One of the most eminent scholars of the late Middle Ages, Jan of Głogów, also enjoyed great esteem. With his numerous astronomical and astrological works, he contributed greatly to improving the scientific quality of lectures on astronomy and astrology at the Kraków university at the turn of the 16th century. On many occasions, this scholar emphasised that his aim was not so much to reach well-established philosophers as primarily young scholars. The latter showed him great respect and indisputable sympathy, as his lectures always attracted many listeners. Jan of Głogów devoted much of his prolific writing to the practical aspects of astrology, as he published a lot of predictions. Wojciech of Brudzewo, a disciple of Jan of Głogów, was also an influential thinker. Although his main scientific activity was devoted to astronomy, he did not shy away from astrology, constructing both calendars and forecasts as well as horoscopes (e.g. for Jerzy Morsztyn’s son, Jan).
Horoscopes were also created by Maciej Karpiga of Miechów (a.k.a. Maciej Miechowita) who collaborated with both Bernard Wapowski and Nicolaus Copernicus. As mentioned above, Maciej Miechowita turned out to be a benefactor of the Kraków university and a patron of many promising young students. He was also a historiographer: he was the author of the Polish Chronicle, Chronica Polonorum, in which he included a great deal of astronomical and astrological information, and of Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis (Treatise on the Two Sarmatias). Bernard Wapowski, an excellent astronomer and, above all, the most outstanding Polish cartographer of the 16th century and often referred to as the ‘father of Polish cartography’, also greatly contributed to the reputation of the university. Like many other experts in astronomy at the time, he did not shy away from astrology.
Adepts of the Kraków School of Astronomy and Astrology were held in high esteem throughout Christian Europe at the time. As Aleksander Birkenmajer noted:
The most eminent representatives of this school [...] are educated in Kraków and afterwards go abroad, where they often rise to prominence.
Some of them taught astronomy and astrology at Italian universities; others became astrologers to popes, bishops, kings and magnates. A wide variety of such careers is typical of Polish astrologers roughly until 1475.
It is only around this year that the situation changed abruptly. From then on, these astrologers left their home country much less frequently; most of them spent their entire lives at the Jagiellonian University devoting themselves to teaching. Birkenmajer called the group of astrologers active in the country and abroad before 1475 ‘wanderers’ and credited them with making Kraków astrology famous ‘in half of Europe’; the second, as he put it, ‘generation’ of astrologers (1475–1500), ‘brought fame not only to themselves, but first of all to the university within whose walls they worked’.
The scholars from Kraków had taught at the universities of Padua and Bologna. As many as seven Kraków astronomers lectured ‘in Italy [...] the main astrological centre’ in the second half of the 15th century: Marcin Król of Żurawica, Wojciech of Opatów, Marcin Bylica of Olkusz, Jakub of Zalesie, Jan de Bossis Polonus, Mikołaj Wodka of Kwidzyń and Jerzy Kotermak of Drohobycz. Marcin of Łęczyca lectured in Prague while Wojciech of Brudzewo and Jan of Oleśnica worked in Vienna. Paweł of Zalesie lectured in Rome. Georg Joachim Rheticus, an alumnus of the University in Kraków and a disciple and friend of Nicolaus Copernicus, was a prominent professor at the University of Wittenberg and Leipzig. Thus, as we can see, the first-generation scholars from Kraków sought to continue the studies in astronomy and astrology initiated in Kraków, adding medicine to them, and went to study abroad, also seeking a scientific career there. The scholars of the second generation placed greater emphasis on the practical side of their profession and the consequent splendour they gained as astrologers and physicians at the courts of the mighty.