Portrait of General Franciszek Skórzewski

Franciszek Andrzej Skórzewski, Count Drogosław (1709-1773), came from a family that did not enter the aristocracy until the 19th century. He raised the family's prestige through his marriage to the wealthy maiden Marianna, née Ciecierska. As Józef Wybicki wrote in his memoirs, 'from a lean captain he owed all his wealth to his wife'. He completed the military school in Dresden and received the captain rank early, then lieutenant-general of the Crown army. He increased his wealth, and his growing fortune and his wife's family connections meant that he began to play an increasingly important role in the political life of Wielkopolska. As a general he took an active part in the Bar Confederation, which began in that area in May 1768. The confederates elected him head of the armed forces of the combined Wielkopolska and Prussia provinces, and he – as it was said – accepted the post thanks to his wife's consent. Not without reason, diarists wrote about their marriage that 'in this herd, the sword prevailed over the spear'. Although he was over thirty years older than his wife, he yielded to her in everything. He detached soldiers at his own expense and sought help from Prussia, sending an envoy to King Frederick II. He conducted these activities together with Józef Wybicki, later co-founder of the Legions in Italy and author of the lyrics to the national anthem. After the fall of the confederation and the first partition of Poland (1772), the general finally ended his political activity and returned to his estate in Margonin. He died and was buried there. His heir was his only son, Fryderyk, who built the beautiful family palace in Lubostroń, an outstanding Polish classicism work by the renowned architect Stanisław Zawadzki.

Barbara Czajkowska