Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski (4 June 1784 – 17 November 1825), born Adam Czarnocki, was a Polish ethnographer and archaeologist. A
Slavophile, he became known for his ethnographic field research and theories about the ancient Slavs, which did not convince academics but have influenced Polish cultural life. For much of his adult life he travelled the countryside without any money, collecting folk songs and other material.
Chodakowski established several themes that became prominent in
Polish Romanticism
Romanticism in Poland, a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture, began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the January 1863 ...
, notably a duality between native Slavic culture and imported Latin culture. His lifestyle as a homeless traveller inspired legends and he appears as a character in literary works from the 19th century. Chodakowski argued publicly that
Christianisation of the Slavs
The Slavs were Christianized in waves from the 7th to 12th century, though the process of replacing old Slavic religious practices began as early as the 6th century. Generally speaking, the monarchs of the South Slavs adopted Christianity in t ...
had been a mistake and privately described himself as a
pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
. He is recognised as a pioneer of
Polish Native Faith.
Life and work
Adam Czarnocki was born on 4 June 1784 in Podhajnej near
Nyasvizh
Nyasvizh or Nesvizh is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Nyasvizh District. Nyasvizh is the site of Nesvizh Castle, a World Heritage Site. In 2009, its population was 14,300. As of 2025, it has a populati ...
, then part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
. He belonged to an impoverished Polish noble family and was forced into military service, but defected from the Russian army to the
Army of the Duchy of Warsaw
The Army of the Duchy of Warsaw ( Polish: ''Armia Księstwa Warszawskiego'') refers to the military forces of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Army was significantly based on the Polish Legions; it numbered about 30,000 and was expanded during wartime t ...
and took part in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
on
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's side. He changed his name to Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski after Napoleon's defeat.
Chodakowski was a
Slavophile and took a name that resonated with his interest in
Slavic history
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and N ...
and culture. His interest in
ethnography
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
followed the models established by the early 19th-century
Society of Friends of Learning
The Warsaw Society of Friends of Science (, ''TPN'') was one of the earliest Polish scientific societies, active in Warsaw from 1800 to 1832.
Name
The Society was also known as ''Warszawskie Królewskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk'' (Warsaw Ro ...
, which had studied
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
and became the centre of the Slavic movement in Poland. Its main ideologue
Stanisław Staszic
Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic (baptised 6 November 1755 – 20 January 1826) was a leading figure in the Polish Enlightenment: a Catholic priest, philosopher, geologist, writer, poet, translator and statesman. A physiocrat, monist, pan-Sla ...
hypothesised in the 1815 book ''Myśli o równowadze politycznej w Europie'' () that the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
,
Germanic and Slavic cultures had been superior to the Christian nations that succeeded them.
In 1813 or 1814, Chodakowski began to travel to collect folk songs and other folklore material from rural areas in hope of finding traces of ancient Slavic culture. A
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...
from
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (14 January 1770 – 15 July 1861), also known as Adam George Czartoryski, was a Polish szlachta, nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian SFSR, Chairman of ...
allowed him to do ethnographic studies in
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...
from September 1817 to June 1818. He lacked strict methodology for these studies, but went on to devote most of his adult life to ethnographic field research and archaeological studies, visiting
Sandomierz
Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...
,
Częstochowa
Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...
,
Chęciny
Chęciny is a town in Kielce County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, southern Poland, with 4,361 inhabitants as of December 2021. It was first mentioned in historical documents from 1275, and obtained its Magdeburg rights, city charter in 1325. At ...
,
Lelów
Lelów ( - ''Lelov'') is a village in Częstochowa County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Lelów. It lies on the Białka river, approximately east of Częstochowa and ...
,
Pilica,
Skała
Skała is a town in southern Poland, situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Kraków Voivodeship (1975–1998). On December 31, 2010, its population was 3,646.
Skala is one of the oldest towns in Lesser Poland. In ...
,
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 ...
,
Przemyśl
Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...
,
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 ...
, ,
Żółkiew
Zhovkva is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (Oblast, region) of western Ukraine. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately
History
A ...
and
Gródek Jagielloński. He was often homeless and without any money during his travels. He collected a large number of folk songs which remained unpublished during his lifetime.
In 1818, Chodakowski published the pamphlet ' () where he laid out his views of Slavic history and culture. His theories were not well received by academics but have influenced novelists, artists and
neopagans
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the Paganism, beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some comm ...
. Chodakowski thought the Slavs originated in India and had immigrated to Europe in the sixth century. He used the Polish word —'elsewhere'—as linguistic evidence for his Indian homeland hypothesis. He thought there always had been a unified Slavic language and culture that was characterised by a "spirit of independence" which he wished to see as the basis for a future national culture. He argued that this could be achieved through the conscious collection and study of folklore material. He argued publicly that
Christianisation of the Slavic peoples had been a mistake, something no one in
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
had done since the 15th century. In private letters he designated himself as a
pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
. He died in
Tver Governorate
Tver Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 until 1929. Its seat was in Tver. The governorate was lo ...
on 17 November 1825.
Legacy
Chodakowski's view of the
early Slavs
The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects
who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...
as proto-democratic influenced the historian and left-wing politician
Joachim Lelewel
Joachim Lelewel (22 March 1786 – 29 May 1861) was a Polish historian, geographer, bibliographer, polyglot and politician.
Life
Born in Warsaw to a Polonized Prussian family, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of Vilna, where in ...
, who agreed that
ancient Slavic religion, which Lelewel interpreted as
monotheistic
Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
, would be a good model for 19th-century
progressivism
Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...
. Chodakowski established several major themes that would occupy the
Polish Romantics, notably a focus on Slavic identity and paganism, an anti-Latin sentiment and an identification with the geographical north. His view of a duality between native Slavic and imported Latin elements in Polish culture has had a lasting impact on Polish literature.
The homeless lifestyle Chodakowski adopted during his travels made people view him as a "
wild man
The wild man, wild man of the woods, woodwose or wodewose is a mythical figure and motif that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to ''Silvanus (mythology), Silvanu ...
". He became surrounded by legends and appears as a character in 19th-century Polish literature. Works that feature fictionalised versions of Chodakowski include ''Mistrz'' (1838; ) by , "Przygoda podróżnika" (1852; ) by
Lucjan Siemieński and ' (1845–1849; ) by
Juliusz Słowacki
Juliusz Słowacki (; ; ; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the " Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. Hi ...
.
Chodakowski is considered one of the founders of
Polish Native Faith. The historian
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...
argued that Chodakowski was the spiritual father of Polish
populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
. This is contested by
Mieczysław B. Biskupski
Mieczysław B. Biskupski is a Polish-American historian and political scientist, with focus on Central European (particularly Polish) history and international relations.
He has held professorship appointments at St. John Fisher College, the Univ ...
, who argues that Polish nationalism as it exists originated in the political landscape created by the failed
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...
of 1863–1864. It thus belongs to a separate era from Chodakowski's works, in which a culturally Polish nationalism only appears within the context of a broader Slavophilia.
The literary historian published a monograph about Chodakowski in 1965. In 1973, a collection of Chodakowski's folk songs was published as ''Śpiewy sławiańskie pod strzechą wiejską zebrane'' (). The book has an introduction and commentary by Maślanka.
References
Citations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chodakowski, Zorian Dolega
1784 births
1825 deaths
Polish ethnographers
Polish folklorists
Polish archaeologists
Polish historians
Polish explorers
Polish modern pagans
Modern pagan writers
19th-century Polish male writers
Slavophiles
19th-century Polish archaeologists
Polish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Polish critics of Christianity
Homeless people
People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent
Anti-clericalism
People from Slutsk