Polish politician, author of the national anthem
Wybicki was born on 29 September, 1747 in Bendomin, in northern Poland. He had seven sisters, at least four of whom became nuns, and a brother, who was a priest. After graduating from the Jesuit College in Danzig, he quickly entered into politics and became a member of the Sejm (parliament) of 1767-1768, which later became known as the Repnin Sejm (named after the repressive Russian Ambassador Repnin), fighting against Russia's influence. In 1775 he married Cunegonde Drweska but she died a few months later. He married Ester Wierusz a few years later and had three children; Teresa, Lucas and Josef. He subsequently joined the Confederation of the Bar, which, at the time, was close to the reformed royal party. After the defeat of the Confederation, he went to the Netherlands and studied at the University of Leiden under a false name. From 1777 he was a member of the Commission of National Education and contributed to the reforms at the University of Vilna. He was appointed secretary of a commission which drafted the Zamoyski Code, a document of legal rights published in 1778. This Code was, however, rejected by the Sejm in 1780, after which Wybicki returned to his estate and somewhat retired a little from political life, although he was present at the Great Sejm (1788-1792). In the aftermath of the Polish-Russian war, he joined the Targowica Confederation.
In 1794, Wybicki took part in the Kosciuszko uprising and was a member of the Supreme National Council. It was about this time that Wybicki met the General Dombrowski. After the failure of the insurrection in 1795, he moved to Paris and was the main journalist for the “Agency”, one of the Polish governments which appeared in Paris. He helped Dombrowski form the Polish Legions in Italy and in July 1797 composed the Mazurek Dabrowskiego in Réggio nell'Emilia, near Parma, which from then on became the national anthem.
In 1805 he became a member of the Society of Friends of Learning. He played an important role in the autumn of 1806, when he, together with General Dombrowski, issued a proclamation on 3 November calling the Poles to arms against the Prussians. He was then a member of the Governing Commission, dealing with the organisation of the administration and supplying the French army. Following the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, Wybicki received the Légion d'honneur but did not take part in the Duchy's government. Instead he became a senator and a voivode, and from 1809 he was a prefect in the Poznan region. He was the leader, along with Dombrowski, of the Landowners' Party in the region of Greater Poland. He spent his last years in his estates at Manieczki and died on 10 March, 1822.
LS, August 2014