Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski \u2013 a biographical outline<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n According to family tradition and the opinion of some researchers Professor Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski came from the Jordan-Rozwadowski family which was well known in Poland. That family gave rise to many outstanding people including leaders, politicians and diplomats as well as artists, academics and travellers. However, historians are not certain that the ancestors of the famous linguist were indeed the descendants of Jordan since most Rozwadowski family documents were destroyed during numerous wars and uprisings<\/span>. The descent of the Cracovian professor\u2019s ancestors was testified by indirect evidence: the family signet ring passed down from generation to generation with the <\/span>Tr\u0105by<\/span> (Trumpets) coat of arms used by the Jordan Rozwadowski family and the copperplate engraving on the tombstone of Jakub Jordan Rozwadowski, an ancestor of the family\u2019s Lublin branch<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski was born on 7 December 1867 into the family of Juliusz and Celestyna, n\u00e9e R\u00f3\u017ca\u0144ska in Czarna near Tarn\u00f3w. Jan Micha\u0142 was only a year old when he lost his father. Left with nothing to live on, his mother moved to Krak\u00f3w where she got a job as a teacher in a girls\u2019 school. Jan Micha\u0142 attended St. Jacek\u2019s secondary school in Krak\u00f3w and passed his baccalaureate in 1885. He then studied Classical Philology, Polish and German at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krak\u00f3w until 1889. During his studies in 1887 and 1888 he did military training in the Austro-Hungarian army and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant the following year.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1891 he obtained a doctorate in Philosophy. Between 1891 and 1893 he continued his studies in Leipzig with a scholarship from the Academy of Learning. At the turn of 1893 and 1894, under the pseudonym Jan R. Nadroj, he published \u201c<\/span>Pierwsza mi\u0142o\u015bc. Powie\u015b\u0107<\/span>\u201d (First Love. A novel) The choice of pseudonym was not accidental, it was \u2018Jordan\u2019 if read backwards<\/span>. His short stories were published in newspapers such as the Cracovian \u201c<\/span>\u017bycie<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span>and the Toru\u0144 \u201c<\/span>Gazeta Toru\u0144ska<\/span>\u201d. His creativity gained recognition among the editors of the Cracovian paper \u201c<\/span>Czas<\/span>\u201d. The young author won a literary competition announced by that newspaper, beating outstanding writers such as Kazimierz Tetmajer, Konstanty G\u00f3rski and Tadeusz Rittner<\/span>. However, he abandoned his further literary career in favour of linguistics.<\/span><\/p>\n His academic career developed successfully and in 1896 he qualified as a university lecturer on the basis of a treatise entitled \u201cQuaestiones grammaticae et etymologicae\u201d. In 1898 he obtained the position of Reader at the Jagiellonian University and in 1899 was appointed associate professor and in 1904 full professor. While at the Jagiellonian University he twice held the position of dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and in 1916 was elected rector, an office he did not accept<\/span>. Language and literature students thought very highly of Professor Rozwadowski\u2019s classes. According to Tadeusz Sinko: \u201cthey stood out for economy of style. After succinctly formulating a particular rule, the lecturer illustrated it with a few distinct examples so that notes after each lecture were no longer than qua<\/span>rter of a page long but at the end of the course we knew as much as is contained in the thick textbooks on a particular subject\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Rozwadowski\u2019s i<\/span>nterests in Slavonic Languages and Culture were expressed in numerous articles and studies. In 1908 together with Kazimierz Nitsch, Jan \u0141o\u015b and Leon Ma\u0144kowski he published the first volume of the \u201cEncyclopaedia of the Polish Academy of Learning\u201d, being the actual editor of the linguistic part of that work. He played an active role\u00a0<\/span>in organising Polish philologists and linguists. Between 1920 and 1927 he headed the Society of Admirers of the Polish Language. He held a <\/span>similar position in the Polish Linguistic Society from 1925 to 1931<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n As a scholar and citizen Rozwadowski did not restrict his activity to academic issues. He frequently expressed his opinion on social and political matters. During the Ist World War he published an article \u201c<\/span>My a Ru\u015b<\/span>\u201d (Us and Ruthenia) (<\/span>Nowe \u017bycie<\/span> 1917) in which he demanded the negotiation of just relations between the two nations<\/span>. In 1930 in Vilnius an East European Institute was established the aim of which was to research political, historical, and cultural problems as well as farm land and peoples between the Baltic and the Black Sea. It was not by accident that Jan Rozwadowski was elected chairman and Janusz J\u0119drzejewicz director<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1930 Professor Rozwadowski signed a<\/span> protest by Cracovian academics on the Brze\u015b\u0107 issue. Three years later he wrote a fierce article entitled \u201c<\/span>Na powrozie<\/span>\u201d (On a rope) condemning a bill restricting the autonomy of universities<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n From 1924 Rozwadowski had financial difficulties caused by debts he had fallen into. According to his biographer, Stanis\u0142aw Urba\u0144czyk, as a result of that the scholar began to devote less time to academic work and resigned from the chairmanship of the Polish Academy of Learning. Professor Rozwadowski also developed an eye disorder so in 1933 and 1934 he underwent two cataract operations. In those years he spent more time reflecting about the sense of life, the fruit of which was a posthumously published philosophical work \u201c<\/span>Prawda \u017cycia<\/span>\u201d (The truth about life)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski was an honorary doctor of all the Polish universities (with the exception of the Catholic University in Lublin), a member of many academic societies, including Warsaw, Helsinki, Prague, the Academy of Science in St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Zagreb, Budapest, Sofia. He had numerous awards, the highest of which was the Order of the Rebirth of Poland with a Star<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadows<\/span>![\"Jan](\"http:\/\/rozwadowski.org\/v2.0.1.2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Jan-Micha\u0142-Rozwadowski-214x300.jpg\")
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\n![\"Professor](\"http:\/\/rozwadowski.org\/v2.0.1.2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Professor-Jan-Michal-Rozwadowski-1.jpg\")
<\/a>A significant chapter in Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski\u2019s life was his work for the Krak\u00f3w Academy of Learning. In 1903 the professor became a correspondent member and in 1908 an active member of the Academ<\/span>y. As a member of that renowned Polish academic institution from 1908 he ran the Language Committee of the Academy of Learning (from 1919 the Polish Academy of Learning). From 1918 to 1935 he headed the Oriental Studies Committee and from 1921 to 1935 the Anthropological Committee. In 1925 Rozwadowski became the head of the Polish Academy of Learning. After J\u00f3zef <\/span>Majer, Stanis\u0142aw Tarnowski and Kazimierz Morawski he was the fourth chairman of that most important Polish research institution. He held the position until 1929 when he resigned from the cha<\/span>irmanship before the end of his term<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/a>According to Kazimierz Nitsch: Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski \u201cwas in fact a conservative, but of a specific type, not recognising official religion and without manorial snobbery, yet he had an excellent way of communicating with peasants\u201d<\/span>. However, he was both privately and officially known for his optimism and sense of humour. An example of this is an anecdote from those days about a Polish officer in the Austro-H<\/span>ungarian service, who used the term \u201c<\/span>pierdo\u0142a<\/span>\u201d (old fart) to express himself about Franz Joseph I. The Viennese military tribunal called the following professors from the Academy of Learning: Jan Micha\u0142 Rozwadowski, Kazimierz Nitsch and Jan \u0141o\u015b as experts who had the task of clarifying the meaning of that incriminating expression. The professors with Rozwadowski in the lead stated that \u201cthe term <\/span>pierdo\u0142a <\/span>in the Polish language is used to describe a good natured old man\u201d<\/span>. He also spoke very enthusiastically about the achievements of young Polish statehood and condemned those who criticised the Polish state for political reasons\u201d<\/span>. Rozwadowski\u2019s optimism also manifested itself in chairing (from 1910) non-academic institutions such as the \u201cCraco<\/span>via\u201d football club<\/span>. The view of the Cracovian editor of \u201c<\/span>Czas<\/span>\u201d about the professor was\u00a0<\/span>characteristic when he wrote among other things that \u201chis essential quality (\u2026) was his exceptional and engaging modesty. He was tall, slim and had a beautiful stance, he rarely spoke, a kind smile which was sometimes slightly ironic played on his face. He was very charming, did not overwhelm <\/span>any<\/span>body with his academic solemnity, his manner with people was full of simplicity, he chatted amicably with young people who visited his daughters in his hospitable home at Smole\u0144sk street. He had neither enemies nor opponents. Few people were surrounded by admiration and friendship as he was\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/a>ki died suddenly on 14 March 1935 on the train from Warsaw to Krak\u00f3w.<\/span> The funeral of the great scholar took place on 18 March 1935 at Rakowice cemetery in Krak\u00f3w. He was buried<\/span> in t<\/span>he Trembecki firm vault at Rakowice cemetery in Krak\u00f3w. Jan <\/span>Micha\u0142<\/span> with his wife Zofia<\/span> (nee<\/span> Bogdanowicz<\/span>) had<\/span> children:<\/span> Zofia<\/span>, Katarzyna<\/span> and Jacek<\/span> Feliks<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>
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