Jan Kochanowski

Kochanowski was born in Sycyna, Poland. His mother, Anna Białaczowska, saw to his early education. At fourteen, fluent in Latin, he was sent by his parents to Kraków to study at Jagiellonian University. After graduation in 1547 he continued studies at universities in Wrocław, Wittenberg and Leipzig. He next studied at Koenigsberg in Ducal Prussia and at Padua, Italy.

In Padua Kochanowski studied philosophy under the guidance of Robertello. A fifteen-year period of broad studies and travels was closed by a final trip to France, where he met Pierre Ronsard. In 1559 he returned to Poland for good, a humanist and Renaissance poet. The next fifteen years were spent close to the court of King Sigismund II of Poland, writing poems and a first short novel. In 1575 Kochanowski married Dorota Podlodowska. The poet wrote in Polish about man and his relationship to other people and to God. He died in Lublin in August 1584, probably of a heart attack.

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