Born: 3 March 1746, Poland
Died: 15 July 1835
Country most active: Poland
Also known as: Elżbieta Dorota Flemming
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Isabela Czartoryska was descended from the family of Fleming, that had emigrated to Poland from Holland, and received the rank of nobility during the time of August, King of Poland and Saxony. Her father was wealthy and powerful, with great possessions in Poland and Holland. At the age of fifteen she was married to Prince Adam Czartoryski, a prominent figure of the time, who was distinguished by unusual qualities of heart and mind. Under her husband’s influence, Isabela also became one of the outstanding women of the generation. On her husband’s estate, Pulawy, she restored the Palace and the Library, and caused to be erected a beautiful shrine of Sybil, and the Pantheon. She also founded an Educational Institute for young people, a school for girls, and a school for the children of peasants. Pulawy quickly became the center of literary and political life in Poland. The library was one of the most extensive in Europe, and possesses a priceless collection of books and manuscripts. In her travels throughout Europe, she became acquainted with many eminent writers and savants of otlier countries, and maintained a steady correspondence with Jean Jacques Rousseau and Jacques Delille. Some of her published works are: A Collection of Mementoes in the Gothic Hall at Pulawy, The Pilgrim from Dobromil, and Varied Thoughts. In these books she emphasized the spreading of knowledge and culture in all aspects of community life. She died in Florence in 1837. Her daughter, Marianne, wife of Prince Ludwig of Wittemberg, was also a talented writer whose works received wide recognition. Princess Czartoryska lived during the time of Poland’s greatest tragedy, the Partition, and was one of the women who maintained the culture that enabled Poland to keep an unbroken spirit in the face of adversity.