Background
He was born into a Lwów Armenian family, his father was of a stonemason, Stanisŀaw Ozimek, and educated at the cathedral school in the city. He married Katarzyna Duchnicówna, the daughter of a rich goldsmith (she died in 1653).
He was born into a Lwów Armenian family, his father was of a stonemason, Stanisŀaw Ozimek, and educated at the cathedral school in the city. He married Katarzyna Duchnicówna, the daughter of a rich goldsmith (she died in 1653).
Zimorowic was interested in the history of Lwów and studied the city chronicles.
He began to work for the city chancellery and in 1624 changed his surname to Zimorowic in order to advance his career by distancing himself from his artisanal background. In 1640, he took over the running of the city chancellery, became a councillor and was several times mayor of Lwów, which allowed him to take part in the election of King January Kazimierz in 1648. In 1671 he published Viri illustres civitatis Leopoliensis (Famous Men of the City of Lwów), a collection of biographies of notable local figures.
Another work, Leopolis triplex, tracing the history of Lwów until 1633, remained in manuscript until the late 19th century.
The reason for this misattribution is still a mystery (their true authorship was only discovered by August Bielowski in 1839). Szymon had written some pastoral poems of his own, published in 1654 under the title Roksolanki to jest ruskie panny (Roxolani, or Ruthenian Ladies).
Some of the poems in Józef Bartłomiej"s collection had been written as early as the 1620s and contain many references to the author"s family and friends as well as political events of the time. Zimorowic acknowledges the most important earlier Polish pastoral poet Szymon Szymonowic, whose Sielanki appeared in 1614, as his master, but his own poems are notable for their local, "Ruthenian" (ie Ukrainian) colour and are clearly set in the landscape around LwóWest