Elżbieta Branicka

Elżbieta Branicka
Coat of arms	Korczak
Full name	Elżbieta z Branickich Sapieżyna
Born	c. 1734
Died	3 September 1800 Kodeń
Family	Branicki
Spouse(s)	Jan Józef Sapieha Jan Sapieha
Issue	Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha
Father	Piotr Branicki
Mother	Melania Teresa Szembek

Elżbieta Branicka (c. 1734 – 3 September 1800) was a Polish szlachta and politician. She is known for her political career, being the financier of the King Stanisław August Poniatowski prior to his election as king, his adviser in 1763-1776, and as one of the leaders of opposition in 1776-1793. She also had a relationship with the king in 1763-76.

Life

Early life

She was the daughter of Piotr Branicki and Melania Teresa Szembek and the sister of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki. Her education is not known, but it was noted that she did not speak the French language (at that time an important part of a good education) very well.

She married Jan Józef Sapieha in 1753, whom she divorced in 1755 for his adultery. She remarried Jan Sapieha, a relative of her first spouse, by whom she was widowed in 1757 after an unhappy marriage. She became the mother of Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha. She inherited the position of wojewodzicową mscisławska from her second spouse.

Supporter of Poniatowski

Elżbieta Branicka was not regarded a beauty, but described as a fascinating and charming woman, intelligent and with a great interest in politics. In 1761, she became an ally of Stanisław August Poniatowski, and gave him a loan of 300.000 zlotys, with a great interest, to fund his political career: he was still paying of the debt six year later. During the interregnum of 1763-64, they reportedly begun an affair, and she influenced him against the Czartoryski family. She was the rival of Magdalena Agnieszka Sapieżyna, who in contrast to her supported the Familia (political party) and in parallel attempted to influence Poniatowski in favor of it. When Poniatowski was elected king, Branicka came to be in a very powerful position.

Political adviser of Poniatowski

Her influence on Poniatowski, both in her capacity as his lover and his moneylender, was well known, and the king included her in his inner circle of advisers and entrusted her with political assignments. In December 1765, for example, the king gave her the task to handle an affair regarding the contract of August Moszyński and the Coinage Commission. Along with her co-mistress, Magdalena Agnieszka Sapieżyna, she was also given an allowance of 200 ducats monthly, which was paid until at least 1775. The summer of 1766, she was given the task by the king to welcome the famous Madame Geoffrin on her visit to Poland. In a letter from 1768, the king described her as irreplaceable among his "petites amies" (lovers) and called her wonderful, warm, intelligent and an extremely useful ally.

Elżbieta Branicka actively and publicly participated in state affairs and politics. She openly and frequently attended the sessions of the Sejm and the Tribunals and she also participated in the Diet assemblies, with the king's support. Her gender was no formal bar for this activity; within the contemporary Polish system of an aristocratic elective monarchy, her membership within the nobility was the main criteria. She was known to be able to affect the appointment of offices. Despite their opposition to the kings uncles the Czartoryski, she and her brother long kept their place in the circle of the king's political advisers. Reportedly, she also used her position to enrich herself and her family.

Opposition leader

The relationship between Elżbieta Branicka and the king deteriorated during the 1770s. In 1774, her brother Franciszek Ksawery Branicki joined the opposition in against the king and the Russian ambassador Stackelberg, with whom Elżbieta Branicka had a bad relationshop. In 1776, after having supported her brother against Stackelberg and the king, she was exiled from the royal court to her estate in Kodeń, with a monthly allowance of 200 ducats. In order to control her activities, Russian troops was placed on her estate Kodeń to keep her under guard. During the Sejm of 1776, she filed complaints and demanded the king's debt to her to be paid, which caused a long going conflict. She also engaged in long-going lawsuits with her relatives over inheritance and property issues. She also supported her son's political career by petitions to the king. During these years, she was regarded one of the most notable leaders of the opposition party of the Branicki, Seweryn and Rzewuski families against the king. As late as 1778, the king referred to her as one of the women for whom he felt the most respect.

During the Great Sejm, she initially sided with the opposition lead by Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki against the suggested constitutional changes, and was one of the significant players in Polish political life during the Sejm. She finally supported the Constitution of 3 May 1791. She retired from political life in 1793.

Portrayals

Elżbieta Branicka was a controversial figure in contemporary Poland, and her activity as a politician, particularly during the Great Sejm, made her the subject of satires, pamphlets and poems by Wojciech Jakubowski, Tomasz Węgierski, Rafał Gurowski, Ignacy Potocki and Franciszek Zabłocki.

References

• Biogram został opublikowany w 1994 r. w XXXV tomie Polskiego Słownika Biograficznego.
• http://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/elzbieta-sapiezyna-z-branickich