Wyznanie rosyjskiego jurgieltnika Antoni ze Skrzynna Dunin i jego memoriał z 1735 r.
Confession of a Russian Yurgiltnik Antoni ze Skrzynna Dunin and his memorandum of 1735

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the actions of Antoni ze Skrzynna Dunin during the po-litical crisis in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1733–1736. Not particularly af-fluent, albeit a well-born and well-connected nobleman, resident of the Vitebsk Voivode-ship, he took advantage of the interregnum after the death of Augustus II and the warfor the Polish throne to try to improve his material and social status. He associated withthe pro-Russian camp, which was a natural choice considering the fact that his wife Jeka-terina (known in sources in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as Regina) was thedaughter of Prince Ivan Trubetskoy, a field marshal and a high official of the Tsar. Ina memorial-petition written in the summer of 1735 addressed to the commander-in-chiefof the Russian troops in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince Ludwig von Hes-sen-Homburg, Antoni Dunin claimed that he went further than merely sympathising with Russia, and also provided specific services for Charles Gustav von Löwenwolde, theambassador of Empress Anna in Warsaw, allegedly even saving his life after warning himabout a planned attack by Polish troops on the ambassadorial headquarters and the Sax-on Palace. His association with the pro-Russian camp meant that Dunin (like his otherrelatives) became a declared supporter of Prince Frederick Augustus II Wettin, crownedAugustus III, ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, on 17 January 1734. Hewas also thought to have served him well in the Vitebsk Voivodeship and in Warsawduring the war for the Polish throne, especially in 1734. For this reason, Antoni Duninexpected to be generously rewarded with dignities, offices, royal lands and money. Bythe autumn of 1735, he was appointed to the offices of the Vitebsk town authorities, theRhaetov and Zahora starosty, and was given a thousand red zlotys by Augustus III. Thisdid not satisfy Dunin, who primarily expected serious material and financial gratifica-tion from the tsar’s court. According to the memorial-petition, he counted on receivingland estate Hory-Horki and at least 8,000 thalers. However, he did not receive such anaward, and what is more, although at the end of 1735 he was promoted to regent of theLithuanian chancellery, and in 1736 he became colonel of the prince’s petyhorcy bannerin the Lithuanian army and received small royal privileges, his public career was thwart-ed. Soon, in the second half of 1738, he died without receiving any further honours, andthe estate inherited by his widow was not very impressive and was burdened with courtcases. During the political crisis of 1733–1736, Antoni Dunin’s attitude did not differmuch from many magnates and noblemen associated with the pro-Russian and pro-Wet-tin camps, who were more concerned with receiving offices, dignities and goods thanthe good of the Republic of Poland. However, he was undoubtedly characterised by tre-mendous determination in striving to achieve specific material benefits, which made himdecide to write down his expectations and present them in the form of a memorandumaddressed to the Duke of Hessen-Homburg. The text of this memorial published in thisarticle proves that serving Russian ambassadors, so familiar from Stanisław’s times, hada much longer tradition.

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