Czartoryska, Isabella (1746–1835)

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Czartoryska, Isabella (1746–1835)

Polish writer, patriot and countess. Name variations: Princess Izabela Czartoryska or Czrtoryska; Countess of Flemming or Fleming. Born Izabela Flemming (also seen as Fleming) in Warsaw, Mar 3, 1746; died at Wysock, Galicia, Austria, June 17, 1835; dau. of Count Jerzy von Flemming (1699–1771) and Antoinette Czartoryska (1728–1746); m. Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, 1761; children: 2 sons; 3 daughters, including Zofia Czartoryska and Marie Anna Czartoryska (1768–1854, 1st wife of Louis Frederick Alexander, duke of Wurttemberg).

Met Benjamin Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire in Paris (1772); transformed Czartoryski Palace at Pulawy into meeting place for intellectuals; during last partition of Poland, endured her 2 sons being taken by Catherine II the Great as hostages (1795); after the Warsaw insurrection, rebuilt the ruined palace and established Temple of Sybil for Polish antiquities (1796), the 1st Polish museum; wrote 1st popular histories of Poland, including Pielgrzym w Dobromilu (A Pilgrim in Dobromil, 1818).

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