbors. After
arranging a peace with the TEUTONICORDERin 1343, he
signed a treaty with the Luxembourg family of BOHEMIA.
In it they renounced their rights over the Crown of
Poland in return for Casimir’s recognition of their posi-
tion in Silesia. He then made an alliance with Charles
Robert I of Anjou (r. 1308–42), the King of Hungary, in
- In the years 1340–66, he conquered Galician
Ruthenia, or Red Ruthenia, doubling the size of his king-
dom. He deployed his daughters and grandchildren in
valuable marriage alliances.
Recognizing the importance of the Jews to Poland, he
granted them commercial privileges in 1334. Casimir fur-
ther promoted the country’s economic development and
security by fostering the creation of 500 agricultural vil-
lages and 70 towns, along with the building of 50 new
protective strongholds. He reformed the judicial system
by establishing new courts and reformed the administra-
tion and finances of his realm. In 1364 he founded the
University of CRACOW. Through his economic, cultural,
and social reforms, he led Poland to play a major, albeit
temporary, role in the history of central Europe. He died
on November 5, 1370, of injuries to his leg caused by a
fall off a horse.
Further reading:Norman Davies, God’s Playground: A
History of Poland,Vol. 1, The Origins to 1795(Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1982); P. W. Knoll, The Rise of the Polish
Monarchy: Piast Poland in East Central Europe, 1320–1370
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972).
Cassian, John, Saint(Johannes Cassianus)(ca. 360–
ca. 432/435)monk, writer
Born in Scythia or Romania in about 360, Cassian
became an expert in the monastic practices of Egypt and
Palestine and introduced their ideas and customs to the
West. He did this by writing the Institutesand the Confer-
ences to guide the spiritual and daily life of monks.
Numerous later authors and monks were influenced by
his reasonable guidelines, as indicated by the many
monastic rules that reflected his expectations for those
living a monastic and coenobitic life. One rule, written
about 650, the Rule of Cassian,was based on the first few
books of the Institutes.Cassian expected monks to be
ardent athletes of Christ, but also contributing members
of a community under a spiritual director. The customary
reading at the evening meal in monasteries sprang from
the habit of reading his Conferencesthen, so everyone
would be aware of his ideals. In 415 he founded two
monasteries at Marseille, where he wrote his famous
treaties. He died there about 433.
See alsoBENEDICTINE ORDER; BENEDICT OFNURSIA OR
NORCIA.
Further reading: John Cassian, John Cassian, The
Conferences,trans. Boniface Ramsey (New York: Paulist
Press, 1997); John Cassian, John Cassian, The Institutes,
trans. Boniface Ramsey (New York: Newman Press,
2000); Owen Chadwick, John Cassian: A Study in Primi-
tive Monasticism,2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1968); Columba Stewart, Cassian the Monk
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).Cassiodorus, Senator (Flavius Magnus Aurelius)(ca.
490–ca. 583)Roman statesman, author
Cassiodorus was born on his family’s estate at Scyllacium
or Squillace in southeastern ITA LYabout 490. He received
the education in PHILOSOPHYand RHETORICappropriate to
the son of a noble family. By 511 he held the office of
quaestoror royal secretary at the court of the Ostrogothic
king THEODORICthe Great in RAVENNA. In 523 he was
elevated to the post of master of the offices, in effect the
head of the civil service. From 533 to 537 he held the
powerful position of praetorian perfect.
Cassiodorus documented his career as public ser-
vant in his large Variae(Miscellaneous letters and offi-
cial documents), which contained the correspondence
and official documents he wrote in the names of the
Ostrogothic rulers he served. Upon the successful inva-
sion of Italy by the BYZANTINEemperor JUSTINIAN, Cas-
siodorus realized that he had to abandon his ideal of an
Italy where Romans could live in peace and trust under
GOTHICrulers. He retired from public life about 540.
Thereafter he devoted himself largely to religious and
literary matters. In the early 550s Cassiodorus founded
a monastery at his ancestral home in Calabria and
named it VIVARIUMafter some fishponds that he had
constructed nearby. He probably never became a monk
himself. His purposes were to educate his monks in
both sacred and classical pagan learning and to transmit
this learning to posterity. Cassiodorus and his monks
copied biblical and classical manuscripts, edited and
assembled a text of the complete Latin BIBLE, wrote
commentaries and marginal annotations for particular
books of the Bible, and made Latin versions of works of
Greek church authors.
Cassiodorus’s most important single work was the
Institutions,a manual for monastic scholars and scribes.
In it he promoted the development of their intellect
more intensely than Saint BENEDICTdid. This encyclope-
dic collection of sacred and profane learning was divided