Wacław Potocki
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Noble Family 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...	Potocki
Coat of Arms Polish heraldry Polish heraldry is a branch of heraldry focused on studying the development of coats of arms in the lands of historical Poland , as well as specifically-Polish traits of heraldry. The term is also used to refer to Polish heraldic system, as opposed to systems used elsewhere, notably in Western Europe...	Szreniawa
Parents	?
Consorts	unknown
Children	unknown
Date of Birth	1621
Place of Birth	Wola Łużańska
Date of Death	9 August1 1696
Place of Death	Łużna

Wacław Potocki (ˈvat͡swaf pɔˈtɔt͡skʲi; 1621, Wola Łużańska - 1696) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), moralist, poet, and writer. He was the podczaszy

Podczaszy

Podczaszy was since the 13th century a court office in Poland and later in Lithuania. Podczaszy was the deputy of Cześnik, with the time more important than his superior....

 of Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 from 1678 to 1685. He is remembered as one of the most important Polish baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 artists. His most famous works are: Transakcja wojny chocimskiej (also known as Wojna chocimska or The Chocim War) and his collection of epigrams, Ogród fraszek (Garden of Rhymes). They give a vivid picture of ideas and manners among the 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...

 (Polish gentry

Gentry

Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....

) towards the end of the Polish Golden Age

Polish Golden Age

The Polish Golden Age refers to the times from 15th century Jagiellon Poland to the death of the last of the Jagiellons, Sigismund August in 1569, or mid-17th century, when in 1648 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was ravaged by the Khmelnytsky Uprising and The Deluge and the Golden Age...

, and of many political and religious conflicts.

Biography

Wacław Potocki was born to a minor szlachta family, belonging to the Arian

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...

 Christian sect of the Polish brethren

Polish Brethren

The Polish Brethren were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a Nontrinitarian Protestant church that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658...

. It is likely the he attended the Polish brethren Racibórz

Racibórz

Racibórz is a town in southern Poland with 60,218 inhabitants situated in the Silesian Voivodeship , previously in Katowice Voivodeship...

 academy. After The Deluge

The Deluge (Polish history)

The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...

 (the Swedish invasion and occupation of Poland from 1655 to 1657), the Polish brethren were sentenced to be exiled from the Commonwealth for their support of the invading Swedes. Wacław was given a choice between exile and conversion to Roman Catholicism, and he reluctantly chose conversion. His wife, however, refused at first, and for many years he feared for her life.

He the worked on his estate in Łuzna in the Podkarpacie region of the Commonwealth. He participated in the fight against the Cossack uprisings in 1638, took part in the Battle of Beresteczko in 1651, and in the wars against Sweden (1656–1657). Between 1665 and 1666 he supported the rokosz of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski

Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski

Prince Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski was a Polish noble , magnate, outstanding politician and military commander. Lubomirski was a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire SRI. He was the initiator of the Lubomirski Rokosz....

. Later he supported kings Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki and Jan III Sobieski.

He argued for the reform of the Commonwealth political system, and for stabilisation through the introduction of an hereditary monarchy instead of the elective monarchy

Elective monarchy

An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected rather than hereditary monarch. The manner of election, the nature of the candidacy and the electors vary from case to case...

.

When the Polish brethren were exiled after the Deluge for the support they gave to invaders, he supported them, and for this he was criticized by some Catholic szlachta.

He outlived his wife and children: two of his sons died during the wars, and his daughter, rumoured to have inherited his literary talent, died young. He lived with his family until his death in 1686, and was buried in Biecz

Biecz

Biecz is a town and municipality in southeastern Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Gorlice County. It is in the Carpathian Mountains, in the Doły Jasielsko Sanockie, by the Ropa River...

.

Works

He started writing around 1646, mostly for his own pleasure, and initially with no intenttion of publication, but he was convinced to share his works by his relative, Samuel Przypkowski

Samuel Przypkowski

Samuel Przypkowski was a Polish Socinian theologian, a leading figure in the Polish Brethren and an advocate of religious toleration. In Dissertatio de pace et concordia ecclesiae, published in 1628 in Amsterdam, he called for mutual tolerance by Christians...

. He wrote many classic poems and novels about the life of the szlachta. During his lifetime only Poczet herbów (Herbary) and two shorter works were published.

His most famous work, Transakcja wojny chocimskiej (The Progress of the War of Chocim), was written during the period 1669–1672, and first printed in 1850. It is his biggest novel, and is generally considered to be the best epic novel written in the Commonwealth. Historically accurate, though somewhat idealizing the Polish heroes, it describes the battle of Chocim

Battle of Khotyn (1621)

The Battle of Khotyn was a battle fought between a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army and an invading Ottoman Imperial army. Here, for a whole month , the Commonwealth forces halted the Ottoman advance...

 in 1621 and is based on the diaries of Jakub Sobieski

Jakub Sobieski

Jakub Sobieski was a Polish-Lithuanian noble, parliamentarian, diarist, political activist, military leader and father of King Jan III Sobieski. Son of castellan and voivode Marek Sobieski and Jadwiga Snopkowska.- Life :...

.

His epigrams were written around 1670 and 1695, and first published in 1907.

External links

• Wacław Potocki in Virtual Library of Polish Literature
• Encyclopædia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061067/Waclaw-Potocki