NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Jan Potocki

Count Jan Nepomucen Potocki (1761-1815) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), capitan, engineer of the Crown Army, ethnologist, Egyptologist, linguist, and author. His colorful life led him across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, where he embroiled himself in political intrigues, flirted with secret societies, contributed to the birth of ethnology (he was one of the first to study the relationship of the various Slavic people from a linguistic and historical point of view), and even rode the first hot air balloon in Poland. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Polish Szlachcic. ... Potocki family coat of arms: Piława. ... History The history of Polish heraldry is an integral part of the history of szlachta, or a local class of nobility. ... Piława - is a Polish Coat of Arms. ... Noble Family Potocki Coat of Arms Piława Parents Stanisław Potocki Helena Zamoyska Consorts Anna Teresa Ossolińska Children with Anna Teresa Ossolińska Jan Potocki Seweryn Potocki Maria Anna Potocka Date of Birth 1734 Place of Birth ? Date of Death December 12, 1802 Place of Death Vienna Stanisław Potocki (1734-1802) was... Noble Family Ossoliński Coat of Arms Topór Parents Józef Ossoliński Teresa Stadnicka Consorts Stanisław Potocki Children with Stanisław Potocki Jan Potocki Seweryn Potocki Maria Anna Potocka Date of Birth 18th Century Place of Birth ? Date of Death 1810 Place of Death ? Princess Anna Teresa Ossolińska (?-1810) was a Polish noble... Noble Family Lubomirski Coat of Arms Lubomirski Parents Stanislaw Lubomirski Elżbieta Czartoryska Consorts Jan Potocki Children with Jan Potocki Alfred Wojciech Potocki Artur Potocki Date of Birth 1764 Place of Birth ? Date of Death 1794 Place of Death KRAKÓW Princess Julia Lubomirska (1764-1794) was a Polish noble lady. ... Noble Family Potocki Coat of Arms Piława Parents Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki Józefina Amalia Mniszech Consorts Jan Potocki Edward Raczyński Children with Jan Potocki Bernard Potocki Irena Potocka Teresa Potocka with Edward Raczyński Roger Maurycy Raczyński Date of Birth 1781 Place of Birth ? Date of Death December 25, 1852 Place of... Noble Family Lubomirski Coat of Arms Lubomirski Parents Stanislaw Lubomirski Elżbieta Czartoryska Consorts Jan Potocki Children with Jan Potocki Alfred Wojciech Potocki Artur Potocki Date of Birth 1764 Place of Birth ? Date of Death 1794 Place of Death KRAKÓW Princess Julia Lubomirska (1764-1794) was a Polish noble lady. ... Noble Family Potocki Coat of Arms Piława Parents Jan Potocki Julia Lubomirska Consorts Józefina Maria Czartoryska Children with Józefina Maria Czartoryska Artur Potocki Alfred Józef Potocki Julia Ewa Potocka Zofia Ewa Potocka Date of Birth March 3, 1785 Place of Birth Paris Date of Death December 23, 1862 Place of... Noble Family Potocki Coat of Arms Piława Parents Jan Potocki Julia Lubomirska Consorts Zofia Branicka Children with Zofia Branicka Adam Potocki Maria Potocka Date of Birth May 27, 1787 Place of Birth ? Date of Death January 30, 1832 Place of Death ? Artur Potocki (1787-1832) was a Polish szlachcic. ... Noble Family Potocki Coat of Arms Piława Parents Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki Józefina Amalia Mniszech Consorts Jan Potocki Edward Raczyński Children with Jan Potocki Bernard Potocki Irena Potocka Teresa Potocka with Edward Raczyński Roger Maurycy Raczyński Date of Birth 1781 Place of Birth ? Date of Death December 25, 1852 Place of... March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). ... 1761 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1761 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article needs cleanup. ... Egyptology is the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and Egyptian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. ... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... World map showing location of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, defined by subtracting the European peninsula from Eurasia. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Azores and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa, though they do not share a common culture with North Africa. ... Ethnologyis a genre of cultural anthropology and| anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Hot air balloons are the oldest successful human flight technology, dating back to the Montgolfier brothers invention in Annonay, France in 1783. ...

He is said to have killed himself with a bullet fashioned from the strawberry-shaped silver knob of a sugar bowl that he had blessed by a priest. It is most likely that he was driven to suicide by manic depression (itself a likely symptom of syphillis), but some rather far-fetched accounts suggest that Potocki believed himself to be a werewolf. Manic depression, with its two principal sub-types, bipolar disorder and major depression, was first clinically described near the end of the 19th century by psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, who published his account of the disease in his Textbook of Psychiatry. ... Depression-era U.S. poster advocating early syphilis treatment Syphilis (historically called lues) is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by a spirochaete bacterium, Treponema pallidum. ... A werewolf in folklore and mythology is a person who changes into a wolf, either by purposefully using magic or by being placed under a curse. ...

Potocki is most famous for his novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, (written in French, original title: Manuscrit Trouvé à Saragosse) a frame tale that collects the intertwining stories of a cast of gypsies, thieves, cabbalists, and others that the Walloon Guard Alphonse van Worden meets in the Sierra Morena of 18th century Spain while en route to Madrid. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories cover a wide range of themes and subjects — from the gothic to the picaresque to the erotic to the moral — but as a whole the novel reflects the author's interest in secret societies, the supernatural, and so-called Oriental cultures. Because of its rich interlocking structure, the novel has drawn comparisons to such celebrated works as the Decameron and the Arabian Nights. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (original French title Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, also known in English as Saragossa Manuscript), by the Polish author Jan Potocki (1761-1815), is a frame tale novel from the period of the Napoleonic Wars. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc) is a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. ... The Roma people (pronounced rahma, singular Rom, sometimes Rroma, and Rrom) along with the closely related Sinti people are commonly known as Gypsies in English, and as Tsigany in most of Europe. ... The tree of life Kabbalah (קבלה Reception, Standard Hebrew Qabbala, Tiberian Hebrew Qabbālāh; also written variously as Cabala, Cabalah, Cabbala, Cabbalah, Kabala, Kabalah, Kabbala, Qabala, Qabalah) is a religious philosophical system claiming an insight into divine nature. ... Strawberry Hill, an English mansion in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... The picaresque novel (Spanish: picaresco, from pícaro, for rogue or rascal) is a popular style of novel that originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and has continued to influence modern literature. ... A secret society is a social organization that requires its members to conceal certain activitiesâ€”such as rites of initiation or club ceremoniesâ€”from outsiders. ... The supernatural (Latin:super- exceeding+nature) comprises forces and phenomena that cannot be perceived by natural or empirical senses, and whose understanding may be said to lie with religious, magical, or otherwise mysterious explanation â€”yet remains firmly outside of the realm of science. ... Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures by Westerners. ... The Decameron is a collection of novellas that was finished by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1353. ... The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (كتاب ألف ليلة و ليلة in Arabic or هزار و یک شب in Persian), also known as The book of a Thousand Nights and a Night, 1001 Arabian Nights, or simply the Arabian Nights, is a piece of classic Arabic literature in...