Mikołaj Rej (born on 4 February 1505, died between 8 September and 5 October[c] 1569) was a Polish Renaissance poet and prose writer, translator, politician and Evangelical theologian. He was also the mayor of the office and a member of the Sejm of the First Republic.  Although he was not a humanist in the scientific sense of the word, he owed the dissemination of the idea of humanitas in Polish culture. For a long time, he was regarded as the "father of Polish literature". Despite the significant contribution attributed to Mikolaj Rej in his reflections on the origins of national literature, many contemporary researchers believe that he remains an unknown creator. Most of the opinions circulating about Rej continue to stem from the mistaken image of the "rubbish, uneducated simpleton" that tradition attributed to him.