Jędrzej Kitowicz (November 25, 1728 – April 3, 1804) was a Polish historian and diarist. According to , a historian of Polish literature, Kitowicz was born into a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

family in the region of

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

, and was later employed in the service of wealthy priests. He was a rotmistrz of the Confederation of Bar in Greater Poland. In 1771 he joined a religious

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

, while he remained in service of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Kujawy Antoni Ostrowski (who later became the

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of Poland). In 1777 he took

Holy Orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

and in 1781 he became the provost of Rzeczyca where he spent the rest of his life. He is best known as the author of two unfinished treatises. ''Description of Customs during the reign of August III'' (''Opis obyczajów za panowania Augusta III'', published in 1840) was an attempt to portray the culture of Poland during the first half of the 18th century. ''Memoires, or History of Poland'' (''Pamiętniki, czyli Historia polska'', published partially in 1840, complete edition in 1971) was a chronicle of the years 1743–1798, with special attention to the Confederation of Bar. Kitowicz's works, especially ''Opis obyczajów...'' have a significant literary and historical value, although he could not keep himself objective, speaking out against Stanisław August Poniatowski and the reformists. He died in Rzeczyca.

References

* Literatura polska. Przewodnik encyklopedyczny, Warszawa 1984

Citations

Works cited

External links

Works by Kitowicz
at Polona, including the ''Pamiętniki'' and ''Opis obyczajów'' 1727 births 1804 deaths 18th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests 18th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Bar confederates {{RC-clergy-stub