Tomasz Zan (21 December 1796 Miasata, Vileysky Uyezd,

Minsk Governorate The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partiti ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

(now Belarus) – 19 July 1855 Kakoŭčyna,

Orsha Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as R ...

), was a Polish and Belarusian poet and activist.

Biography

He was born on 21 December 1796 in Miasata, Vileysky Uyezd, in the

of the

(present-day Maladzyechna District of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

). Zan attended the

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

from 1820-1823, where he befriended

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

, who would later become Poland's best-known poet. As Zan was two years older, he served as a mentor and friend to Mickiewicz. In 1817 he was a cofounder of the Philomatic Association (Towarzystwo Filomatów), in 1820, Radiant Association (Towarzystwo Promienistych), in 1820-1823 president of Filaret Association (Zgromadzenie Filaretów), all of them student organizations in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

dedicated to Polish cultural and political activities. For his activity in those organizations he was exiled by the Russian authorities to Siberia (from 1824 to 1837), during which time he assisted

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister ...

on his 1829 research expedition. Between 1837 and 1841 he worked as a librarian in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

before returning to

. He died on 19 July 1855 in Kakoŭčyna,

, then part of the

and is buried in the village of Smalany (present day

Orsha District Orsha District ( be, Аршанскі раён, ''Aršanski raion''; russian: Оршанский район, ''Orshansky rayon'') is a second-level administrative subdivision (district) of Belarus in the Vitebsk Region. The center of the distric ...

of Belarus). Zan was the grandfather of the Polish poet Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna.

Legacy

His poetry is mostly satirical, most known is the heroicomic 'Zgon tabakiery'.

References

External links

* *Z filareckiego świata:zbiór wspomnień z lat 1816-1824 by Henryk Mościcki http://kpbc.umk.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=27328&dirids=1 1796 births 1855 deaths People from Maladzyechna District People from Vileysky Uyezd Polish male poets Polish exiles in the Russian Empire Russian people of Polish descent 19th-century Polish poets 19th-century Polish male writers Vilnius University alumni {{Poland-poet-stub