Ignacy Krasicki (February 3, 1735, in Galicia — March 14, 1801, in Berlin) was a Polish prince of the Roman Catholic Church, a social critic, a leading writer, and the outstanding poet of the Polish Enlightenment, hailed by contemporaries as "the Prince of Poets."

Count Krasicki was born into a noble family in Dubiecko in southern Poland. Educated at a Jesuit school in Lwów (now L'viv, in Ukraine) and then in a higher Catholic school in Warsaw (1751-1754), he continued his studies in Rome (1759-1761).

Krasicki was at first politically opposed to the "Familia." However, after the Familia managed the "free election" of Stanisław August Poniatowski as king of Poland in 1764, Krasicki became the new King's confidant and chaplain. He participated in the King's famous "Thursday dinners" and co-founded the Monitor, the preeminent periodical of the Polish Enlightenment, sponsored by the King.

Consecrated Bishop of Warmia in 1766, Krasicki thereby also became an ex-officio Senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1772, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, instigated by Prussia's King Frederick II (the Great), Krasicki became a Prussian subject and — while maintaining the closest ties with Poland — also a familiar at Frederick's court. Frederick built St. Hedwig's Cathedral for Catholic newcomers to Berlin and in 1786 the bishop was called to the Berlin Akademie der Künste (Arts Academy). Krasicki's residence became a center of artistic patronage. In 1795 he was elevated to archbishop of Gniezno and thus became primate of Poland.

Upon his death, Krasicki was laid to rest in St. Hedwig's Cathedral.

Krasicki wrote mock-heroic poems: Myszeis (Mouseiad, 1775), Monachomachia (War of the Monks, 1778), Antymonachomachia (1779); the first Polish novel, Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki (The Adventures of Nicholas Experience, 1776), and the novels, Pan Podstoli (Lord High Steward, published in three parts, 1778, 1784 and posthumously in 1803) and Historia (History, 1779); the epic Wojna chocimska (The Chocim War, 1780); and numerous other literary, scholarly and patriotic works.

He is best known, however, for his Bajki i przypowieści (Fables and Parables, 1779), Satyry (Satires, 1779) and Bajki nowe (New Fables, published posthumously in 1802).

Krasicki was honored by the King of Poland with the Order of the White Eagle and by the King of Prussia with the Order of the Red Eagle .

See also

• Bishops of Warmia
• Primates of Poland and Lithuania
• Fables and Parables