Aleksander Mickiewicz
A brother of the prominent Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, a graduate of the Vilnius University and a renowned researcher of Roman law linked for nearly thirty years closely his fate to Ukraine (including Kharkiv). Aleksander Mickiewicz was born on the 7th of January, 1801 at the outlying estate Zaosie near Navahrudak. Nowadays it is the territory of the Republic of Belarus, but more than two hundred years ago there was „Lithuania” (that is, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together with the Crown formed the Commonwealth of Both Nations). Those times of Commonwealth were still well remembered in the Mickiewicz family when Aleksander was born. His father, Mikolai, was a lawyer who once fought under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. The mother, Barbara, came from the Majewski family. Aleksander lost his father early, but he swore to continue the successful study at the law faculty of Vilnius University. And he kept his word! In 1822 he became the winner of a prize of 100 silver rubles, which the University of Vilnius awarded the most successful student of law (the subject of the study „The influence of the Roman system of law on Polish and Lithuanian law”).
In 1827, Aleksander Mickiewicz defended his thesis written in Latin for a master’s degree in law and church law („De nominis pignore”). After that, the young lawyer in search of work arrived in St. Petersburg, hoping to find a job in the Commission of forming a corpus of laws under the leadership of Count D. Bludov (the latter just headed the Imperial Academy of Sciences at that time). However, these dreams turned out to be groundless and after a six-year stay in St. Petersburg, Aleksander Mickiewicz had to reconsider his plans. It was during this period of uncertainty that he visited his brother Adam in Moscow, who since 1825 worked as an official at the secretariat of the local governor-general and was just completing his famous poem „Konrad Wallenrod”. By the way, this meeting was the last in their lives, since then the brothers have never seen each other (in 1829 Adam Mickiewicz emigrated, as it turned out – forever, to Europe). The period of uncertainty in the life of Aleksander Mickiewicz ended in the autumn of 1828, when he was appointed a teacher of Polish, Lithuanian, Roman law and encyclopedia of law at the Kremenets (Volyn) Lyceum. He worked there for several years.
The defeat of the November Uprising (1830-1831) and the resulting elimination of the Kremenets (Volyn) Lyceum naturally caused changes in the educational activities of Aleksander Mickiewicz. In 1835 he became the first professor of the Faculty of Law and the first head of the Department of Roman law at St. Volodymyr University in Kyiv. Aleksander had to comply with the order of the Minister of Public Education, according to which “… the teaching of Roman law should be concentrated in such a way that, having passed the external history of Roman law, students should subsequently study the internal history of it, which should include the institutions. Finish them all in the first half of the year, and devote the second half to the pandects, which have to be taught thematically reduced…” And because of this the talented scholar created in effect his own lectures. In 1835-1838 Aleksander Mickiewicz taught students of the first two years the law (four hours a week). Among other things, he explained in Latin the institutions of Roman law, paying considerable attention to its foreign and domestic history. Aleksander Mickiewicz also introduced students to the original texts of sources of law. Owing to the students’ lack of experience of reading in Latin, the professor made frequent stops, translating necessary fragments into Russian. In order to consolidate the knowledge he provided, the teacher offered students to summarize and explain certain points of Justinian’s law (they were used to acquaint young lawyers with these legal documents better). Aleksander Mickiewicz actively used the works of European jurists, namely: Hugo, Haubold, Stöckhardt, Klenze, Warnkönig i Maciejowski.
In 1838, owing to an unfavorable political situation in the region, Aleksander Mickiewicz was forced to stop teaching at St. Volodymyr University and move to Kharkiv. This is where a new phase of his life began. In 1839 the hero of our essay received the position of ordinary professor of Roman law at Kharkiv Imperial University. Here, he was forced to give lectures only in Russian (for student of the second year of study and later for senior students). Initially, Aleksander Mickiewicz taught only the history of Roman law, and later – a course on family and inheritance law in the system of Roman law. In 1842, the Polish scholar was confirmed as a full professor in the Department of Roman law and history. At the same time, the volume of educational work was increasing. The usual subjects were complemented by the family and inheritance law from the system of Roman law (two hours a week for students of the third and fourth year of study).
In 1843, already aged professor was awarded the honorary sign „XV years of a perfect service”. Aleksander Mickiewicz greatly valued his work because it allowed him to feed his family. Being in an unfamiliar environment, the lawyer was forced to weigh every word so that not to be accused of sympathy for the Polish national movement. It is told that professor of Russian literature at Kharkiv University K. Voigt once rebuked Aleksander Mickiewicz: „You did not go your brother’s way.” To this the hero of our essay diplomatically replied: „I went the way of jurisprudence.” After all, he remembered well attempts to launch an investigation against him in Kyiv, and he felt very well how suspicious people in Kharkiv were of immigrants from the western suburbs of the Russian Empire. On behalf of the Kharkiv University Council, on the 30th of August, 1848, Aleksander Mickiewicz delivered a speech in Latin „De juris Romani indole oratio” (On the Properties of Roman Law) during the ceremonial event, which impressed his colleagues. As a result, the following year, Aleksander Mickiewicz was unanimously elected the dean of the Law Department and approved by the Minister of Public Education. However, his tenure did not last long (the 30th of March 1849 – the 1st of January, 1850). At this time, new subjects appeared in his training schedule. In particular, Aleksander Mickiewicz began to read the system of Roman civil law in the form of pandects (eight hours a week for second-year students), as well as criminal proceedings. In 1850 he was awarded for the second time for „XX years of a perfect service”. Having served 25 years (till 1852), he remained in the service for another 5 years. But on the 22nd of December, 1857, the hero of our essay refused to be re-elected. Having got the sign „XXV years of a perfect service”, he resigned and on the 3rd of August, 1858 he retired with a pension and a uniform.
The Kharkiv period of Aleksander Mickiewicz’s life was also quite fruitful in scientific terms. At this time, he wrote about 20 works (including „Establishing a System of Philosophy in France”), but none of them has preserved till now or was published. According to students, Aleksander Mickiewicz fulfilled his professional duties honestly and responsibly: „Only the professor of Roman law, Mickiewicz,… did not act against his conscience because he was a man of truth and did not give lessons (that is, he did not give paid lectures before the exams) and was not aware of hypocrisy”. According to other contemporaries, A. Mickiewicz practically did not communicate with his colleagues. In particular, he did not even visit professors’ reading room, though „on a long table, there were various newspapers and scientific journals, … there were held emotional conversations, updated with fresh news, and political discussions… Behind the walls of the university, in order to appear decent, he occasionally visited Russian professors and maintained hearty relations with them”. In general, in Kharkiv, Aleksander Mickiewicz was in close contact with the family of the retired imperial Russian army general, Hipolit Siemiradzki (the father of a future world-renowned artist). This was facilitated by the common features of their biographies – they both were born in Navahrudak and were graduates of Vilnius University.
Aleksander Mickiewicz chose his life partner also meticulously. Only in 1840 did he marry the daughter of Navahrudak judge, Teresa Teraievych. The couple settled at Chernyshevska Street 8. Later, they had two children – Franciszek and Maria.
Having retired from teaching in Kharkiv, Aleksander Mickiewicz returned to Navahrudak. The Mickiewicz family tried to buy out their estate Zaosie and family home in Navahrudak (they were confiscated during repressions against his elder brother, Franciszek, a member of the uprising of 1830 – 1831), but could not do this because of the high price. As a result, Aleksander Mickiewicz bought another estate – the village of Gubernia (near Kobryno, in the Belarusian Polissya). Here Mickiewicz renewed his scientific work; he hoped to gather his whole large family here. However, Adam Mickiewicz had already died, and Franciszek did not want to move to Lithuania, fearing repressions on the part of tsarism.
The health of the hero of our essay was broken down significantly by the arrest of his son, Franciszek, who participated in the January uprising of 1863-1864 (he was the leader of one of the partisan units). Worrying the fate of his son and trying to take him from the hands of the punitive machinery of the Russian Empire, Aleksander Mickiewicz almost lost his sight. Because of this, he was eventually unable to complete the writing of the Encyclopedia of Law and the Roman Law Course, which he had begun in Kharkiv. The manuscript also included „A Course in Polish Civil Law and its History as it was taught at the Kremenets Lyceum.” Aleksander Mickiewicz died on the 16th of November, 1871 and was buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kobryno. One unknown author noted in his memoirs that Aleksander Mickiewicz „lived and taught in extremely harsh conditions. Every action, word, intrigue could deprive him of his place of work…, he loved his land sincerely, though always had to hide this behind an impenetrable veil.”
Sources of information:
1. Гриценко І.С. Юридичний факультет Університету Святого Володимира, 1834-1920. — Київ, 2009.
2. Селецькіш П. Із спогадів про Київський університет у 1837-1841 роках // 3 іменем Святого Володимира. – Кн. 1. – С. 148
3. Марценюк Р. Литва-Україна-Литва – житєвий та творчий шлях професора Олександра Міцкевича // Вісник Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка. – Серія “Історія”. – 2016. – № 1(128). – С. 42-48.
4. Черська Г. Олександр Міцкевич http://uahistory.com/topics/events/9996