Szymon Starowolski (1588 – 1656; Simon Starovolscius) was a writer, scholar and historian in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. He was probably born near

Pruzhany Pruzhany is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pruzhany District. The town is located at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal, where the Mukhavets River rises. As of 2025, it has a popu ...

, and died near

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. He was a very prolific writer, and left behind over 70 works, mostly in Latin. Some of them survived until its translation into Polish.

Life

will never return." "''Serenissime Rex'' ost Serene King" replied Starowolski, "''Fortuna variabilis, Deus immutabilis'' ortune is variable, God is immutable" Sweden's king died some months later, before John Casimir's triumphant return. Painting by Matejko. Szymon Starowolski was born into an impoverished

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n noble family. As a young man he visited the courts of many

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s, including the famous Chancellor

Jan Zamoyski Jan Sariusz Zamoyski (; 19 March 1542 – 3 June 1605) was a Polish nobleman, magnate, statesman and the 1st '' ordynat'' of Zamość. He served as the Royal Secretary from 1565, Deputy Chancellor from 1576, Grand Chancellor of the Crown f ...

(at age 17) and Bishop Jakub Zadzik. After his studies, he traveled in the service of the

Ostrogski The House of Ostrogski (; ; ) was one of the more prominent families in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family spanned from the 14th century Rut ...

family through Western Europe (Germany, France, Holland), where he visited the University of Louvain. On his return, from 1612 to 1619 Starowolski studied and taught at the Kraków Academy (

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

), and then at the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery in

Wąchock Wąchock is a town in Starachowice County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland, near Starachowice, within the historical region of Lesser Poland. In 2006, it had 2,777 inhabitants. History Wachock received its town charter in 1 ...

. Starowolski became secretary to the famous Polish military commander,

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (; 1561 – 24 September 1621) was a Polish–Lithuanian identity, Polish–Lithuanian military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lit ...

, whom he accompanied at the Battle of Chocim (1621). Later he served as tutor to many young nobles, among them Aleksander Koniecpolski, son of Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski. Connected with many other powerful magnate courts, he often traveled abroad. In 1639 he was ordained a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest, and subsequently became a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and worked as a preacher,

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and canon in Kraków and

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

. During the Swedish invasion of Poland ( the Deluge), he performed the functions of a bishop in place of Piotr Gembicki.

Works

Starowolski is famous for his many writings (in Polish and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) in history, geography, law, strategy, theology, literature and politics. His greatest passion was history. He became expert on the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, which he considered both a great threat to Poland and a fascinating neighbor. In his Latin works, addressed to foreign readers, he defended the good name of Poland, while in his Polish writings he called for thorough reform of the

. He stressed that every person is responsible for his actions, and that a higher position entails not only more privileges but also more responsibilities. He wrote over seventy books. His critics have pointed out that Starowolski was an advocate of

religious intolerance Religious intolerance or religious bigotry is intolerance of another's religious beliefs, practices, faith or lack thereof. Statements which are contrary to one's religious beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, ...

; he supported repressions against the

Hussite file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...

s, railed against the tolerant Statutes of Warsaw and

apostate Apostasy (; ) is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous religious beliefs. One who ...

s from Catholicism, tried to have Protestant schools and printing presses closed down and insisted that the Edict of Wieluń, passed in 1424 as an exception to Poland's general policy of religious toleration, was still law. He also believed that Christian

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...

s should be considered as non-Christians along with

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

.Center for Socinian Studies
"From the Polish Socinians to the American Constitution
, last accessed, August 26, 2010 While he advocated better treatment of peasants (

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

), he wrote that according to God's will there were three

social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

es: the nobility (the rulers), the priests (the guardians of morality), and the peasants (laborers). *''Lament of the Dying Mother, Poland, over her Undutiful Sons'' – published soon before his death, an important work in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. *''Reformacja obyczajów polskich'' (Reform of Polish customs) – on how Poland should look like according to the God's plan. *''Scriptorum Polonicorum Hecatontas seu Centum illustrium Poloniae scriptorium elogia et vitae'' – ''Setnik pisarzy polskich'' (A Hundred Polish Writers), 1625 – a short biography of Polish authors, with the titles of their works. *''Wojownicy sarmaccy, czyli pochwały mężów słynących męstwem wojennym w pamięci naszej lub naszych pradziadów'' - biographies of famous Polish warriors and kings. *''The Perfect Knight'' – the ideal Christian soldier who selflessly serves his country, defends the faith, and strives for moral uprightness. *''O slawnych mowcach Sarmacji'' ("De claris orationibus oracoribus Sarmatiae", On the Famous Speakers of Sarmatia), 1628. *''The Lord's Sanctuary'' and ''The Ark of the Testament'' – sermons. *''Monumenta Sarmatorum'' – about ancient art, collecting information about old tombstones
digital copy
. *Various treaties on moral issues, aiming to reform Polish society.

Notes

External links

* *Biography of

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

(Erna Hilfstein
''Starowolski's biographies of Copernicus''
''Studia Copernicana'', 1980),
Works by Szymon Starowolski
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starowolski, Szymon 1580s births 1650s deaths People from Pruzhany district Jagiellonian University alumni 17th-century writers in Latin Academic staff of Jagiellonian University 17th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers 17th-century Polish Jesuits 17th-century Polish nobility Canons of Kraków Polish political writers

Life

Works

See also

Notes

External links