LEECH, ANDREW [SSNE 7838]
- Surname
- LEECH, LEITCH, LOECHIUS, LOEAECHIUS, LECHOWICZ, LOCH, LEOCH (erroneous Boch)
- First name
- ANDREW, ANDREAS, Andrzej
- Title/rank
- FATHER
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- MONTROSE, ANGUS
- Social status
- POET AND PRIEST
- Religion
- CATHOLIC
Text source
Andrew Leech (or Loch, d.1637), came from Montrose, though some sources say Melrose, probably after a transcription error. His name occurs Polonised as Lechowicz or Latinised as Loechius and Loeachius. He is said to have been a member of the Society of Jesus by some, but he was actually a Dominican as deduced from the title page of his 'Encomiastici' (Cracow, 1609) and the letters FF.DD. after his name representing 'Fratrum Dominicanorom'. Information on him is scant in English and we await a full investigation of him from Polish sources. Whatever his status, Leech wrote poetry in both Latin and Polish. He arrived in Braniewo (Braunsberg) in 1582 to study in the college. He moved to Vilnius in 1584 before completing his studies in Cracow where he published prolifically. Loch referred to himself as Scotus throughout his stay in the commonwealth and wrote panegyric poetry to Lithuanian magnates like Janus Radziwill. Among other works he wrote in Latin the following (though some may be mis-attributed):
Epithalamium in nuptias Joannis Dangielowicz et Barbarae Krasicka (Kraków, Jakub Siebeneicher, 1594)
Friderici Lukomski et Barbarae Wezyk epithalamium (Kraków, Jan Januszowski: Drukarnia Lazarzowa, 1594)
Epithalamium in nuptias Christophori Przyjemski (Kraków, Jakub Siebeneicher, 1595)
Sacerdotium Joanni Alexandro Sadecio novo sacrificio confirmatum (Kraków, Jan Januszowski: Drukarnia Lazarzowa, 1596)
Timoleon (NO PLACE,1599)
Euxodia (Kraków, Jan Januszowski: Drukarnia Lazarzowa NO DATE).
Anagrammat. encomiastici, Danzig and Krakau (1609)
Fischer attributes Jani malifera strena, Edinburgh (1617) to Andrew Leech, but it was the work of John Leech: http://www.worldcat.org/title/iani-maliferi-strena-calendis-ianuarij-anno-dom-1617-authore-ioanne-leocho-celurcano-scoto/oclc/766556416
Andrew's other works including some if his Polish ones are recorded here: http://arton.bg.us.edu.pl/arton/result.php?tg=bib&id_autor=20736
For his pre 1600 works see: USTC St Andrews: http://ustc.ac.uk/index.php/search/cicero?tm_fulltext=&tm_field_allauthr=LOEAECHIUS&tm_translator=&tm_editor=&ts_field_short_title=&tm_field_imprint=&tm_field_place=&sm_field_year=&f_sm_field_year=&t_sm_field_year=&sm_field_country=&sm_field_lang=&sm_field_format=&sm_field_digital=&sm_field_class=&tm_field_cit_name=&tm_field_cit_no=&order=&sm_field_ty=true
According to Waldemar Kowalski, Leech had business dealings with other Scots in Crackow (in 1606) including Alexander Dixon and James Haig (who had died in Hungary). Peter Paul Bajer makes mention of a Father Andrew Leoch in the correspondence network of Patrick Gordon in 1610.
Sources: Th Fischer, The Scots in Germany (Edinburgh, 1902), p.231; L. Koczy, Edinburgh University and Scottish Polish Cultural Relations (Edinburgh, 1968), p.21; A. Bieganska, The Learned Scots in Poland (From the Mid-Sixteenth to the close of the Eighteenth Century) in 'Canadian Slavonic Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, March 2001, p.11; W. Kowalski, The Great Immigration: Scots in Crackow and Little Poland, 1500-1660 (Leiden, 2016), pp.65-66, Peter Paul Bajer, Scots in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, 16th-18th Centuries (Leiden, 2012), p.164.
With thanks to Alastair MacDonald for identification of Leech as a Dominican.
Service record
- POLAND-LITHUANIA, BRANIEWO (BRAUNSBERG), VILNIUS, CRACOW
- Arrived 1594-01-01
- Departed 1637-12-31
- Capacity STUDENT POET CLERIC MERCHANT WRITER, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL