This is a study of the extraordinary political career of Prince Adam Czartoryski, a Polish patriot who rose to become foreign minister of the Russian Empire under Tsar Alexander I. A controversial figure in the history of both Poland and Russia, Czartoryski played a leading role in the struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte and was instrumental in the establishment of a Polish state at the Congress of Vienna.
W. H. Zawadzki's scholarly and perceptive account, based on intensive research, explores the personal, political, ideological, and economic bases of Czartoryski's long association with Russia. He assesses his role in international relations during the Napoleonic era, and examines his contribution to the cause of enlightened reform. Czartoryski emerges as an intellectualizing statesman, a committed opponent of Napoleonic imperialism, an advocate of a new European order based on nationality and liberal constitutionalism, and an early exponent of Pan-Slavism.
A Man of Honour sets Czartoryski in his context as a major figure in the political history of early nineteenth-century Europe and deepens our understanding of the complex elements at work in the emergence of modern Poland.
Industry Reviews
`a fitting sequel to Zamoyski's The Last King of Poland. ... Zawadzki deserves high praise for his meticulous scholarship ... Both combine readability with high academic standards; and both have helped to make long neglected major subjects more accessible.'
Norman Davies, Times Literary Supplement
`Zawadszki's studiously researched and nicely written study is a major contribution to understanding the Napoleonic period, and will be eagerly welcomed by historians. ... Those who take an interest in the future of Europe would do well to read this book. '
Adam Zamooyski, A Man of Honour
'Zawadzki's large new biography is a major work of scholarship, making extensive use of primary sources ... it provides a penetrating picture of Russo-Polish relations.'
Times Higher Education Supplement
'This is one of the best, if not the best, book in the English language on the tangled politics and diplomacy of Eastern Europe in the early decades of the nineteenth century.'
Jerzy Lukowski, University of Birmingham, The Slavonic Review, Vol. 72, Pt 2
`tells the story with accuracy, fullness and imagination the story of the most notable "Notable" of both his family and his people at these stages of Polish history. Without the gargantuan research so evident in every single paragraph, the author could not even have begun the piecing together of so accurate an anlysis of his subject...his book illuminates the international relations of the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean and East European worlds to a most
commendable degree.'
EHR
`quite excellent work ... W.H. Zawadzki tells with accuracy, fullness and imagination the story of the most notable 'Notable'... illuminates the international relations of the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean and East European worlds to a most commendable degree ...Overall, this work is a triumph of research, thought and organization.'
Michael Hurst, St John's College, Oxford, EHR Feb. 96
