WIRTUALNA BIBLIOTEKA LITERATURY POLSKIEJ
VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF POLISH LITERATURE

Jan DANTYSZEK (von Höfen, Dantiscus)
Prof.  dr hab. Edmund Kotarski

Dantyszek należy do grona najwybitniejszych poetów polsko-łacińskich. Twórczość zaczął od wierszy okolicznościowych; nie zrezygnował z nich także w późniejszych latach. Pisał epitalamia z okazji ślubu  Zygmunta I z Barbarą Zapolyą, później z Boną, epinicia na cześć królewskich zwycięstw, epitafia i epicedia (między innymi po zgonie biskupa Piotra Tomickiego). Równolegle uprawiał poezję parenetyczną, moralizatorską. Świadectwem tego jest elegia Jonas propheta de interitu civitatis Gedanensis (Jonasz Prorok o zagładzie miasta Gdańska), napisana w roku 1535 w związku z nasilaniem się wpływów reformacji w Gdańsku. Poeta przedstawił w niej obraz miasta wiedzionego do zguby przez trzy potwory: Bezbożność (tzn.  reformację), Pychę  (utożsamianą z separatystycznymi dążeniami gdańszczan) i Zbytek (będący aluzją do upadku moralności i dobrych obyczajów). W ten sposób wypowiedział swoją opinię o mieście, zgłosił pod adresem jego mieszkańców poważne zastrzeżenia. Szerszymi zagadnieniami zajął się w poemacie De nostrorum temporum calamitatibus silva (O klęskach naszych czasów), opublikowanym w roku 1530 w Antwerpii, Bolonii, Kolonii i w Krakowie. Autor podjął tu problem niebezpieczeństwa tureckiego i naszkicował wizję Europy od niego już uwolnionej. 

Wyjątkowe miejsce w dorobku poetyckim Dantyszka zajęła Elegia amatoria. Erotyk ten, znany także pod tytułem Ad Grinaeam (Do Grynei, 1518), przynosi liczne odwołania do mitologii, ale także wypowiedzi o charakterze osobistym, wyraźnie autobiograficznym (w kontekście szerszych, historycznych zdarzeń), czym wpisał się poeta w humanistyczne tendencje swojej epoki. Do rzędu osobistych wyznań należy również Vita Joannis de Curiis Dantisci (Życie Jana von Höfen Dantyszka), utwór opublikowany dopiero u schyłku XVII wieku. Wolny niemal całkowicie od sztafażu antycznego, jest swoistą spowiedzią człowieka u kresu drogi.

W roku śmierci poety ukazał się zbiór Hymni aliquot ecclesiastici (1548). Księga hymnów (to polski odpowiednik łacińskiego tytułu) wyrastała z tradycji średniowiecznego piśmiennictwa, dokładniej: hymnów i pieśni na różne pory dnia i uroczystości Prudencjusza, hiszpańskiego poety chrześcijańskiego. Wyróżniała się liryzmem i  żarliwością religijną.  Była zarazem dowodem odwrotu poety od grecko-rzymskich wzorców literackich, którym wcześniej hołdował, od dzieł takich mistrzów, jak Wergiliusz, Owidiusz, Tibullus, Propercjusz, Stacjusz czy Horacy.

Dantyszek’s family - the von Höfens - came from Germany but by the fourteenth century they had settled in Warmia (Ermland) from where they went to Gdańsk. The poet’s grandfather was a rope-maker in the city on the Motława River and therefore was nicknamed Flachsbinder (German: a rope-maker). Dantyszek’s father, Jan, was a brewer and a merchant. The future poet and diplomat (Dantyszek) was born in Gdańsk (Danzig) in 1485 (which is why he signed his works as Dantiscus, its Polish equivalent: Dantyszek). He finished his elementary studies at a parish school in Grudziądz, and studied first in Gryfia, then in Kraków where he was awarded a bachelor’s degree. It was during these studies that he became associated with the royal court of Jan Olbracht and took part in military expeditions against the Turks and the Moldavians. In 1504 he started a career in diplomacy which lasted for over 30 years. As a  secretary to the King and a royal envoy as well as an expert on Prussian affairs, he often travelled around Europe, and even went to Palestine. Among other matters, at King Zygmunt I’s side he took part in such important events as the Convention of Vienna of 1515. He frequented the courts of Maximilian I and Charles V. Thanks to Emperor Maximilian he was ennobled, received a doctorate in law, and poetic laurels. Thanks to Charles V, in turn, he was ennobled in Spain and had a medal minted in his honour. In the years 1524-1532 he was the first permanent Polish envoy in Spain. Having finished his diplomatic career, Dantyszek returned to Poland in 1532. He was ordained the following year and became the Bishop of Chełmno and four years later- the Bishop of Warmia. Dantyszek settled in Lidzbark Warmiński and founded there an important centre of art and science. He strove to raise the intellectual level of the clergy, took great care of the education of his diocese, and cared for especially gifted young people by helping them to proceed with their studies. As a bishop at the same time he started to fight with the Reformation. He removed from within the boundaries of his diocese all who sympathised with the Reformation and ordered the destruction of any books recognised as heretical. He died in 1548 and was buried in Frombork.

Dantyszek belongs to the circle of the most outstanding Polish-Latin poets. He started his creative activity by writing occasional poems and never stopped, even in the later years. He wrote epithalamia for the weddings of Zygmunt I and Barbara Zapolya, and later Bona, epinicia to honour the King’s victories, epitaphs and epicedia (after the death of Bishop Piotr Tomicki among others). At the same time he wrote edifying and moralistic poetry. An elegy Jonas propheta de interitu civitatis Gedanensis ("Jonah the Prophet on the Destruction of the City of Gdańsk"), written in 1535 in connection with the escalating influence of the Reformation in Gdansk, could serve as a testimony to this type of poetry. The poet shows a picture of the city being led to its downfall by three monsters: Lack of Faith (i.e. the Reformation), Pride (identified with the separatist aspirations of Gdańsk’s inhabitants) and Luxury (an allusion to the decay of morality and of good manners), thus expressing his opinion on the city and addressing serious reservations towards its inhabitants. In a poem De nostrorum temporum calamitatibus silva ("On the Disasters of Our Times"), published in 1530 in Antwerp, Bologna, Cologne and Kraków, Dantyszek deals with wider issues. The author here takes up the subject of the Turkish danger and sketches a vision of Europe already freed from it.

A special place in Dantyszek’s poetic output is occupied by Elegia amatoria. This erotic poem, which is also known by the title of Ad Grinaeam ("To Grinae", 1518), brings numerous allusions to mythology as well as personal, clearly autobiographical, statements (in the context of wider historical events) through which the poet inscribes himself in the humanistic trends of the epoch. Vita Joannis de Curiis Dantisci ("The Life of Jan von Hofen Dantyszek"), published only at the end of the seventeenth century, also belongs to the genre of personal confessions. Almost entirely free from the decor of Antiquity, the poem is a confession of a man at the twilight of his life.

A collection Hymni aliquot ecclesiastici (1548) was published in the year of the poet's death. "The Book of Hymns" grows out of the tradition of the literature of the Middle Ages, more precisely from the hymns and songs for various times of day and celebrations of Prudence (a Spanish Christian poet). The collection is distinguished by its lyricism and religious fervour. At the same time it is the poet’s turning away from Greek and Roman literary models, to which he had earlier adhered, from the works of such masters as Virgil, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, Statius or Horace.

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