Well, who do we trust then?
Perhaps we need the original?
Notice his last name's ending -nik. Not German. Polish. So at birth he had Polish last name. As for the first name, without a whole lot of lecturing on the language realities of those times: Does Nicholas Rey sound Polish to you? His name was also Mikolaj. He is the guy responsible for the usage of Polish in writing. Before that only Latin and German was used (Greek sporadically). Names were commonly Latinized and there were few rules about their spelling - that included the German language. Few Polish proper names were mentioned in writing using Polish spelling and grammar. That was actually the period when when work on that spelling and grammar began, to a great degree by Jan Kochanowski, aka Ioannes Cochanovius
Likely a Germanized Slav, perhaps a Pole. I'm sure his name could be traced back to Adam himself. There is likelihood Copernicus was Jewish.
The concept of citizenship was not the same at the time. He was a citizen of Cracow, which was the capital of Poland. He was also a subject of the King of Poland. As was his son, and willingly so.
Latin was the Language of the education at the time. Proper names were Latinized on a regular basis. See this photo from Vatican City. It shows (and describes) what's cooking there between a King of Poland (Kazimierz) and Gregory VI. Do you see any mention of "Kazimierz" there?
Was there a Polish school?
Copernicus was serving under a Polish bishop. The language of religion was Latin, with German entering the scene due to reformation.
So was he really Prussian? The Prussians were not exterminated by then yet.
I on many occasions I call myself Canadian. My daughter calls herself American, Polish or Canadian (I haven't figured out the rule she uses). In those times Cracovian would call themselves... well.. Cracovians, while people from around Warsaw called themselves Mazovians. The concept of nationhood wasn't that big in individuals' minds.
Ergo: Copernicus might have been a Pole, might have been a German. Likely he is a heritage shared by two nations.
Perhaps we need the original?
Notice his last name's ending -nik. Not German. Polish. So at birth he had Polish last name. As for the first name, without a whole lot of lecturing on the language realities of those times: Does Nicholas Rey sound Polish to you? His name was also Mikolaj. He is the guy responsible for the usage of Polish in writing. Before that only Latin and German was used (Greek sporadically). Names were commonly Latinized and there were few rules about their spelling - that included the German language. Few Polish proper names were mentioned in writing using Polish spelling and grammar. That was actually the period when when work on that spelling and grammar began, to a great degree by Jan Kochanowski, aka Ioannes Cochanovius
Likely a Germanized Slav, perhaps a Pole. I'm sure his name could be traced back to Adam himself. There is likelihood Copernicus was Jewish.
The concept of citizenship was not the same at the time. He was a citizen of Cracow, which was the capital of Poland. He was also a subject of the King of Poland. As was his son, and willingly so.
Latin was the Language of the education at the time. Proper names were Latinized on a regular basis. See this photo from Vatican City. It shows (and describes) what's cooking there between a King of Poland (Kazimierz) and Gregory VI. Do you see any mention of "Kazimierz" there?
Was there a Polish school?
Copernicus was serving under a Polish bishop. The language of religion was Latin, with German entering the scene due to reformation.
So was he really Prussian? The Prussians were not exterminated by then yet.
I on many occasions I call myself Canadian. My daughter calls herself American, Polish or Canadian (I haven't figured out the rule she uses). In those times Cracovian would call themselves... well.. Cracovians, while people from around Warsaw called themselves Mazovians. The concept of nationhood wasn't that big in individuals' minds.
Ergo: Copernicus might have been a Pole, might have been a German. Likely he is a heritage shared by two nations.