Baron Ambroży Mikołaj Skarżyński of Bończa (1787–1868) was a Napoleonic officer, Chevalier de l'Empire and a Polish general. He was born in Gawłów, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland.

Biography

Ambrozy was born into a Polish aristocratic family; his father was a wealthy landowner, a castellan and a chairman of the Polish Court of Appeal and his mother Bibiana née Lanckoronska - came from one of the oldest Polish households. Ambrozy, along with his 3 other brothers, was educated initially by Monsieur Borne, a French expatriate living in Warsaw and later at a Prussian dragoon academy. Ambrozy is best remembered for his military achievements. At the beginning of the 19th century, he was the commander of a Napoleon's Imperial Guard squadron (Polish 1st Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard) and he led the defense of Napoleon himself during the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube. He also took part in the battles of

Wagram Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city limits, about 15 km (9 mi) northeas ...

Somosierra Somosierra is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located at 83 km north of Madrid, in the mountain pass with the same name, at an elevation of 1433 metres above sea level, being the northernmost town of Community of Madri ...

and

Berry-au-Bac Berry-au-Bac () is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The ...

. For his bravery at Wagram he was awarded with a title of Chevalier de l'Empire in 1811 and a hereditary rent amounting to 500 francs a year and for his achievements at Berry-au-Bac he received a hereditary title of a Baron of the French Empire in 1814, which was later confirmed by the Polish parliament in 1820. Skarzysnki resigned from the Napoleonic army in 1815, but returned to military service in 1830, when he joined a

Uhlans Uhlans (; ; ; ; ) were a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. While first appearing in the cavalry of Lithuania and then Poland, Uhlans were quickly adopted by the mounted forces of other countries, including France, Russia, P ...

regiment in the November Uprising in Poland. In 1831 he was elevated to the rank of a General of the

Polish Military The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...

and was awarded the highest Polish military order,

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', pl, Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King St ...

for his courage during the battles of Wawer and Grochow. After the failure of the uprising in the late 1831 Ambrozy emigrated from the

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

to Prussia, where he stayed until 1857. He then returned to the Duchy to settle in his estate, Orłów, where he died in 1868. In 1818 Ambrozy married Julia Sokolowska, daughter of the starosta of Nieszawa and he received Orłów estate as a dowry,Country and manor in the Kutnowski district vol 1, M Brandys, Warsaw 1963 which included a vast amount of land and a large manor. He also received Suserz estate with a wooden manor from his father, Jerzy. Skarzynski had 7 children with Julia, and their son, also called Jerzy, participated later in the Greater Poland Uprising (1848).

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * History of the Polish nation's uprising of 1830 and 1831 Vol 3, Richard Otto Spazier, Paris 1833 * History of the Polish military 1795-1939, Eligiusz Kozłowski i Mieczysław Wrzosek, Warsaw 1984 * Selected correspondence of Ambrozy Mikolaj Skarzynski