Adam Stanisław Krasiński

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Bishop Adam Stanisław Krasiński with the Order of the White Eagle

Adam Stanisław Krasiński , Herb Ślepowron (born April 4, 1714 in Cracow ; † October 1800 in Krasne ) was a Polish nobleman , Bishop of Kamieniec (1757–1798), Grand Crown Secretary (from 1752), President of the Crown Tribunal in 1759 and one of the two founders of the Confederation of Bar .

biography

Adam Stanisław Krasiński was born in 1714 as the son of Jan Krasiński and Elżbieta Teresa Sołtyk. His brother was Michał Hieronim Krasiński . At the age of 19, he participated in the great confederation of Polish noblemen in 1733 under the leadership of Cardinal Primate Teodor Potocki , which ignored the alliance treaty of the three black eagles and on September 10, 1733 elected Stanisław Leszczyński ( Louis XV's father-in-law ) as the new Polish-Lithuanian head of state . On the side of Leszczyński he took part in the following War of the Polish Succession and from 1734, after his escape, he worked as an envoy of the new, anti-Wettin confederation of Dzików in Paris , which had no chance from the start, but only in March 1736 (two months after Leszczyński had abdicated ) ended the fighting. He attended numerous lectures at universities in Paris and Rome. In 1747 he was enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and, with the help of Andrzej Stanisław Załuskis, finally Canon of Płock and Chancellor King August III. He held one of the highest offices in the aristocratic republic of Poland-Lithuania . In 1751 he was Płock's delegate in the Crown Tribunal .

The following year he was promoted to Grand Crown Secretary with the help of Jerzy August Mniszech . In 1753 he became a canon of Gniezno . In 1757 he was given the task of Scholasticus von Gniezno and was awarded the Order of the White Eagle , the highest decoration of the noble republic. A year later he received the presidency of the new Crown Tribunal and became Bishop of Kamieniec .

From 1763, Bishop Krasiński was particularly active as an opponent of the planned family reforms. After the death of August III. it was in fact a year later by Russian supporters of the political party with the support of troops in fact a coup came. The free elections of 1764 , which were to be held according to rank , were therefore strongly influenced by the party. Their followers viewed themselves as patriots , but at the same time tried to avoid provocations against the militarily rearming foreign countries. For this reason, the chairman of the Familia, August Aleksander Czartoryski , also approved the sending of Russian troops to ensure order during the election. Bishop Krasiński then deliberately disturbed the Sejmik in Grudziądz and paralyzed him. After the king's election on 6/7. September 1764, which was unanimously due to the use of considerable bribes and the presence of 20,000 men of the Imperial Russian Army, the enthronement of the family's preferred candidate, Stanisław August Poniatowski , took place on November 25, 1764 , the coronation place was contrary to tradition Warsaw , not the Wawel . Bishop Krasiński became the political opponent of his head of state, who approved foreign rule for the fundamental modernization of his republic in the interests of Russia and was therefore frowned upon as an externally determined curator and traitor. He then joined the Confederation of Radom in 1767 and briefly supported the plans of Gabriel Podoski and Nikolai Repnins against their head of state Poniatowski.

On February 29, 1768 Bishop Krasinski ally Wielkopolska Generalstarost Mniszech and founded with him on the fortress of Bar , the Bar Confederation against the imperial Russian guardianship and end of the Golden freedom in the country. The motto of the Confederation was wiara i wolność ("Faith and Freedom"). It is considered the last great mass movement of the Szlachta and the first Polish national uprising with far-reaching consequences well into the 1980s. During the War of the Bar Confederation, Krasiński always criticized the silence of the Holy See regarding the imprisonment of numerous Polish noblemen by the Russians. B. the two bishops Kajetan Ignacy Sołtyk and Józef Andrzej Załuski found. Krasiński became the most important diplomat of the Bar Confederation, responsible for many negotiations and foreign relations. So he went to Paris in October 1768 and obtained from King Louis XV. the logistical and military aid of France. In 1769 he advocated the assassination attempt on King Poniatowski and in the same year became government leader of the Confederate of Bar in Biała . In 1770 he campaigned in Dresden for support for the Holy Roman Empire ; in the same year he met Emperor Joseph II (HRR) and received an offer of help from him. The emperor shared the view that Poniatowski was not the legitimate king of Poland-Lithuania, but pursued the successful candidacy of Friedrich August I (Saxony) as the Polish-Lithuanian head of state. He could therefore have been one of the proponents or even the leader of the assassination attempt on Poniatowski, instigated by Kazimierz Pułaski in 1771 . Still, the plan failed; On the one hand, because Poniatowski was able to flee, on the other hand, because the action sparked such intense controversy in Europe that France and Austria finally dropped their alliance with the Bar Confederates. In 1772, Bishop Krasiński had no choice but to negotiate the capitulation of the Bar Confederation with King Poniatowski; in the same year, however, he was kidnapped by Cossacks and temporarily imprisoned in Warsaw. He was released anyway after pledging his loyalty to King Poniatowski, and all his offices were restored.

After 1772, Bishop Krasiński withdrew from political life for a time. In 1780, 1782, 1784 and 1786 he was president of the Sąd sejmowy (court that meets on impeachment proceedings ). In 1787 he commissioned the reconstruction of the Kamieniec fortress. During the Great Sejm he was one of the strongest supporters of the constitution of May 3, 1791 , published projects and writings in support of it and finally took part in the semi-coup that led to the proclamation of the constitution. He commented in particular on the behavior of the constitutional opponent Jan Sucharzewski (who threatened to kill himself and his young son in order to "spare himself the fate of having to live under this restrictive law"), in which he said: shave his head and send him inside Asylum . After the entry into force of Europe's first modern constitution on May 3, 1791, he fought with all his might in 1792 against the Targowica Confederation . After her victory in the alliance with Russia and the second partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1793, she withdrew the diocese of Kamieniec from him.

Bishop Krasiński advocated the Kościuszko uprising as a military uprising of Polish patriots under the leadership of General Tadeusz Kościuszko in 1794, directed against the partitions of Poland, and raised funds for the uprising. After its defeat he withdrew again from political life and finally moved to the part of Poland-Lithuania that had become Prussian . He died in Krasne in October 1800.

Aftermath

Bishop Adam Stanisław Krasiński was known for his tolerance . Historians see him as a controversial figure in history: as an inscrutable advocate of the golden freedom of his time, when it was impossible to uphold; advocating the conservative and treacherous Hetman faction of the early 1760s, from 1768 he was one of the leaders of the Bar Confederation, which some historians consider to be the first Polish national uprising. After all, he did his best to support Europe's first modern liberal constitution, the constitution of May 3, 1791.

literature

  • T. 5: Oświecenie, in: Bibliografia Literatury Polskiej - Nowy Korbut , Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1967, pp. 216-218.
  • Krzysztof Rafał Prokop: Biskupi kamienieccy od średniowiecza do współczesności . Biały Dunajec-Ostróg: "Wołanie z Wołynia", 2007, pp. 306–319, ISBN 978-83-88863-24-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sołtyks words
  2. ↑ Linking the Confederation of Bar (interview) with Dorota Dukwicz, Muzeum Historii Polski (pol.) Last accessed on June 20, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Krasiński, Adam Stanisław
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish clergyman, Roman Catholic bishop, nobleman and crown secretary
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1714
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow
DATE OF DEATH October 1800
Place of death Krasne