WikiPortalus: Portal:Biography

The Biography Portal

Biography (from the Greek words bios (βιος), meaning 'life', and graphein, meaning 'to write') is a genre of literature or film which presents a relatively full account of the most interesting and important events of a notable person's life. While a biography may focus on a fictional person, the term usually refers to non-fiction works. As opposed to summaries of people's lives, such as profiles or curriculum vitae, a biography is a continuous narrative which interprets and explains the person's character, personality, and social context.

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Featured biography

Jogaila, later Władysław II Jagiełło (b. about 1362 d. 1 June 1434), was a Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle, Kęstutis. In 1386, he converted to Christianity, was baptized as Władysław, married the young Queen Jadwiga of Poland, inducted into the Order of the Dragon and was crowned Polish king as Władysław Jagiełło. His reign in Poland lasted a further forty-eight years and laid the foundation for the centuries-long Polish-Lithuanian union. He gave his name to the Jagiellon branch of the established Lithuanian Gediminids dynasty, which ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in medieval Central and Eastern Europe.

Jogaila was the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. He held the title Didysis Kunigaikštis. As King of Poland, he pursued a policy of close alliances with Lithuania against the Teutonic Order. The allied victory at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, followed by the First Peace of Toruń, secured the Polish and Lithuanian borders and marked the emergence of the Polish-Lithuanian alliance as a significant force in Europe. The reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is often considered the beginning of Poland's "Golden Age". (Read more...)

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Selected portrait

The only known photograph of Frédéric François Chopin (IPA: [fʁedeʁik fʁɑ̃swa ʃɔpɛ̃]), (March 1, 1810¹ – October 17, 1849). Chopin was a Polish piano composer of the Romantic period, widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential and prolific composers for piano, and Poland's most significant composer. (read more...)

Photograph believed to have been taken by Louis-Auguste Bisson in 1849.

¹Some sources give February 22, for an explanation see here.

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Did you know...

...that former child actor Richard Eyer, who played the boy who runs "afowl" of the goose in William Wyler's 1956 film Friendly Persuasion, is now an elementary school teacher in Bishop, California?
...that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
...that after winning three medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics as a 16-year-old, Anita Nall retired from competitive swimming in 2000 due to chronic fatigue syndrome?

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On this day - May 22

Births

1813 - Richard Wagner, (pictured) German composer (d. 1883)
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician and writer (d. 1930)
1907 - Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor and director (d. 1989)
1927 - George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 - Theodore Kaczynski, American terrorist (The Unabomber)
1946 - George Best, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2005)
1982 - Apolo Anton Ohno, American short track speed skater

Deaths

337 - Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor (b. 272)
1457 - Saint Rita of Cascia, Italian saint (b. 1381)
1667 - Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
1760 - Israel ben Eliezer, Polish-born mystical rabbi (b. 1700)
1885 - Victor Hugo, French author (b. 1802)
1967 - Langston Hughes, American writer (b. 1902)
1972 - Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (b. 1904)

Recent days: May 21 – May 20 – May 19

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Quote of the week

"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?"

— Albert Einstein

Apocryphal

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Portal:Biography