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Adam Zamoyski

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Adam Zamoyski
Coat of arms
Jelita
Full name
Adam Stefan Zamoyski
Born (1949-01-11) 11 January 1949 (age 75)
New York City, United States
FamilyZamoyski
Spouse(s)Emma Sergeant
FatherCount Stefan Adam Zamoyski
MotherPrincess Elżbieta Czartoryska
Occupationhistorian, author

Adam Stefan Zamoyski FSA FRSA FRSL[1] (born 11 January 1949) is a British historian and author, descended from an ancient Polish noble family.

Personal life

Born in New York City in 1949, Adam Stefan Zamoyski was brought up in England, first attending St Philip's Preparatory School in London's South Kensington (1957–1962), then completing his secondary education at the Benedictine Downside School (1962–1966) and graduating from The Queen's College, Oxford, where he read History and Modern Languages (1967–1970). He went on to gain an M.A. Honours degree in 1974.

Zamoyski first visited Poland in the 1960s. He has dual Polish-British nationality and speaks English, Polish, French, Italian and Russian. His parents, Count Stefan Zamoyski (1904–1976) and Princess Elizabeth Czartoryska (1905–1989), married in 1929 in Gołuchów, Poland, but left their homeland in 1939 soon after its invasion by Germany and Russia. When the Soviets gained control of the country at the end of World War II, they found themselves stranded in the West, eventually settling in London.

Zamoyski lives in London with his wife, the eminent painter Emma Sergeant, whom he married in 2001. They also spend much time in their second home near Zamość in south-eastern Poland, the city founded by his forefathers in the 1500s and retaining much of its Renaissance character, designed by the outstanding Italian architect of the time, Bernardo Morando.

As a landowner in Poland, Zamoyski is active in preserving the natural habitat within an area of great biodiversity. He has planted thousands of trees and restored a number of traditional wooden country cottages there.

Career

Zamoyski is a freelance historian and author of over a dozen books, including two major best-sellers, his history of Poland, The Polish Way, and his account of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. Zamoyski's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His history of Poland has brought knowledge of that country to millions and is deemed the benchmark handbook on the subject for any diplomat, businessman, or cultural tourist travelling there.

Zamoyski has lectured widely in Europe, the USA and Australia, as well as making regular television and radio appearances. Various debates in which he has taken part are accessible online. His biography of Chopin, Chopin. Prince of the Romantics, was serialised as the 'Book of the Week’ on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Books

  • — (1980). Chopin: A Biography. London: Collins.
  • — (1981). The Battle for the Marchlands. A history of the 1920 Polish-Soviet War. Boulder: East European Monographs.
  • — (1982). Paderewski. A Biography. London: Collins.
  • — (1987). The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture. London: John Murray.
  • — (1992). The Last King of Poland. London: Jonathan Cape.
  • — (1995). The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War. London: John Murray.
  • — (1999). Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots and Revolutionaries 1776–1871. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
  • — (2001). Poland: A Traveller's Gazetteer. London: John Murray.
  • — (2001). The Czartoryski Museum. London: Azimuth Editions.
  • — (2004). Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow. New York: HarperCollins.
  • — (2007). Rites of Peace, The fall of Napoleon & the Congress of Vienna. London: HarperCollins.
  • — (2008). Warsaw 1920 – Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe. London: HarperCollins.
  • — (2009). Poland: A History. London: HarperPress.
  • — (2010). Chopin. Prince of the Romantics. London: HarperCollins.
  • — (2014). Phantom Terror: The Threat of Revolution and the Repression of Liberty 1789–1848. London: William Collins.
  • — (2018). Napoleon. The Man Behind the Myth. London: William Collins.

Most of Zamoyski’s books are available as e-books.

Contributions and other publications

  • Henryk Sienkiewicz, Charcoal Sketches and Other Tales, translated and introduced by Adam Zamoyski, Angel Books, London 1990.
  • The Political Vision of Stanisław Augustus, in Exhibition Catalogue: Treasures of a Polish King, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 1992.
  • Działalność Edwarda Raczyńskiego w okresie powojennym, in ‘Działalność dyplomatyczna i polityczna Edwarda Raczyńskiego’, Łódź 1994.
  • Nine entries in the Macmillan Dictionary of Art, London 1996.
  • King Stanisław II Augustus, in Exhibition catalogue: Polens letzter Konig un seine Maler, Neue Pinakothek, Munchen 1995.
  • The Art of the Possible, in ‘Constitution and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Poland. The Constitution of 3 May 1791’, ed. Samuel Fiszman, Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1997.
  • Okres Hotelu Lambert, chapter in 'Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich’, Kraków, 1998.
  • Poland's Parliamentary Tradition, Wydawnictwa Sejmowe, Warsaw 1997.
  • The History of Poland in the 16th–18th centuries, in ‘Land of the Winged Horsemen. Art in Poland 1572–1764’, Jan K. Ostrowski ed., Alexandria, Virginia, 1999.
  • Introduction to: Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł, Rzeczy którymi najgodniejszego mogę zabawić gościa, Twój Styl, Warsaw 1999.
  • Chopin. Duch Romantyzmu in ‘Romantyzm: Malarstwo w Czasach Fryderyka Chopina’, Warsaw 1999.
  • Napoleon Triumphs in Russia, in ‘What Might Have Been’, ed. by Andrew Roberts, London 2004.
  • Het Europese tekort, in ‘Nexus’ Tilburg 2004.
  • Moje przygody z Markiem Rostworowskim, in ‘Ad Leones’, Pamięci Marka Rostworowskiego w dziesiątą rocznicę śmierci, Kraków 2006.
  • Het Zwijgen opgelegd, in ‘Europees humanisme in fragmenten’, Nexus Instituut, Tilburg 2008.
  • Kraków, Renaissaince City of the North, in 'The Great Cities in History', ed. John Julius Norwich, Thames & Hudson, London, 2009.
  • Een bolwerk van belegerd humanisme, in ‘Nexus’, Tilburg 2012.
  • Geen deterministisch project, in 'De terugkeer van Europa', Nexus, Tilburg 2015.
  • Napoleon, in 'All You Need to Know…', series, Connell Publishing, London 2019
  • Wazowie a Polska. Zderzenie dwóch wizji państwowości, in 'Świat Polskich Wazów', Zamek Królewski w Warszawie, Warsaw 2019.


Zamoyski has contributed articles, essays and book reviews for various newspapers and periodicals, including The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The European, The Catholic Herald, The Art Newspaper, The Australian, The Spectator, The Literary Review, History Today, Books & Bookmen, Encounter, Tatler, Departures, Country Life, Event, Apollo, Harpers & Queen, and Turquoise, as well as foreign language publications such as Libération (French), Wiadomości, Tydzień Polski, Dziennik Polski, Rzeczpospolita and Newsweek (Polish).

Pro Bono Activities

  • Member of the Board of the Polish Library in London 1972-1986.
  • Trustee of the Działyńska Trust since 1982.
  • Patron of the Jagiellonian Trust 1983-1989.
  • Founder member, Research and Development Committee of the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies in Oxford 1986.
  • Member of the Council of the Polska Macierz Szkolna Zagranicą (Polish Educational Society Abroad) since 1989.
  • Member, Board of Management of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation in Kraków from 1991, Chairman 2008-2012.
  • Member, Advisory Board of the Page of History Foundation, dedicated to the memory of the vanished Jewish communities in Poland, since 1991, Chairman 2014-18.
  • Member, Board of Management of the Cherub Theatre Company in London 1997-2009.
  • Patron of the Anglo-Polish Society since 1994.
  • Patron of the Levantine Foundation since 2000.
  • Member of Editorial Committee for the series Polskie Dokumenty Dyplomatyczne (Polish Diplomatic Documents), published by the Polish Institute of International Affairs, 2007-2014.
  • Member of the Advisory Board of ClientEarth Poland, striving to protect the environment through advocacy, litigation and research, since 2012.
  • Zamoyski has been instrumental in the recovery and repatriation of a number of art treasures looted from Polish museums by the Nazis during the war.

Charitable Activities

As a member of the Polish Association of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Malta since 1977 and its Hospitaller (1981-1997), Zamoyski organised and led 21 pilgrimages for handicapped people to Lourdes and international summer camps for young handicapped in Poland. In 1980 he formed the Committee for Aid to Hospitals in Poland, collecting funds and medical supplies in Britain and delivering them to hard-pressed hospitals in Poland. In 1991 Zamoyski established the Foundation of St John of Jerusalem (Fundacja św Jana Jerozolimskiego) in Warsaw, the first charitable organ of the Order of Malta in Poland, dedicated to helping the handicapped and the poor. He was also a member of the Board of Management at the Kolbe House Residential Care Home for the Elderly in London from 1986 to 2010.

Honours and distinctions

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.adamzamoyski.com/about.php
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