Early life and education
He was born on Sunday, 30th of July 1871 in Warsaw. Son of the fourteenth Entailer of Zamość, founder of the Zamojski Entailer's Library in Warsaw (19th of March 1868), Tomasz Franciszek Zamoyski (coat-of-arms Jelita) (1832-1889) and Maria Anna Natalia nee Potocka (coat-of-arms Pilawa) from Podhajce (1850-1945). A member of the ancient family, whose progenitor is considered to be Tomasz of Łaźnin (the surname Zamoyski began to be used by his son, Florian, who died in 1515). He was the fifteenth owner of an ancestral estate established by the Grand Chancellor Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605), with the consent of the three Sejm states on 8th of July 1589. He spent his childhood with his siblings (Paweł, Andrzej, Teresa and Krystyna) and his parents partly in Warsaw, and partly on the estate of his maternal grandfather, Maurycy Potocki, who administered the estates of Jabłonna and Zator. He was educated at home until the age of fourteen. In 1885, together with his brother Tomasz, he left for Leszno (then Lissa in the Kingdom of Prussia/German Empire), where he lived in a hostel and attended secondary school. He then formed friendships with the local youth, friendships that would last for years. For holidays he always came to the village of Klemensów, the seat of the family, where there was a palace built in 1744-1747 by the 7th Entailer Tomasz Antoni Zamoyski (1707-1752). After his father's death on 21st of December 1889, his paternal uncle Konstanty Zamoyski from Kozłówka and his mother became the guardians of the estate - it was not until 1892 that he began to govern on his own. In 1890, he went to study at the Technische Hochschule in the Württemberg capital Stuttgart, and we know little about that period of his life. What we do know is that he then made a close acquaintance with a group of prominent Polish painters residing in nearby Bavaria: Józef Chełmoński (1849-1914), Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936), Julian Fałat (1853-1929) and Wojciech Kossak (1856-1942), who significantly influenced his artistic taste.Activity
On his return to the country, he took charge of the affairs of his vast estates. In addition, he inherited from his uncle Karol Zamoyski the estate of Stara Wieś near Warsaw, as a complex not forming part of the Zamojski Entail, and that was his private property. There he established a horse farm, a racing stable and a model boarding school for boys. He first became known as a social activist in 1898 when he joined the committee for the construction of Adam Mickiewicz monument, contributing his own money (the monument was unveiled on 24th of December 1898). He was also part of the committee for the construction of the Warsaw Zachęta gallery. When its edifice was opened, and the Warsaw auxiliary bishop Kazimierz Ruszkiewicz (1836-1925) consecrated the building on 15th of December 1900, Zamoyski organised a festive banquet on the occasion at his headquarters in the Blue Palace [Pałac Błękitny] with Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) in attendance. In his address to the host, Sienkiewicz emphasised the duties to the homeland incumbent on Zamoyski by virtue of his social position and his name, so important in the history of Poland. Zamoyski also participated in other such initiatives in the capital, including being instrumental in the construction of the Warsaw Philharmonic (inaugurated on 5th of November 1901), and subsequently from his own money purchasing instruments for it to the tune of 62,000 roubles. He was also president of several organisations supporting their members or people in need in general: the Association of Christian Carpenters, the Mianowski Fellowship Council, the Lublin Charity Society, then the Warsaw Charity Society. He also took care of the collection of the Zamość Entail ibrary, founded a common school in Zwierzyniec and a hospital for the Entail employees. However, it was not thanks to his extensive philanthropic endeavours that he earned a place in family history, but primarily because of his political achievements. Around 1901, he personally met Roman Dmowski, with whom he bound his fate. He was active in the National League from as early as 1905 (some sources say as early as 1904). He was also a member of the Democratic National Party in the Russian partition. On 15th of May that year, he attended the inaugural meeting of an association whose aim was to run educational institutions in the spirit of Polish patriotism, called the Polish Educational Society. He was elected to its 35-member Supervisory Board, most of which was staffed by DNP activists - the Russian authorities legalised the Society on 21st of June 1906. In 1906, he was elected to the first State Duma, established by the October Manifesto. He was among (out of a total of 478 MPs) 54 deputies of Polish nationality - 36 from the Congress Kingdom, of whom 34 formed the Polish Circle led by Jan Harusewicz (1863-1929), and 19 were organised in the Kresy Circle led by Bishop Edward Ropp (1851-1939). Zamoyski's election took place in the Lublin Governorate, in the Great Property Curia, and he put up his candidature at the express request of Roman Dmowski, as a reward for the help he had so far given to the national movement. He did not sit in the subsequent Dumas (II - IV). When, in 1909, the National Democracy began publishing the „Daily News” [Wiadomości Codzienne] aimed at the Polish peasantry, Zamoyski became the person responsible for its printing. Previously, he had already acquired the „Morning and Evening Messenger” [Goniec Poranny i Wieczorny] and donated it to the DNP. He also subsidised the „Warsaw Newspaper” [Gazeta Warszawska].The Great War and the politics in free Polish state
On the brink of the Great War, following the enthusiastically received „Proclamation of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to the Poles” of 1st of August / 14th of August 1914, Zamoyski was part of a joint initiative of the Party of Real Politics and the National Democrats called the Polish National Committee (PNC), which was established on 25th of November 1914. To distinguish it from the later PNC in Paris, over time it was referred to ove as „the first PNC” or „Warsaw PNC”. It operated under the leadership of the realist Zygmunt Count Wielopolski (1863-1919) and Roman Dmowski was chairman of its Executive Committee. Zamoyski stayed mainly in the Russian capital, where he fought for Polish national causes, being in contact with Warsaw all the time. In addition, his family lived there, which at the beginning of the war he initially moved to Biała Cerkiew, to the estate of his wife's aunt Maria, Countess Branicka, and entrusted their care to his trusted employee Stanisław Witalis Moskalewski (1876-1936), head of the Permanent Income Department in the Main Board of the Entail, who in the future will become the Lublin district governor. Due to the lack of progress on the Polish issue and the reluctance to take a binding stance on it by the Russian government, in November 1915, together with Roman Dmowski, they went to London and Paris. Zamoyski turned out to be extremely helpful to Dmowski in France, where he had numerous connections and acquaintances, and he mastered the French language to perfection. He collaborated with Agence Centrale Polonaise Lausanne promoting Polish aspirations among the leaders of the Triple Entente. In 1916, Zamoyski stayed mainly in England, France and Switzerland, only briefly returning to Petrograd (as St. Petersburg was called from August 18th / August 31st, 1914). At the end of August 1916 Zamoyski went to the West again. In response to the manifesto of November 5, 1916, announcing the resolution of the Polish case by the central states (the creation of a rump state from the lands of the former Congress Poland), a group of a dozen national-democratic activists headed by Dmowski and with the participation of Zamoyski on 11th of November issued the so-called Protes of Lausanne. It was argued that the manifesto only harms the chances of true independence for Poland. Zamoyski felt the affront deeply when, in the company of Count Andrzej Plater-Zyberek from Broel of his own coat of arms (1856-?), he went to Henryk Sienkiewicz, who lived in Lausanne. The writer refused to sign the protest, arguing that the November 5th Act was a positive step towards the internationalization of the Polish case and therefore should not be condemned. A great step forward for the Polish cause was the Acte de creation de l'Armee polonaise of June 4, 1917 signed by the President of the French Republic, Raymond Poincare (1860-1934) and the ministers of foreign affairs and war; promulgated in the Journal Officiel on June 4th, 1917. Soon, on August 15th, 1917, the Polish National Committee, known as the "second" or "Lausanne" one, was established in Lausanne. Like the first, it was the result of cooperation between realists and national democrats, and took over the political leadership of the emerging army, and on September 28th, 1918, the committee obtained full control. Roman Dmowski became the chair of the committee which was a sui generis Polish government, becoming gradually recognized, starting from France, by the Entente countries and Zamoyski became its vice-president and treasurer. After just one week of activity, the Committee moved to Paris, firstly to rue Saint Honore 211 in the 1st district, and from October 1917 to the permanent seat in the now no-longer-existing building- Avenue Kleber 11 bis in the 16th district. Zamoyski himself lived in an apartment near Avenue Marceau. During Dmowski's stay in the USA, where he went in August 1917, Zamoyski managed the work of the PNC on his own. He financed its activities from his own resources, even pledging the family jewels that once belonged to Griselda née Batory Zamoyska (1569-1590), the niece of King Stefan Batory, valued at 6.5 million francs. For comparison, the monthly cost of maintaining the PNC was, according to the calculations of the French who later subsidized the committee, 300,000 francs. The activities of the PNC lasted until its self-liquidation on April 15th, 1919. Earlier, under the agreement with Józef Piłsudski in January 1919 and the expansion by ten people appointed by the Chief of State, a uniform Polish Delegation to the Peace Conference was appointed. Zamoyski was included in the group of experts, i.e. people supporting official delegates. On August 1st, 1919, Zamoyski was nominated to the position of extraordinary envoy and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland in Paris (the rise of Polish-French relations to the level of embassies took place only on November 27th, 1924, under his successor). At the Polish premises located on rue de Marignan in the 8th district, there also was a Congress Work Office It was collecting materials for Polish border recovery, and Zamoyski contributed to its activity from his private funds. He especially served the Homeland when, using his private relations with Alexander Millerand (1859-1943), the then president of France, he launched aid in the form of weapons and a peace mission to General Maxime Weygand in July 1920, to which France was originally not inclined. In February 1921, as an envoy of the Republic of Poland, Zamoyski welcomed Piłsudski in Paris, when the latter came there for a few days to probe French factors in terms of concluding an alliance. Zamoyski participated in the Polish-French alliance agreement of February 19th, 1921. This meant that he was commissioned to immediately prepare a draft of a political agreement in French. He worked on it all night from February 7th to 8th, using only the help of the secretary, Tadeusz Ludwik Romer, of the Laski coat of arms (1894-1978). The text, through the Polish minister of foreign affairs, was then sent to the Quai d'Orsay. The French version was slightly different, so the wording was adopted by way of a compromise. On May 2nd 1922, Zamoyski was awarded the Commander's Cross with the Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta. While he was still performing the duties of Poland's representative in the country on the Seine, his candidacy for the presidency of Poland was proposed - without consulting him. Roman Dmowski personally persuaded him to accept this challenge. The elections were held on December 9th 1922 at a session of the National Assembly (joint Sejm and Senate) and the winner was selected out of five candidates in five rounds; Zamoyski received 222 votes in the first round (41.04% of valid votes), in the second round 228 (41.99%), in the third round 228 (42.14%), in the fourth - 224 (41.48%) and in the deciding fifth - 227 votes (43.99%). The victorious Gabriel Narutowicz received 289 votes, equalling to 56.01%. Zamoyski waited for the news of the vote in Paris and, having obtained this information, sent a telegram of congratulations to Narutowicz. On March 15th 1923, Zamoyski, on behalf of the Polish government, adopted a resolution of the Council of Ambassadors recognizing the eastern border of Poland (thus sanctioning the Treaty of Riga). On May 2nd 1923, he was awarded the Great Ribbon of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Zamoyski served at his post until January 19th 1924, when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second cabinet of Władysław Grabski (1874-1938). Contrary to his previous activities, he did not succeed in this position, both attempts to assemble alliances with the Baltic states (February 1924) and to normalize relations with the Soviet regime ended in failure. However, he was remembered as the one who, unlike his predecessors in this position, treated the League of Nations with attention. He expressed this by appointing a large-format politician, count Aleksander Skrzyński of the Zaremba coat of arms (1882-1931), as the Polish representative in the institution. After the establishment of the Labor government in Great Britain (22nd of January 1924) and the election victory of the Left Cartel in France (25th of May), Prime Minister Grabski began to make it increasingly clear that Zamoyski was too clearly a right-wing foreign minister in relation to this international constellation. The latter understood this very quickly and, not wanting to be a burden for Poland, left the government.Out of politics, last years of life and death
After resigning from ministerial function on July 27th, Zamoyski withdrew from great politics, from then on dealing mainly with the management of his enormous estates. In 1925, the area of the Zamość Entail was 464728.62 acres (1,880, 69 square kms / 725,87 square miles - sic!), of which forest complexes divided into 15 forest districts constituted 351245.47 acres, or 75.88% of the total area. However, not only forest management, but also agriculture, brought profits (new crops were introduced, their acreage was increased at the expense of pastures and forests). Moreover, Zamoyski was the owner of the Sugar Factory "Klemensów" in Klemensów, built for the astronomical sum of 966,000 rubles (the cornerstone was laid on August 4th 1894 and the opening took place on October 31st 1895). The sugar factory did not belong to the Entail, but was only located on its territory and as an industrial plant survived under various names as late as until 2003. Moreover, the brewery, three brickyards and a lime kiln in Bukownica prospered. There was also a factory producing furniture, a weaving mill producing folk clothes, a hulling and a seed drying plant in Chmielnisko. In the Second Polish Republic, the area of the Zamość Estate was systematically shrinking. Due to the extraordinary state tribute, 54,363 acres were parceled out, and the same amount as part of the land reform due to the liquidation of forest services - a total loss of 111,197 acres. Zamoyski, apart from his activity in landowners' organizations, was no longer active in public life. From 1932 he suffered from a heart disease that got worse over time. He died on Friday, May 5th 1939 in Klemensów. Two funeral ceremonies took place: first, on May 8th, a funeral mass in the church of St. Antoni in Warsaw, then, after the body was brought to Zamość, the second funeral mass was held in the local collegiate church, celebrated by the auxiliary bishop of Lublin, Władysław Goral (1898-1945). It was attended by representatives of regional authorities and the army. Maurycy Zamoyski was buried in the crypt of the Zamoyski collegiate church (now the cathedral church) dedicated to the Lord's Resurrection and St. Thomas the Apostle in Zamość.Personal life
He married Princess Maria Róża House of Sapieha, Sapieha on 18 July 1906 in Białka Szlachecka, daughter of Jan Paweł Aleksander, Duke Sapieha-Różański, coat-of-arms Lis (1847-1901), and Seweryna Maria, Countess Uruska, coat-of-arms Sas (1860-1932). This union produced numerous offspring: Maria (1907-2000), Zofia (1908-1999), Róża (1911-2005), the future 16th and last Entailer Jan Tomasz (1912-2005), Andrzej (1914-1986), Władysław (1915-2001), Anna (1920-1983), Paweł Marek (1922-1985), Teresa (1923-1995) and Krystyna (1925-2008).Honours
*Grand Cordon of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) *Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) *Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) *Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark) *Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) *Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy (Italy)Bibliography
* red. Kawęcki K., ''Maurycy Klemens Zamoyski'' [in:] ''Słownik biograficzny polskiego obozu narodowego, t. IV'', Warszawa 2022.See also
*Zamoyski family *List of szlachtaReferences
1871 births 1939 deaths Nobility from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Zamoyski family, Muricy Klemens Counts of Poland Popular National Union politicians Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Second Polish Republic Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Members of the Polish National Committee (1914–1917) Members of the Polish National Committee (1917–1919) Ambassadors of Poland to France Politicians from Warsaw {{Poland-noble-stub