WRITER

Jan Kochanowski

1530 - 1584

Photo of Jan Kochanowski

Icon of person Jan Kochanowski

Jan Kochanowski (Polish: [ˈjan kɔxaˈnɔfskʲi]; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz (the latter, a leading Romantic writer) and one of the most influential Slavic poets prior to the 19th century.: 188 : 60  In his youth Kochanowski traveled to Italy, where he studied at the University of Padua, and to France. In 1559 he returned to Poland, where he made the acquaintance of political and religious notables including Jan Tarnowski, Piotr Myszkowski (whom he briefly served as courtier), and members of the influential Radziwiłł family. From about 1563, Kochanowski served as secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Jan Kochanowski is the 1,266th most popular writer (down from 1,259th in 2019), the 276th most popular biography from Poland (down from 269th in 2019) and the 27th most popular Polish Writer.

Jan Kochanowski is most famous for his epic poem, the "Dziady" (translated as "Forefathers' Eve"), which is a long narrative poem about the Polish nobility and the history of Poland.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Jan Kochanowski by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Jan Kochanowski ranks 1,266 out of 7,302. Before him are Siegfried Kracauer, John Tzetzes, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Rodolphe Töpffer, Madame d'Aulnoy, and Vittorio Alfieri. After him are Agrippa d'Aubigné, Eiji Yoshikawa, Vinicius de Moraes, Nikolaus Lenau, Gottfried Benn, and Anton Praetorius.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1530, Jan Kochanowski ranks 12. Before him are Jean Nicot, Uesugi Kenshin, Louis, Prince of Condé, Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Anastasia Romanovna, and Ruy López de Segura. After him are Juan de Herrera, Christopher Báthory, Starina Novak, Giambattista Benedetti, Ranuccio Farnese, and Kuyucu Murad Pasha. Among people deceased in 1584, Jan Kochanowski ranks 7. Before him are Ivan the Terrible, William the Silent, Charles Borromeo, Francis, Duke of Anjou, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, and Yi I. After him are Balthasar Gérard, Marcantonio Colonna, Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł, Mehmed II Giray, Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Pieter Pourbus.

Others Born in 1530

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1584

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Poland

Among people born in Poland, Jan Kochanowski ranks 276 out of 1,694. Before him are Franz Mehring (1846), Hermann Grassmann (1809), Henryk Szeryng (1918), Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1848), Władysław I Herman (1043), and Jerzy Skolimowski (1938). After him are Carl Gotthard Langhans (1732), Stanisław Ryłko (1945), Miguel Najdorf (1910), Hans Kammler (1901), Kurt Masur (1927), and Adam Stefan Sapieha (1867).

Others born in Poland

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In Poland

Among writers born in Poland, Jan Kochanowski ranks 27. Before him are B. Traven (1882), Arnold Zweig (1887), Johanna Schopenhauer (1766), Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927), Jan Długosz (1415), and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1848). After him are Albert Barillé (1920), Sławomir Mrożek (1930), Martin Opitz (1597), Andreas Gryphius (1616), Avraham Stern (1907), and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885).

Polish born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous