Józef Ankwicz (; 1750 – 9 May 1794), of Awdaniec coat of arms, also known as ''Józef z Posławic'' and ''Józef Awdaniec'', was a politician and noble (''

szlachcic The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social class, a ...

'') in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. He held the office of

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...

from 1782. Deputy to the

Great Sejm The Great Sejm, also known as the Four-Year Sejm (Polish language, Polish: ''Sejm Wielki'' or ''Sejm Czteroletni''; Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Didysis seimas'' or ''Ketverių metų seimas'') was a Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwea ...

, and most infamously, the

Grodno Sejm Grodno Sejm (; ) was the last Sejm (session of parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Grodno Sejm, held in autumn 1793 in Grodno, Grand Duchy of Lithuania (now Grodno, Belarus) is infamous because its deputies, bribed or coe ...

: for his actions during the latter he is remembered as one of the most prominent collaborators with the foreign partitioners of Poland.

Biography

Son of Stanisław Walenty Ankwicz and Salomea Schwarcemberg-Czerny. Married to Anna Biberstein-Starowieyska, father of Andrzej Alojzy Jan Stanisław Ankwicz (archbishop of Lviv) and daughters Kordula and Krystyna. He was also awarded with

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

in 1781. In 1782 he received the office of

. Elected deputy to the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

s in the period 1782 - 1790, he was a member of the royal faction. In 1784 he received the Order of the White Eagle from

king of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...

, as well as the title of

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

(''hrabia'') from Empress of

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

; later, he also received the office of Chamberlain at the Austrian court. He was a chief member of the

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

sent to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in 1791, acting as the Polish ambassador. While in Denmark, he supported the Polish position and is said to have vocally opposed the Russian diplomats there. In 1792 a number of Polish diplomatic missions were cancelled, and Ankwicz was recalled to Warsaw. This meant that he lost his main source of income. He was able to briefly return to Denmark, but the end of the

Polish–Russian War of 1792 The Polish–Russian War of 1792 (also, War of the Second Partition, and in Polish sources, War in Defence of the Constitution) was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation (conservativ ...

(after the passage of the

Constitution of 3 May The Constitution of 3 May 1791, titled the Government Act, was a written constitution for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that was adopted by the Great Sejm that met between 1788 and 1792. The Commonwealth was a dual monarchy comprising t ...

) saw him in Warsaw once again. Known for his lavish lifestyle, poor investments and as a

gambler Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

, he quickly fell in debts and was recruited by Russian ambassador and Jacob Sievers. He became associated with the

Targowica Confederation The Targowica Confederation (, , ) was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Constitution of 3 May ...

. Subsequently, he was known for his support of foreign powers (Austro-Hungary,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

), most infamously during the last

of the Commonwealth - the

of 1793, he was the leader of the "Russian Party" and the deputy who concluded that the unwillingness of other deputies to speak (threatened by Russian soldiers present in the room) means that they accept the demands of the Prussian and

s (the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

). For that he was rewarded by his Russian masters with a pension and a position in the Permanent Council. During the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

he was captured by the Polish revolutionaries. On the request of Polish Jacobins, he was sentenced by the summary revolutionary court to

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

, together with some of the leaders of the Targowica Confederation: Józef Kossakowski,

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Piotr Ożarowski and hetman Józef Zabiełło. He was executed on 9 May 1794 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, in the aftermath of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, a part of the

. His last actions earned him further recognition, as he gave the executioner a golden box, to commemorate the moment of the execution, and put the rope on his neck himself.

References

External links

*
Another genealogical entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankwicz, Jozef 1750 births 1794 deaths Clan Abdank Secular senators of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ambassadors of Poland to Denmark Targowica confederates Executed Polish people People executed for treason against Poland 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian politicians People executed by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth People executed by Poland by hanging Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)