Kajetan Ignacy Sołtyk (November 12, 1715 – July 30, 1788) was a
PolishThe Polish people, or Poles , are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic...
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
priest,
bishop of KievBishop of Kiev can refer to:* List of Metropolitans of Kiev, the Orthodox bishops* Bishop of Kiev , the Roman Catholic bishops...
from 1756, bishop of Cracow from 13 March 1759.
Son of Józef Sołtyk, castellan of
LublinLublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,462 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
and court marshal to primate of Poland, Teodor Potocki, and Konstancja z Drzewickich, brother of Tomasz Sołtyk (voivode of Łęczyca) and Maciej Sołtyk (castellan of
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
), scion of the great
SaltykovSaltykov was a Russian noble family. Notable members of the family include:* Alexander Saltykov** Alexander Mikhailovich Saltykov , a Russian writer and translator** Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Saltykov , a Russian statesman...
family of Russia, he was educated by jesuits and took
Holy OrdersThe term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to a group of individuals who are set apart for a special role or ministry....
in 1732.
Kajetan Ignacy Sołtyk (November 12, 1715 – July 30, 1788) was a
PolishThe Polish people, or Poles , are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic...
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
priest,
bishop of KievBishop of Kiev can refer to:* List of Metropolitans of Kiev, the Orthodox bishops* Bishop of Kiev , the Roman Catholic bishops...
from 1756, bishop of Cracow from 13 March 1759.
Son of Józef Sołtyk, castellan of
LublinLublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,462 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
and court marshal to primate of Poland, Teodor Potocki, and Konstancja z Drzewickich, brother of Tomasz Sołtyk (voivode of Łęczyca) and Maciej Sołtyk (castellan of
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
), scion of the great
SaltykovSaltykov was a Russian noble family. Notable members of the family include:* Alexander Saltykov** Alexander Mikhailovich Saltykov , a Russian writer and translator** Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Saltykov , a Russian statesman...
family of Russia, he was educated by jesuits and took
Holy OrdersThe term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to a group of individuals who are set apart for a special role or ministry....
in 1732. From 1735 to 1738 he studied in Rome (
University of Rome La SapienzaSapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza - Università di Roma, commonly known as Università di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy. It is the largest European university and the oldest of Rome's three state-funded universities; Sapienza was...
).
After his father died, saddling the family with
debtDebt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can also cover moral obligations and other interactions not requiring money. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned...
, he was unable to afford to return to Poland until 1740, when he attached himself to the court of bishop of Cracow
Jan LipskiJan Lipski of Łada coat of arms was a bishop of Chełmno , crown referendary and Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland .Born in a noble family he chose an ecclesiastical career...
. Since then he started becoming more and more active on the political scene. In 1753 he was involved in a
blood libelBlood libels are false and sensationalized allegations that a person or group engages in human sacrifice, often accompanied by the claim that the blood of the victims is used in various rituals and/or acts of cannibalism...
process against Jews, which resulted in 13 of them being sentenced to death. As a politician he was known to use unethical means - from
nepotismNepotism is favouritism granted to relatives or friends, without regard to their merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos .- Papal :...
through
forgeryForgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents , with the intent to deceive. The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including through the use of objects obtained through forgery...
of documents to bribing the local
szlachtaSzlachta is the noble class in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the increasingly polonized territories under their control . The nobility arose in the late Middle Ages and existed through the 18th century and into the 20th century...
(Polish nobility) at
sejmikA sejmik was a regional assembly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and earlier in the Kingdom of Poland. Sejmiks existed until the end of the Commonwealth in 1795 following the partitions of Poland...
s (local parliaments). During the reign of August III the Saxon, known to be the height of political corruption and anarchy in the
Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. The new Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe....
, he became one of the most important politicians at the royal court, working closely with
de facto ruler of Poland,
Heinrich, count von BrühlHeinrich, count von Brühl , German statesman at the court of Saxony, was the son of Johann Moritz von Brühl, a noble who held the office of Oberhofmarschall at the small court of Sachsen-Weissenfels.His father was ruined and compelled to part with his family estate, which passed into the hands of...
. In 1756 he became the
bishop of KievBishop of Kiev can refer to:* List of Metropolitans of Kiev, the Orthodox bishops* Bishop of Kiev , the Roman Catholic bishops...
. However from early 60s due to various conflicts he distanced himself from Brühl.
After the death of August III he opposed the election of Stanisław August Poniatowski in the beginning, although later, partially due to his worsening health, he somewhat distanced himself from politics. He became deeply involved in politics again as
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
ambassador
Nicholas RepninPrince Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin was an Imperial Russian statesman and general from the Repnin princely family who played a key role in the downfall of Polish statehood.- Rule of Poland :...
started fomenting unrest in the Commonwealth, by encouraging the Protestants and Orthodox to demand position equal to that of the Catholics. One of Sołtyk's main goals than became to dethrone king Poniatowski. In the shifting world of political alliances, for a time he worked with pro-Russian factions, but eventually became an opponent of Repnin.
During the
Repnin SejmThe Repnin Sejm was a Sejm that took place from 1767 to 1768 in Warsaw, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This Sejm was a response to the Sejms of 1764 to 1766, where the newly elected king of Poland, Stanislaw II Poniatowski, attempted with some successes to push through reforms to strengthen the...
in 1767, he opposed the dictatorship of Repnin, and for this opposition he was arrested and imprisoned in
KalugaKaluga is a city in western Russia, located on the Oka River 188 km southwest of Moscow. It is the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast. Population: It is served by Kaluga Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0520061756&id=BYLPBu4Kb4YC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=Kajetan+Soltyk&sig=0-pk-4JUEKeYcs-P1LZqZ533K9Y, along with three other Polish senators (Józef Andrzej Załuski, Wacław Rzewuski and
Seweryn RzewuskiSeweryn Rzewuski was a Polish-Lithuanian szlachcic.He was Field Hetman of the Crown from 1774 to 1795. Participant of the Radom Confederation in 1767 and one of the leaders of the Targowica Confederation. Sentenced to death in absentia by the Supreme Criminal Court during the Kościuszko Uprising ....
). Sołtyk was a vocal opponent of giving the non-Catholics equality with Catholics, and he issued a manifest calling for prayers for preservation of faiths and national freedoms.
In 1782, when he returned from the imprisonment, his increasingly erratic behaviour allowed his opponents to declare him insane by
Permanent CouncilThe Permanent Council was the highest administrative authority in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern government in Europe...
and king Stanisław August Poniatowski. Thus for the last years of his life his political influence and power significantly waned.