Prince Jerzy Ossoliński h. Topór (15 December 1595 – 9 August 1650) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), Crown Court Treasurer from 1632, governor (voivode) of Sandomierz from 1636, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire since 1634, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1639, Great Crown Chancellor from 1643, starost of Bydgoszcz (1633), Luboml (1639), Puck and Bolim (1647), magnate, politician, statesman and diplomat. Famous for being extensively educated, he was a skillful politician and a persuasive public speaker.

He is the founder of the Baroque church in Klimontów.

Biography

thumb|left|Entry of Jerzy Ossoliński into Rome in 1633 by [[Bernardo Bellotto. National Museum in Wrocław.]]

He was the Ambassador of Poland to England in 1621, and Ambassador of Poland to the Papal States in 1633. He negotiated with the Duchy of Prussia in 1635 and led another diplomatic mission to Emperor Ferdinand II and his parliament in Regensburg in 1636. As a leader of the pro-Habsburg faction at the royal court, he found an ally in the first wife of Władysław IV Vasa, Cecilia Renata of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand II. In 1639 and 1641 he once again negotiated with envoys from the Duchy of Prussia. A Catholic, he opposed Protestants and advocated limiting their rights and privileges. In his pro-Habsburg and anti-Protestant stance he was allied with Chancellor Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł and Queen Cecilia Renata.

thumb|left|175px|Bust of Jerzy Ossoliński at the [[Warsaw Royal Castle]]

In 1643 he was appointed Chancellor of the Crown.

  • Prince Franciszek Ossoliński (died 1648), married to Katarzyna Działyńska h. Ogończyk
  • Princess Urszula Brygida Ossolińska, married to Samuel Kalinowski h. Kalinowa (died at the Batih massacre), son of Hetman Marcin Kalinowski
  • Princess Helena Tekla Ossolińska (died 1687), married to Prince Aleksander Michał Lubomirski
  • Princess Anna Teresa Ossolińska (died 1651), married to Zygmunt Doenhoff, son of Kasper Doenhoff

Bibliography

  • Błażejewski Stanisław, Kutta Janusz, Romaniuk Marek: Bydgoski Słownik Biograficzny. Tom III. Bydgoszcz 1996. , str. 107-109
  • Bohomolec Franciszek, Życie Jerzego Ossolińskiego, kanclerza wielkiego koronnego, lubelskiego, lubomskiego, lubaczowskiego, bogusławskiego, brodnickiego, ryckiego, derpskiego, adzielskiego, stanisławowskiego i bydgoskiego starosty T. 1 i 2 Kraków 1860
  • Ludwik Kubala, Szkice historyczne seria 1, wyd.3 Kraków 1896; Jerzy Ossoliński Lwów 1883 T. 1, T. 2, Jerzy Ossoliński wyd. 2 rozszerzone, Warszawa Ossolineum 1924.
  • Polski Słownik Biograficzny t. 24 s. 403
  • A True Copy of the Latine Oration of the Excellent George Ossolinski, Count Palatine of Tenizyn, and Sendomyria, Chamberlain to the Kings Maiestie of Poland, and Suethland, and Embassadour to the Kings most Excellent Maiesty. As it was pronounced to his Maiestie at White-Hall by the said Embassadour, on Sunday the 11. of March, 1620.
  • Ossolinski Gallery of Portraits

References

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