Józef Kazimierz Korwin Kossakowski (16 March 1738 – 9 May 1794), of

Ślepowron coat of arms Ślepowron is a Polish heraldry, Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the fifteenth century, the descendants of the Ślepowron family began to use names taken fro ...

, was a Polish

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

, bishop of Livonia from 1781, political activist, writer, and supporter of

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 ...

Early life

Brother of

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, ...

Szymon Kossakowski,

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Michał Kossakowski and

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 ...

Antoni Kossakowski, he took

Holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

on 17 April 1763''Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi'', v. VI, Patavii 1958, p. 165 after having studied in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

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 ...

. His first positions in the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

were a provost in Wołpa and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

in Vilnius.

Career

On 13 March 1775 he became an aide to the bishop of Vilnius (

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Cinna), and on 17 September 1781 he became the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

(Polish: ''Inflanty''). At that time he also became administrator of the

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

. He is known to have misappropriated vast amounts of the Church's and the public's finances. From 1787 he received a steady pension from the Russian embassy in Poland,

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...

, ''

God's Playground ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'' is a history book in two volumes written by Norman Davies, covering a 1000-year history of Poland. Volume 1: ''The origins to 1795'', and Volume 2: ''1795 to the present'' first appeared as the Oxford Cl ...

: A History of Poland'', Columbia University Press, 1984,
Google Prin, p. 397
/ref> becoming a protégé of the Russian ambassador Otto Magnus von Stackelberg. He represented the Russian side in Sejms and local

Sejmik A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; ) was one of various local parliaments in the history of Poland and history of Lithuania. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of Poland (before ...

s, often bribing or threatening other deputies. With Stackleberg's support he was nominated to the Permanent Council (1782–1786). On 19 December 1791 he became the

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Vilnius with bishop Ignacy Jakub Massalski. His bishop nominations were a reward for his service to the Russian Empire: they were controlled by Empress

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, were not consulted with Rome, and served to both reward Russia's loyalists in their dominions, as well as increase the Russian state's control over the Roman Catholic Church there. In 1786 he published two novels: ''Ksiądz Pleban'' (Parish Priest), outlining in literary form a perfect

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

and ''Panicz gospodarz'' (Mister Ruler). A year later, he wrote another novel, ''Obywatel'' (The Citizen) He has also translated some plays from French. In 1791 he wrote a novel ''Czarownica'' (Witch).

Supporting the Russian Empire

As a vocal supporter and zealous follower of orders from Russian Empire and Empress

he was one of the opponents 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 ...

. Together with his brother Szymon he commanded the forces of pro-Russian

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 ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, for a time becoming a ''de facto'' ruler of the Grand Duchy (with the aid of the Russian Army). In the aftermath 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 ...

, at 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 ...

that legalized 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 ...

, he argued that "If not Russia, if not Prussia, hence what? Would you like to be suspended in vacuum?"

Imprisonment and execution

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 ...

in April 1794, part of 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 ...

, Kossakowski was imprisoned by the revolutionaries. A few days before the start of the uprising, Kossakowski suggested that the Russian troops should surround the churches and arrest all known dissidents. Soon afterwards, Jan Kiliński, one of the leaders of the uprising, presented documents found in the archives of the Russian embassy about Kossakowski's being on the Russian payroll. Most of the citizens of Warsaw, whose support was crucial to the uprising, demanded that Kossakowski and others found to be acting on Russia's behalf against the Commonwealth should be executed. Their stance influenced the revolutionary Criminal Court, and Kossakowski, together with Józef Ankwicz (leader of the Permanent Council) and hetmen Piotr Ożarowski and Józef Zabiełło were convicted of treason and sentenced 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 ...

on 9 May.Davies, ibid.
Google Prin, p. 540
/ref> He was succeeded as a bishop of Livonia by his relative, Jan Nepomucen Kossakowski.

References

* Piotr Nitecki, ''Biskupi Kościoła w Polsce w latach 965-1999'',

Warszawa Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greate ...

2000

Early life

Career

Supporting the Russian Empire

Imprisonment and execution

See also

References

Further reading