Piotr Starkowiecki

Piotr Starkowiecki of the Łodzia coat of arms (died after 1644) was a translator of Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic.

Biography Piotr Starkowiecki hailed from a Greater Poland family bearing the Łodzia coat of arms. His surname also appears as Starkowski, Strakawiecki, and Starkoniecz. His birth date is unknown, but he may have been born in the village of Starkowiec in the Kalisz Voivodeship. He studied at the University of Bologna.

By 1640, Piotr Starkowiecki was in Constantinople, where he studied Eastern languages. Between 20 and 22 April 1640, he met in Constantinople and Küçükçekmece with the Polish envoy of King Władysław IV Vasa to Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire, Wojciech Miaskowski. According to , these translations demonstrate an exceptional knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, far surpassing that of other Polish translators of the era, such as , Krzysztof Serebkowicz, or .

Translation of the Quran Starkowiecki is said to have translated the Quran into Polish, though no trace of this translation survives. The only source for this claim is the armorial of Kasper Niesiecki: The brother of Andrzej the voivode, Piotr, well-versed in Persian, Turkish, and Arabic languages, translated the Turkish Alkoran from Arabic into Polish, but death prevented its publication; he died young and unmarried.His death at a young age prevented the publication. It is unclear whether he translated the entire holy book of Islam. It is also uncertain whether he translated directly from Arabic or used an Ottoman version. The purpose of the translation is unclear but may have reflected the currents of the Counter-Reformation. The translation could have aided Catholics in religious debates with the Tatars living in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Religious polemics between Christianity and Islam had emerged by the late 16th century (e.g., Turcyki by Krzysztof Warszewicki) and intensified in the early 17th century (e.g., Alfurkan tatarski by ). Fragments of the Quran translation might have been used by Catholic polemicists or deliberately destroyed by zealous Christians suspecting heresy.

Family Piotr's father was Maciej Starkowiecki (1585–1647), buried in the Kobylin church. His mother was likely Jadwiga née Bełdowska. Piotr had the following siblings: Anna (married Jacek Mieszkowski), Barbara (married Adam Franciszek Dobrzycki, then ), Dorota (married Adam Suchorzewski, treasurer of Kalisz), Katarzyna (married Wiktor Stempowski, then Stanisław Wolski, then Jan Jastrzembowski), , royal secretary, envoy, Kamianets castellan, and poet.

He never married or started a family.