Adam Jerzy Czartoryski
Andrei Budberg | |
|---|---|
| 1st President of the Polish National Government | |
| In office 3 December 1830 – 15 August 1831 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Jan Krukowiecki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 January 1770 Izabela Flemming |
| Profession | Politician, diplomat, author |
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski
The son of a wealthy prince, he began his political career as a foreign minister to Emperor
Czartoryski was a dedicated patron of arts and greatly contributed to the
Early life and education
Czartoryski was born on 14 January 1770 in
In 1789, Czartoryski visited Great Britain with his mother and was present at the
In the interval between these visits, he fought for Poland during the Polish–Russian War of 1792, which preceded the Second Partition of Poland. He was one of the early recipients of the Virtuti Militari decoration for valour there. He was arrested on his way to Poland at Brussels by the Austrian government. After the Third Partition of Poland, the Czartoryski estates were confiscated, and in May 1795, Adam and his younger brother Konstanty were summoned to Saint Petersburg.[2]
Career in Russia
Friendship with Tsarevich Alexander
Later in 1795, the two brothers were commanded to enter Russian military service. Adam became an officer in the horse and Konstanty one in the foot guards. Catherine the Great was so favourably impressed by the youths that she restored them part of their estates and in early 1796 made them gentlemen-in-waiting.[2]
Adam had already met
At this time, the tone of the Russian court was relatively liberal. Political reformers, including
In the spring of 1801, the new tsar, Alexander I, summoned his friend back to Saint Petersburg. Czartoryski found the tsar still suffering from remorse at his father's assassination and could do nothing but talk about religion and politics to a small circle of friends. Against all remonstrances, he replied only, "There's plenty of time".[2]
Curator of Vilna University
Tsar Alexander appointed Czartoryski administrator of the educational district of Vilna (Polish: Wilno, Lithuanian: Vilnius) and curator of the Vilna Academy (3 April 1803) so that he might give full play to his advanced ideas. He greatly improved the Polish education system.
He was to keep those function until 1824.
Foreign minister
Czartoryski paid most attention to foreign affairs; as the tsar's key advisor, he exercised practical control of Russian diplomacy. His first act had been to protest energetically against Napoleon's murder of a Bourbon royal prince, the
On 7 June 1804, the French minister,
Finally, in April 1805, he signed an offensive-defensive alliance with
Czartoryski's most striking ministerial act, however, was a memorial written in 1805, otherwise undated, which aimed at transforming the whole map of Europe. Austria and
Chief minister
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In 1805 Czartoryski accompanied Alexander to Berlin and to
Though no longer a minister, Czartoryski continued still to enjoy Alexander's confidence in private, and in 1810, the Tsar candidly admitted to Czartoryski that in 1805 he had been in error and that had not made proper use of Czartoryski's opportunities.[2]
The same year, Czartoryski left Saint Petersburg forever, but the personal relations between him and Alexander were never better. They met again as friends at Kalisz (Greater Poland) shortly before the signing of the Russo-Prussian alliance on 20 February 1813, and Czartoryski was in the tsar's suite at Paris in 1814 and rendered him material services at the Congress of Vienna.[2] At the Congress of Vienna, Alexander had also been asked to agree to a divorce for the Empress Elizabeth so that she could marry Czartoryski. This request was refused.[3][4]
Career in Congress Poland (1815–1831)
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Constitutional period (1815–1830)
It was considered that Czartoryski, who more than any other man had prepared the way for the creation of
In 1817, he married Princess Anna Zofia Sapieha. The wedding led to a duel with his rival, Ludwik Pac.[5]
On his father's death in 1823, Czartoryski retired to his ancestral castle at Puławy.
In 1824 he lost the charge of curator of the
Insurrectional period (1830–1831)
However, the 29 November 1830 uprising brought him back to public life.
He became president of the provisional government established on 3 December and summoned (18 December 1830) the
In August 1831, the military situation was bad. General Ivan Paskevich was approaching Warsaw from the West and the commander-in-chief, General Skrzynecki was dismissed (9 August). On 15 and 16 August, there were riots in Warsaw, and many imprisoned supposed traitors, notably two generals, were hanged. Czartoryski decided to resign from the government after he had sacrificed half of his fortune to the national cause.[2] He was replaced by General Krukowiecki as both head of the government and commander in chief.
Yet the
Exile
London (1831–1832)
Afterwards, he was
On 25 February 1832, while in the United Kingdom, he kept advancing the Polish cause and with the help of influential friends, many of them Scottish, inspired the creation of the
Paris (from 1832)
That same year, Czartoryski left England for France, taking up residence in Paris. As a magnate and arguably the most considerable Polish-émigré figure of the time – Czartoryski was Chairman of the Polish National Uprising Government, and leader of a political emigre party (thousands of Poles had emigrated to France in the Great Emigration).
Czartoryski was an active leader of the mushrooming committees that were formed to maintain political momentum and salvage Polish cultural heritage in the exile community. He was the founding chairman, in April 1832, of a
In 1843 he bought the Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis and his political faction came to be identified by his private address, simply as the Hôtel Lambert.
Turkish projects
His tireless efforts on behalf of Poland continued well into his seventies: in 1842 he conceived a project to found a Polish settlement in rural Turkey. Czartoryski wanted to create a second emigration centre there, after the first one in Paris. He sent his representative,
Diplomatic efforts for a new Polish Commonwealth
After the November Uprising in 1830-31 until his death, Czartoryski supported the idea of resurrecting an updated Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on federal principles.[10]
The visionary
Czartoryski was disappointed when the hopes that had he held as late as the Congress of Vienna of Alexander undertaking reforms failed to materialise. His subsequent thoughts were distilled in a book, completed in 1827 but published only in 1830, Essai sur la diplomatie (Essay on Diplomacy). According to the historian Marian Kamil Dziewanowski, it is indispensable to an understanding of the Prince's many activities conducted in Paris following the ill-fated Polish November 1830 Uprising. Czartoryski wanted to find a place for Poland in the Europe of the time. He sought to interest Western Europeans in the adversities facing his stateless nation, which he still considered to be an indispensable part of the European political structure.[13][14]
Adhering to the Polish motto, "for our freedom and yours", Czartoryski connected Polish efforts for independence with similar movements in other subjugated nations of Europe and in the East as far as the Caucasus. Thanks to his private initiative and generosity, the émigrés of his subjugated nation conducted a foreign policy often on a broader scale than had the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[15]
Of particular interest are Czartoryski's observations, in his Essay on Diplomacy, regarding Russia's role in the world. He wrote that, "Having extended her sway south and west, and being by the nature of things unreachable from the east and north, Russia becomes a source of constant threat to Europe." He argued that it would have been in Russia's greater interest to have surrounded herself with "friend[s rather than] slave[s]." Czartoryski also identified a future threat from Prussia and urged the incorporation of East Prussia into a resurrected Poland.[16]
Above all, he aspired to reconstitute – with French, British and Turkish support – a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth federated with the Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians and all the South Slavs of the future Yugoslavia.[self-published source] Poland, according to his vision, could have mediated the conflicts between Hungary and the Slavs, and between Hungary and Romania.[16] At the same time, the Belgian people were also seeking independence.
Czartoryski's plan seemed achievable
Czartoryski died at his country residence east of Paris, at Montfermeil, near Meaux, on 15 July 1861. He left two sons, Witold (1824–65), Władysław (1828–94), and a daughter Izabela, who in 1857 married Jan Kanty Działyński.
Awards
- Knight's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari
- Order of the White Eagle, 1815.
Works
Czartoryski's principal works, as cited in the
Popular culture
The 1975–1976 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour.
Czartoryski makes a cameo appearance in volume 3 of Leo Tolstoy's novel, War and Peace, at an Allied Council conference that takes place at Olomouc, Moravia on 18 November 1805, just before the Battle of Austerlitz.[18]
See also
- Scipione Piattoli
- Union of National Unity
- Intermarium (Międzymorze)
- List of Poles
- Polish nobility
Notes
- ^ Polish pronunciation: [ˈadam ˈjɛʐɨ t͡ʂartɔˈrɨskʲi]; Lithuanian: Аdomas Jurgis Čartoriskis
References
- Nicholas Repnin[1])]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Bain 1911.
- ^ )
- ^ ISBN 978-0-297-85266-7.
- ^ Louis Léonard de Loménie (1843). Galerie des contemporains illustres, Volume 6.
- ^ "History of The Czartoryski Museum". Archived from the original on April 7, 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
- ISBN 9780313260070.
- ISBN 9780028656939.
- ^ "Савельев : Польский мятеж против России". Savelev.ru. Archived from the original on October 26, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
- ^ Marian Kamil Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy" ("A Polish Pioneer of a United Europe"), Gwiazda Polarna (Pole Star), 17 September 2005, p. 10-11.
- Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 11.
- Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 10.
- Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 10
- ^ Żurawski vel Grajewski, R. Wielka Brytania w "dyplomacji" księcia Adama Jerzego Czartoryskiego wobec kryzysu wschodniego (1832–1841), Warszawa: "Semper" 1999.
- Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", pp. 10–11.
- ^ Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 11.
- Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 11.
- ^ Dziewanowski, "Polski pionier zjednoczonej Europy", p. 10.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Czartoryski, Adam George, Prince". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 721–722.
- Brykczynski, Paul. "Prince Adam Czartoryski as a liminal figure in the development of modern nationalism in Eastern Europe at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." Nationalities Papers 38.5 (2010): 647–669.
- Kukiel, Marian. Czartoryski and European Unity (1955).
- Morley, Charles. "Czartoryski as a Polish Statesman." Slavic Review 30.3 (1971): 606–614. Online
- Thackeray, Frank W., and John E. Findling, eds. Statesmen who changed the world: a bio-bibliographical dictionary of diplomacy (Greenwood, 1993). pp 149–57
- Zawadzki, W. H. "Prince Adam Czartoryski and Napoleonic France, 1801–1805: A Study in Political Attitudes." Historical Journal 18.2 (1975): 245–277.
External links
- "Czartoryski, Prince Adam Georg" at the Jewish Encyclopedia
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