Józef Wybicki
Polish poet, author of the national anthem (1747–1822)
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Józef Rufin Wybicki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjuzɛv vɨˈbit͡skʲi]; 29 September 1747 – 10 March 1822) was a Polish nobleman, jurist, poet, political and military activist of Kashubian descent.[1] He is best remembered as the author of "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" (English: "Dąbrowski's Mazurka"), which was adopted as the Polish national anthem in 1927.
Będomin, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Poland)
Józef Wybicki | |
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| Coat of arms | |
| Known for | Author of the Polish national anthem "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" |
| Born | 29 September 1747 Będomin, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Poland) |
| Died | 10 March 1822 (aged 74) Manieczki, Prussia (now Poland) |
| Buried | Church of St. Adalbert, Poznań |
| Noble family | Wybicki herbu (coat of arms) Rogala |
| Spouses | 1. Kunegunda Drwęska (1773–1775) 2. Estera Wierusz-Kowalska (1780) |
| Father | Piotr Wybicki |
| Mother | Konstancja Wybicka, née Lniska |
Early life
Wybicki was born in Będomin,[2] in the region of Pomerania in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[3] His family was Pomeranian nobility.[4]
In 1755–1765 he attended a Jesuit school in Stare Szkoty. In 1762–1765, he studied law at a court in Skarszewy.[5]
Political and civil service career
In 1767, he worked at the Crown Tribunal in Bydgoszcz.[6] Wybicki was elected a deputy to the Repnin Sejm, the session of Polish parliament in 1767, on the eve of the First Partition of Poland.[3] Subsequently, he joined the insurgency known as the Confederation of Bar (1768–1772), aimed at opposing the Russian influence and king Stanisław August Poniatowski.[3][4] He was one of the advisors (konsyliarz) of the Confederacy, acting as a diplomat.[7] After the failure of the uprising, he spent some time in the Netherlands, studying law at Leiden University.[4]
Returning to Poland, in the 1770s and 1780s he was associated with the Commission of National Education.[3] He supported King Stanisław August Poniatowski and his proposed reforms.[3][4] He helped draft the liberal Zamoyski Codex of laws of the late 1770s.[8] He was a Patriotic Party activist during the Great Sejm (1788–92) – though he was not one of its first deputies, during much of that time staying at his estate, writing and staging operas.[3][4] He did, however, participate in the Great Sejm's deliberations, beginning in 1791.[8] In 1792, in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War of 1792, like many of Poniatowski's supporters, he joined the Targowica Confederation.[9]
He participated in the Kościuszko Uprising (1794)[3] and was a member of the Military Section of the Provisional Council of the Duchy of Masovia.[10] During the uprising, he co-organized the Polish administration in the liberated city of Bydgoszcz.[6] After the failure of this insurrection he moved to France.[4]
He was a close friend of both Tadeusz Kościuszko and Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.[11] With Dąbrowski he organized the Polish Legions in Italy, serving under Napoleon Bonaparte.[3] In 1797, while in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he wrote Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Dąbrowski's Mazurek).[3] In 1806 he helped Dąbrowski organize the Greater Poland Uprising.[4]
After the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, he held a number of positions in its Department of Justice, and continued working for it after the Duchy's transformation into Congress Poland.[4] In 1817 he became president of the Supreme Court of Congress Poland.[12]
He died on 10 March 1822 in Manieczki, then part of the Grand Duchy of Posen in the Prussian Partition of Poland.[3]
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Works
Wybicki was a writer, journalist and a poet.[3] He wrote political-themed poems, plays and political treaties advocating reforms in Poland in the 1770s and 1780s.[3][4] His works of that time analyzed the Polish political system, the concepts of liberty, and advocated for more rights for the peasantry.[13] He would also publish more political brochures in the 1800s, advocating for liberal reforms in the Duchy of Warsaw.[4]
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Dąbrowski's Mazurka) remains Wybicki's most famous creation.[4] It has been regarded as an unofficial national anthem since the November Uprising of 1831.[3] In 1927 the Mazurka was officially adopted as the Polish national anthem by the Polish parliament (Sejm).[4][14]
