Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (40.1999)

had many opportunities to see at close ąuarters the well-known manufactures,
foundries and grinderies supported by August II. High officials of the court
gradually came to believe that industrialisation is a right way to improve the
generał standard of living. The ruler’s influence was most tangible among his
closest officials, for example the Grand Hetman of the Crown Army Adam
Mikołaj Sieniawski or the Grand Marshal of the Crown Franciszek Bieliński,
both working for the king from the outset of his rule. This circle of the closest
officials mcluded also the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Karol Stanisław
Radziwiłł (1669-1719)1 and his wife, Anna Radziwiłł, nee Sanguszko (1676-
-1746),2 * one of the most interesting women in Poland during the Saxon
dynasty and her two sons, the Palatine of Vilnius, Grand Hetman of the
Lithuanian Army Michał Kazimierz (1702-1762)1 and the Grand Standard-
bearer of the Lithuanian Army Hieronim Florian (1715-1760).4

From the mid-fifteenth until the partitions in the end of the eighteenth
century the prince family of Radziwiłłs played a very important, often decisive
role in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and then in all Poland. Excellent family
connections and enormous wealth gave them influence not only on the interior
policy but also on economic development. Always careful about their image,
the Radziwills initiated many artistic undertakings and the artisans brought by
them to Poland left lasting marks of their skill.

Worthy of special esteem in this respect was a lady “of great wisdom”,
Princess Anna Radziwiłł nee Sanguszko who, due to the high position of her
husband, was the first lady of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was she
who took notice of extraordinary role of agriculture, industry and trade as
warranties of economic growth and by introducing the basis for modern
administration Anna Radziwiłł reformed her own estates. During the period
of the Princess’ activity the first European-style manufactures in the Polish-
-Lithuanian Republic were established.

Very little can be said about the private life of the Princess’ as only few
documents concerning her marriage were preserved. The only archival

1 “Radziwiłł Karol Stanisław”, entry by A. Rachuba, in Polski Słownik Biograficzny, XXX, 1987,
pp. 240-248; in 1715 August II awarded him with the Order of the White Eagle for faithful service
and endowed him with many crown lands.

“Radziwiłłowa z Sanguszków Anna Katarzyna”, entry by W. Karkucińska, in Polski Słownik
Biograficzny, XXX, 1987, pp. 384-387; E. Łopaciński, “Zamek w Białej Podlaskiej, materiały
archiwalne”, Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, XIX, 1957, pp. 27—48; T. Kondratiuk, Mecenat Anny
z Sanguszków Radziwiłłowej (1676-1746), Biała Podlaska 1986.

“Radziwiłł Michał Kazimierz”, entry by H. Dymnicka-Wołoszyńska, in Polski Słownik Bio-
graficzny, XXX, 1987, pp. 299-306.

“Radziwiłł Hieronim Florian”, entry by H. Dymnicka-Wołoszyńska, in Polski Słownik Bio-
graficzny, XXX, 1987, pp. 185-188.

Anna Radziwiłł nee Sanguszko łost her parents at an early age - her father, Hieronim Sanguszko
the Starost of Suraż died in 1684 and her mother Konstancja Sapieha in 1691. The Princess was
brought up outside home, probably in the boarding school run by the nuns of the Visitation in
Warsaw and then in the school of nuns of the Holy Sacrament, wherefrom ąueen Maria Kazimiera
Sobieska took her to court; according to other sources Anna Radziwiłł was educated by the nuns
of St Clare in Yilmus. In 1692, at the age of sixteen, she was married to Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł,

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