Manifest Lawlessness
The Imperial Diplomat Franz Philipp von Sternberg and the Abduction and Imprisonment of Aleksander Józef Sułkowski, 1759–1760 – Preliminary Remarks
Abstract
The article discusses the actions of imperial diplomacy in connection with the abduction and imprisonment of Aleksander Józef Sułkowski, formerly (until 1738) a friend and favorite of Augustus III Wettin, ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony. The abduction took place on 24 February 1759, when a detachment of Prussian troops invaded his private estates in Greater Poland (Rydzyna) and carried him off first to Wrocław and then to imprisonment in the fortress of Głogów in Silesia. At that time, the Habsburg Empire, which was at war with the Kingdom of Prussia (the Seven Years’ War), was interested in securing the prince’s release and even cooperated on this matter with French diplomacy. However, seeing the complete passivity of Augustus III Wettin on the international stage and the lack of interest of the Polish court in efforts to free Sułkowski. Franz Philipp von Sternberg, Maria Theresa’s diplomat at the Warsaw court, adopted a waiting attitude, leaving the matter of Sułkowski’s release entirely to the decision of the Prussian monarch Frederick II Hohenzollern, which ultimately took place in June 1760.
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