Szymon Okolski

Who was Szymon Okolski?

Szymon Okolski, also known as Simon Okolski, was a well-known Polish-Lithuanian historian, theologian, and specialist in heraldry. His own clan and coat of arms were that of Rawicz. Born in Kamieniec Podolski, died in Lwow. He headed chairs of theology in Lwow and Bologna. A member of the Dominican Order, in 1641 he became a superior of the Dominican monastery in Kamieniec Podolski. In 1648 Okolski accepted the post of the prowincjał of the Dominican Order in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth-controlled Ruś territories. The center of the province was located in Lwow.

In 1637-38 Okolski accompanied Crown hetman Mikołaj Potocki during his neutralization of rebellious Cossacks driven by Jakub Ostrzanin and Dmytro Hunia. Being a witness and a direct participant of those developments, Okolski gave a detailed description of them in his field diaries. The latter were published immediately and became a valuable source of information for historians and writers: for instance, Nikolai Gogol must have used these materials for his "Taras Bulba" - a novel devoted to the Cossack rebellions 1637-38. Okolski is an author of historical and heraldic books among which an armorial of Polish nobility “Orbis Polonus” is the most famous one. Languages of his works are Polish and Latin.