LELEWEL, JOACHIM (1786-1861)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 407 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LAP-LEO

LELEWEL, JOACHIM (1786-1861) , Polish historian, geographer and numismatist, was born at Warsaw on the 22nd of March 1786. His family came from Prussia in the early part of the 18th century; his grandfather was appointed physician to the reigning king of Poland, and his father caused himself to be naturalized as a Polish citizen. The

original

ORIGINAL

form of the name appears to have been Lolhoffel.

Joachim

JOACHIM, JOSEPH (1831—1907)

was educated at the university of Vilna, and became in 1807 a teacher in a school at Krzemieniec in

Volhynia

VOLHYNIA

, in 1814 teacher of history at Vilna, and in 1818 professor and librarian at the university of Warsaw. He returned to Vilna in 1821. His lectures enjoyed

great

GREAT

popularity, and enthusiasm felt for him by the students is shown in the beautiful lines addressed to him by Mickiewicz. But this very circumstance made him obnoxious to the Russian government, and at Vilna Novosiltsev was then all-powerful. Lelewel was removed from his professorship in 1824, and returnedto Warsaw, where he was elected a deputy to the diet in 1829. He joined the revolutionary

movement

MOVEMENT

with more enthusiasm than energy, and though the emperor Nicholas I. distinguished him as one of the most dangerous rebels, did not appear to advantage as a man of action. On the suppression of the rebellion he made his way in disguise to Germany, and subsequently reached Paris in 1831. The government of Louis Philippe ordered him to quit French territory in 1833 at the request of the Russian

ambassador

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

. The cause of this expulsion is said to have been his activity in writing revolutionary proclamations. He went to Brussels, where for nearly thirty years he earned a scanty livelihood by his writings. He died on the 29th of May 1861 in Paris, whither he had removed a few days previously.
Lelewel, a man of austere character, simple tastes and the loftiest conception of honour, was a lover of learning for its own sake. His literary activity was enormous, extending from his Edda Skandinawska (1807) to his Geographie des Arabes (2 vols., Paris, 1851). One of his most important publications was La Geographic du moyen dge (5 vols., Brussels, 18521857), with an atlas (1849) of fifty plates entirely engraved by himself, for he rightly attached such importance to the accuracy of his maps that he would not allow them to be executed by any one else. His works on Polish history are based on minute and

critical

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

study of the documents; they were collected under the title Polska, dzieje i rzeczy jej rozpatrzywane (Poland, her History and Affairs surveyed), in 20 vols. (Posen, 18531876). He in-tended to write a complete history of Poland on an extensive scale, but never accomplished the task. His method is shown in the little history of Poland, first published at Warsaw in Polish in 1823, under the title Dzieje Polski, and afterwards almost rewritten in the Histoire de Pologne (2 vols., Paris, 1844). Other works on Polish history which may be especially mentioned are La Pologne au moyen dge (3 vols., Posen, 18461851), an edition of the Chronicle of

Matthew

Cholewa' (1811) and Ancient Memorials of Polish Legislation (Ksiegi ustaw polskich i mazowieckich). He also wrote on the trade of Carthage, on Pytheas of Marseilles, the geographer, and two important works on

numismatics

(La Numismatique du moyen age, Paris, 2 vols., 1835; Etudes numisinatiques, Brussels, 1840). While employed in the university library of Warsaw he studied bibliography, and the fruits of his labours may be seen in his Bibliograficznych Ksiag dwoje (A Couple of Books on Bibliography) ( 2 vols., Vilna, 1823-1826). The characteristics of Lelewel as an historian are

great

GREAT

research and power to draw inferences from his facts; his style is too often careless, and his narrative is not picturesque, but his expressions are frequently terse and incisive.
He left valuable materials for a just comprehension of his career in the autobiography (Adventures while Prosecuting Researches and Inquiries on Polish Matters) printed in his Polska.

End of Article: LELEWEL, JOACHIM (1786-1861)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/LAP_LEO/LELEWEL_JOACHIM_1786_1861_.html">
LELEWEL, JOACHIM (1786-1861)
</a>

(Previous)
LELEGES

(Next)
LELONG, JACQUES (16651721)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email