Jan Kochanowski (Polish: [ˈjan kÉ"xaˈnÉ"fskʲi]; 1530 â€" 22 August
1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns
that would become integral to the Polish literary language.He is
commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam
Mickiewicz,[2][3] and the greatest Slavic poet prior to the 19th
century.[4]Jan Kochanowski was born at Sycyna, near Radom, Poland. He
was the older brother of Andrzej Kochanowski, who would also become a
poet and translator. Little is known of Jan's early education. At
fourteen, fluent in Latin, he was sent to the Kraków Academy. After
graduating in 1547 at the age of seventeen, he attended the University
of Königsberg (Królewiec), in Ducal Prussia (a fiefdom of the Crown
of the Kingdom of Poland), and Padua University in Italy. At Padua,
Kochanowski came in contact with the great humanist scholar Francesco
Robortello. Kochanowski closed his fifteen-year period of studies and
travels with a final visit to France, where he met the poet Pierre
Ronsard.In 1559 Kochanowski returned to Poland for good, where he
remained active as a humanist and Renaissance poet. He spent the next
fifteen years close to the court of King Sigismund II Augustus,
serving for a time as royal secretary. In 1574, following the
decampment of Poland's recently elected King Henry of Valois (whose
candidacy to the Polish throne Kochanowski had supported), Kochanowski
settled on a family estate at Czarnolas ("Blackwood") to lead the life
of a country squire. In 1575 he married Dorota Podlodowska, with whom
he had seven children.
1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns
that would become integral to the Polish literary language.He is
commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam
Mickiewicz,[2][3] and the greatest Slavic poet prior to the 19th
century.[4]Jan Kochanowski was born at Sycyna, near Radom, Poland. He
was the older brother of Andrzej Kochanowski, who would also become a
poet and translator. Little is known of Jan's early education. At
fourteen, fluent in Latin, he was sent to the Kraków Academy. After
graduating in 1547 at the age of seventeen, he attended the University
of Königsberg (Królewiec), in Ducal Prussia (a fiefdom of the Crown
of the Kingdom of Poland), and Padua University in Italy. At Padua,
Kochanowski came in contact with the great humanist scholar Francesco
Robortello. Kochanowski closed his fifteen-year period of studies and
travels with a final visit to France, where he met the poet Pierre
Ronsard.In 1559 Kochanowski returned to Poland for good, where he
remained active as a humanist and Renaissance poet. He spent the next
fifteen years close to the court of King Sigismund II Augustus,
serving for a time as royal secretary. In 1574, following the
decampment of Poland's recently elected King Henry of Valois (whose
candidacy to the Polish throne Kochanowski had supported), Kochanowski
settled on a family estate at Czarnolas ("Blackwood") to lead the life
of a country squire. In 1575 he married Dorota Podlodowska, with whom
he had seven children.
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