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{{Short description|Polish poet, playwright and statesman (1758–1841)}}

factoids

Belarus, near present-day Brest, Belarus>Brest, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthdf=y517586}}Paris, July Monarchy>FrancePolish people>Polish| other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Poet, playwright, statesmanWarsaw Corps of Cadets (Warsaw)>Corps of CadetsLivingston family>1800reason=her death}}}}Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz ({{IPAc-en|US|n|j|ɛ|m|t|ˈ|s|eɪ|v|ɪ|tʃ}} {{respell|nyemt|SAY|vitch}},MERRIAM-WEBSTER, Niemcewitz, 22 August 2019, {{IPA-pl|ˈjuljan ˈursɨn ɲɛmˈtsɛvitʂ|lang}}; 6 February 1758 – 21 May 1841) was a Polish poet, playwright and statesman. He was a leading advocate for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's Constitution of 3 May 1791.BOOK, Knight, Charles, The English Cyclopaedia: A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, 1856, Bradbury and Evans, 519,weblink 2 April 2018, en,

Early life and education

Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz was born 6 February 1758 in Skoki, near Brest, Belarus in what was then the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The son of a moderately well-to-do Polish noble family, Niemcewicz graduated from the Warsaw Corps of Cadets.WEB, To George Washington from Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, 14 June 1798,weblink founders.archives.gov, Founders Online, 2 April 2018, en,

Career

(File:Ursyn Niemcewicz by Barwicki.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Niemcewicz, a portrait)After graduating from the Corps of Cadets, he subsequently served as aide to Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and visited France, England and Italy. Niemcewicz served as a deputy to the Great Sejm of 1788–1792 and was an active member of the Patriotic Party that pushed through adoption of the historic Constitution of 3 May 1791. He was subsequently a founder of the Friends of the Constitution, formed to support the implementation of that progressive document. After the victory of the Targowica Confederation in 1792 and the consequent overthrow of the May 3 Constitution, Niemcewicz, along with other Patriotic Party members, emigrated to Germany.During the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, Niemcewicz served as aide to Tadeusz Kościuszko. Both were captured by the Russians at the Battle of Maciejowice in 1794 and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress at St. Petersburg along with Niemcewicz's aide-de-camp named Kuźniewski.WEB, Kneski, John, The History of the Kuźniewski Clan of Koziebrody,weblink Kuzniewski & Kneski Genealogy - The History of the Kuźniewski Family, Prof. John Kneski, 2 April 2016, BOOK, Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn, Notes of My Captivity in Russia, 2008, 9780554505015,weblink 2 April 2018, en, In 1796, on the death of Tsaritsa Catherine the Great, they were released by Tsar Paul I and made their way together to the United States.BOOK, Kusielewicz, Eugene, Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn, Jefferson, Thomas, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and America, 1961, Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America,weblink 2 April 2018, en, They sailed on the ship Adriana from Bristol, in England, in the company of the Portuguese abbot and botanist, José Correia da Serra, who served as the chaplain on ship for Niemcewicz and Kościuszko. They arrived in Philadelphia on August 18, 1797.JOURNAL, 1905,weblink The American Catholic Historical Researches, 1, 1, 30–43, 44374476, 2155-5273, Abbe Correa de Serra, the Priest Ambassador of Portugal to the United States, "The Most Enlightened Foreigner That Ever Visited This Country," the "Most Extraordinary Man Living" and "Claimed as One of the Fathers of Our Country", During his stay, he visited Niagara Falls.BOOK, New-York Historical Society, New York Historical Society Quarterly, 1959, New-York Historical Society, 73,weblink 2 April 2018, en, New-York Historical Society, In 1798, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.WEB, APS Member History,weblink 2021-03-31, search.amphilsoc.org, Niemcewicz was upset when Kościuszko decamped for Europe without giving him any notice.Niemcewicz, Under Your Vine and Fig Tree. After Napoleon's 1807 invasion of Poland, Niemcewicz returned to Warsaw and was made secretary of the senate. After the Congress of Vienna, he was secretary of state and president of the constitutional committee in Poland. In the years of the Kingdom of Poland Niemcewicz was the central figure of Polish cultural life and his moral influence was sometimes compared with political and military strength of Grand Duke Constantine.BOOK, Fish, Hamilton, Lafayette in America during and after the Revolutionary War and other essays on Franco-American relations, 1977, Vantage Press, 236, 9780533023141,weblink 2 April 2018, en, On 11 May 1830, he unveiled a new landmark before the Staszic Palace, the seat of the Society of Friends of Science in Warsaw — a monument to Nicolaus Copernicus sculpted by Bertel Thorvaldsen. During the failed November Uprising of 1830–31, Niemcewicz was a member of the insurrectionary Polish government. In the final months of the Uprising the poet went on a diplomatic mission to London (as the last Polish envoy to Britain) and he remained in exile, first in Britain, then in France, until his death in 1841.BOOK, Harrison, Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, Burton, Mrs., HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ITS ORIGIN RISE, AND PROGRESS, 1896, 448–449,weblink en,

Works

As a writer, Niemcewicz tried many styles of composition. His political comedy, The Return of the Deputy (1790), enjoyed great acclaim.BOOK, Robinson, Edward, The Biblical Repository, 1834, Gould and Newman, 512,weblink 2 April 2018, en, His novel, John of Tenczyn (1825), written in the style of Sir Walter Scott, gives a vigorous picture of old Poland. He also wrote a History of the Reign of Sigismund III (3 volumes, 1819) and a collection of memoirs for ancient Polish history (6 volumes, 1822–23).Niemcewicz's 1817 pamphlet Rok 3333 czyli sen niesłychany (The Year 3333, or an Incredible Dream), first published posthumously in 1858, describes a Poland transformed into a sinister Judeo-Polonia. The pamphlet has been described as "the first Polish work to develop on a large scale the concept of an organized Jewish conspiracy directly threatening the existing social structure."Magdalena Opalski, Israel Bartal, Poles and Jews: A Failed Brotherhood, University Press of New England, 1992. His collected works were published in 47 volumes at Leipzig in 1838–40.BOOK, Lach-Szyrma, Krystyn, Letters, Literary and Political, on Poland: Comprising Observations on Russia and Other Sclavonian Nations and Tribes, 1823, Constable, 281,weblink 2 April 2018, en,

Personal life

While in the United States, Niemcewicz met and married the wealthy widow, Mrs. Livingston Kean (née Susan Livingston) in 1800 who had hired him as a tutor for her son Peter Kean.BOOK, Turner, Jean-Rae, Koles, Richard T., Hillside, 2001, Arcadia Publishing, 9780738508641, 21,weblink 2 April 2018, en, Susan, a member of the Livingston family, was the daughter of Peter Van Brugh Livingston and the widow of John Kean, a delegate from South Carolina to the Continental Congress.APPLETONS', Niemcewicz, Julian Ursin, Count, 1900, BOOK, Alghandoor, Erin, Esposito, Frank J., Hyde, Elizabeth, Mercantini, Jonathan, Kean University, 2017, Arcadia Publishing, 9781439660584, 203,weblink en, He died on 21 May 1841 in Paris, France, aged 83, and was buried at Champeaux Cemetery in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise.BOOK, Turner, Jean-Rae, Koles, Richard T., Elizabeth: First Capital of New Jersey, 2003, Arcadia Publishing, 9780738523934, 55,weblink 2 April 2018, en, BOOK, The Polish Review, 1944, Polish Information Center, 6–7,weblink 2 April 2018, en,

Published works

• WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw pod WarnÄ… (WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw at Varna'', 1788)
• Kazimierz Wielki (Kazimierz the Great, 1792)
• Powrót posÅ‚a (The Return of the Deputy, 1791)
• Na hersztów targowieckich (The Targowica Chiefs)
• Podróże historyczne po ziemiach polskich (Historic Travels over the Polish Lands)
• Åšpiewy historyczne (Historic Songs)
• Dzieje panowania Zygmunta III (A History of the Reign of Zygmunt III)

Under their Vine and Fig Tree: Travels through America in 1797-1799, 1805 with some further account of life in New Jersey (Edited by Budka)

References

Notes

{{Reflist|2}}

Sources

• Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine and Fig Tree: Travels through America in 1797–1799, 1805, Mechie J. Budka, editor.
• {{EB1911|wstitle=Niemcewicz, Julian Ursin}}
• Marek Å»ukow-Karczewski, Niemcewicz mniej znany (Niemcewicz less known), "Å»ycie Literackie", No. 27, 1989, p. 10. {{in lang|pl}}

External links

{{Commons category}}

• {{find a Grave|147530623}}
• Correspondence from George Washington to Count Niemcewicz on 14 June 1798.

{{Age of Enlightenment}}{{Authority control}}