Jan Andrzej Morsztyn

Jan Andrzej Morsztyn ( born July 24, 1621 Wisnicz; † January 8, 1693 in Paris) was a Polish poet, nobleman, member of the landed gentry and politicians of Poland-Lithuania.

He was Starosta of Zawichost, Tymbark and Kowal and other localities. From 1647 to 1658 he was bread Master of Sandomierz, from 1656 royal secretary, from 1658 to 1668 clerk of the crown, and deputy treasurer from 1668th Over his career at the Polish court, he is best known as a poet of the Baroque and one of the most important representatives of Mannerism in known Polish literature.

Life

Morsztyn was born near Krakow in a wealthy, Calvinist noble family (Coat of Arms Community Leliwa ). He studied at the University of Leiden and traveled together with his brother, Italy and France. After his return to Poland he went into the service of the magnate Lubomirski family and was introduced through this even in court. Deputy in Sejm he was in the years 1648, 1650, 1653, 1658 and 1659 and was in numerous commissions this Sejm - in areas such as finance, law and the Foreign - worked. Morsztyn participated in diplomatic missions to Hungary (1653 ), Sweden ( 1655) and Austria ( 1656) part.

To the royal secretary, he was appointed clerk of the crown in 1656 and two years later. 1660 he was involved in a request for the reform of the Sejm. Finally, in 1668, he took over the office of Vice- Treasurer. During these years he worked at other diplomatic missions and was also involved in the negotiations on the Treaty of Oliva.

He fought the "Swedish Deluge" and the Khmelnytsky Uprising and obtained in the course of his life, considerable wealth. Politically, he represented the pro-French faction, supported the French throne candidate François Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti in the election of 1668 and was, moreover, a supporter of French policy in Poland. This was also expressed by getting French citizenship and pensions from France moved.

When King John III. Sobieski of France distanced and allied with Austria, was Morsztyn charged with treason, so he emigrated to France in 1683, assumed the title of Comte de Châteauvillain and spent his last years as secretary of the French king. The Sejm of 1686 relieved him of all his offices and titles and exiled him from the country.

Family

In 1659 he married the Scottish Catherine de Gordon Huntly ( 1635-1691 ), the youngest daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Huntly, George Gordon and his wife Lady Anne Campbell. She moved in with her ​​brother, the Colonel Lord Henry Gordon de Huntly to Poland, who served there for some years the king. Later he returned to Scotland, where he died in Strathbogie.

Catherine ( Katarzyna ) was maid of honor at the court of Queen Maria Luisa Gonzaga. They had one son and three daughters. All of their children - except for one daughter who became a nun - married members of the European aristocracy. The great-grandson of the couple, Stanisław August Poniatowski, was the last king of Poland later.