potoccy_summary.pdf

(98 KB) Pobierz

SUMMARY

The oldest history of the Potocki family from the Middle Ages until the

early 17

century, their background and ways of building the family wealth

which led them to join the elite of the First Polish Republic have not yet

been properly examined by historians. As if by contrast, the history of the

family since the mid-17

century until the present is much better known and

numerous publications are available. It is no wonder that the early period

has always aroused particular interest. It was then that the power of the

family was born, whose influence on the tendencies of the development of

the state and the nation in the centuries to come was enormous. In the first

genealogical and heraldic publications from the time of the First Republic

the medieval forefathers of the Potocki family were already represented, but

the research conducted then was entirely subjective and unreflective. Every

single heir of Potok who was mentioned by the few early sources from the

and the 14

century was then incorporated into the family tree of the

Pilawit-Potocki, regardless of which of the numerous villages by the same

name he had come from. Moreover, a number of mythical ancestors were

made up, starting from Knight Żyrosław, who allegedly was to receive the

Pilawa coat of arms for his bravery in the battles against pagan Prussians

at the time of Kazimierz II the Just and Bolesław IV the Curly-haired in

the 12

century. The legend was created or promoted by the first Polish

genealogist Bartosz Paprocki, active in the latter half of the 16

century. The

genealogists and heraldists that followed took over the legend, frequently

expanding it and adding new details. This mythical, fairy tale tendency in

the literature on the Potockis has surprisingly survived until the present

day. Nonetheless, as early as the late 18

century a parallel critical tendency

in historical studies of the family was established, which could perhaps be

called proto-scholarly, initiated by Katarzyna Kossakowska née Potocka

and continued by Stanisław Kossakowski, Leon Bożawola Romanowski and

Adam Boniecki. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate research methods at the

time made it impossible to reconstruct the Potocki family tree, in spite of

the availability of nearly complete sources; the family-commissioned archive

searches concerned only the individuals by the name of Potocki, the heirs

371

SUMMARY

of Potok village in the powiat (county) of Książ in the Kraków province.

There was no awareness of the wide-spread changeability of names and

coats of arms even in families of higher social standing and little sense of

the significance of genealogy.

In contrast, the thorough research of the medieval history of the Potok

heirs and the Pilawa family has brought surprising results. The reconstruction

of the settlement structure of the Pilaws has shown the peripheral location

of Potok, compared with the main family seats around Boleścice and

Moskorzow. What is more, the property of the few Pilaws in Potok was

mixed with that of knights of various other coats of arms, which makes it

even plausible to conjecture that the Pilaws were an immigrant group, in

contrast to the Różyc, the Jastrzębiec or the Kolamsz families.

The turn of the 15

century brought considerable property

transformations in Potok which on the one hand consisted in the

concentration of the land in the hands of more active individuals and on

the other – consequently – in leaving the village by those who had sold

their property. The arrival of immigrants to the village of Potok can also

be observed who by way of marriage, inheritance or purchase entered into

possession of the local assets. It is in this way, by way of inheritance, that

members of the Pampicki (Pempicki) family of the Róża coat of arms from

Pępice in the powiat of Chęciny (Sandomierz Voivoideship) appeared in

Potok the second half of the 15

century. In the second generation, they

abandoned their hereto surname and adopted a new one, referring to the

estate they had acquired in Potok. It is this family that most probably yielded

Jakub Potocki, later the Chamberlain of Halicz, the forebear of all the extant

Potockis of the Pilawa coast of arms.

It has been common knowledge for a long time that it was this Jakub

Potocki who having sold his part of the estate in Potok moved to Red

Ruthenia, to the Halicz land, where he gave rise to the magnate family of the

Potockis. The circumstances of his arrival in the south-eastern borderland

of the Republic, however, were coloured with heroic motives. It was claimed

that he had received an estate in Ruthenia from the king in return for the

faithful and courageous service at the royal court as a guardian and mentor

of Prince Zygmunt August of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The fact of the

matter is that Jakub had come from a poor family background and joined

the equestrian formation known as Current Defense, established to shield

south-eastern borderlands of the Republic against Tartar and Wallachian

incursions. By coincidence he served under the orders of as many as four

Pilaws: Great Crown Hetman Mikołaj Kamieniecki, Field Hetmans Jan

Tworowski and Marcin Kamieniecki, and Captain Wawrzyniec Budzowski.

It was Tworowski, most probably his relative on the maternal side, to whom

Potocki owed his career and social advancement. He took good care of

372

SUMMARY

young Jakub, donating to him the village of Sokołów, which later became the

main seat of the Potockis in Ruthenia and consistently supporting him in

his public office career. Jakub could have also owed to him the receiving of

his first Crown estate in Ruthenia, that of the Wojnisz village, which indeed

was the reward for the courage he had displayed in the battle of Obertyn

fought against the Moldovans in 1531. The first marriage of Jakub Potocki

stemmed also from his Current Defense contacts – he married Katarzyna

Jemielnicka, daughter of the veteran soldier Mikołaj Susoł Jemielnicki.

It is most likely that the cooperation with Tworowski resulted in Potocki

adopting the new Pilawa coat of arms to replace his native Róża. This must

have happened in the first three decades of the 16

century, before the year

1535, to which the first Pilawa seal stamp of Jakub Potocki’s can be traced

back. This is indeed the oldest extant seal of the Potockis.

Jakub Potocki owed a considerable growth in his wealth not only to

the support of a powerful relative, but first of all to his own abilities. In his

business activities one can recognize a clear focus and great consistency,

which indicate a mature man of clear agenda and an understanding of the

laws of economy. Like many representatives of the contemporary families

who had an ambition to rise in social hierarchy, he actively participated in

the capital turnover, offering loans at interest or pawn broking real estates. He

realized the benefits which stemmed from the chartering of towns as centres

of both local barter trade and a broader international trade network as well as

estate administration centres. The awareness of the permanence and relative

certainty of trade benefits, which were thus of high value at the turbulent

borderlands, lay at the bottom of Potocki’s consistent attempts to acquire

Crown estates situated at the principal trade routes of Kamieniec Podolski

and Śniatyn, which linked Turkey, Greece, Moldavia and Wallachia with

Poland. The Potockis owed to Jakub the enhanced sense of family solidarity,

which was the factor indispensable for their ambitious social, economic

and political plans. He also appreciated the enormous value of appropriate

cultural and intellectual training for a young man, which determined his

future life. And even though he did not send any of his sons to university,

he made sure that at least one, the eldest son Mikołaj, was brought up in the

royal court, thus opening the doors of career for him. Jakub Potocki was also

most probably the first family member who, having broken away from the

Catholic Church, adopted Protestantism in its Calvinist variety. All these

details allow one to consider him as representative of the “new gentry”, well

known to historians, whose activities proved so beneficial for the Poland of

the Renaissance period.

In the hitherto literature, the significance of Jakub Potocki’s second

marriage with Druzjana Monasterska-Jazłowiecka was much overrated,

however, as the source of further growth of the family’s wealth and public

373

SUMMARY

standing. In the light of available records, the marriage did not bring Jakub

or his descendants any benefits or profits or even enhanced prestige. The

only son by this marriage did inherit the vast Gródek estate in Podolia from

his paternal uncle Michał Jazłowiecki, but this was the result of breaking the

initial agreements rather than abiding by them.

By the end of his life, faced by the new family situation changed with

the second marriage, Jakub Potocki displayed great foresight once more.

Predicting imminent conflicts between the future widow and her stepsons,

he made all the arrangements to ensure that the eldest son had taken over

all the Crown estates while he was still alive, thus securing the family against

the loss of the source of the largest income.

A most interesting although highly risky period in the family history was

the time after Jakub’s death, when the fate of the property he had accumulated

and thus the future of the family was clearly at stake. The stepmother of the

young Potockis staked out claims against them which were supported by

her father Mikołaj Jazłowiecki, Castellan of Kamieniec Podolski, and his

brother Jerzy, the future Great Crown Hetman. Also the lesser neighbours

of the family considered this a convenient moment to deplete the Potocki

estates. What was necessary then was harmony in the family, the speed and

consistency of actions and most importantly the wise leadership.

Jakub’s eldest son Mikołaj, in whom the father rightly saw his successor

and to whom the Potockis may actually owe their later elite status, fulfilled

these duties perfectly. Not only did he retain all the father’s estates, but due

to his prudent property decisions compatible with those still set out by his

father he considerably expanded and consolidated the family wealth. Like

his father, he founded towns, bought the attractively located Crown estates,

carried out the settlement campaigns, and became considerably involved in

the ox trade, the major export commodity of Ruthenia and Podolia. He also

lay the ground for the chartering of the town of Potok, which in time started

to be called Złoty Potok (Golden Potok – the name referring to the original

family seat in Lesser Poland), as well as for the erection of the castle, which

was the reflection of the status the family had acquired. Remembering his

own education and its advantages he sent two of his eldest sons to study

in Leipzig, the younger of whom, Andrzej, ended up in the court of King

Zygmunt August. Also the younger sons, probably in agreement with the

father’s will, served at the royal court, though only after their father’s death.

Mikołaj’s ambitious plans were put into effect thanks to the considerable

income he had amassed from his long-lasting military service and from the

Crown estates, particularly the profitable Starosties, first of Chmielnik and

then Kamieniec Podolski.

The lives of Jakub’s remaining sons were different. The second son,

Jan, died young fighting the Muscovites, while two other sons, Andrzej

374

SUMMARY

and Stanisław, started their own families. Andrzej, who was a faithful

collaborator and wartime companion of Mikołaj’s, did not marry until the

end of his life, however, and had only one daughter. Once her hand was

given away in marriage, the Potockis lost the estates which had once been

brought in dowry by Katarzyna Potocka née Jemielnicka, the first wife of

Jakub Potocki.

Stanisław, on the other hand, the youngest son of Jakub’s, the only son

born from his second marriage with Druzjana Jazłowiecka, gave rise to the

family line which lasted three generations until that of his grandchildren.

He probably suffered from some physical or psychological affliction and

never held any offices nor displayed much economic activity. The passivity

and lack of economic sense can be observed also in his sons. The vast estates

which he held in his hands had become his as a result of a shady transaction

which he made persuaded by his maternal uncle Michał Jazłowiecki. As

a fictitious buyer of the rights of Katarzyna Świerczowa, the childless wife

of Jazłowiecki, Stanisław never concluded his part of the deal and never

returned the estates to the Jazłowieckis. Many decades of feuds between the

descendants of Świerczs and Jazłowieckis are an interesting addendum to

the history of law and customs of the First Polish Republic.

Before we move on to the presentation of the history of the third

generation of the family, we must still focus on the person of Mikołaj Potocki

and emphasize one very significant feature of his economic activities. This

was the principle of the entailed estate, which was upheld for a long time.

The principle once considered anachronistic, has currently been reassessed

from the point of view of research on the knightly and noble families. The

entailment enabled the retaining of the hitherto economic potential of the

estate without extra expenditure on livestock and infrastructure, which

would have been necessary if new economic entities had come into being

as a result of divisions. Potocki brothers did not divide their estate until

decades after their father’s death.

After Mikołaj’s death, his sons followed suit. This was the moment of the

second (and last) crisis in the early history of the family. The demise shook

the material foundations of the family’s well-being. The neighbours rushed

to claim the estates he had left behind, attempting to rob and destroy them.

In a way this was their revenge for decades of difficult coexistence with

Mikołaj, who had not refrained from using force to ensure his rights. The

family narrowly avoided permanently losing the Crown estates which had

been obtained and developed with such great care. And again the harmony

and mutual support by family members allowed the estates to remain

undiminished. The long-lasting brotherly entailment again contributed to

effective management and limiting indispensable expenditures. What was

an interesting feature of internal family relations in the mid-16

century

375

Plik z chomika:

stwelt

potoccy_summary.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: