The marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski in the light of newly discovered archival sources

The aim of this article was to verify the image of the betrothal and wedding of Maria Cecylia Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, as well as the repercussions associated with it, in the light of the unknown historiographical archival sources on this subject and by analyzing previously known sources in the context of new facts about the entering into this marriage established on their basis. In the sources describing the circumstances of the marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, I find several repeated events and facts, on the basis of which the chronology of those days is reconstructed. The first is a letter that Ksawera Grocholska sent to Emperor Nicholas I indirectly regarding the arrival of her future son-in-law to Podolia in order to meet her fiancée’s immediate family and obtain the blessing of the bride’s grandfather, Karol Brzozowski. Another theme is the decision to marry off the daughter to the son of a political criminal, thus condemning her to a life away from her relatives living in the Russian Empire. Next, it is necessary to look at the course of the ceremony to be able to consider whether the controversy surrounding this marriage will be reflected in the ceremony itself and the reception that followed it. Finally, fragments of Ksawera Grocholska’s diary and family correspondence discovered in the collections of the State Archives of the Vinnytsia Oblast in Ukraine were analyzed, which allowed to achieve the main goal of the article.

*Artykuł powstał w ramach realizacji działania naukowego finansowanego ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki w ramach konkursu Miniatura 2 w 2019 r. pt.: „Relacje ziemiaństwa polskiego i ziemiaństwa rosyjskiego w życiu codziennym w latach 1867–1917 na Ziemiach Zabranych” (DEC-2018/02/X/HS3/03020).

The aim of this article was to verify the image of the betrothal and wedding of Maria Cecylia Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, as well as the repercussions associated with it, in the light of the unknown historiographical archival sources on this subject and by analyzing previously known sources in the context of new facts about the entering into this marriage established on their basis. In the sources describing the circumstances of the marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, I find several repeated events and facts, on the basis of which the chronology of those days is reconstructed. The first is a letter that Ksawera Grocholska sent to Emperor Nicholas I indirectly regarding the arrival of her future son-in-law to Podolia in order to meet her fiancée’s immediate family and obtain the blessing of the bride’s grandfather, Karol Brzozowski. Another theme is the decision to marry off the daughter to the son of a political criminal, thus condemning her to a life away from her relatives living in the Russian Empire. Next, it is necessary to look at the course of the ceremony to be able to consider whether the controversy surrounding this marriage will be reflected in the ceremony itself and the reception that followed it. Finally, fragments of Ksawera Grocholska’s diary and family correspondence discovered in the collections of the State Archives of the Vinnytsia Oblast in Ukraine were analyzed, which allowed to achieve the main goal of the article.

* Artykuł powstał w ramach realizacji działania naukowego finansowanego ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki w ramach konkursu Miniatura 2 w 2019 r. pt.: „Relacje ziemiaństwa polskiego i ziemiaństwa rosyjskiego w życiu codziennym w latach 1867–1917 na Ziemiach Zabranych” (DEC-2018/02/X/HS3/03020).