Leshchinsky, Raphael (governor of Belz)

The representative of a noble magnate clan Leshchinsky coat of arms Venyava . The son of the governor of Brest-Kuyavsk, Andrzej Leszczynski (c. 1559 - 1606 ) from his first marriage with Anna Firla (d. 1588 ). The younger half-brothers are Chancellor the Great Crown Jan Leschinsky (1603–1678), governor Derpt Preslav Leschinsky (1605–1670), Archbishop of Gnieznenski and Primate of Poland Vaclav Leszczynski (1605–1666).

Rafail Leschinsky was educated in Silesia and Germany ( Heidelberg , Strasbourg ), then in Basel ( 1595 ), Geneva and Paris . He visited England, Scotland, the Netherlands and Italy, where in Padua in 1601 he was a student of the famous Italian physicist , astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei .

Gifted, was comprehensively educated and knew several foreign languages ​​(Latin, German, French, Italian, partially Greek and Spanish), maintained contacts with outstanding scientists of his time. In 1603 he returned from abroad to his homeland, where his rapid career growth began. In 1609, he became the Marshal of the Crown Tribunal , in 1611 he became the Wieslitz cough, and in 1618 - the Kalish . In 1619, Rafail Leshchinsky received the post of governor of Belz . Four elders belonged to him: Gorodil'skoe, Vskhovskoe, Grugeshovskoe and Dubenskoe.

Rafail Leshchinsky was an opponent of the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa, but he never rose to open rebellion against royal power. During the Thirty Years War, he provided shelter in his possessions to Czech Protestants and refugees from Silesia. He corresponded with the Transylvanian prince Gabor Betlen and the Brandenburg elector Georg Wilhelm . The Elector of Brandenburg even granted him an annual pension of 3 thousand zlotys for his support of the Protestants in the territory of the Commonwealth. After 1629 he corresponded with Swedish Chancellor Axel Oksenshernoy . He advocated marriage between the Polish king Władysław IV Waza and the Protestant princess.

In 1621, the governor of Belz Rafail Leshchinsky participated in the defeat of the Turkish-Tatar army in the battle of Khotyn . Since 1625, he was a resident senator of the Polish king Sigismund III Waza , and after his death he joined the Warsaw Confederation, created during the non-war. During the reign of Vladislav IV, he was a member of the military council and represented the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in negotiations with Sweden in Stumsdorf in 1635 . During the talks, Rafail Leshchinsky impressed the French mediators with his vast knowledge, which was reflected in his diary by Carl Ogier, secretary of the French delegation.

An ardent supporter of the Protestant Reformation, defended the Protestants not only in their possessions, but also on the territory of the republic. For this reason, he was called the "Pope of Calvinists in Poland." He supported the development of culture, created schools, printing houses and churches. In 1626, he founded a school in Leszno , the rector of which was the famous Czech teacher-humanist and writer Jan Amos Comenius . In Baranuv, he collected an extensive library.

He owned 17 cities and more than 100 villages in Greater Poland, Baranow Sandomierski and the surrounding lands in Sandomierz Voivodeship, Wlodawa in Polesie, Voronchin, Romanow and Berestechko in Volyn and Russian Voivodeships. In 1612 he founded the town of Weniava near Lublin .

He was married twice. Around 1604, he married his first marriage to Anna Radziminskaya (1586–1635), from whom he had a daughter and four sons:

• Theodora Leshchinsky, wife of the Chestman of Helma Zbigniew Goraisky (1596–1655)
• Leshchinsky, Andrzej ( 1606 - 1651 ), governor of Derpt
• Rafail Leshchinsky ( 1607 - 1644 )
• Boguslav Leshchinsky ( 1614 - 1659 ), the general headman of Greater Poland, Subcarpathian great crown and sub-chancellor great crown
• Vladislav Leshchinsky (d. After 1661 ), Brest-Lithuanian subcommittee and Dubensky elder

In 1635, he remarried to Katarina Potsey (d. After 1645 ), from whom he did not leave offspring.

• Kate Wilson, The Politics of Toleration Among the Szlachta of Great Poland: Rafał Leszczyński (1579-1636) and Krzysztof Opaliński (1609-55), Slovo 14/2002