Ludwika Sosnowska | |
---|---|
Princess | |
![]() Portrait by Joseph Grassi | |
Coat of arms | ![]() |
Born | 1751 |
Died | 6 December 1836 Rivne | (aged 84–85)
Noble family | Nałęcz |
Husband | Józef Lubomirski |
Issue | Henryk Ludwik Lubomirski Fryderyk Wilhelm |
Father | Józef Sosnowski |
Mother | Tekla Despot-Zenowicz |
Ludwika Sosnowska (1751 – 6 December 1836) was a Polish aristocrat, who co-translated the first physiocratic work from French to Polish, had an affair with the military engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko but ultimately married Prince Jozef Lubomirski.
Born in 1751 Sosnowska was a Polish noblewoman, who was the daughter of Józef Sosnowski the Field Lithuanian Hetman and one of the richest men in Poland.[1][2] As a young woman, Sosnowska had an affair with Tadeusz Kościuszko, who at the time was working as her tutor.[1][2] She and Kościuszko tried to elope, but were thwarted by her father, who did not want her to marry Kościuszko.[2] He was forced to leave Poland for France under the threat of death.[3][4] Whilst she was Kościuszko's pupil Sosnowska and her sister made the first translation from French to Polish of a work on physiocracy.[2]
After the affair, Sosnowska was confined to a convent.[5] She then married Prince Jozef Lubomirski - a match organised by her father.[6] In 1788 Sosnowska used her position as a Polish princess to petition the king for an appointment for Kościuszko in the Polish army.[7] Due to financial problems, her husband in 1794 transferred her pledged property in Rivne, which she got out of debt. They had three children, Henryka Ludwika and Fryderyk Wilhelm and a daughter Helena.[8] She died on 6 December 1836 in Rivne.
Much emphasis has been placed by biographers of Tadeusz Kościuszko on the role of this failed love affair in his life.[9] Historian Halina Filipowicz suggested that the focus on this heterosexual affair by biographers could have been used as a device to hide homosexual inclinations.[9]
Sosnowska and her affair with Kościuszko feature in the play Lekcja polskiego (pl) by Anna Bojarska (pl).[10] In her play she sends him a ring engraved with the words "To Virtue from Friendship".[10]