Gottfried Lengnich

Gottfried Lengnich (Polish: Gotfryd Lengnich; 1689-1773) was a 18th century historian, lawyer and politician. Born in Danzig (modern Gdańsk), then part of the Kingdom of Poland, he became known as the author of a monumental 9-volume History of Royal Prussia and the fact that he was a teacher of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland.

Gottfried Lengnich was born December 4, 1689 in Danzig, to a family of a wealthy merchant. Initially studying at the local college of the St. Mary's church, at the age of 13 he was dispatched to Gniew to study Polish language. Then he studied at the Danzig-based Academic Gymnasium, the distant predecessor of the modern University of Gdańsk. In 1710 he left for Halle in Brandenburg, where in 1713 he received a doctorate in Law. Following a brief career at the Hallische Bibliothek digest, he returned to Poland where he started his studies on the history of law of Poland, the Royal Prussia ad the city of Danzig.

In 1718 he started the first Polish historical journal - the Polonische Bibliothek issued in German language. However, the following year the journal faced financial difficulties and had to be closed down. In 1720 Lengnich also founded one of the first scientific societies in his home town, the Societas Literaria. As perhaps the only specialist in the history of Pomerania and Pomerelia, in 1721 he was chosen by the City Council as the official historian of the city, entitled with continuation of Kasper Schützs monumental Historia Rerum Prussicarum. His work, published in 9 volumes, covered the period between 1526 and 1733.

In 1729 Lengnich also became the professor of rhetorics and poetry at the Academic Gymnasium, a protestant Latin language college located in Danzig. The following year he got married. In 1733, during the siege of the city (being part of the disastrous War of the Polish Succession), Lengnich was introduced to General Stanisław Poniatowski, the voivode of Masovia and a prominent Polish politician. The latter hired Lengnich as a teacher for two of his sons, one of them being Stanisław August Poniatowski, who later became the last king of Poland. It was for the future king that Lengnich wrote a guidebook to the history of Poland, published in 1740 under the title of Historia Polona a Lecho ad Augusti II mortem (Polish history from Lech to the death of August II of Poland). In 1737 he was also admitted to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

During the period of interregnum following the death of Augustus II the Strong Lengnich became involved in local politics and was initially a partisan of Stanisław Leszczyński. However, later he changed sides and went on to support Augustus III, who rewarded Lengnich with a title of Royal Legislative Minister in 1740. Thanks to the kings support in 1750 he also became a syndic of Danzig.

As a politician, Lengnich promoted the rights of dissidents, that is non-Catholic gentry. He was also a strong proponent of the autonomy of Royal Prussia within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and opposed the forces that wanted to involve Danzig into internal Polish affairs, among them being the Confederation of Bar. As a historian he is best known for his 9-volume History of Royal Prussia, as well as several codices on law. Among the latter was the first edition of the Ius publicum Regni Poloniae (Public Law of the Kingdom of Poland) inspired by bishop Andrzej Stanisław Załuski and the Ius publicum civitatis Gedanensis (Public law of the city of Danzig). He was also the editor of the first edition of Polish Chronicle by Gallus Anonymous (whom he falsely considered to be a Pole) and the Chronicle by Wincenty Kadłubek.

Gottfired Lengnich died April 28, 1774.