Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha

Prince Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha
225px Portrait by Józef Pitschmann (1787)
Coat of arms	Lis
consort	Anna Cetner h. Przerowa
Noble family	Sapieha
Father	Jan Sapieha
Mother	Elżbieta Branicka
Born	(1757-02-14)February 14, 1757 Brześć Litewski, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died	May 25, 1798 Vienna, Austrian Empire

Prince Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha (1757–1798) was a Polish-Lithuanian noble (szlachcic) and one the creators of the Constitution of May 3.

Biography

Early life and career

Kazimierz Sapieha was educated at the Knight School in Warsaw from 1767 until 1771, and later studied in Italy. Upon his return he served as Artillery General of Lithuania, from 1773 to 1793. As Deputy from Brzesc Litewski, he participated in several Sejms. Most notably, from 1790 he participated in the Four-Year Sejm in Warsaw, and became Sejm Marshal from October 6, 1788, until May 29, 1792, and Marshal of the Lithuanian Confederation.

Politics

An early supporter of the magnate opposition to any liberalization (his uncle Hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki was its leader), Sapieha changed his position under the influence of Stanisław Małachowski, and became a supporter of reforms, and the May 3rd Constitution. He strongly protested, when King Stanisław August Poniatowski joined the Targowica Confederation, and this so angered Sapieha, that he decided to leave Poland. He briefly settled in Dresden. After the outbreak of the Kościuszko Uprising, he returned to his homeland and participated in the uprising, holding the rank of an Artillery Captain. After the Uprising collapsed, he left Poland again, and spent the rest of his life in exile in Vienna, where he died 1798.

Awards

• Knight of the Order of the White Eagle, awarded on January 1, 1779.