Jan Andrzej Morsztyn
Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–93) was a Polish poet, member of the landed
Life
Morsztyn was born 24 July 1621 at
He was named Royal Secretary in 1656, Crown Referendary in 1658, and
In politics he represented the pro-French faction, promoting the French candidate in the royal election of 1668, and become a vocal supporter of French policies in the Commonwealth. He accepted French pension and citizenship. When king John III Sobieski distanced himself from France, and allied with Austria, he was accused of treason and emigrated to France in 1683, where he assumed the title of comte de Châteauvillain and spent the last years of his life as a royal secretary. The Sejm of 1686 stripped him of all offices and titles and banned him from the country.
Jan Morsztyn died 8 January 1693 in Paris.
Family
In 1659 he married
They became Prince Kazimierz Czartoryski's parents-in-law, by their younger daughter Isabella Morsztynowna. Through the Czartoryski family, they are :
- great-grandparents of Konstancja Czartoryska, is Prince Kazimierz Czartoryski's daughter.
- ancestors of Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz, Queen (Consort) of the Belgians.
- explanation : Prince Kazimierz Czartoryski's great-granddaughter Zofia Czartoryska and her husband Stanisław Kostka Zamoyski are Prince Leon Sapieha-Kodenski's parents-in-law. Prince Leon's great-great-granddaughter, Princess Zofia Sapieha-Kodenska, is Queen Mathilde's maternal grandmother, who died in a car accident with the princess's sister, Marie-Alix d'Udekem d'Acoz. Jan Andrzej Morsztyn and Catherine Gordon of Huntly are 11th-generation ancestors to Queen Mathilde.[citation needed]
Works
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Jan Andrzej Morsztyn was one of the leading poets of the Polish Baroque. His language was marked by the extravagant style of 16th-century Italian Marinism. He had written most of his works before becoming Deputy Crown Treasurer in 1668. Morsztyn, a courtier and political intriguer, considered his writing a hobby and let most of his works circulate in manuscript, afraid that wider publication could prove damaging to his career.[1][2] Thus most of his works first appeared in print only in the 19th century.
A master of poetic form, he wrote the collections of verses Kanikuła (Dog Days, 1647) and Lutnia (Lute, 1661). He was concerned less with the "worldly happiness" but rather, with its inherent self-contradictions, such as paradoxes of love, full both of frivolity and metaphysical fear.[2] Nonetheless some of his other works had political subtones, like Pospolite ruszenie or Pieśń w obozie pod Żwańcem (Song in the camp near Żwaniec), which criticized szlachta unwillingness to react to potential dangers (from Tatars or Cossacks). Unlike his cousin, Zbigniew Morsztyn, few of his works can be counted as religious poetry, the notable exception being the Pokuta w kwartanie.[3]
He was also a known translator (of Torquato Tasso, Giambattista Marino and Pierre Corneille). His translation of Corneiile's Le Cid was the first translation of this work into Polish and has remained the standard Polish version even today.
In 1660 he coauthored a proposal for the reform of the Sejm.
See also
- List of Poles
References
- ^ Derek Jones, Censorship in Poland: From the Beginnings to the Enlightenment Archived 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Censorship: A World Encyclopedia, London, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, May 2000.
- ^ a b Stanislaw Baranczak, Polish Poetry- III. BAROQUE
- ^ "Jan Andrzej Morsztyn - biografia, wiersze, utwory". poezja.org (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
Further reading
- Polski Słownik Biograficzny (Dictionary of Polish Biography), vol. 22, Wrocław 1976
- Jacek Jędruch, Constitutions, Elections and Legislatures of Poland 1493-1993, Hippocrene Books, 1998, ISBN 0-7818-0637-2, p. 147-148
External links
- Selection of poems (English)
- Selection of poems (Polish)
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