Twardowski, Samuel

Twardowski, Samuel, b ca 1595–1600 in Lutyn, near Jarocin, or in the vicinity of Skrzypna and Twardów, near Pleszew, Poland, d June 1661 in Zalesie Wielkie, Poland. Polish baroque poet. From 1633 he lived at the court of the magnate Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. He wrote historical narrative poems about Krzysztof Zbaraski’s 1622–3 diplomatic mission to the Ottoman Porte (1633), in which he took part, and about the Polish ‘civil war’ with the Cossacks, Tatars, Muscovites, Swedes, and Hungarians (Wojna domowa ..., 4 parts, published in 1681). They are of value to both literary scholars and historians. The latter poem describes in detail the 1649 siege of Zbarazh and the 1651 Battle of Berestechko during the Cossack-Polish War (1648–57). Part 1 of the poem was translated by Stepan Savytsky; Samiilo Velychko translated parts 2 and 3 and used them as a source in his Cossack chronicle, as did Hryhorii Hrabianka. An edition of Twardowski’s collected works was published in Wrocław in 1955.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]