Everything about Enlightenment In Poland totally explained
The ideas of the
Age of Enlightenment in
Poland were developed later than in the
Western Europe, as Polish
bourgeoisie was weaker, and
szlachta (nobility) culture (
Sarmatism) together with the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (
Golden Freedoms) were in deep crisis. The period of Polish Enlightenment started in the
1730s/
1740s, reached its height during the reign of last of
Polish kings,
Stanisław August Poniatowski (second half of the
18th century), started declining with the
third partition of Poland in
1795, and ended in
1822, replaced by
Romanticism.
Polish Enlightenment, while sharing many common qualities with the classical Enlightenments movements of the
Western Europe, also differed from them in many important aspects, forming an interesting counterpoint. Much of the thought of the Western Enlightenment evolved under the oppressive
absolute monarchies and was dedicated towards fighting for more
freedom. Western thinkers desired
Montesquieu's
separation and balance of powers to restrict the nearly unlimited power of their
monarchs. Polish Enlightenment, however, developed in a very different background. The Polish political system was the almost the opposite of the absolute monarchy:
Polish kings were elected and their position was very weak, with most of the powers in the hands of the parliament (
Sejm). Polish reforms desired the elimination of laws that transformed their system into a near-
anarchy, resulting from abuse of
consensus voting in Sejm (
liberum veto) that paralyzed the Commonwealth, especially during the times of the
Wettin dynasty, reducing Poland from a major European player to the puppet of its neighbours. Thus, while men of the Enlightenment in France and Prussia wrote about the need for more checks and balances on their kings, Polish Enlightenment was geared towards fighting the abuses stemming from too much freedom.
The differences didn't end there. Townsfolk and bourgeoisie dominated Western Enlightenment movement, while in the Commonwealth most of the reformers came from
szlachta (nobility). Strongly hierarchical and dominated by
aristocracy, the West was starved for
equality, the very notion of which was often considered treasonous (as can be seen in the unequal fight between
Denis Diderot attempts to publish his
Encyclopédie in
France). But Commonwealth
szlachta (forming the 10% of its population) considered the idea of equality to be one of the foundations of its culture, and reformers fought to expand it towards other
social classes.
Religious tolerance, cause of many European wars, was another nearly untouchable foundation of the szlachta liberites. And while the West was being influenced by the
Industrial Revolution and fought for overseas
colonies, the mostly land-locked Commonwealth sank into the depths of the
second serfdom.
Ideas of that period led eventually to one of the greatest achievements of Poland, the
Constitution of the 3rd May (1791) (second-oldest world
constitution) and other reforms (like the creation of the
Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, first ministry of education in the world) which attempted to transform the Commonwealth into a modern
constitutional monarchy. Although attempts of political
reform were thwarted by the
civil war (
Targowica Confederation) and military intervention of the Commonwealth neighbour, ending in the
partitions of Poland, the cultural impact of that period persevered
Polish culture for many years.
The ideas of the Polish Enlightenment had also signicant impact abroad. From the
Confederation of Bar (1768) through the period of the
Great Sejm and until the tragic aftermath of the Constitution of the 3rd May of 1791, Poland experienced a large output of political, particularly constitutional, writing. Some of this literature was widely discussed in France and there it came to the attention of
Thomas Jefferson.
(External Link
) John Adams, who had been in Paris until Jefferson arrived, became American minister in London and was writing his three volume
Defense of the Constitutions of the United States in which the Polish republican government was discussed
(External Link).
Important institutions of the Polish Enlightenment
Important people of Polish Enlightenment
Wojciech Bogusławski - father of Polish theater
Franciszek Bohomolec - poet, writer, publisher, teacher
Tadeusz Czacki - education, economy, founder of Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk and Liceum Krzemienieckie
Jakub Jasiński - poet, general, radical supporter of revolution
Franciszek Salezy Jezierski - writer, political activist
Franciszek Karpiński - poet
Franciszek Kniaźnin (Franciszek Dionizy Kniażin) - poet, writer
Hugo Kołłątaj - priest, social and political activist, political thinker, historian and philosopher
Stanisław Konarski - precursor of education reform, author of O skutecznym rad sposobie
Onufry Kopczyński - teacher, precursor of Polish grammar
Michał Dymitr Krajewski - writer, educational activist
Ignacy Krasicki - one of Poland's greatest poets, writer, bishop, co-organiser of Thursday's dinners
Stanisław Leszczyński - king of Poland, political activist, writer (Głos wolny wolność ubezpieczający)
Samuel Bogumił Linde - chairman of Towarzystwo do Ksiąg Elementarnych, creator of Słownik Języka Polskiego
Adam Naruszewicz - poet, translator, historian
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz - poet, playwright, independence activist
Jan Piotr Norblin - painter
Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński - writer, social, science and cultural activist, founder of Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich
Grzegorz Piramowicz - writer, philosopher, educational activist
Stanisław August Poniatowski - king, co-organiser of Thursday's dinners, great supporter of arts and sciences in Poland,
Stanisław Staszic - writer, economist
Jan Śniadecki - astronomer, mathematician, philosopher
Jędrzej Śniadecki - chemist
Stanisław Trembecki - poet (Classicism style)
Tomasz Kajetan Węgierski - poet, explorer
Józef Wybicki - political activist, author of the words of Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, Polish national anthem
Franciszek Zabłocki - poet, comedy writer, secretary of Towarzystwo do Ksiąg Elementarnych
Andrzej and Józef Załuski - founders of first Polish public library, Biblioteka Załuskich
Andrzej Zamoyski - kanclerz, politician, author of the Zamoyski Code
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