1) Cudka.
"In 1356 Casimir became infatuated with a beautiful Jewess, named Esther (Esterka), a tailor's daughter of Opoczno. She bore him two sons (Niemerz and Pelka) and one daughter (not two, as stated by Grätz). The sons were brought up in the Christian religion; the daughter, in the Jewish. Many Polish noble families, as the Lubienski, Niemir, Niemiryez, Niemirowski, claim to be their descendants. Polish historians ascribe the special favors and privileges bestowed on the Jews by Casimir to his love for Esther; but they are not correct in this ascription, since the privileges in question were confirmed by Casimir in 1334, twenty-two years, before his relations with Esther. Czacki sees the origin of these favors in the king's sense of righteousness and justice. Czacki writes: '"It is not known that the king granted to the Jews other privileges and rights owing, as Jan Dlugosz thinks, to his affection for Esterka. Envy and hatred surnamed this benefactor of the people 'Ahasuerus.'" (Jewish Encyclopedia)
"A Jewish, mistress of Casimir III, king of Poland in the fourteenth century, from whom she obtained great privileges for her nation." (Hale: 100)
Stanislaw Jan Jablonowski (1634-1702).
Elzbieta Sieniawska.
.jpg)
Stanislaw Poniatowski, Prince Poniatowski (1754-1833).
Great Chamberlain of Poland.
His lovers were:
 |
| Esterka |
2) Esterka.
"The fifteenth-century Polish historian Jan Dlugosz (Johannes Longinues, 1415-80), author of the monumental, patriotic, and tendentious twelve-book Historiae Polonicae, attributed to Kazimierz Wielki's pro-Jewish stance to a Jewish mistress named Esterka (Little Esther), who bore him four illegitimate children and lived in a royal palace near Krakow. Most modern Polish and Jewish historians dismiss this account as myth. It bears a striking resemblance to the biblical story of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus of Persia...." (Falk: 548)
"In 1356 Casimir became infatuated with a beautiful Jewess, named Esther (Esterka), a tailor's daughter of Opoczno. She bore him two sons (Niemerz and Pelka) and one daughter (not two, as stated by Grätz). The sons were brought up in the Christian religion; the daughter, in the Jewish. Many Polish noble families, as the Lubienski, Niemir, Niemiryez, Niemirowski, claim to be their descendants. Polish historians ascribe the special favors and privileges bestowed on the Jews by Casimir to his love for Esther; but they are not correct in this ascription, since the privileges in question were confirmed by Casimir in 1334, twenty-two years, before his relations with Esther. Czacki sees the origin of these favors in the king's sense of righteousness and justice. Czacki writes: '"It is not known that the king granted to the Jews other privileges and rights owing, as Jan Dlugosz thinks, to his affection for Esterka. Envy and hatred surnamed this benefactor of the people 'Ahasuerus.'" (Jewish Encyclopedia)
"A Jewish, mistress of Casimir III, king of Poland in the fourteenth century, from whom she obtained great privileges for her nation." (Hale: 100)
"Casimir demonstrated his liberalism by an open romantic affair with a Jewish mistress, Esther, the daughter of a poor tailor. She bore him two sons and a daughter. The sons were raised as Christians, though mother and daughter remained Jewish." (Bloch: 311)
"The other story, also with no historical basis, tells of Esterke of Opoczno, Poland, who had a long relationship with King Casimir the Great (1310-1370). The king built two palaces for Esterke and presumably visited her regularly. She bore him several children; their sons, Pelka and Niemera, were given grants by the king and became Christians. The daughter (or daughters) were raised as Jews." (Taitz: 84)
3) Krystyna Rokicana.
"In 1339 Casimir was only 29 and had fathered two daughters with Aldona. His prospects of a male heir were ruined by his disastrous second marraige to Adelheid of Hesse, who, after a brief period of spectacular conjugal disharmony, was despatched to a remote castle where she stubbornly refused an annulment, only leaving Poland in 1357. Byt 1355 Casimir was ready to sign away his daughters' rights, putting flesh to the bones of the 1339 treaty by agreeing a succession pact with his nephew Louis, Charles Robert's only surviving son, who was to succeed him should he die without male heris. Casimir did not help Poland's prospects of avoiding an Angevin succession by bigamously marrying his mistress, the widowed Krystyna Rokicana, daughter of a Prague burgher, in 1357 and then, in 1364 or 1365, after declaring himself divorced from her, Hedwig, daughter of the Piast duke Henry I of Sagan, on the basis of a falsified papal dispensation purporting to deal with the issue of consanguinity, but not the more awkward one of bigamy. Hedwig bore him three daughters, all of them eventually legitimized by Urban V, and Casimir confirmed his arrangement with Louis in a treaty signed in Buda in February 1369." (On Emotions: Philosophical Essays: 7)
Maria Ludovica Jablonowska, Princesse de Talmond (1711-1773).
Daughter of: Jan Stanislaw, Count Jablonowski & Jeanne-Marie de Bethune.
Wife of: Anne-Charles-Frederique de La Trémouille, Prince de Talmond, Comte de Taillebourg, mar 1730.
Her lovers were:
1) Charles Edward Stuart, Earl of Albany.
Lover in 1748.
" . . . In the summer of 1748, aged forty-seven, she became the mistress of her twenty-years younger cousin, Charles Edward Stuart, 'the Young Pretender'. Theirs was a torrid love affair that caused a great scandal and was of great annoyance to the King of France and the exiled King of Poland. The Young Pretender physically assaulted her and yet she remained in love with him. To her dying days she wore a locket containing a portrait of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Young Pretender. When a person once enquired as to the reason for the two portraits, a quick wit replied: "Because neither of their kingdoms are of this world." The famous portrait of the Young Pretender that today hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh was a gift to Jablonowska from Charles III." (rafalhm, 2004, December 17)
"Marie-Louise Jablonowska, Princess de Talmont. First public mistress of her second cousin once removed, Charles III, The Young Pretender. As a niece of King Sobieski's wife, a cousin of the wife of King Louis XV, a cousin of the wife of the Old Pretender and a cousin to the Young Pretender she was extremely well placed. Voltaire sang her praises (though Horace Walpole found her a bore)...." (Bongie: 219)
Wife of: Anne-Charles-Frederique de La Trémouille, Prince de Talmond, Comte de Taillebourg, mar 1730.
Her lovers were:
1) Charles Edward Stuart, Earl of Albany.
Lover in 1748.
" . . . In the summer of 1748, aged forty-seven, she became the mistress of her twenty-years younger cousin, Charles Edward Stuart, 'the Young Pretender'. Theirs was a torrid love affair that caused a great scandal and was of great annoyance to the King of France and the exiled King of Poland. The Young Pretender physically assaulted her and yet she remained in love with him. To her dying days she wore a locket containing a portrait of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Young Pretender. When a person once enquired as to the reason for the two portraits, a quick wit replied: "Because neither of their kingdoms are of this world." The famous portrait of the Young Pretender that today hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh was a gift to Jablonowska from Charles III." (rafalhm, 2004, December 17)
"Marie-Louise Jablonowska, Princess de Talmont. First public mistress of her second cousin once removed, Charles III, The Young Pretender. As a niece of King Sobieski's wife, a cousin of the wife of King Louis XV, a cousin of the wife of the Old Pretender and a cousin to the Young Pretender she was extremely well placed. Voltaire sang her praises (though Horace Walpole found her a bore)...." (Bongie: 219)
 |
| Charles-Francois-Marie de Custine by Alexis Simon Belle, c1714 Houston Museum of Art @Wikipedia |
2) Charles-Francois-Marie de Custine, Chevalier de Wiltz (d.1738)
Lover in 1732.
Grand Ecuyer de Lorraine; Mestre de-Camp (colonel) of the French regiment; the Royal-Pologne Regiment
"...She was a woman of legendary beauty and wit, equally fluent in Polish and French... Playing mistress to Stanislas had actually been one of Marie-Louise's own roles when, as Princesse Palatine de Russie, she had gone to live at Chambord in 1727 where the exiled father-in-law of Louis XV had taken up his official residence two years before. There, she became as well the public mistress of a handsome and dashing officer, Charles-Francois-Marie de Custine, the celebrated Chevalier de Wiltz...." (The Love of a Prince: 219)
3) Stanislaw I Leszczynski of Poland.
Lover in 1732.
She " . . . soon became, with the richly subsidized blessing of her aging husband, the mistress of Stanislas himself. Playing mistress to Stanislas had actually been one of Marie-Louise's own roles when, as Princesse Palatine de Russie, she had gone to live at Chambord in 1727 where the exiled father-in-law of Louis XV had taken up his official residence two years before...." (Bongie,: 219)
Personal & Family Background: "...Her father, Jean-Stanislas Jablonowski (1669-1731) was Palatin de Russie (Ruthenia) and an uncle of King Stanislas Leszczynski. Her mother, whom we have already met in Lvov (Leopold), died there in 1744...." (Bongie: 219)
 |
| Stanislaw Jan Jablonowski |
His lover was:
Stanislaw Poniatowski, Prince Poniatowski (1754-1833).
Great Chamberlain of Poland.
Son of: Kazimierz, Prince Poniatowski and Apolonia Ustrzycka.
1) Anna Maria Romellini (1751-?)
2) Cassandra Luci Beloch.
Lover in 1804
Daughter of: Chevalier Saby.
Ref1:Lindemann]
"In Mantua, she had danced 'with a private troupe under the direction of Magnanigo'. Magnanigo had arranged lodgings for her with a Bolognese woman in Mantua and paid for her keep. She was then (in 1763-64) about twelve years old. From Mantua, she went back to Vienna in order to locate 'a respectable [honnete] engagement.' At this point, her father had returned. For the entire time of his absence, dancing had supported her. She portrayed their reunion in Venice as an accident. 'Her father encountered her by chance in church . . . and was delighted to have found his child again so fortuitously.' He had accompanied the duke of Courland and a person she called 'Prince' Poniatowski (the brother of the king of Poland) to Venice. The two princes and her father boarded in the same inn, and there she got to know both of them and, in particular, Poniatowski. The Polish prince 'first debauched' her, and it was on his orders that his father took her back to Warsaw with him. According to her account, she must have been no older than thirteen. Later, her father returned returned with her to Venice (again on Poniatowski's commission), where she gave birth to a child; this was the young girl of about nine who was with her in Hamburg in the early 1770s. Her daughter had been born in 1767, when Romellini was about fourteen or fifteen years old. They baptized the girl Carolina Antonina Johanna du Chene. The name Du Chene, or Duchene, was 'completely invented' and referred to no one in particular. Poniatowski had given Romellini no money but rather jewels (especially diamonds) and other presents worth over 20,000 ducats. After the birth of his daughter, Poniatowski apparently lost interest in Romellini and ceased supporting her." (Liaisons Dangereuses)
 |
| Cassandra Luci Beloch |
Lover in 1804
". . . It was in in 1804 that he met young Cassandra Luci Beloch, whom was told to have taken refuge in her palace in Via della Croce to escape from her husband, old and obscure Vincenzo Beloch's, nth scene: it was surely to be love at first sight if soon after Stanislaw Poniatowski, having awarded a large appanage to Beloch for his giving up to any matrimonial right, got married with Cassandra Luci, whom he named Caterina (a name the Poniatowski family cared for) who gave him 5 children: Isabella (1806), Carlo (1808), Costanza (1811), Giuseppe (1814) and Michele (1816)." (Rossini's Friends)
Stanislaw Potocki, Count Potocki.
Charlotte-Napoleone Bonaparte.
" . . . Widowed after only five years of marriage, she settled in Florence where she initiated a lively cultural salon frequented by intellectuals, artists and exiled nobility. Through this activity she met a young Polish count with whom she had a romantic relationship that resulted in a pregnancy. . . ." (Napoleon Sites)
His lover was:
Stanislaw Potocki, Count Potocki.
His lover was:
" . . . Widowed after only five years of marriage, she settled in Florence where she initiated a lively cultural salon frequented by intellectuals, artists and exiled nobility. Through this activity she met a young Polish count with whom she had a romantic relationship that resulted in a pregnancy. . . ." (Napoleon Sites)
Stanislaw-Felix Potocki
(1752-1805).
Polish nobleman & military commander.
 |
| Zofia Clavone |
Zofia Clavone.
Wladyslaw IV Vasa of Poland (1595-1648)
His lovers were:
1) Jadwiga Luszkowska (1616-1648)
Polish aristocrat & royal mistress
Daughter of: Jan Luszkowski, a Polish merchant & Anna.
Wife of: Jan Wypyski (d.1647), Starost of Merecz
Natural offspring:
1. Wladyslaw Konstanty Waza 1635-?)
2. a daughter (1636-?)
"Wladyslaw married twice for political reasons. . . He was poor marital material. His relaxed attitude toward morality and religion offended his strict father, and his numerous sexual dalliances earned him a reputation for loose morals. His one prolonged romantic attachment with Jadwiga Luszkowska, a burgeher, whom he took to Warsaw and who appeared with him in puclin or occasion. Wladyslaw IV married off his mistress to a court official to please his wife, Cecilia Renata, but continued to visit her at her husband's country estate. He had several short-lived affairs after his first wife's death and at least one illegitimate child." (The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795: 150)
Zygmunt II August of Poland (1520-1572)
His lovers were:
1) Anna Zajączkowska.
2) Barbara Giżycka.
"Sigismund consoled his last years with a string of sexual liaisons, which did nothing to enhance his reputation. A daughter born to his mistress, Barbara Gizanka, in 1571, provoked grumbling that her mother was a whore and the king was not her father. . . ." (Lukowski & Zawadski: 82)
3) Barbara Radziwill.
" . . . His mistress was Jerzy Radziwill's daughter Barbara (1520-1551), whom he secretly married. Barbara died childless at age thirty-one, allegedly poisoned by Zygmunt's mother, Bona Sforza. . . ." (Falk: 553)
4) Diana di Cardona.
5) Mademoiselle Relska.
6) Mademoiselle Weiss.
7) Zuzanna Orłowska.
Zygmunt I of Poland.
His lover was:
Katarzyna Telniczenka.
Zygmunt II August of Poland.
His lovers were:
1) Barbara Gizycka (1550-1589).
Polish courtier.
"He sought to remedy the evil by liaisons with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Gizanka and Anna Zajanczkowska, the diet undertaking to legitimatize and acknowledge as his successor any heir male who might be born to him; but their complacency was in vain, for the king died childless." (Wikipedia)
2) Barbara Radziwill (1520-1551)
"In the fetes which succeeded the accession of Sigismund II the eyes of the king had been attracted by the extraordinary loveliness of Barbara Radzivill (sic), sister of the palatine of Wilna, and widow of a Lithuanian magnate. The humour and vivacity of this princess charmed Sigismund; and her accomplishments in dancing and her skill as a poetess rendered her fascinations irresistible. . . ." (Freer: 183)
Son of: Jan III Sobieski of Poland & Marie Casimire Louise de la Grange d'Arquien.
His lovers were:
1) Anna Aloysia Maximiliane von Lamberg (d.1738)
Countess Esterle
Lover in 1696-1699.
Austrian aristocrat & royal mistress.
Daughter of: Kaspar Friedrich von Lamberg-Kunstadt, Austrian aristocrat & Marie Frantiska Terezie Hyzrlova z Chodu, Czech aristocrat.
Wife of:
1. Count Franz Michel Hiserle (Esterle) von Chodau, mar 1695, div 1697
2. Count Gustav Hannibal von Oppersdorff, mar 1698)
His lover was:
Lover in 1788
" . . . In 1788 she became the mistress of General Stanislaw-Felix Potocki, a claimant to the throne of Poland with huge estates in the Ukraine. He paid Witt two million zlotys to divorce her, and married her in 1798, after the death of his wife. He hardly received full value for his money, since she soon began an affair with his son, later living openly with him in Tulchin. Her husband died in 1805, and his son soon afterward.s. . . ." (Binyon: 86)
" . . . In 1788 she became the mistress of General Stanislaw-Felix Potocki, a claimant to the throne of Poland with huge estates in the Ukraine. He paid Witt two million zlotys to divorce her, and married her in 1798, after the death of his wife. He hardly received full value for his money, since she soon began an affair with his son, later living openly with him in Tulchin. Her husband died in 1805, and his son soon afterward.s. . . ." (Binyon: 86)
 |
| Wladyslaw IV of Poland by Peeter Paul Rubens, 1620s in Wawel Castle @Wikipedia |
1) Jadwiga Luszkowska (1616-1648)
Polish aristocrat & royal mistress
Daughter of: Jan Luszkowski, a Polish merchant & Anna.
Wife of: Jan Wypyski (d.1647), Starost of Merecz
Natural offspring:
1. Wladyslaw Konstanty Waza 1635-?)
2. a daughter (1636-?)
"Wladyslaw married twice for political reasons. . . He was poor marital material. His relaxed attitude toward morality and religion offended his strict father, and his numerous sexual dalliances earned him a reputation for loose morals. His one prolonged romantic attachment with Jadwiga Luszkowska, a burgeher, whom he took to Warsaw and who appeared with him in puclin or occasion. Wladyslaw IV married off his mistress to a court official to please his wife, Cecilia Renata, but continued to visit her at her husband's country estate. He had several short-lived affairs after his first wife's death and at least one illegitimate child." (The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795: 150)
 |
| Zygmunt II August of Poland |
1) Anna Zajączkowska.
2) Barbara Giżycka.
"Sigismund consoled his last years with a string of sexual liaisons, which did nothing to enhance his reputation. A daughter born to his mistress, Barbara Gizanka, in 1571, provoked grumbling that her mother was a whore and the king was not her father. . . ." (Lukowski & Zawadski: 82)
3) Barbara Radziwill.
" . . . His mistress was Jerzy Radziwill's daughter Barbara (1520-1551), whom he secretly married. Barbara died childless at age thirty-one, allegedly poisoned by Zygmunt's mother, Bona Sforza. . . ." (Falk: 553)
4) Diana di Cardona.
5) Mademoiselle Relska.
6) Mademoiselle Weiss.
7) Zuzanna Orłowska.
Zygmunt I of Poland.
His lover was:
Katarzyna Telniczenka.
Zygmunt II August of Poland.
His lovers were:
1) Barbara Gizycka (1550-1589).
Polish courtier.
"He sought to remedy the evil by liaisons with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Gizanka and Anna Zajanczkowska, the diet undertaking to legitimatize and acknowledge as his successor any heir male who might be born to him; but their complacency was in vain, for the king died childless." (Wikipedia)
2) Barbara Radziwill (1520-1551)
"In the fetes which succeeded the accession of Sigismund II the eyes of the king had been attracted by the extraordinary loveliness of Barbara Radzivill (sic), sister of the palatine of Wilna, and widow of a Lithuanian magnate. The humour and vivacity of this princess charmed Sigismund; and her accomplishments in dancing and her skill as a poetess rendered her fascinations irresistible. . . ." (Freer: 183)
 |
| Zygmunt III Vasa of Poland by Jan Szwankowski, c1590 in Wawel Castle @Wikipedia |
Zygmunt III Vasa of Poland.
His lover was:
 |
| Urszula Meyerin |
Urszula Meyerin (1570-1635).
Princes & Princesses of Poland.
 |
| Aleksander Benedykt Sobieski |
Aleksander Benedykt Sobieski (1677-1714)
Polish prince, nobleman, diplomat, writer & scholar
 |
| Aleksander Benedykt Sobieski |
 |
| Maximiliane von Lamberg Countess Esterle |
Countess Esterle
Lover in 1696-1699.
Austrian aristocrat & royal mistress.
Daughter of: Kaspar Friedrich von Lamberg-Kunstadt, Austrian aristocrat & Marie Frantiska Terezie Hyzrlova z Chodu, Czech aristocrat.
Wife of:
1. Count Franz Michel Hiserle (Esterle) von Chodau, mar 1695, div 1697
2. Count Gustav Hannibal von Oppersdorff, mar 1698)
" . . . Later that year [1702] the prince remained in Olawa and he didn't accompany his brothers in an expedition to Saxony, however, he did travel to Wroclaw where he had an affair with the former mistress of Augustus II Anna Aloysia Esterle." (Wikipedia)
 |
| Angelique Duparc by Adam Manyoki, 1714 @Warsaw Royal Castle |
9) Angelique Duparc.
French ballerina, actress & royal mistress.
 |
| Elzbieta Sieniawska |
3) Elzbieta Sieniawska (1669-1729)
Lover in 1696-1698.
"In 1696-1698, after the death of his father, Aleksander almost constantly accompanied his mother. Started an affair with Elzbieta Sieniawska . . . ." (Museum of King Jan III's Palace of Wilanov)
Anna Cetner, Countess Potocka (1758-1814)
Daughter of: I. Cetner, a Polish nobleman.
Wife of:,
1. Prince Josef Sanguszko, Grand Marshal of Lithuania (d.1781)
2. Prince Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha
3. Count Kajetan Potocki
4. Charles-Eugene de Lorraine, mar 1803
Jozef Anton Poniatowski.
Helena Massalska (1763-1815)
The Cynosure of All Eyes: "'To this court the Princess Charles came, preceded by her reputation for wit, beauty, and coquetry---the cynosure of all eyes. Her Polish birth, her elegance, her talents, her patriotism, enchanted her countrymen. Her deserted palace was speedily restored to be one of the most elegant in Warsaw, and she became for the first time the absolute mistress of a great house. Her uncle, who spoilt her, gave her magnificent horses, and she rode out daily (which had been a forbidden exercise) with a brilliant cavalcade of Polish gentlemen. A theatre was added to the palace, in which she gratified her love of acting. Freed from the control under which she had lived at Bel-0Eeil, the princess abandoned herself without restraint to this life of pleasure. She forgot the past, her husband and her child: in fact, the Princess Charles de Ligne no longer existed; what remained was Helen Massalska.'" (The Edinburgh Review, Volume 167:17)
 |
| Karolina Rzewuska |
Wife of: Hieronim Sobanski.
Her lovers were:
1) General Johann de Witt
Lover in 1818.
"In contest for Mickiewicz's attentions---which, it seems, led to some nasty rivalries and underhanded tactics---no one was as successful as Karolina Sobanska, the mistress of General Witt. Like her Lithuanian namesake, she was older than the poet, by some four years, and no less stunning than Kowalska: 'What grace, what a voice, and what bearing!' Nee Rzewuska, she came from one of Poland's most distinguished---and as far as Russia was concerned, loyalist---families. Her brother Henryk was an accomplished storyteller and soon author of arguably the best Polish prose of the period; her sister Ewelina (Hanska) eventually became the wife of Balzac. After receiving a brilliant upbringing in Vienna, Karolina married Hieronim Sobanski, a rich landowner and Odessa businessman, from whom she separated quickly but did not immediately divorce. Witt's marital status was analogous. Nonetheless, the two insisted on flaunting their socially exceptionable liaison, which did not preclude (mutually acceptable) infidelities. Despite ostracism by the city's ladies, Sobanska's salon, or, rather, the mistress herself, proved impossible to resist, as Pushkin had learned some two years later." (Koropecky: 64)
2) Adam Mickiewicz.
Maria Feodorovna Lubomirska (1773-1810)
Polish beauty.
Wife of:
1. Protazy Antoni Potocki
2. Valerian Zubov
3. Fedor Petrovich Uvarov.
Her lovers were:
1) Pyotr Dolgorukov.
2) Valerian Zubov.
Maria Kalergis (1822-1874)
Polish noblewoman, pianist & patron of the arts
Daughter of: Frederyk Karol von Nesselrode & Tekla Nalecz-Gorska
Wife of: Jan Kalergis, A rich landowner
"Mariya Kalergis was the niece of Count Nesselrode, foreign minister to Nicholas I. In 1839 she married the Greek diplomat Johann Kalergis, but she soon separated from him. Some years later she married Count Sergey Mukhanov, who was appointed intendant of the imperial theaters two years later. Neil Cornwell writes of Countess Kalergis-Mukhanova: 'Sometimes referred to as a gifted pianist, sometimes as a courtesan---a kind of aristocratic nineteenth-century groupie---or even a spy, she is reputed to have been a pupil of Chopin, the sometime mistress of Liszt, Alfred de Musset, Gautier (who wrote Symphonie en blanc majeur to her), and Heine. . . ." (Taylor: 43)
 |
Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov
1st Principe di San Donato
|
Russia industrialist, diplomat and arts patron.
3) Cyprian Norwid (1821-1883)
Polish poet, painter, dramatist & sculptor
4) Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Hungarian virtuoso pianist, composer & arranger.
5) Gautier.
6) Gustave Blome.
7) Heine.
 |
| Napoleon III of the French |
Marina Mniszech.
Her lover was:
Cossack ataman Zarutsky
"Mijhail's first priority was to restore order and end foreign occupation of territories seized during the Time of Troubles. The first of these two tasks was soon accomplished. Most importantly, in mid-1614, the government captured near Astrakhan the Cossak ataman Zarutsky, his mistress, the Polish Marina Mniszech (wife of the first two Pseudo Dmitirs), and her son, The Tiny Brigand. This little 'family' was brought to Moscow. There the Tiny Brigand was hanged; Zarutsky was impaled on a sharp stake; and Marina was sent off to imprisonment and died shortly afterwards." (A History of Russia, Vol 1: 161)
Olga Stanislavovna Potocka (1803-1861)
Polish noblewoman.
2.jpg/408px-Olga_Naryshkina_(Potocki)2.jpg)
Polish noblewoman.
Her lovers were:
 |
| Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselov |
1) General Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselov
her brother-in-law:
 |
| Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov |
". . . Also in Odessa were Sofya's twenty-two-year-old sister, Olga, and her recently acquired husband, General Lev Naryshkin, who was Vorontsov's cousin. Olga was as beautiful as her sister, but 'in her beauty there was nothing maidenly or touching. . . in the very flower of youth she seemed already armoured with great experience. Everything was calculated, and she preserved the arrows of coquetry for the conquest of the mighty.' Wiegel's last sentence is a hidden reference to a relationship which was well known in Odessa: soon after her arrival Olga became Vorontsov's mistress. Naryshkin, seventeen years older than his wife, lacked the character and energy to complain. . . and, in addition, his affection for his wife was lukewarm: he had long been hopelessly in love with his aunt, Mariya Naryshkina, for many years the mistress of Alexander I." (Binyon: 161)
|
Wincent Potocki (1749-?)
" . . . Count Potocki, separated from his wife by her illness, became a habitue of the palace of the Princess de Ligne separated by war from her husband, ane before many months had passed from the dates we have mentioned it became notorious that she had fallen desperately in loved with the accomplished chamberlain. It was the first serious passion of her life, and she gave way to it with all the impetuosity of her character, and with even more warmth than was shown by the object of her illicit affection. . . . " (The Edinburgh Review, Volume 17:18)
Personal & Family Background.
"At this brilliant court of Stanislas Augustus no man was more distinguished than Count Vincent Potocki, the son of the Palatine of Kiew, and nephew of the former king, Stanislas Leczinski, consequently first cousin to the late Queen of France. This nobleman held the office of high chamberlain to the king; he was then about thirty-eight years of age, popular in his manners, seductive in his intrigues, and careful of his own interests. He had been twice married: first, in 1766, to Urusla Zamoysa, the daughter of the king's eldest sister, Louise Poniatowska; but this alliance did not last long; it was terminated in a few years by that facility of divorce which was so fatal to Polish society. The count then married, in 1786, a Countess Michielska, by whom he had two sons. When Potocki was summoned to Warsaw in 1788, the countess, who was devotedly attached to him, was obliged by the state of her health to remain in the Ukraine. These circumstance laid a train which ended in a catastrophe. . . . "(The Edinburgh Review, Vol 17:17)
His lover was:
Helena Massalska.
His lover was:
Helena Massalska.
 |
Zofia Clavone
Comtesse Potocka
|
Comtesse Potocka
(1760-1822)
Greek slave, spy &
Polish aristocrat & royal mistress.
Polish aristocrat & royal mistress.
 |
Zofia Clavone
Comtesse Potocka
|
Daughter of: Constantine Clavone & Maria Clavone.
Wife of:
2. General Stanislaw-Feliks Potocki
Lover in 1788, 2/mar 1798
3) General Kiselev, mar 1798
Video: Zofia Potocka
"Count De Witt, a descendant of the grand pensionary of Holland, who was governor of the place, received his noble visitor. (La Grade-Chambonas: 177)
Beauty and Destiny?: "Garden of Venus by Eva Stachniak is based on a real life story of a famous courtesan, beautiful Sophie Glavani born in Greece in the middle of the 18th century. The novel is set up in two slightly differing times and circumstances. We get to know Sophie as a girl of simple origin, a sweet young 'Dou-Dou', we watch her become a lover of a Polish minister in Istanbul, a young wife of a Polish noble, and finally the wife of Count Felix Potocki and a Polish countess. She was able to change her status thanks to her beauty, intelligence and shrewdness. The complicated story of Sophie's life is intermingled with history - since her two husbands (Jan de Witt and Count Felix Potocki) and her children were prominent figures in Polish history of the turn of 18th and 19th centuries. Felix Potocki was so much in love with Sophie, his wife, that he built a beautiful garden which he called 'Sophievka' in her name. " (Urban-Klaehn, 2006)
Relationship History.
" . . . Sofya Clavona was a Greek from Constantinople, who had, it was said, been bought from her mother for 1,500 piastres by the Polish ambassador. As she was journeying to Poland with her protector, at Kamenets-Podolsk in the Ukraine she met Major Joseph Witt, who fell in love with her, married her secretly and took her to Paris. The portraitist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun saw her here in the early 1780s, noting that she 'was then extremely young and as pretty as it is possible to be, but tolerably vain of her charming face.' Later Sofya attracted the attention of Potemkin, Catherine's favourite, who, besotted with her, made her husband a general and a count, took her as his mistress and bestowed on her an estate in the Crimea. In 1788 she became the mistress of General Stanislaw-Felix Potocki, a claimant to the throne of Poland with huge estates in the Ukraine. He paid Witt two million zlotys to divorce her and married her in 1798, after the death of his wife. He hardly received full value for his money, since she soon began an affair with his son, later living openly with him in Tulchin. Her husband died in 1805, and his son soon afterwards. . . ." (Binyon: 86)
A Beautiful Spy.
A Beautiful Spy.
"Countess Sophia Potocka, the 'Beautiful Greek' and outstanding adventuress of the age, said to be the 'prettiest girl in Europe.' 'She was a spy and courtesan notorious for her beauty, vice and crimes' who was sold at the age of 14 by her mother, a fruit-seller in Constantinople, and became one of Potemkin's last mistresses before marrying the fabulously wealthy Polish Count Felix Potocki, seducing her step-son and building a huge fortune." (Montefiore: 654)
Countess Potocka's physical appearance & personal qualities at 50.
Countess Potocka's physical appearance & personal qualities at 50.
" . . . Madame Potocka was at that time not far from her fiftieth year. She had, however, by no means yet lost any of her freshness and vigour, and she was in every respect entitled to the reputation of being a very beautiful woman. He figure was tall, commanding, graceful, and extremely well-formed, and there was an unaffected dignity in her deportment which kept familiarity within the proper limits of good breeding. Her features were extremely formed; her black eyes full of expression and vivacity; and an agreeable smile often played upon her lips, which occasionally uncovered a most beautiful set of teeth." (The Journal of a Nobleman: 176)
Countess Potocka's personal & family background.
Countess Potocka's personal & family background.
"The Countess Potocka was a native of Constantinople, where her father, a reputed descendant of the Cantacuzene family, followed the humble calling of a butcher. In spite of industry and activity, he found great difficulty in earning a sufficiency to pay his way, and maintain his wife and his only daughter Sophia. The latter had just entered her fourteenth year, and her growing beauty was the admiration of the whole neighbourhood. . . ." (The Journal of a Nobleman: 176)
Personal & Family Background: ". . . Sofya Clavona was a Greek from Constantinople, who had, it was said, been bought from her mother for 1,500 piastres by the Polish ambassador As she was journeying to Poland with her protector, at Kamenets-Podolsk in the Ukraine she met Major Joseph Witt, who fell in love with her, married her secretly and took her to Paris. The portraitist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun saw her here in the early 1780s, noting that she 'was then extremely young and as pretty as it is possible to be, but tolerably vain of her charming face. . . . " (Binyon: 86)
Countess Potocka's husbands
Personal & Family Background: ". . . Sofya Clavona was a Greek from Constantinople, who had, it was said, been bought from her mother for 1,500 piastres by the Polish ambassador As she was journeying to Poland with her protector, at Kamenets-Podolsk in the Ukraine she met Major Joseph Witt, who fell in love with her, married her secretly and took her to Paris. The portraitist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun saw her here in the early 1780s, noting that she 'was then extremely young and as pretty as it is possible to be, but tolerably vain of her charming face. . . . " (Binyon: 86)
Countess Potocka's husbands
"Count de Witt, a descendant of the grand pensionary of Holland, who was governor of the place, received his noble visiter with every mark of attention. The count, however, no sooner beheld Sophia that he became deeply enamoured of her; and on learning the equivocal situation in which she stood, being neither a slave nor a mistress, but, as it were, a piece of merchandise purchased for 1500 piastres, he wound up his declaration of love by an offer of marriage. The count was a handsome man, scarcely thirty years of age, a lieutenant general in the Russian service, and enjoying the high favour of his sovereign, Catherine II. The fair Greek, as may well be imagined, did not reject the favour of this fortune, but accepted the offer of her suito without hesitation." (The Journal of a Nobleman: 177)
Zofia's spouses & children.
Zofia's spouses & children.
". . . Sofya married Pushkin's friend General Kiselev in 1821, but separated from him in 1829, supposedly on learning that he had an affair with her sister (who had married general Lev Naryshkin)" (Binyon: 86)
Her lovers were:
 |
Charles-Philippe, Comte d'Artois
later Charles X of France, c1796 |
 |
Grigory Potemkin
Prince of Taurida
|
Lover in 1787-1792.
". . . Later Sofya attracted the attention of Potemkin, Catherine's favourite, who, besotted with her, made her husband a general and a count, took her as his mistress and bestowed on her an estate in the Crimea. . . . " (Binyon: 86)
"In 1787, the Witts traveled to Istanbul, where they were at the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War. a year later, she was present in the camp of the favorite of Catherine the Great, Grigory Potemkin, and became his lover, a relationship which lasted until his death... She was introduced as the official lover of Potemkin at a ball during his visit to Saint Petersburg 1791. She was sent away by Aleksandra von Engelhardt on the death of Potemkin." (Wartime Spy Ladies)
3) Jean-Baptiste du Barry, Comte du Barry (1723-1794)
 |
Jozef Antoni Poniatowski
Prince Poniatowski
|
 |
Jozef Antoni Poniatowski
Prince Poniatowski
|
Polish ambassador
Lover in 1772-1778
". . . A Polish ambassador (Karol Boscamp-Liasopolski) bought her from her mother, who was very poor, when she was only a child, because she was very nice looking, talented and witty. He educated her appropriately to accompany him and travelled with her through Poland and Russia. She was a big success. . . . " [Vigee Le Brun]
" . . In 1772, her mother - a vegetable street seller - sold her at the age of 12 to Polish envoy in Constantinople. The girl was this man's mistress until 1778, until the Polish commander Jozef Witte bought her and then married her. . . . " (Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts)
Lover in 1772-1778
". . . A Polish ambassador (Karol Boscamp-Liasopolski) bought her from her mother, who was very poor, when she was only a child, because she was very nice looking, talented and witty. He educated her appropriately to accompany him and travelled with her through Poland and Russia. She was a big success. . . . " [Vigee Le Brun]
" . . In 1772, her mother - a vegetable street seller - sold her at the age of 12 to Polish envoy in Constantinople. The girl was this man's mistress until 1778, until the Polish commander Jozef Witte bought her and then married her. . . . " (Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts)
 |
| Nikolai Saltykov |
8) Nikolai Saltykov.
 |
| Stanislaw-Feliks Potocki |
Lover in 1788
"In 1798 Zofia married secondly the Polish nobleman Stanislaw Szczesny Potocki, with whom she had an affair in Jassy, after he managed to help her acquire a legal Catholic divorce with great difficulty. . . They had eight children. . . . " (Wartime Spy Ladies)
" . . . In 1798, Sophie's husband, general (sic) de Witte, lost a considerable sum of money in card gambling, while playing against Polish aristocrat Count Stanislaw Szczesny Potocki. The latter offered de Witte to waive the entire claim if the general would pass on his lady to him. The terms were accepted and Count Potocki promptly made Sophie his second wife, despite the postulations of his friends. . . . " (Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts)
"In 1798 Zofia married secondly the Polish nobleman Stanislaw Szczesny Potocki, with whom she had an affair in Jassy, after he managed to help her acquire a legal Catholic divorce with great difficulty. . . They had eight children. . . . " (Wartime Spy Ladies)
" . . . In 1798, Sophie's husband, general (sic) de Witte, lost a considerable sum of money in card gambling, while playing against Polish aristocrat Count Stanislaw Szczesny Potocki. The latter offered de Witte to waive the entire claim if the general would pass on his lady to him. The terms were accepted and Count Potocki promptly made Sophie his second wife, despite the postulations of his friends. . . . " (Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts)
" . . . Felix Potocki was so much in love with Sophie, his wife, that he built a beautiful garden which he called 'Sophievka' in her name." (Garden of Venus, the real story of Sophie Potocka - a beautiful Polish Countess)
". . . In 1788 she became the mistress of General Stanislaw-Felix Potocki, a claimant to the throne of Poland with huge estates in the Ukraine. He pait Witt two million zlotys to divorce her, and married her in 1798, after the death of his wife. He hardly received full value for his money, since she soon began an affair with his son, later living openly with him in Tulchin. Her husband died in 1805, and his son soon afterwards. . . . " (Binyon: 86)
". . . In Hamburg, Sophie met the Polish magnate Stanislaw Felix Potocki (1752-1805), the very rich palatine of Kiev, who fell in love with her. To marry her, he had to divorce his second wife Josefina Amalia Mniszech. Then he paid a high price to Sophie's husband to buy her and to marry her (1798). They had 3 sons: Alexandre, Boleslaw, Miczyslaw and 2 daughters Sophie and Olga. They settled finally and lived at their estate Tulczim with a wonderful dendrological part called Sophiowka (Sifiyivka) near Uman. This park still exists. Sophie inherited this estate from her husband and died in 1822 in Berlin." [Vigee Le Brun]
". . . In 1788 she became the mistress of General Stanislaw-Felix Potocki, a claimant to the throne of Poland with huge estates in the Ukraine. He pait Witt two million zlotys to divorce her, and married her in 1798, after the death of his wife. He hardly received full value for his money, since she soon began an affair with his son, later living openly with him in Tulchin. Her husband died in 1805, and his son soon afterwards. . . . " (Binyon: 86)
". . . In Hamburg, Sophie met the Polish magnate Stanislaw Felix Potocki (1752-1805), the very rich palatine of Kiev, who fell in love with her. To marry her, he had to divorce his second wife Josefina Amalia Mniszech. Then he paid a high price to Sophie's husband to buy her and to marry her (1798). They had 3 sons: Alexandre, Boleslaw, Miczyslaw and 2 daughters Sophie and Olga. They settled finally and lived at their estate Tulczim with a wonderful dendrological part called Sophiowka (Sifiyivka) near Uman. This park still exists. Sophie inherited this estate from her husband and died in 1822 in Berlin." [Vigee Le Brun]
 |
| Szczesny Jerzy Potocki |
10) Szczesny Jerzy Potocki (1776-1810) or (1760-1822)
Zofia's stepson
". . . During her marriage, she had a love affair with her stop son (sic), Szczesny Jerzy Potocki, who was probably the father of her son Boleslaw. After the death of husband in 1805, Zofia Potocka ended her affair with her stepson and devoted her time to her children . . . . " (Wartime Spy Ladies)
