House of Poniatowski
|House of Poniatowski|
|Titles||King of Poland
Grand Duke of Lithuania
Grand Duke of Ruthenia
Grand Duke of Prussia
Grand Duke of Masovia
Grand Duke of Samogitia
Grand Duke of Kiev
Grand Duke of Volhynia
Grand Duke of Podole
Grand Duke of Podlasie
Grand Duke of Livonia
Grand Duke of Smolensk
Grand Duke of Severia
Grand Duke of Chernihiv
Prince of Bohemia
Prince of Monterotondo
|Founded||Free election, 1764|
|Final ruler||Stanisław II August|
|Cadet branches||Poniatowski di Monterotondo|
House of Poniatowski (plural: Poniatowscy) is an aristocratic (szlachta) family in Poland. Because Polish adjectives have different forms for the genders, Poniatowska is the same name for a female family member.
The Poniatowski family became most prominent in the late 18th century and 19th century. In three generations the Poniatowski family rose from the rank of gentry to that of senator and then to royalty.
The first information about the family dates back to the end of the 15th century, when they appeared in Poniatowa, 40 km west from Lublin in about 1446. Their family name derives from that place name. Poniatowa was the residence of several branches of the Poniatowski family: Tłuk, Jarasz and Ciołek.
According to the family's history, the family had ties with the Italian nobility: Giuseppe Salinguerra, a member of the Italian family of Torelli, settled in Poland about the middle of the 17th century, and there assumed the name of Poniatowski from the estate of Poniatow, belonging to his wife, who was the daughter of Albert Poniatowski and Anna Leszczyńska. Modern historians however consider this story dubious, particularly as around the 18th century it was fashionable for Polish nobility to have relatives in Italy.
On September 7, 1764, at Wola, the most famous member of the family, Stanisław Poniatowski was elected as King of Poland. In the same year the Coronation Sejm awarded the Poniatowski family the title of Prince of Poland.
Among most known members are:
- Stanisław Poniatowski (1676–1762), Podstoli, Treasurer, General, Regimentarz
- Kazimierz Poniatowski (1721–1800), General, Great Podkomorzy
- Ludwika Maria Poniatowska (1728–1781), was married to Jan Jakub Zamoyski
- Izabella Poniatowska (1730–1801), was married to Jan Klemens Branicki
- Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732–1798), King of Poland
- Andrzej Poniatowski (1735–1773), General, Marshal of Austria
- Michał Jerzy Poniatowski (1736–1794), Primate of Poland
- Konstancja Poniatowska (1759–1830), was married to Ludwik Tyszkiewicz
- Józef Antoni Poniatowski (1763–1813), General, Marshal of France
- Stanisław Poniatowski (1754–1833), Duke, Grand Treasurer
- Jozef Michal Poniatowski (1814–1873), Tuscan plenipotentiary, French senator, composer and singer
- Michel Poniatowski (1922–2002), French politician
- Elena Poniatowska (b. 1932), Mexican journalist, author and professor.
Coat of Arms
The Poniatowski family used the Ciołek arms.
Coat of Arms of King Stanisław August Poniatowski
Coat of Arms of Stanisław August Poniatowski with collana of Order of White Eagle
Coat of Arms of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwelth from times of regin of Stanisław August Poniatowski, Guard House, Poznań
- Charles Anderson Dana, The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, D. Appleton and company, 1875, Google Print (full text - public domain)
- Jerzy Jan Lerski, Piotr Wróbel, Richard J. Kozicki (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966–1945. Greenwood Publishing. p. 464.
- Granted to Andrzej Poniatowski in 1765 by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
- Granted to Józef Michał Poniatowski and Karol Poniatowski in 1847 in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany
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