NARUSZEWICZ, ADAM

born Oct. 20, 1733, Pinsk, Pol. [now in Belarus] died July 6, 1796, Janw Podlaski, Pol. in full Adam Stanislaw Naruszewicz poet whose fables, satires, and pastorals reflect the transition from Baroque to Classical. He was also the first Polish historian to use modern methods of scholarship. As a young man Naruszewicz entered the Jesuit order and taught in Warsaw at the Jesuit college. After 1773 he became a lay priest and in 1788 was made bishop of Smolensk. Dziela, 4 vol. (1778; Works), contains much of Naruszewicz' poetic output, originally published in the journal he edited from 1771 to 1777: Zabawy przyjemne i pozyteczne (Pleasant and Useful Pastimes). Naruszewicz' most important work is Historja narodu polskiego od przyjecia chrzesscijanstwa, 7 vol. (178086; The History of the Polish Nation from its Conversion to Christianity), which records events to the end of the 14th century. Aided in this task by King Stanislaw II August, who obtained many documents from archives abroad, he used as many primary sources as possible and included not only accounts of kings and battles but also descriptions of the economic, social, and cultural life of each period.