Radziwiłł family

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Radziwiłł
House of Krasinski

House of Habsburg-Lorraine
House of Castellane
House of Clary und Aldringen
House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
House of Wettin
House of Urach

The House of Radziwiłł (Polish pronunciation:

Polish princely family of Lithuanian origin, and one of the most powerful magnate families originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
.

The family was founded by

Reichsfürst (prince) from the Holy Roman Emperor
in the mid 16th-century.

The

UNESCO World Heritage site.[2]

Name and origin

Trąby coat of arms, granted to Kristinas Astikas' family in 1413

The Radziwiłł family is a directly descended branch of the extinct

polonized
version and spelling for several centuries.

The family descends from Lithuanian bajorai-ducal courtiers who advanced considerably in the 15th-century politics of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Along with possessions of land near Kernavė, the family's traced place of origin, the Radziwiłł family also inherited the Trąby coat of arms.

Three of

Anna was the great-grandmother of Elizabeth Báthory
.

The Radziwiłł family divided by branch:

  • the Goniądz - Meteliai line
  • the Biržai - Dubingiai line
  • the Nieśwież (Nesvizh) – Kleck (Kletsk) – Ołyka line

The Goniądz-Meteliai line became extinct by the next generation as Mikołaj's descendants consisted of one male heir, Mikołaj III, who entered the priesthood and became the Bishop of Samogitia, thus bearing no known offspring to extend the line.

The Biržai-Dubingiai line was moderately more successful and produced some very notable state officials and politicians, but it also became extinct after Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł's death in 1695.

Lublin Union
between Lithuania and Poland.

The Nesvizh-Kletsk-Olyka line was the most successful and was further divided into smaller family lines to maintain clarity and specificity of descent and the passing of titles. Since the 18th century, all Radziwiłł family members have been descendants of this line. Three sons of Mikołaj "the Black", Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan", Albrycht, and Stanisław "the Pious", are said to be the progenitors of the three smaller branches.[6] The branches are as follows:

  • the Nesvizh line
  • the older Kletsk line
  • the Olyka line

Possibly both the Olyka and older Kletsk lines became extinct, the former in 1656 and the latter in 1690. The direct descendant of the Nesvizh line,

Dominik Hieronim
's son, Aleksander Dominik, was born before his parents' marriage and formed the so-called Galician branch, which went extinct in 1938.

The younger Kletsk line descends from Michał Hieronim, continued through his son Ludwik Mikolaj. The descendants of his other son, Antoni Henryk, formed the beginning of the so-called Ordynant branch. Other than the Ordynant branch, from the younger Kletsk line also descends the lesser titled branches of Szydłowiec and Połoneczka, as well as Dziatłava, Berdychiv, and Żyrmunów.[6] The younger Kletsk line has continued into the present day.

  • the Nesvizh line
  • the younger Kletsk line
    • the Ordynant line
    • the Szydłowiec-Połoneczka line
    • the
      Żyrmunów
      line

Coat of arms and motto

The coat of arms as granted in 1547 by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Kristinas Astikas, ancestor of the Radziwiłł family, was among these who were granted and adopted the emblem known as Trąby after the Union of Horodło in 1413. This emblem later became the hereditary coat of arms of the Radziwiłłs.

In 1518,

Reichsfürst ("Imperial Prince") of Goniądz and Meteliai after the Jagiellonian-Habsburg congress at Vienna.[3][6] Mikołaj Radziwiłł also received an expanded, more solemn coat of arms: as princes of the Holy Roman Empire, the Radziwiłłs bore a black eagle, on whose breast is a shield with Trąby and other emblems. The family motto is "God advises us"[7] (Polish: Bóg nam radzi, Belarusian
: Бог нам раіць, Boh nam rajić).

In 1547,

Nesvizh and Olyka;[9][6] their cousin Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł[8] was created Reichsfürst[9] of Biržai and Dubingiai.[6] The same year King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland married Barbara Radziwiłł and confirmed these titles in 1549.[7] So high a title was rare among the szlachta (the Polish nobility): just five Polish families, including the Radziwiłłs, received the title of imperial prince from the Holy Roman emperor.[10]

Religion

Mikołaj "the Brown" Radziwiłł (1512–1584)

The Radziwiłł family also divided on religious grounds. Following the

Calvinism. One branch, the Nesvizh–Kletsk-Olyka line, remained as Calvinists for two generations until the children of Mikołaj "the Black" converted to Roman Catholicism before the end of the century. The Biržai-Dubingiai line remained in the Protestant faith until the extinction of their line one century later.[11]

Both Mikołaj "the Black" and Mikołaj "the Brown" were zealous promoters and active participants of the Protestant religion within the

Polish translation of a Protestant Bible,[12] titled the "Radziwiłł Bible" (also known as "Biblia Brzeska"), which was published in the town of Brest in 1564. His death in 1565 was seen as a severe loss to the Protestant cause in Lithuania. However, Mikołaj "the Red" continued his cousin's work by founding and endowing land to several churches and schools.[13]

Politics

Barbara Radziwiłł, queen-consort of Poland (1520/23–1551)

Several prominent family members have been involved in domestic and foreign political arenas. They took an active part in the political life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its importance is manifested by family relations with such famous nobility dynasties in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, the Great Duchy of Lithuania,

Olshanski-Dobrowicki. The Radziwiłł family joined the rest of the nobility as the state's elite after the signing of the Union of Krewo
in 1385.

The significance of the Radziwiłł family is proved by the marriage of

Leszczyński
.

The political position of the Radziwiłłs was enhanced in the 16th century. In 1515,

Mikołaj, as a member of a delegation, headed by King Sigismund I the Old took part in the First Congress of Vienna in Pressburg and Vienna where Emperor Maximilian I met kings of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia
. Additionally, Mikolaj "the Black" was the deputy to the Grand Prince when the latter was abroad. From that time on, the Radziwiłłs were also granted the privilege of keeping legal acts and other state documents in Nesvizh.

In 1583 bishop

Altoviti and Strozzi. Later prince Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł married Lucrezia Maria Strozzi, great-granddaughter of Bindo Altoviti and Filippo Strozzi
.

During this time until the first half of the 17th century, the Radziwiłłs were the most influential and richest family among the magnate dynasties of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This status enabled them, along with very few other families, to have their own army. In 1528, the Radziwiłłs owned 18,240 houses, thus being able to have cavalry of 760 horsemen. In 1567, 28,170 houses provided for an expanded 939 horsemen and 1586 infantrymen. In the 18th century, the army of Hieronim Florian, for instance, had 6,000 men and was equal to the entire armed forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Members of the Radziwiłł family held important state posts in the

parliament and of the Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They also held high military posts and took part in the Livonian War, Russo-Polish War of 1647–1667, Northern Wars, participated in the Napoleonic campaign, and the Kościuszko Uprising
.

Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł (1734–1790), a representative of Sarmatism

The Radziwiłłs also gained international importance manifested in family relations with German princely dynasties, first established by Albrecht Radziwiłł from Olyka, who married Anna, princess of Courland. Such conjugal unions continued in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Czartoryski family
.

After the three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century, towns and estates owned by the Radziwiłłs became parts of territories that belonged to Russia, Prussia and Austria. However, all three states recognized the title of princes of the Radziwiłł dynasty and the rights of its members at the family properties. In addition, many members of the Radziwiłł family held high civil and military posts.

Antoni Radziwiłł and his daughter Elisa (1820)

They had family ties with the

Polish Legion, and Alexander I of Russia had therefore confiscated his whole property. After the Congress of Vienna
, the inheritance was partially given to Antoni.

The couple were prominent patrons of the arts in Berlin during the early 19th century. At their Berlin residence, the

November uprising
of 1830–31.

Second World War
in 1945, Janusz was arrested by NKVD, and his wife would die in a communist prison in 1947. Janusz died in his two-room apartment in Warsaw, with all of his possessions confiscated and nationalized by the communist government.

In 1959, Janusz's third son prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł married Caroline Bouvier, the younger sister of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Art patronage

Chopin at Palais Radziwill in Berlin (Henryk Siemiradzki)
Antonin hunting lodge

Prince Antoni Radziwiłł was a music and art aficionado and he transformed his properties in Berlin to serve as artistic salons, where aristocrats mingled among artists, painters and composers. Radziwiłł's Berlin properties hosted frequent amateur theatre play productions.[14]

Another property Antoni Radziwiłł owned in Prussian-Poland was Antonin, a hunting lodge he had built between 1822 and 1824 by the German architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, named after him. Later in his life, Antoni Radziwiłł moved permanently to Antonin with his wife, Louise of Prussia, and two daughters Wanda and Eliza. Antoni Radziwiłł was a well-connected composer among European musical circles and with time transformed the Antonin property into a popular musical salon among greatest talents of the area such as Niccolò Paganini, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Frédéric Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven. Chopin gave music lessons to Antoni Radziwiłł's daughter Wanda during his stays at the property.[15] During his stays with Radziwiłł family, Chopin also had composed the Polonaise op.3 and Piano Trio Op. 8 and dedicated the latter to Radziwiłł. Antoni Radziwiłł also supported some of the artists financially, among them Fryderyk Chopin.[14] Chopin's visits to Antonin property were documented by Henryk Siemiradzki in a photogravure titled "Chopin u księcia Radziwiłła" ("Chopin's visit to Prince Radziwill").

Wealth

Possessions of Radziwiłł family are marked in dark blue

The family acquired and maintained great wealth and influence from the 15th–16th century until 1939, when the Second World War started. The Radziwiłł family reached the heights of its importance and power during the

The Deluge
, a series of mid-17th-century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the family lost much of its wealth and power.

Regarding their wealth, the Radziwiłłs were not inferior to a royal family. In total, the Radziwiłł family has, over the centuries, had in its possession 23 palaces, 426 large and small towns, 2032 estates, and 10,053 villages. In present-day

Nesvizh, Charnauchitsy, and Shchuchyn; in present-day Ukraine: Olyka with dozens of villages in the Wolyn province (Polish: wojewodztwo); in present-day Poland: Szydłowiec with villages in the Sandomierz province and Nieborów; and in present-day Lithuania: Biržai, Dubingiai, Kėdainiai
, and others.

Janusz Radziwiłł (1579–1620)

The Goniądz-Meteliai line possessed, during the 15th – 16th centuries, estates like Goniądz, Zaigrad and

Zofia Olelkowicz Słucka. Radziwiłłs also expanded their possessions with Brest, Ashmyany, Krychau, Lida, Mazyr and other administrative territories (starostwos). As a result, the Radziwiłłs were granted a lifetime privilege of being governors (starostas) of those territories. However, during Janusz Radziwiłł's lifetime, the interests between his family and the Polish Crown began to drift apart, as the Radziwiłłs sought to increase their wealth and power, safeguard Protestantism and support ethnically Lithuanian culture, which caused him to join the opposition against King Sigismund III Vasa
in 1606.

In 1586, the sons of Mikolaj "the Black" arranged for their fortunes to follow an

Altoviti and Strozzi played an important role to secure titles and wealth with the Roman Curia
.

After the extinction of the Olyka and older Kletsk lines, their fortunes were passed to those of the Nesvizh line. With the death of the heirless Dominik Hieronim in 1813, the Nesvizh line lost its right to the ordynat. Dominik Heronim's son, Aleksander Dominik, was born before his parents' marriage and was thus denied the title and inheritance of his forefathers. He and his descendants had their princely title confirmed by the

Polish Legion on Napoleons' side, and Alexander I of Russia had therefore confiscated his whole property. Only because of Prussia's intervention (since Antoni was married to a Prussian princess) he was able to keep the family trust properties, mainly Nesvizh Castle and Olyka Castle with vast lands, while Mir Castle and 18,000 km2 of land passed to Dominik's only legitimate child, Stephania, who had to marry a Russian subject, according to the Czar's order, whom she found in Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
.

In this way, all three Radziwiłł ordynats ended up in the possession of one line, represented by the sons of Michal Hieronim, Ludwik Mikolaj of Kletsk and Antoni Henryk of Nesvizh and Olyka. The descendants of Antoni Henryk formed the beginning of the so-called Ordynant branch, out of the younger Kletsk line, in whose possession, other than the three older ordynats of Nesvizh, Kletsk, and Olyka, they also received the two additional titles of Przygodzice and Davyd-Haradok.[6]

The Radziwiłł family owned 23 castles and palaces. The most fortified of them were in

Navahrudak), in province centres where the Radziwiłłs had their estates (Minsk and Lviv), and in the cities where the Radziwiłłs were economically active (Gdańsk, Wrocław). In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Radziwiłłs also owned property in European capitals like Vienna, Dresden, Berlin and Paris. Residences that emerged in the centres of the possessions of the Radziwiłłs reflected the importance of a town in the history of the family. One of these types of residences was Nesvizh in present-day Belarus, which by the 18th century had developed into a most important princely town.[16]

Residences

Over the generations the family members have resided in some notable historic homes. The Radziwiłł family owned a total of 23 palaces. Some of the more prominent of these are:

Radziwiłł Palace in Berlin
  • Radziwiłł Palace in Berlin – A city palace located on Wilhelmstrasse No. 77. The palace, built in 1738, was purchased by Antoni Radziwiłł after his marriage with Princess Louise of Prussia. The Palais Radziwiłł played hosts to regular visits from well-known personalities, artists and academics, playing a major role in promoting Prussian-Polish relationships in Berlin. In addition, the Palais Radziwiłł was a meeting point for Polish politicians in the Prussian Parliament where they could exchange ideas and opinions on how to solve the long-standing question of what to do about Poland. In 1869 the palace was acquired by the Prussian state government from Antoni Henryk. It was turned into the old Reich Chancellery for Otto von Bismarck. In 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and moved into the Palace. He used the Palace as a private residence after his adjacent New Reich Chancellery was completed in Voßstrasse. When the Red Army invaded Berlin in 1945, the palace was so heavily damaged that it had to be demolished in 1949, as was the New Chancellery. Hitler had shot himself dead in its bunker.

Family members

Reburial ceremony of Radvillas in Dubingiai, Lithuania
A 17th-century tile with the coat of arms and initials of Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł from Biržai Castle
Nesvizh
.
Loreto's Mother of God (or the Radziwiłłs madonna)

The Radziwiłł family members include:

Since 1515 both Mikolajs and the Radziwiłł family were elevated to Reichsfürsten of the Holy Roman Empire.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ Short history of the Radziwill Family Archived 31 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwiłł Family at Nesvizh". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-295-98093-5
    .
  4. ^
    Lithuanian Art Museum. Archived from the original
    on 8 February 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  5. Lithuanian Art Museum, archived by the Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  6. ^
    ISBN 83-07-01971-0
    .
  7. ^ a b National History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Nyasvizh". The history of the Radzivills’ family. Retrieved on 5 April 2015
  8. ^
    ISBN 9986-861-34-9
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-26007-0
    .
  10. ^ Polish Genealogical Society of America. The Titled Families of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Archived 17 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 15 October 2007
  11. ^ Krasinski, Valerian (1851). Sketch of the Religious History of the Slavonic Nations. Johnstone and Hunter. p. 153. radziwill religion.
  12. ^ The American Quarterly Register, Volume 4. American Education Society. 1832. p. 111.
  13. ^ McClintock, John (1889). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 8. Harper & Brothers. p. 339.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-83-7976-806-6
    .
  15. ^ Fryderyk Chopin Institute (2018). Chopin's Poland. Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  16. ^ a b United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. World Heritage Scanned Nomination. Excerpt from the Decisions of the 29th Session of the World Heritage Committee. Retrieved on 18 October 2007
  17. ^ "History of Birzai". Birzai District Municipality. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
  18. ^ "Archaeological Site in Dubingiai". The Castle Research Center „Lietuvos pilys". Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  19. ^ "Radvilos Palace". Lithuanian Art Museum. Archived from the original on 15 November 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2009.

Further reading

External links

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