Stanislaw Poniatowski

This article deals with the politician Stanisław Poniatowski. For the Polish king see Stanislaus II. August Poniatowski .

Stanislaw Poniatowski.

The coat of arms of the von Poniatowski family, Ciołek coat of arms

Stanisław Poniatowski (born September 15, 1676 , † August 29, 1762 in Ryki near Lublin , Poland ) was a Polish politician.

As a young man he saw the danger that the Kingdom of Poland was threatened by the Russia of Tsar Peter I and became a supporter of the King of Sweden Charles XII. After Augustus the Strong was dethroned as King of Poland, Poniatowski joined the supporters of the new King Stanislaus I. Leszczyński . As the King of Sweden's envoy, he was sent to the Sublime Porte and succeeded in persuading the Sultan to declare war on Russia. He took part in the Battle of Poltava and after the defeat of the Swedish army with Charles XII. into Turkish exile in Bender . After the death of Karl XII. he changed political camp and became a supporter of the kings August II the Strong and his son August III. in the fight against Stanislaus I. Leszczyński. He was amply rewarded for this: Coming from a relatively unknown family at the beginning of the 17th century who did not hold any high offices, Poniatowski gradually became the grand cupid of Lithuania , voivode of Mazovia and castellan of Cracow . Married to Princess Konstancja Czartoryska from the rich and powerful house of Czartoryski , the descendants of Grand Duke Gediminas , he had four sons from her, one of them, Stanislaus August , the last King of Poland and a second, Prince Michał Jerzy Poniatowski , Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland became.

Poniatowski was also active as a political writer and in 1744 published the widely read brochure Letter from a Landowner to a Friend , which represented the ideas of the Enlightenment .

literature

• Allgemeine militair-Encyclopädie, Volume 7, S.168f