Hugo Kollataj
Encyclopedia
Hugo Kołłątaj was a Polish
Roman Catholic priest
, social and political activist, political thinker, historian
and philosopher.
(the later Jagiellonian University
), he took holy orders, then spent time in Vienna
and Italy, where he encountered Enlightenment
philosophy
. Returning to Poland, he became active in the Commission for National Education and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the Kraków Academy, of which he was rector
in 1783-1786.
Kołłątaj was equally active politically. He became prominent in the reform movement
, heading an informal group called "Kołłątaj's Forge
" (). A leader of the Patriotic Party
, he set out its program in Several Anonymous Letters to Stanisław Małachowski (1788–1789) and in The Political Law of the Polish Nation (1790). An organizer of the townspeople's movement (see Black Procession
), in 1789 he edited a memorial from the cities.
Kołłątaj co-authored the Constitution of May 3, 1791
, and founded the Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution to assist in the document's implementation. In 1791-92 he served as Crown Vice Chancellor (Podkanclerzy Koronny).
During the Polish-Russian war that broke out over the May 3rd Constitution (the War in Defense of the Constitution), Kołłątaj, along with other royal advisers, persuaded King Stanisław August, himself a co-author of the Constitution, to join the Targowica Confederation
that had been formed to bring it down.
In 1792, upon the Confederates' victory, Kołłątaj emigrated to Leipzig
, Saxony
, where he co-authored a work with Ignacy Potocki, On the Adoption and Fall of the Polish May 3 Constitution (1793). In exile, his political views radicalized.
In 1794 he took part in the Kościuszko Uprising
, co-authoring its Uprising Act (March 24, 1794) and Połaniec Manifesto (May 7, 1794), heading the Supreme National Council
's Treasury
Department, and backing the Uprising's left wing of Polish Jacobins
.
After the suppression of the Uprising, Kołłątaj was imprisoned by the Austrians until 1802. In 1805, with Tadeusz Czacki
, he organized the Krzemieniec Lyceum in Wołyń (Volhynia
). In 1807-1808 he was interned by Russian authorities.
In the Duchy of Warsaw
, barred from public activity, he sought to present a program for rebuilding and developing Poland (Remarks on the Present Position of That Part of the Polish Lands that, since the Treaty of Tilsit, Have Come to Be Called the Duchy of Warsaw, 1809).
Borrowing the physiocratic idea of a "physico-moral order", in The Physico-Moral Order (1811) Kołłątaj created a socio-ethical system emphasizing a natural interdependence between people's right
s and obligation
s. In A Critical Analysis of Historical Principles regarding the Origins of Humankind, published posthumously in 1842, he essayed the first Polish presentation of concepts of social evolution
and of geological concepts. In The State of Education in Poland in the Final Years of the Reign of Augustus III, published posthumously in 1841, he pioneered Polish studies
on the history of education
and culture
.
's 1891 painting, Constitution of May 3, 1791
.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Roman Catholic priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, social and political activist, political thinker, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and philosopher.
Biography
After studying at the Kraków AcademyJagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
(the later Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
), he took holy orders, then spent time in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Italy, where he encountered Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Returning to Poland, he became active in the Commission for National Education and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the Kraków Academy, of which he was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
in 1783-1786.
Kołłątaj was equally active politically. He became prominent in the reform movement
Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes...
, heading an informal group called "Kołłątaj's Forge
Kołłątaj's Forge
Kołłątaj's Forge was a group of social and political activists, publicists and writers from the period of the Great Sejm in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
" (). A leader of the Patriotic Party
Patriotic Party
The Patriotic Party , also known as the Patriot Party or, in English, as the Reform Party, was a political movement in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the period of the Four-Year Sejm of 1788–92, whose chief achievement was the Constitution of 3 May 1791...
, he set out its program in Several Anonymous Letters to Stanisław Małachowski (1788–1789) and in The Political Law of the Polish Nation (1790). An organizer of the townspeople's movement (see Black Procession
Black Procession
Black procession refers to a demonstration held by burghers in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's capital of Warsaw on 2 December 1789, during the Great Sejm. It vastly constributed to the passage of a belated major urban reform....
), in 1789 he edited a memorial from the cities.
Kołłątaj co-authored the Constitution of May 3, 1791
Constitution of May 3, 1791
The Constitution of May 3, 1791 was adopted as a "Government Act" on that date by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Historian Norman Davies calls it "the first constitution of its type in Europe"; other scholars also refer to it as the world's second oldest constitution...
, and founded the Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution to assist in the document's implementation. In 1791-92 he served as Crown Vice Chancellor (Podkanclerzy Koronny).
During the Polish-Russian war that broke out over the May 3rd Constitution (the War in Defense of the Constitution), Kołłątaj, along with other royal advisers, persuaded King Stanisław August, himself a co-author of the Constitution, to join the Targowica Confederation
Targowica Confederation
The Targowica Confederation was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which had been adopted by the Great Sejm,...
that had been formed to bring it down.
In 1792, upon the Confederates' victory, Kołłątaj emigrated to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, where he co-authored a work with Ignacy Potocki, On the Adoption and Fall of the Polish May 3 Constitution (1793). In exile, his political views radicalized.
In 1794 he took part in the Kościuszko Uprising
Kosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
, co-authoring its Uprising Act (March 24, 1794) and Połaniec Manifesto (May 7, 1794), heading the Supreme National Council
Supreme National Council
Supreme National Council was the central civil government of Poland loyal to the Kościuszko Insurrection. Created by Kościuszko on 10 May 1794 in Połaniec camp, it had 8 councillors and 32 deputies....
's Treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
Department, and backing the Uprising's left wing of Polish Jacobins
Polish Jacobins
Polish Jacobins was the name given to a group of late 18th century radical Polish politicians by their opponents.Polish Jacobins formed during the Great Sejm as an offshoot of the "Kołłątaj's Forge" of Hugo Kołłątaj Polish Jacobins (or Hugenots) was the name given to a group of late 18th century...
.
After the suppression of the Uprising, Kołłątaj was imprisoned by the Austrians until 1802. In 1805, with Tadeusz Czacki
Tadeusz Czacki
Tadeusz Czacki , was a Polish historian, pedagogue and numismatist. Czacki played an important part in the Enlightenment in Poland.-Biography:...
, he organized the Krzemieniec Lyceum in Wołyń (Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
). In 1807-1808 he was interned by Russian authorities.
In the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
, barred from public activity, he sought to present a program for rebuilding and developing Poland (Remarks on the Present Position of That Part of the Polish Lands that, since the Treaty of Tilsit, Have Come to Be Called the Duchy of Warsaw, 1809).
Borrowing the physiocratic idea of a "physico-moral order", in The Physico-Moral Order (1811) Kołłątaj created a socio-ethical system emphasizing a natural interdependence between people's right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
s and obligation
Obligation
An obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, and possibly...
s. In A Critical Analysis of Historical Principles regarding the Origins of Humankind, published posthumously in 1842, he essayed the first Polish presentation of concepts of social evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and of geological concepts. In The State of Education in Poland in the Final Years of the Reign of Augustus III, published posthumously in 1841, he pioneered Polish studies
Polish studies
Polish studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates Polish language and literature in both its historic and present-day forms...
on the history of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
.
Remembrance
Kołłątaj is one of the figures immortalized in Jan MatejkoJan Matejko
Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
's 1891 painting, Constitution of May 3, 1791
Constitution of May 3, 1791 (painting)
Constitution of May 3, 1791 is a late 19th century Romantic genre painting by the Polish artist Jan Matejko, commemorating the centenary of an important event in the history of Poland. It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 247 x 446 cm, and like many of Matejko's works, is a large and crowded...
.
See also
- Piotr SkargaPiotr SkargaPiotr Skarga was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was called the "Polish Bossuet" due to his oratorical abilities.He was born February 2, 1536 in Grójec, to a family of lesser landless gentry...
- Ignacy Potocki
- Stanisław Staszic
- History of philosophy in Poland
- List of Poles