|
- - - -
Nikolai Hussowski
HUSSOWSKI Nikolai
(circa 1470 – after 1533)
Poet and humanist; founder of the genre of lyric-epic poem in the literature of Eastern Europe
Nikolai Hussowski was born in a family of a forester or a hunter. He got primary education in Belarus. He improved his knowledge at the universities of Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), Krakow (Poland) and Bologna (Italy). In 1518 Hussowski visited Rome (Italy) being a part of the diplomatic mission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1522, carrying out the order of Pope Leo X, he wrote in Latin his best work ? the poem “A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison”. In 1523 he published it in Krakow (Poland) together with a dedication to Queen Bona Sforza and with several poems written in Rome. Nikolai Hussowski was a founder of the genre of lyric-epic poem in the literature of Eastern Europe. He was a founder of Renaissance art style in literature of Belarus in poem; he was a popularizer of its history and culture in the world. In dedications he addressed the rulers with a request to take under their wing scholars, artists and poets, who were little valued and could not display their talent for the benefit of the state because of material problems. Nikolai Hussowski argued that states relied more on the prowess of the spirit than on the strength of the body, and were powerful when the science bloomed. Hussowski called for the unity of different religions and cultures of European nations, for fighting for a better future, freedom and independence; he praised a free person and advocated a system of European education. In the poem “Life and feats of St. Hyacynth” (1525) he preached the Christian-humanistic feat as service to people. The last years of his life Nikolai Hussowski lived in poverty, suffering from disease and loneliness.
Works:
1. Сarmen Nicolai Hussoviani de statura, feritate ac venatione Bisontis. Cracoviae: Hieronym Vietor, 1523.
2. Песня пра зубра. На лацінскай, беларускай, рускай мовах. Мн.: Мастацкая літаратура, 1980.
Literature:
1. Pelczar J. Mikolaj Hussowski, jego zycie i dziela. Ustep z dziejow humanizmu w Polsce. Krakow, 1900.
2. Порецкий Я. И. Николай Гусовский. Мн.: Наука и техника, 1984.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
|
|
