Wacław Rzewuski

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Wacław Rzewuski

Wacław Rzewuski (1705-1779) was a Polish drama writer and poet as well as a military commander and a Grand Crown Hetman. As a notable nobleman and magnate, Rzewuski held a number of important posts in the administration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

He was a Field Clerk of the Crown since 1732, voivode of Podole Voivodship between 1736 and 1762 (with a gap between 1750 and 1756). In 1735 he received the prestigious Order of the White Eagle. A brave soldier, since 1752 he held the rank of Field Hetman of the Crown. A castellan of several notable towns, he was an important politician at the royal court in Warsaw and was one of the main supporters of the liberum veto during the diet of 1764, when he became known for his dispute with Szymon Konarski. During the diet of 1767 (Repnin Sejm) he opposed the embassador of Russian Empire Prince Nikolai Repnin and along with his son Seweryn and two other prominent Polish politicians he was kidnapped and sent to a prison in Kaluga. Upon his release in April 1773 he was promoted for his merits to the rank of Grand Crown Hetman, but gave up the post in the November this year.

Since 1778 he was the castellan of Kraków and the voivode of Kraków Voivodship. At the end of his life he was also the starost of Chełm, Ułany, Romanów, Dolina, Drohobycz and Kruszwica.

As a writer, Rzewuski authored a number of classicist comedies (including the 1759 play Natręt) and several historical tragedies, including a biography of Stanisław Żółkiewski (1758). He also published a number of poems and a poetic handbook On the Science of Poetry (1762). All of his works were published in 1962.

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