Butterwick, Richard; Butterwick - Pawlikowski, Richard; (2022) Zakusy biskupów litewskich na biskupstwo krakowskie pod koniec XVIII wieku [The Attempts of Lithuanian Bishops to Gain the Bishopric of Kraków towards the End of the Eighteenth Century]. Studia Waweliana , XX/XXI pp. 137-144.

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Abstract

Cardinal Jerzy Radziwiłł was the only bishop of Vilnius (Wilno) to become bishop of Cracow. From the start of the seventeenth century, only citizens of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania held the bishopric of Vilnius and none were translated to other sees. Radziwiłł, however, was not the last Lithuanian bishop to seek the bishopric of Cracow, which was the most lucrative in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and one of the wealthiest in early modern Europe. The article reveals several attempts made behind the scenes by Ignacy Jakub Massalski, bishop of Vilnius between 1762 and 1794, and Józef Kazimierz Kossakowski, bishop of Livonia between 1781 and 1794, who became Massalski’s coadjutor in Vilnius in 1792, to obtain the see of Cracow and to draw on its revenues. Their lobbying involved the Russian ambassador Otto von Stackelberg, King Stanisław August and his brother Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, as complex plans of multiple episcopal translations were drafted and contested by interested parties. The ambitions and unpopularity of Massalski, Kossakowski and Poniatowski, who retained the administration of the diocese of Cracow after his elevation to the archbishopric of Gniezno and primacy of Poland in 1785, all contributed to the controversial decision by the Four Years’ Sejm to secularize the estates of the bishopric of Cracow and embark on a wider rationalization of episcopal boundaries, responsibilities and revenues. In 1793 Kossakowski gained control of the secularized properties of the bishopric of Cracow under the counter-revolutionary confederate regime, only to be deprived of them by the sejm later that year. Both Massalski and Kossakowski were hanged for treason during the Insurrection of 1794. However, a full assessment of them should acknowledge the efforts of the former to bring the light of faith and reason to the flock of his huge diocese, and the talents of the latter, which he also employed on behalf of enserfed peasants.

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