Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Alfred Józef Potocki (, 29 July 1817 or 1822,

Łańcut Łańcut (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (si ...

– 18 May 1889,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a Polish aristocrat (

szlachcic The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in th ...

), landowner, and a liberal-conservative monarchist Austrian politician and Prime Minister.

Early life

Count Potocki was born on 29 July 1817 (or 1822) in

into a prominent noble family of Polish origin, although a subject of the

Empire of Austria The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

, and inherited the

ordynat In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise aliena ...

'' estates from his father. The son of Count

Alfred Wojciech Potocki Count Alfred Wojciech Potocki hr. Piława (1785–1862) was a Polish nobleman (''szlachcic''), landowner, political and economic activist. Alfred was the 1st ''Ordynat'' of Łańcut estates. From 1809 until 1815 he served in the Polish Army. In ...

and Princess

Józefina Maria Czartoryska Count Alfred Wojciech Potocki hr. Piława (1785–1862) was a Polish nobleman (''szlachcic''), landowner, political and economic activist. Alfred was the 1st ''Ordynat'' of Łańcut estates. From 1809 until 1815 he served in the Polish Army. In ...

. His grandfather was the writer

Jan Potocki Count Jan Potocki (; 8 March 1761 – 23 December 1815) was a Polish nobleman, ethnologist, linguist, traveller and author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a celebrated figure in Poland. He is known chiefly for his p ...

, best known for his famous novel "''

The Manuscript Found in Saragossa ''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'' (; also known in English as ''The Saragossa Manuscript'') is a frame-tale novel written in French at the turn of 18th and 19th centuries by the Polish author Count Jan Potocki (1761–1815). It is narrated ...

''". Alfred Józef Potocki is known for building the magnificent Potocki Palace, a grand residence in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. In 1873 he co-founded the Akademia Umiejetnosci (Polish Academy of Skills) in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. He ran a family distillery, which is today known as

Polmos Łańcut The Polmos Łańcut distillery is one of the oldest producers of liquors and liqueurs in Poland. A small amount of the distillery's output is exported to Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the United States. ...

Career

He was a member of the National

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

of Galicia from 1863 to 1889 and

Sejm Marshal The Marshal of the Sejm , also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm ( pl, Marszałek Sejmu, ) is the speaker (chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th c ...

from 1875 until 1877. From 1875 to 1883 he was governor of Galicia. In 1848 he became a member of the lower house of the Imperial Parliament (''Reichsrat''), the House of Deputies (''Abgeordnetenhaus''), and in 1861 the upper house, the House of Lords ('' Herrenhaus''). He served in the Diplomatic Corps and was Minister of Agriculture of Austria from 30 December 1867 until 15 January 1870, but stepped down over his minority federalist views in the cabinet. He served as Austria's prime minister from 1870 to 1871, and was one of the only two non-Germans who held this office in Austria-Hungary. On 12 April 1870, he became the 5th Minister-President of Cisleithania and simultaneously Minister of Defence. His tenure included the repeal of the 1855

concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Ed ...

. He was unsuccessful in promoting federalism and failing to obtain the cooperation of the Czechs in the Reichsrat he stepped down on 6 February 1871, ushering in a brief interregnum of conservative rule under Count Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart (February 1871 – October 1871) which was equally ineffective in implementing federalism, so that power quickly reverted to liberalism again.

Personal life

On 18 March 1851 in Sławuta, he married Princess Maria Klementyna Sanguszko, heiress of the prominent Sanguszko princely family. Together, they had two sons and two daughters: * Count Roman Potocki (1852–1915), who married Princess Elżbieta Matylda Radziwiłł, eldest daughter of Prince

Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł Prince Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł ( pl, Fryderyk Wilhelm Ferdynand Antoni Radziwiłł; 31 March 183316 December 1904) was a member of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility and a General of the Artillery in the Prussian Army. He was the nephew of Princes ...

and Marie de Castellane. * Countess Julia Potocka (1854–1921), who married Count Vladislaus Branicki. * Countess Klementyna Potocka (1856–1921), who married Count Jan Leon Antoni

Tyszkiewicz Tyszkiewicz is the name of the Tyszkiewicz family, a Polish–Lithuanian magnate noble family of Ruthenian origin. The Lithuanian equivalent is Tiškevičius; it is frequently transliterated from Russian and Belarusian as Tyshkevich. Other peopl ...

, son of Count Michał Tyszkiewicz. * Count Józef Mikołaj Potocki (1862–1922), who married Princess Helena Augusta Radziwiłł, younger daughter of Prince

. Count Potocki died on 18 May 1889 in

Awards

* Knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

* Order of the Steel Crown * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen * Order of Carol III

Bibliography

* W. Goldinger – J. Zdrada: Potocki, Alfred Graf. In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Band 8, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1983, , S. 230. * Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon Band 16, Leipzig 1908, S. 235. * Christian Schärf: Ausgleichspolitik und Pressekampf in der Ära Hohenwart. Die Fundamentalartikel von 1871 und der deutsch-tschechische Konflikt in Böhmen. Verlag Oldenbourg, München 1996, , S. 75.

References

External links

Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Potocki, Alfred

Personensuche: Potocki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potocki, Alfred Jozef 19th-century births 1889 deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Łańcut People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Alfred Jozef Potocki Counts of Poland Ministers-President of Austria Members of the Imperial Diet (Austria) Members of the House of Lords (Austria) Governors of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Marshals of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria 19th-century Ministers-President of Austria 19th-century Polish landowners Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary