Aleksander Chodkiewicz

Count Aleksander Franciszek Chodkiewicz (4 June 1776, Chernobyl - 24 January 1838, Młynów) was a Polish writer, playwright, chemist, lithographer, patron of the arts, collector, military officer and politician. Biography He was the son of Count Jan Mikołaj Chodkiewicz, the Starost of Żmudź, and his wife, Maria Ludwika Rzewuska (1744–1816), daughter of the poet and Hetman, Wacław Rzewuski. He originally studied at home then, after 1790, attended a private boarding school for the nobility. He took part in the Kościuszko Uprising, becoming a Major in the National Guard. When the uprising failed, he settled in Volhynia, devoting himself to scientific and literary work, as his estates had been sequestered. He was a member of the Sejm in 1809. During the Austro-Polish War, he organized secret patriotic activities. When Napoleon's armies took Vilnius, he became a member of the Armed Forces Committee of the Lithuanian Provisional Governing Commission. Appointed a Colonel, he created his own regiment and became an Adjutant to General . In 1812, he was sent to Warsaw, then spent eleven months in the besieged Modlin Fortress. After its surrender by General Herman Willem Daendels, Chodkiewicz refused to cooperate, and was taken prisoner by the Russians for a brief period. In 1818, at his own request, he was dismissed from service with the rank of Brigadier-General. The following year, he was appointed to the Senate of the Kingdom of Poland; a satellite state of the Russian Empire. His service was cut short by decree, after only six months, when he felt insulted by Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich and strongly opposed his policies on the Senate floor. From 1820 to 1825, he served as a Deputy in the Sejm, representing the area around Sandomierz.