Tadeusz Czacki
Encyclopedia
Tadeusz Czacki was a Polish
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
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...
, pedagogue and numismatist
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
. Czacki played an important part in the Enlightenment in Poland
Enlightenment in Poland
The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis...
.
Biography
Czacki was born in Poryck in Volhynia, Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
, now Pavlivka in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. When Prince Adam Czartoryski was placed at the head of the educational district of Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Czacki was appointed school inspector of 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...
, Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
, and the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. An opponent of the Jesuits, he combated their work in the field of pedagogy, and on one occasion raised by public subscription the sum of two millions of Polish florins to insure the existence of the gymnasiums in Vinnitsa and Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. In 1805 he founded the high school in Kremenetz, Volhynia (the Liceum Krzemienieckie
Liceum Krzemienieckie
Liceum Krzemienieckie was a renowned Polish high school, which existed from 1805 to 1831, and then in the interbellum period, from 1922 to 1939.-Beginnings:...
). After Czacki's death his heart was deposited in one of the halls of this Volhynian school, under the inscription "Ubi thesaurus tuus, ibi est cor tuum" (Where your treasury lies, there lies your heart). He discovered what was thought at the time to be the grave of Copernicus; however, controversy over its location continued long afterwards. He also was a panel member of the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej
Komisja Edukacji Narodowej
The Commission of National Education was the central educational authority in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and king Stanisław August Poniatowski on October 14, 1773...
, founded by Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1773 and considered to be the world's first ministry of education.
From 1786 to 1792 he worked for the Polish Commission of the Treasury and was responsible for supervising Jewish affairs in the country. During this time and afterwards, he worked for the emancipation of Jews in Poland. Exemption from the poll-tax was granted in 1775 to those who would apply themselves to agriculture, and by 1787, owing to Czacki's efforts while in the treasury (see his report of 1787 on the Ruthenian and Ukrainian provinces), he had the satisfaction of seeing a few scores of families enjoying that privilege. Furthermore, he co-wrote 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 Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk (Society of Friends of Science).
In 1786 he was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus
Order of Saint Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus , also spelled Stanislas, was an Order in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and The Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831 and of Russian Empire from 1831 to 1917.-History of the Order of Saint Stanislaus:Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland, established the...
, and in 1792 the Order of the White Eagle.
Writings
Czacki's Rozprawa o Zydach (Discourse on the Jews), first published in Wilna 1807, and translated into Russian by Basil Anastaszewicz, passed through several editions, and was published finally in Dzieła Tadeusza Czackiego (Works of Tadeusz Czacki), edited by Edward Raczyński, Posen, 1845 (iii. 138-270). For the history of the Jewish institutions, Czacki, who did not know Hebrew, availed himself of the only sources open to him; namely, BartolocciGiulio Bartolocci
Giulio Bartolocci was an Italian Cistercian Hebrew scholar and author of the four volume Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica.-Life:...
and Ugolino. After relating the early history of the Jews, Czacki describes their situation among the Arabs, Italians, Spaniards, French, Germans, and Hungarians. He tells of their entrance into Poland in the twelfth century; of their intellectual condition; of their government and laws; and of the persecutions to which they were subjected.
He also wrote a short discourse on the Karaites (Dzieła Tadeusza Czackiego, iii. 271-285) which attempts to explain, on the basis of the sources accessible to the author and referred to above, "what the Karaites are, and wherein they chiefly differ from other Jews; when their separation occurred; and in what countries they dwell."
Czcki's, who himself had been interested in Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
published a work on law in a two volumes About Lithuanian and Polish laws, their spirit, their origins and about things discussed in the first Lithuanian Statute of the year 1529 , explaining differences of the two nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
s within the former Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
.
See also
- History of philosophy in Poland
- List of Poles