Szymon Szymonowic (in

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 ...

, Simon Simonides; in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

, Շիմոն Շիմոնովիչ; also, in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

, "Szymonowicz" and "Bendoński";

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, 24 October 1558 – 5 May 1629, Czarnięcin, near

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

) was a Polish

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. He was known as "the Polish

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

Life

Szymonowic studied in Poland (

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 ...

), France and Belgium. From 1586 he was associated with Grand Hetman and Royal 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 ...

, with whom in 1593–1605 he organized the

Zamojski Academy The Zamoyski Academy (; ; 1594–1784) was an academy founded in 1594 by Polish Crown Chancellor Jan Zamoyski."''Akademia Zamojska''" ("Zamojski Academy"), ''Encyklopedia Polski'', p. 13. It was the third institution of higher education to be fo ...

. In 1590 he was elevated to the nobility (''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

''), with Kościesza coat-of-arms. A humanist fluent in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

, Szymonowic wrote in Polish ''Sielanki'' (Pastorals, 1614), a work influenced by the pastoral poems of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

and

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

. He also wrote plays in

, e.g., ''Castus Joseph'' (1587) and ''Pentesilea'' (1614). Szymonowic is considered the last great poet of the

Polish Renaissance The Renaissance in Poland ( , ; ) lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (from 1569 part of ...

. He was acquainted with the Scottish Latinist

Thomas Seget Thomas Seget ( Seton?, 1569 – Amsterdam, 1627) was a Scottish poet who wrote in Latin. Biography Seget is first recorded as a convert from Calvinism to Catholicism, attending the Scots College at Louvain in 1596, but did not stay long. Carryin ...

of Seton (1569 or 1570–1627).Otakar Odlozilik, "Thomas Seget: a Scottish Friend of Szymon Szymonowic," ''

The Polish Review ''The Polish Review'' is an English-language academic journal published quarterly in New York City by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. ''The Polish Review'' was established in 1956, as a successor of the ''PAU Bulletin''. It ...

'', vol. 11, no. 1, 1966.

Notes

External links

* Szymonowic's works on Polish Wikisource 1558 births 1629 deaths 16th-century writers in Latin 17th-century writers in Latin Polish male writers Polish people of Armenian descent Writers from Lviv 16th-century Polish nobility Polish male poets 17th-century Polish male writers 17th-century Polish nobility {{Poland-poet-stub

Life

See also

Notes

External links