Wokół powrotu Kajetana Sołtyka z deportacji do Rosji

ON THE RETURN OF KAJETAN SOŁTYK FROM DEPORTATION TO RUSSIA

The author presents a fragment of the biography of the Krakow Bishop, Kajetan Sołtyk, from the time of his return to the country from captivity of Kaługa in 1773. On the basis of witnesses’ accounts and occasional poetry, the social moods aroused by the arrival of the bishop to Warsaw and Krakow are presented. In the light of these materials, Kajetan Sołtyk appears as a Christian martyr and the victim of the ambassador Nikolai Repnin and Stanislaus August, who immediately after the bishop’s return unsuccessfully tried to win him for their political purposes. The author points to to the fact that there was much less poetry inspired by the bishop’s return to the country in comparison with works about his captivity. What is more, he notes that in comparison with other people imprisoned with Sołtyk, his return was probably celebrated with the smallest number of poems, which seems to be explained by the bishop’s diminishing significance in the politically tense situation of the country.