Sobieski, Jakub Ludwik

Jakub Ludwik Sobieski was born on November 2, 1667 in Paris in the family of the future King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jan III Sobieski and Maria Casimira de Lagrange d'Arquien . His mother was then at the Parisian court, trying to get support for her husband, the hetman of the full crown, Jan Sobieski, when creating a pro-French party in the Commonwealth.

The name was given in honor of his grandfather, Jakub Sobieski , godfather, French king Louis XIV the Great and Queen English Henrietta Mary , who became his godmother. In childhood, he was under the care of his mother, as father Jan Sobieski, engaged in military campaigns, did not pay attention to his children.

In 1674, the hetman the great crown Crown Jan Sobieski, father of Yakub, was elected king of the Commonwealth under the name of John III . Parents began to plan to make their eldest son the ruler of one of the neighboring states. Mother Maria Casimira unsuccessfully tried to marry Jacob to the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and make her eldest son one of the imperial princes. In 1675 , despite all the attempts of his mother, Jakub Sobieski did not inherit the Principality of Legnica in Silesia after the suppression of the local Piast dynasty.

The Polish king Jan III Sobieski tried to make his eldest son the Duke of Prussia . In 1675, he concluded an alliance treaty with France in Yavorov against the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns . After the failure of this plan, Jakub Sobieski became involved in military campaigns of the Polish army against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1683, Prince Yakub Ludwik accompanied his father in the battles of Vienna (September 11) and the Parkans (October 7–9) . In the following years, he represented his father in the Senate and received foreign ambassadors on his behalf.

In 1684, Jan Sobieski made an attempt to imprison his eldest son in one of the Danube states, which were in vassal dependence on the Ottoman Empire. At first it was Transylvania, and in 1686, Jan Sobieski tried to plant Yakub on the Moldavian throne of Moldova. In 1687, by order of his father, Prince Jakub Sobieski led the campaign of the Polish army to the fortress Kamenetz-Podolsky .

In 1687, Jakub Ludwik Sobieski tried to marry Princess Ludwik Carolina Radziwill , one of the richest women in the Commonwealth. However, due to the intrigues of the Austrian court, the intended marriage was broken. Intervention in the situation of the Polish king led to the fact that this issue was put up for discussion by the Crown Diet, which did not support the marriage between the prince and the representative of the Radziwill clan.

In 1691 , thanks to a marriage with the German princess Jadwiga Elizabeth Neuburgsky , Jakub Ludwik Sobieski received the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Olavsky in Silesia.

After his marriage, Jakub Sobieski led another unsuccessful attempt to gain the throne in Moldova. After the failure of the Polish army, Jakub Sobieski returned to Poland, where he tried to create his own political party on the basis of an alliance with the Habsburgs. Korolevich was in close contact with the Vienna court and acted as the unofficial ambassador of the emperor. In 1693 - 1695, relations between the Polish king Jan Sobieski and his eldest son Yakub were extremely tense.

In 1696, after the death of his father, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth king Jan Sobieski , Jakub inherited the family estates Zolochev , Zolka and Olesko in the Russian Voivodeship.

In 1697, Prince Jakub Ludwik Sobieski put forward his candidacy for the royal throne of the Commonwealth. Despite the support of the Austrian and Swedish yards, as well as the Greater Poland and Lesser Polish gentry, the elections were lost. Unable to reconcile himself to defeat, he quarreled with the new King of the Commonwealth, Augustus II , was accused of trying to organize a Rokosh , for which he was deprived of his holdings: the Shavelian economy and the old head sergeant. Offended Jakub Ludwik never swore an oath to Augustus II left the courtyard and headed for his Silesian possessions.

During the Northern War (1700-1721), Jakub Sobieski again presented his claim to the Polish crown. In 1703 he joined the Greater Poland Confederation, organized by opponents of Augustus the Strong . In 1704 he announced the detronization of the Polish king Augustus the Strong. The kings of Prussia and Sweden officially recognized Jakub Sobieski as a candidate for the Polish royal throne. However, the arrival of Jakub in Poland was prevented by Saxon troops. In 1704, Jakub and his younger brother Konstantin were captured by the troops of Augustus the Strong near Wroclaw and imprisoned in Saxony, where they stayed for two years. During the jailing of Jakub Sobieski, Stanislav Leschinsky (1704-1709) was elected the new king of the Commonwealth.

In 1706, after the defeat of Augustus the Strong and the conclusion of the Altranstedt treatise, the brothers Jakub and Alexander Sobieski were released from the Saxon prison. Jakub signed a declaration rejecting further claims for the Polish throne. In subsequent years, Jakub Sobieski several times unsuccessfully declared claims to the royal throne of the Commonwealth.

In 1717, the Silent Diet allowed Prince Jakub Sobieski to return to Poland and returned to him all the confinement confiscated by Augustus the Strong . Jakub arrived from Silesia in Poland, reconciled with Augustus the Strong, and settled in his Zolochevsky castle . In 1719, Jakub Sobieski lost the mercy and support of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg . After consenting to the marriage of his daughter Maria Clementina Sobieska with the candidate for the English throne, Jacob Stuart, Jakub Sobieski was deprived of the Olav Principality in Silesia. In 1722, the Vienna court returned to him the previously confiscated Principality of Olav . In 1722 - 1734, Jakub Ludwik Sobieski lived in his Silesian possessions.

Jakub Ludwik died on December 19, 1737 in his Zholkovsky castle , having outlived the Polish king Augustus for 4 years. His vast possessions (11 cities and 140 villages) went to the daughter of Maria Carolina .

On March 25, 1691, he was married to Jadwiga Elizabeth of Neuburg (1673–1722), daughter of the Palatinate elector Philip Wilhelm (1615–1690) and Elizabeth Amalia Gessen-Darmstadt (1635–1709). From this marriage, they had five daughters:

1. Maria Leopoldina (April 30, 1693 - July 12, 1695) died in childhood.
2. Maria Casimira (January 20, 1695 - May 18, 1723) was engaged to the Swedish king Charles XII .
3. Maria Carolina (November 15, 1697 - May 8, 1740) was successively behind the two Dukes de Bouillon : Frederick Maurice and his brother Charles Godefroix.
4. Maria Clementine (July 18, 1702 - January 24, 1735) - the wife of the applicant for the English throne, Jacob Sturt .
5. Maria Magdalena (August 3, 1704 - August 3, 1704) died in infancy.

• Marcin Spórna, Piotr Wierzbicki: Słownik władców Polski i pretendentów do tronu polskiego. Kraków: Zielona Sowa, 2004. ISBN 83-7389-189-7 .