Mikalay Husowski
Encyclopedia
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
and Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
early Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
poet and humanist, and cultural and social activist. His most notable work is Carmen de statura...bisontis (Song about...the bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
).
Biography
Little is known of his life, except during the 1520s. His place of birth is alternatively stated as HusówHusów
Husów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Markowa, within Łańcut County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately south of Łańcut and east of the regional capital Rzeszów....
/Hussowo near Łańcut or in an unspecified Belarusian village with similarly sounding name
(there are many Belarusian toponyms of the Usava, Husau, Usa kind. Some folkloristic features in the works of Husowski may point to regions in vicinity of Hrodna
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
).
He was a catholic priest (from 1518) and apostolic notary for Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. Hussowczyk was a citizen of the multinational Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As a side-effect of this, along with his uncertain birthplace, modern Polish, Lithuanian and Belarusian researchers tend to ascribe works of Husowski to their respective cultural heritages.
Hussowczyk became a courtier of Erazm Ciołek, the Bishop of Płock. In 1521 he accompanied the bishop on his year-long journey to Rome and he returned to Poland after Ciołek's death, settling in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, where he probably had his ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
.
Works
Per the scope of his literary works, Hussowczyk is considered to be the founder of the Belarusian Renaissance literary tradition, and author of the oldest examples of Polish-Latin poetry of the early Renaissance. Hussowczyk wrote in publicistical, epic, heroic, lyrical, historical and satirical genres.His Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poem Carmen de statura, feritate ac venatione bisontis ("A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison", Kraków 1523) is considered to be the first large scale fictional work about Medieval Lithuania (or Belarus), describing the bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
's life and habits, Lithuania's landscape and the relationship of its inhabitants with the environment. Written in Latin for Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
, an avid hunter, the poem stems from Hussowczyk's experience in hunting and observing bison, and contains no literary comparisons with ancient legendary creatures. Due to the deaths of both the Pope and Hussowczyk's patron, bishop Ciołek, the poem was eventually presented to Polish Queen Bona in Kraków. According to Polish researcher Edmund Kotarski, Hussowczyk belonged to the circle of Polish-Latin poets of the early Renaissance.
His best known works are:
- «Carmen de statura feritate ac venatione bisontis» (English: «The Song about Bison, Its Stature, Ferocity and Hunt», written in Classical Latin, 1522).
- «Nova et miranda victoria de Turcis mense Iulio» («New and famous victory over Turks in month of July») (1524, written in one day, under the impression from the victory of the Polish Great Hetman of the Crown Mikołaj Firlej over Turks by Trembowla on July 2, 1524).
- «De vita et gestis Divi Hyacinthi» («Life and feats of St. Hyacynth») (about Polish Saint HyacinthSaint HyacinthSaint Hyacinth, O.P., was educated in Paris and Bologna. A Doctor of Sacred Studies and a secular priest, he worked to reform women's monasteries in his native Poland...
(Jacek Odrowąż)) (1525).
Further reading
- Jerzy Ochmański Narodowość Mikołaja Hussowskiego w świetle jego autografu w: Słowiańszczyzna i dzieje powszechne Warszawa 1985 s. 317
- J. Pelczar, Mikołaj Hussowski, jego życie i dzieła. Ustęp z dziejów humanizmu w Polsce, Kraków 1900,
- J. Krókowski, Mikołaja Hussowskiego Carmen de bisonte, Wrocław 1959,
- C. Backvis, Mikołaj z Hussowa, Tegoż, Szkice o kulturze staropolskiej, Warsawa 1975.
- J. Ziomek, Renesans, Warszawa 1998.
- Entry in Polski Słownik Biograficzny
External links
- Biography and text of "Carmen de bisontis", translation into Polish by Jan KasprowiczJan KasprowiczJan Kasprowicz was a poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland.-Life:...
Dariusz Rott, Mikołaj Hussowski - Text of "Carmen de bisontis" in Lithuanian
- Text of "Carmen de bisontis" in Belarusian
- "Hunting the Lithuanina Bison" Amphora 6.1, by Frederick J. Booth