The 1863 uprising was directed against Russia, but the insurgents also came from the Polish territories remaining under the Austrian and Prussian partitions. The region of Western Wielkopolska, which at that time belonged to Prussia, was home to the illegal Działyński Committee headed by Count Jan Działyński, Lord of the Kórnik manor. The Committee, having its representatives all over the region, conducted a large-scale smuggling of weapons and volunteers through the Prussian- Russian border, organised whole detachments, and imported offi cers for them, mainly from France. It is no wonder then that numerous volunteers originated from Kórnik and its surroundings. About 50 of them were identifi ed by their full name, but we know that there were many more. 35 years ago comprehensive research on the issue was conducted by Ryszard Marciniak. The author of the article summarizes Marciniak’s research results, supplementing them at some points.

Jean Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine (1745–1830), a French artist working in Poland for the princely family of Czartoryski between 1774 and 1804, made a number of drawings picturing Polish dietines. We currently know his seventeen works devoted to this topic (some of them are his own replicas) as well as three copies of his drawings (one of them is a copy of an original which remains unknown). As many as six of the above works are kept in the collections of the PAN Kórnik Library.

Dietines were regional assemblies of noblemen, which, consisting of elected members of the Sejm and some other officials, decided about taxation, approved decisions of the Parliament, and existed from the 15th until the 18th centuries. They were most often held in churches. As much as their source documentation is rich, their iconography is very scant. This mainly consists of Norblin’s drawings, which for this reason are often reproduced as illustrations of historical or popular science works. They have very rarely been subject to a scientific analysis.

The author shows that Norblin’s Dietines, commonly considered to be drawn on the spot, are not documentaries depicting the reality, but works which manipulate its elements. On the one hand, Norblin was an excellent observer, who could minutely reproduce the realities of the material culture of the 18th century Poland (e.g. the cut of the uniforms of the Polish army, and the kontusz robes, żupan garments, hats, and sabres used by the Polish nobility, which changed between 1774 and 1794) even in quick sketches. At the same time, however, he did not shy away from inaccuracies, which sometimes possibly originated from his fantasy, and sometimes from his biased attitude to the scenes he was drawing. For example, some of the churches shown in his drawings are combinations of various Polish structures. Later, Norblin pictured Polish dietines in Gothic churches of French origins or even utterly fantastic shapes. Additionally, the author’s analysis proves that not a single composition refers to a concrete dietine (such identifications were offered earlier), or shows a concrete moment of the proceedings. Some elements were presented in an exaggerating caricature, or even in contrast to the reality – such as the participants sitting on altars and pulpits, or debating during a Holy Mass – which has never been the case.

Norblin’s attitude to the presented topic changed over time. Initially, he strove to highlight the crisis suffered by the dietine as an institution in the 18th century. It was common for the poorer nobility who had voting rights to “sell” their votes and sabres to the rich candidates for the position of a member of the Sejm, and for sessions to change into disputes and brawls. Norblin’s first drawings show mainly the latter, whereas images depicting proper sessions and the most important personalities, i.e. magnates sitting in the centre of the temples and buying votes from the noblemen, are missing. But no wonder, since the artist’s patron, Prince Czartoryski, was such a magnate.

The situation changed during the reforms adopted by the Sejm between 1788 and 1792, which aimed at the strengthening of the state and the improvement of the political system, including the dietines. Both Prince Czartoryski and Norblin himself were supporters of changes. From then on, the artist focused on a more positive, republican dimension of the dietine as an institution, although he did not entirely resign from grotesque motifs.

However, Russia, Prussia, and Austria soon ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, dividing its land between themselves (1795). Dietines became a part of past history. Eleven years later (1806), on a part of the area of the Commonwealth, Napoleon Bonaparte recreated the Polish state in a rump form and provided it with a constitution, which brought dietines back, although in a very limited dimension. Norblin’s last drawings date back to this period. They were made after the artist returned to France. These last compositions contain allusions concerning Napoleon’s impact on the Polish dietine as an institution. On the other hand, they were also reminiscent of an exotic past. It was for this reason that children and grandchildren of the artist’s former patrons purchased them. In this way, the majority of Norblin’s works found their way to the Kórnik collection created by Tytus Działyński and his son Jan.

Worthy of note, during the Polish uprising against Prussia between 1848 and 1849, one of the artists covered by Tytus Działyński’s patronage created a lithograph showing the meeting of the socalled Polish League, which took place at the church in Kórnik in January 1849. His composition was clearly influenced by one of Norblin’s Dietines kept at the Kórnik Library.

The once famous defence of the manor house at Glanów near Imbramowice (a region of Małopolska) took place on Saturday 15 August, 1863. A detachment of insurgents under the command of the brothers Edward and Gustaw Habich, organised at the cost of Count Aleksander Krukowiecki, crossed the Austrian border to get to the Russian partition, and was attacked by three Moscow detachments by Glanów. The rear-guard comprising 10 insurgents led by the count, with Leon Rutkowski, to whom Glanów manor was leased, and his son Teofi l, defended themselves for several hours in the manor house set afi re by the Russians. Fatalities included a dozen or so Russians, Rutkowski, one insurgent and a woman. The encounter co-created the myth of the January Uprising for several dozens of years. It became the topic of a number of short literary works, but has not been the subject of a historical study so far. The author decided to fill in this gap and reconstructed the history of this encounter in detail, using previously unknown sources: a diary of the participant of the defence, Karol Firganek (…-1913; the work is highly critical towards official publications, which allows one to verify many details), as well as the archives and the tradition of the Novàk family – Leon Rutkowski’s descendants, who are still owners of the manor house at Glanów.

This article discusses the history and architecture of a typical urban smallholding located at ul. Poznańska 13 in Kórnik belonging to the Michałowski family and the daily life which occurred there. The property used to include a house, pig-sties, a stable, and a garden, all of which were located between the main town road and the edge of the lake, as well as a barn and a field situated outside the town. The owner of such an urban smallholding used to be referred to as a civis agricola, or Ackerburger in German. In the 18th century, the holding belonged to the Biniaks, a family o f craftsmen. Towards the end of the century, along with the hand of Katarzyna Biniak (ca. 1764-1844), it became the property of Andrzej Michałowski (1763-1830), a carpenter from the neighbouring town of Bnin. The current house and the surviving outbuildings were built in 1878 by Andrzej’s grandson, Michał Michałowski (1832-1902). It was one of the so-called Grunderzeit investment projects implemented at the beginning of the reign of Wilhelm I, Emperor of Prussia. From Michał, the property was taken over by Franciszek Michałowski (1858-1924) and his wife Anna nee Szelążkiewicz (1878-1962). The author extensively discusses the daily life in the smallholding in the first decades of the 20th century on the basis of written and oral sources collected also from their son Stanisław (1903-1984) and granddaughter Bogusława Michałowska-Kowalska (*1931), the author’s mother. Some furniture, windows, doors, paintings, daily objects, and numerous documents from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century have managed to survive in the house until today. The later history of the property reflects the subsequent changes taking place in the life of the region and the country. After Franciszek’s death, Anna rebuilt the house, which ceased to be one household, becoming several tenant flats. During the Nazi occupation, Anna Michałowska was displaced, and deprived of her right to the property for the benefit of a German woman (Ursula Lehmann?). After 1945, the communist authorities assigned several families to live in the household, leaving only one room for Anna’s son, Stanisław. At that time, his political career (as an MP and as Deputy Mayor of Grudziądz in the 1930s; he was a member of the underground national authorities during the occupation) had been broken. During Stalinist times, he was imprisoned and was unable to practice his profession. It was then that he came back to Kórnik and the house became again the centre of a smallholding. Currently, it is the living place of the author - Stanisław’s grandson - and his closest family.

The letter, written by a participant of the Polish 1863 uprising in Poznan on 20 June 1863, was purchased from Bertrand Malvaux, an antiquarian from Nantes (“Arts militaires, souvenirs historiques”, 22, rue Crebillon) by Tomasz Paciorek in 2014, and was subsequently published by Jacek Kowalski in the form of a transcription and translation into Polish with a comprehensive commentary. The letter was probably authored by Victor-Alexandre Vayssière, second lieutenant (sous-lieutenant) serving in the 76th régiment de ligne stationed in Nantes, and was addressed to a Bareit (possibly Jules-François Bareit), serving as a second lieutenant in the 93rd régiment de ligne from Bayonne in 1864. Vayssière came to Poznan with a group of French volunteers brought by Count Jan Działyński from Kórnik. He participated in the insurgent campaign led by Leon Young (Junk, Jung) de Blankenheim, whose trail of battles and death are described [in the letter]. However, Vayssiére did not take part in the fighting due to an injury. He claimed that he was later off ered a promotion to the rank of a lieutenant and the command of a new expedition. Sources confirm Vayssière’s work on the preparation for the expedition, but do not mention his promotion to the rank of a lieutenant, or his participation in the expedition, which finished in a defeat suff ered on 15 July. Having returned to France, Vayssière (if identifi cation of this person is correct) took part in the French-Prussian war as a captain, defending the Belfort citadel – for which he was awarded the Legion of Honour.