Hugo Kołłątaj

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Hugo Kołłątaj, portrayed by Józef Peszka (undated)
Coat of arms of Herb Kotwica, who Kołłątaj led as a nobleman
Autograph by Hugo Kołłątaj
Bust of Hugo Kołłątaj in the courtyard of the Kołłątaj College UJ in Cracow

Hugo Kołłątaj Herb Kotwica (born April 1, 1750 in Dederkały Wielkie , Volhynia ; † February 28, 1812 in Warsaw ) was a Polish nobleman , politician, publicist, Catholic presbyter and canon , satirist, writer, geographer and historian and rector of the Kraków Academy (1783–1786) and trainee lawyer for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1786). He is known as the most important representative of the Enlightenment in Poland-Lithuania .

Life

Kołłątaj was born into a noble family who lived in south-eastern Poland. He attended a school in Pinczów before going to the Cracow Academy to study. In 1768 he acquired the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and continued his studies in Vienna in 1770 . In 1774 he went to Rome, where he earned additional doctorates in law and theology and was ordained a priest. After his return to Poland he became canon in Kraków, clergyman in Pinczów and Krzyżanowice Dolne .

At the same time he became an employee of the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej ( Commission for National Education ), the central reform institution during the reign of King Stanisław August Poniatowski , as well as the Society for Elementary Books ( Towarzystwo do Ksiąg Elementarnych ), which she founded. Kołłątaj also played a leading role in the reform of the Cracow Academy, whose rector he was from 1782 to 1786. He introduced natural sciences and Polish literature into the curriculum and made it possible for middle class students to study. When the regular Sejm, later referred to as the four-year-old Sejm , began to meet in 1788 , Kołłątaj was one of the most important actors on the left wing of the so-called Reform Party around Ignacy Potocki and Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski . In his program, which was primarily directed against Catherine II's Russia , he advocated extensive modernization of state and society, a historical compromise between the nobility and the bourgeoisie, and a massive strengthening of the cities.

In the so-called Kołłątaj forge , the Enlightenment gathered a group of publicists who worked together on the constitution of May 3, 1791 . At the same time, he was appointed Deputy Crown Chancellor by the King, an office he held for two years. During this time, however, his brief exile in Dresden also falls , when the reform opponents of the Targowica Confederation had taken power. From underground he prepared the protest against the Second Partition of Poland and initiated the Kościuszko uprising in 1794, the most important texts of which, such as the Universal of Połaniec , he wrote himself. As a member of the Rada Najwyższa Narodowa , the Supreme National Council , Kołłątaj advocated even more far-reaching reforms such as the liberation of the peasants , which, however, could not be implemented due to the power balance. After the bloodbath caused by Russian troops in the Warsaw suburb of Praga on November 4, 1794 and the final failure of the uprising, he fled Warsaw. On December 6th, he was arrested by Austrian troops in Radymno and taken to the Przemyśl Fortress , where he was imprisoned until 1802.

Then he went back to Volhynia , where he co-founded the Krzemieniec Lyceum in Krzemieniec . He was watched the whole time. When he was suspected of making contact with Napoleon in 1807, the Russian authorities arrested him and took him to Moscow . Any type of journalistic or political activity was forbidden.

In the few years until his death, which he was allowed to spend in Warsaw in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw , he tried to build on his ideas, but found no more field of activity.

Works

As a publicist, Hugo Kołłątaj was primarily concerned with science, education and upbringing, and his works formed the basis for the constitution of May 3, 1791 . In it he called for the introduction of the hereditary monarchy, the abolition of the Liberum veto , general taxation of all Poles, the curbing of the power of magnates, a risk-taking Sejm and civil rights as well as the freedom of the peasantry ( compulsory service against interest).

The most important works of Kołłątaj are:

  • Listy Anonima . Anonymous letters (1788–89)
  • Prawo polityczne narodu polskiego . The Political Law of the Polish State (1790)
  • O ustanowieniu i upadku Konstytucji 3 Maja . On the establishment and transfer of the constitution of May 3rd
  • Uwagi nad tą częścią ziemi polskiej, która od Traktatu Tylżyckiego zwać poczęto Księstwem Warszawskim . Commentaries on that part of Poland named by the Peace of Tilsit Duchy of Warsaw (1808)
  • Rozbiór krytyczny zasad historii o początkach rodu ludzkiego, czyli racjonalistycznie pojęty wstęp do historii . Critical Analysis of History from the Beginning of Man or Rationalist, Clever Introduction to History (posthumously 1842)
  • Stan oświecenia w Polsce w ostatnich latach panowania Augusta III . The state of the Enlightenment in Poland during the last years of August III's rule.
  • Porządek filozoficzno-moralny . The philosophical-moral order (1810)
  • Naukowe podstawy polityki . The scientific basis of politics

literature

Web links

Commons : Hugo Kołłątaj  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Year of Hugo Kołłątaj . Jagiellonian University . Pp. 12-14. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Kołłątaj, Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish politician, clergyman and Enlightenment publicist
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Dederkały Wielkie , Volhynia
DATE OF DEATH February 28, 1812
Place of death Warsaw