Krasicki, Ignacy (1735-1801)

Polish cleric and writer, Poland's leading poet of the 18th century. He rose to early prominence in the Roman Catholic Church, and was appointed archbishop of Gniezno (Gnesen) in 1795. His most important work is the collection of fables Bajki i przypowiesci, 1779.

Krasicki became a bishop when aged just 32 and pursued a brilliant church career thereafter. When Poland was divided between Russia and Germany in 1772, he went to Berlin, where he consecrated the first Roman Catholic church in the city. He was for a time editor-in-chief of Monitor, the leading Polish literary journal of the age. Among his other fictional works are collections of satires, Satyry, 1779, Myszeidos, 1775, mock-heroic verse about a war between mice and cats, and Monachomachia/War of the Monks, 1778, in which he lampooned dissolute religious orders.