Prominent Poles
Biernat z Lublina (Biernat of Lublin aka Bernardus Lubliniensis) poet, writer, translator
Born: about 1465, Lublin, Poland
Died: after 1529
Biernat was a priest, son of Jakub. His family: probably not very rich city dwellers. At 18 Biernat was in service of Jan Zelenski, subprefect (“starosta”) of Lukow. Then he worked for Gotard Bystram and later for his widow in the castle of Rogozno. After Bystram he served Filip Buonacorsi-Kallimach, a poet.. This was followed by the service at Lazarz, a Lublin shopkeeper and later at Mikolaj Bystram. Finally in 1492 he went to Jan Pilecki, Ruthenian “wojewoda” (voivode), who became his sponsor. He worked as the house secretary for him and after his death for his son Jan, till 1516. His tenure at the Pileckis was very beneficial for him- as he wrote himself- as he was able to read and to write. Probably he also studied at this time and got a title of “Doctor.”
It was at that time that Biernat wrote the first book entirely in Polish. This was “Raj duszy” (Soul’s Paradise) printed in 1513, or in 1514, in Cracow.
It was in most part a translation from Latin of a prayer book , “Antidotarius Animae” by Nicolas Salicet printed in Strasbourg in 1494. In a 1515 letter to Szymon, a book trader from Cracow, wrote Biernat “ human mind can not be prevented from steady search of the truth”. Biernat’s translation of Aesop’s Fables (from Ranuccio d’Arezzo’s Latin translation of the Greek original) appeared about 1522 under the title “Zywot Ezopa Fryga…”. It’s composed of two parts: 1.Life of Aesop; 2. 211 Fables. Later Biernat wrote “Dyalog Palinura z Karonem” (Palinurus’ dialog with Charon) published between 1536 and 1542. We don’t know much more about Biernat.
Sources:
“Biernat z Lublina. Wybor Pism” (in Polish). Edited by Jerzy Ziomek. Zaklad im.Ossolinskich, Wroclaw, 1954
“Forlesninger over polsk middelalder litteratur” (Lectures on Polish medieval literature) by Ole Michael Selberg (in Norwegian)
Staropolska Online. Excerpts from Aesop’s… (in Polish)
English translations of some of his works:
Constance J. Ostrowski
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