Michał Franciszek Sapieha (1670 – November 19, 1700) was a Polish-Lithuanian

Polish-Lithuanian

Polish–Lithuanian can refer to:* Polish–Lithuanian union * Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth * Polish-Lithuanian as used to describe groups, families, or individuals with histories in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...

 magnate of the Sapieha family, Koniuszy (Master of the Horse) of Lithuania, and a general of Lithuanian

Lithuanian

Lithuanian may refer to:* Lithuanian cuisine* Anything related to Lithuania* Anything related to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania* The Lithuanian people* The Lithuanian language...

 and Russian armies.

In 1680 he attended a Jesuit college in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, then one in Braniewo

Braniewo

Braniewo is a town in northeastern Poland, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 18,068 . It is the capital of Braniewo County...

. He participated in the campaign against Turkey

Great Turkish War

The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...

 of Emperor Leopold I

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...

 in 1690, and then after the Moldovan expedition of Jan Sobieski, returned to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

 in 1691. In the spring of 1692 he was promoted to Major General in the Austrian army and in the years 1693–1694 fought in further wars against the Ottomans as head of the 47th Styrian

Duchy of Styria

The history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern Austrian state of Styria and the Slovene region of Styria from its settlement by Germans and Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present...

 Infantry Regiment. He participated in the Siege of Belgrade in 1693.

Lithuanian Civil War

After returning home in 1695 he fought against the party of the Great Lithuanian Chancellor Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł whom he defeated. He supported the candidacy of Augustus II the Polish throne. From 1696 to 1700 he participated in battles against the anti-Sapieha coalition of Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński

Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński

Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński was a Polish-Lithuanian Hetman and governor-general of the Duchy of Samogitia from 1698. Ogiński was one of the leaders of the uprising against the Sapieha Lithuanian magnates. He was successful in the Lithuanian Civil War which culminated in the Battle of Olkieniki on...

 and of the Radziwiłł, Wiśniowiecki and Pac families in the Lithuanian Civil War

Civil war in Lithuania (1700)

Civil war in Lithuania refers to the conflict between several powerful magnate families in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...

.

After his surrender at the Battle of Olkieniki

Battle of Olkieniki

The Battle of Olkieniki took place on November 18, 1700, during the Lithuanian Civil War, between forces of the Sapieha family, led by Michał Franciszek Sapieha, and an anti-Sapieha coalition of Wiśniowiecki, Ogiński, Radziwiłł and Pac families and their supporters , led by Michał Serwacy...

 on November 18, 1700, he was murdered by a mob of drunken szlachta

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

. One of the major culprits behind the crime was the Canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of Wilno, Krzysztof Białłozor whose brother had been executed on Sapieha's orders a year earlier, and who instead of giving confession that Sapieha asked for was the first to physically attack him. Michał was dragged out of the abbey where he was being kept prisoner, and hacked to death with sabres. His supporters who had been captured were killed along with him, while those who were merely suspected of being sympathetic to him were forced to slash at the corpse to prove their loyalty to the anti-Sapieha cause.

Title

On 14 September 1700, Sapieha obtained the title of Prince

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

 from Emperor Leopold I

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...

. The title became extinct upon his death on 19 November 1700. That year the family lost its dominant position in the Grand Duchy as a result of its defeat in the Lithuanian Civil War. Most of the family members were stripped of their titles and privileges by the victorious confederates

Confederation (Poland)

A konfederacja was an ad hoc association formed by Polish-Lithuanian szlachta A konfederacja (Polish for "confederation") was an ad hoc association formed by Polish-Lithuanian szlachta A konfederacja (Polish for "confederation") was an ad hoc association formed by Polish-Lithuanian szlachta...

.

In 1768, members of the Sapieha family obtained recognition of the princely title from the Polish Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

. After the partitions of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

, the family appeared in the list of persons authorized to bear the title of Prince of the Kingdom of Poland

Congress Poland

The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

 in 1824. The title was recognized in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 in 1836 and 1840, and in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

in 1874 and 1901. In 1905, the family obtained the qualification of Serene Highness in Austria.