Rozalia Lubomirska was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 noblewoman, most noted for her death.

Born Rozalia Chodkiewicz, she was the daughter of Jan Mikołaj Chodkiewicz and Maria Ludwika Rzewuska, who was a daughter of hetman

Hetman

Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....

 and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 Wacław Rzewuski.

She was married in 1787 (at the age of 19) to Prince Aleksander Lubomirski. A year later she bore their daughter, Aleksandra.
Known for her beauty, Rozalia travelled to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where she was rumoured to have some romantic affairs.1 Anna Rajecka's painting Girl with a Dove comes from that period. The allegory of virginity and innocence was meant to contradict the widespread gossip.

Unhappy in her marriage, and decided to divorce her husband, she didn't accompany him on his way back to Poland. During the Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 she was arrested along with her child, and tried for alleged conspiracy against the Revolution, and cooperation with the royalists. As a result, the 26-year-old princess was sentenced to death and soon beheaded by guillotine

Guillotine

The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

, although her guilt was, and remained, widely questioned.

The death of a Polish national caused much concern among the Polish nobility who, prior to the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

, openly cheered the Revolution. Lubomirska's husband, who returned to France to help her, as well as other Poles present in Paris at that time, vouched for her innocence. Among those who spoke in her defence were such great friends of liberty as Tadeusz Kościuszko

Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...

, the Polish-American revolutionary, who was granted honorary French citizenship during the Revolution.

Following Rozalia's death, her daughter, Aleksandra Lubomirska

Alexandra Francis Rzewuska

Alexandra Frances Rzewuska , aristocrat, artist and writer from the Lubomirski-family, being the daughter of Alex Lubomirski and Rozalia Lubomirska....

, was released from prison and given under the guardianship of Izabella Leżeńska.

After her death, Rozalia became the subject of legends. According to one, her ghost appears in the Lubomirski's palace in Opole Lubelskie

Opole Lubelskie

Opole Lubelskie is a town in eastern Poland. It has 8,879 inhabitants . The town is situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, some 10 kilometers east of the Vistula river. It is the capital of the Opole Lubelskie County. It was founded in the 14th century....

. The writer Adolf Dygasiński

Adolf Dygasinski

Adolf Dygasiński was a Polish novelist, publicist and educator. In Polish literature, he was one of the leading representatives of Naturalism....

claimed he saw her ghost.