Prawdziwy żywot Stanisława Niegoszewskiego, improwizatora, pisarza i sekretarza królewskiego (1563–1601)
The True Life of Stanisław Niegoszewski, Improviser, Writer, and Royal Secretary (1563–1601)

Summary/Abstract: This article presents new findings concerning the writer and improviser Stanisław Niegoszewski and his family. Contrary to prevailing views, he did not descend from a noble family of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms, but from the Krupka burgher family of Kraków, whose nobility was confirmed by King Sigismund I of Poland in 1515. The writer’s father, also Stanisław, took the surname Niegoszowski after the town of Niegoszowice, which he once owned. Following his father’s death (prior 3 August 1573), the future writer, likely born in 1563, was raised by his mother, Małgorzata. Niegoszewski began his studies in Kraków (in the summer semester of 1579), continuing his education in Padua between 1582 and 1584. He returned to Italy in mid-1585, remaining there until the summer of 1588, when he visited major cultural centres, cultivated wide-ranging contacts, and published several panegyrics. Upon his return to Poland, he served as a royal secretary from April 1589 until the end of July 1595. His final visit to Italy took place in late 1593, and he returned to the country in late June 1594. Although he authored several works in the ensuing years, his output diminished significantly. He died in 1601, most likely in early May. The biographical evidence presented precludes treating Niegoszewski as two separate individuals, and there are no grounds to attribute the anonymous 1595 travel diaries to him.

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