Szymon Marcin Kossakowski (; 1741 in Šilai, Jonava – 1794) was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman (

szlachcic The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social class, a ...

), and one of the leaders of the

Targowica Confederation The Targowica Confederation (, , ) was a confederation established by Polish and Lithuanian magnates on 27 April 1792, in Saint Petersburg, with the backing of the Russian Empress Catherine II. The confederation opposed the Constitution of 3 May ...

. In 1793, he became the last Grand Hetman of Lithuania.

Biography

He participated in the Radom Confederation and the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation (; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles (''szlachta'') formed at the fortress of Bar, Ukraine, Bar in Podolia (now Ukraine), in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian C ...

. He was known as a supporter of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

during the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

and earlier, he was deemed a

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

. In the aftermath of the Vilnius Uprising, he was captured and

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in the town hall square of Vilnius with the inscription of ''He who swings will not drown'' and was buried in the cellars of the church in

Jonava Jonava () is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of . It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport. ''Achema'', t ...

References

1741 births 1794 deaths People from Jonava District Municipality People from Trakai Voivodeship Szymon Field Hetmans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Great Hetmans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Polish generals Bar confederates Targowica confederates People executed for treason against Poland Russian people of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) People executed by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Executed Polish people Executed Lithuanian people People executed by Poland by hanging 19th-century executions 19th-century Polish criminals {{Lithuania-hist-stub