Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski entered the world in 1530 at Sycyna, a village near Radom within the Kingdom of Poland. He belonged to the szlachta class, the Polish nobility bearing the Korwin coat of arms. His father served as a judge in the Sandomierz area while his mother came from the Odrowąż family. Jan was the second son among twelve children and had two older brothers who also became poets and translators. At fourteen years old in 1544 he began studies at the Kraków Academy. Around 1551 or 1552 he moved on to attend the University of Königsberg located in Ducal Prussia. From 1552 until the late 1550s he studied classical philology at Padua University in Italy. During this Padua period he traveled repeatedly between Italy and Poland to secure funding and attend his mother's funeral. He concluded fifteen years of study and travel with visits to France where he met the poet Pierre de Ronsard.
In mid-1563 Jan Kochanowski entered the service of Piotr Myszkowski the Vice Chancellor of the Crown. This appointment granted him the title of royal secretary. By early 1564 he was affiliated with the royal court of King Sigismund II Augustus. On the 7th of February 1564 he received the provostship of Poznań Cathedral after Myszkowski renounced it. In 1567 he accompanied the king during a military show of force near Radashkovichy as part of the Livonian War. The following year in 1569 he attended the Union of Lublin which formally established the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Around 1562 or 1563 he served briefly as a courtier to Bishop Filip Padniewski and Voivode Jan Firlej. Despite invitations from close associates like Jan Zamoyski he chose not to take an active role in high politics later in life. On the 9th of October 1579 King Stefan Batory appointed him standard-bearer of Sandomierz.
From 1571 onward Kochanowski spent increasing time at his family estate located in the village of Czarnolas near Lublin. Following the departure of King Henry of Valois in 1574 he settled permanently there to live as a country squire. In 1575 he married Dorota Podlodowska daughter of Sejm deputy Stanisław Podlaski. They had seven children together including Urszula who died at age two-and-a-half. Her death profoundly affected him and inspired one of his most memorable works known as Treny or Laments. He remained socially active locally visiting frequently in Sandomierz the capital of his voivodeship. On the 22nd of August 1584 he died suddenly in Lublin likely due to a heart attack at age fifty-four. He was buried in the crypt of a parish church in Zwoleń though no original tombstones survive today. His remains were moved to his family crypt by Zwoleń church authorities in 1830 before being returned to the church again in 1983.
Kochanowski's earliest known work may be the Polish-language poem Pieśń o potopie possibly composed as early as 1550. His first publication appeared in 1558 as a Latin epitaph dedicated to a deceased colleague. Upon returning to Poland in 1559 his writings took forms like epic poetry and satirical social commentary poems such as Zgoda written around 1562. A major tragedy titled The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys was performed on the 12th of January 1578 in Warsaw's Ujazdów Castle during the wedding of Jan Zamoyski and Krystyna Radziwiłł. This blank-verse play recounted an incident modeled after Homer leading to the Trojan War and became the first tragedy written in Polish. During the 1560s and 1570s he completed nineteen elegies mourning his daughter Urszula published later in three volumes in 1584 under the title Laments. These works applied classic poetic forms to personal sorrow regarding an insignificant subject which scandalized some contemporaries. Another collection called Fraszki or Epigrams consisted of 294 short poems published posthumously in 1584.
Kochanowski created modern Polish verse forms that made him a classic for both his contemporaries and future generations. He used Polish alexandrines wherein each line contained thirteen syllables with a caesura following the seventh syllable. His Psalter translated into Polish one of the Psalms and by the mid-eighteenth century at least twenty-five editions had been published. Set to music it became an enduring element of Polish church masses and popular culture. Kochanowski greatly enriched Polish poetry by naturalizing foreign poetic forms while imbuing them with national spirit. American historian Larry Wolf argues he contributed to creating vernacular culture in the Polish language. British historian Norman Davies names him the second most important figure of the Polish Renaissance after Copernicus. Jerzy Jarniewicz calls him the founding father of Polish literature who showed Poles the beauty of their own language. His songs written over his lifetime reflect Italian lyricism and attachment to antiquity particularly Horace.
Kochanowski's first published collection was David's Psalter printed in 1579 though many works appeared posthumously starting in Kraków between 1584 and 1590. An 1884 jubilee volume was released in Warsaw celebrating his contributions. In 1875 many poems were translated into German by H. Nitschmann. The Encyclopedia Britannica called him the prince of Polish poets in 1894 yet he remained little known outside Slavic countries for centuries. The first English-language collection appeared in 1928 while the first monograph devoted to him emerged in 1974. As late as the early 1980s his writings received short shrift in English reference works before further translations appeared including Laments translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Seamus Heaney in 1995. A museum opened on his estate at Czarnolas in 1961. Fragments of his poetry inspired modern literary musical and visual art including an opera staged in Warsaw in 1817 and a famous painting by Jan Matejko from 1862 depicting him with his deceased daughter.
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Common questions
When and where was Jan Kochanowski born?
Jan Kochanowski entered the world in 1530 at Sycyna, a village near Radom within the Kingdom of Poland. He belonged to the szlachta class, the Polish nobility bearing the Korwin coat of arms.
What major tragedy did Jan Kochanowski write first in Polish?
The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys became the first tragedy written in Polish when it was performed on the 12th of January 1578 in Warsaw's Ujazdów Castle. This blank-verse play recounted an incident modeled after Homer leading to the Trojan War.
Why is Urszula important to the works of Jan Kochanowski?
Urszula died at age two-and-a-half and her death profoundly affected Jan Kochanowski inspiring one of his most memorable works known as Treny or Laments. These nineteen elegies mourning his daughter were published later in three volumes in 1584 under the title Laments.
Who appointed Jan Kochanowski standard-bearer of Sandomierz?
King Stefan Batory appointed him standard-bearer of Sandomierz on the 9th of October 1579. Prior to this appointment he had served as a royal secretary starting in mid-1563 and received the provostship of Poznań Cathedral on the 7th of February 1564.
How did Jan Kochanowski die and where was he buried?
Jan Kochanowski died suddenly in Lublin on the 22nd of August 1584 likely due to a heart attack at age fifty-four. He was initially buried in the crypt of a parish church in Zwoleń though no original tombstones survive today before his remains were moved to his family crypt by Zwoleń church authorities in 1830.