Joachim Chreptowicz was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, writer, poet, politician of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, marshal of the Lithuanian Tribunal and the last Grand Chancellor of Lithuania.
Background
Joachim Chreptowicz was born on January 4, 1729 in the estate of Yasyanets of the Navahrudak Province (now in the Baranavichy district). He was a descendant of a old magnate family of Litavor-Hraptovichs with its roots in the 15th century. The name Litavor is thought to originate from crusaders as his ancestor was called after his homeland Lithuania (Litauer in German).
Members of the dynasty played an important role in the development of education and culture in Belarus, they held important posts in the bodies of supreme power and of local government. Joachim Chreptowicz was a representative of the dynasty’s eleventh generation.
Education
Joachim Chreptowicz received his primary education at home, at his father’s ancestral estate Shchorsy. He studied at the Vilna Academy (for two years), at various educational institutions of Brunsberg, West Prussia( for three years), of Nyasvizh (for 1 year) and then again of Vilna (for 1 year).
Career
After receiving a higher education and a short period of military service, Joachim Chreptowicz held the post of Stolnik (Steward) of Navahrudak (1752), a deputy to the Supreme Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Hrodna district (1753), the representative of Navahrudak and other districts at the Seyms of Rzeczpospolita (1754, 1756, 1758, 1764, 1766), the marshalak (marshal of the nobility) of Navahrudak province (1764). In 1764 he was appointed the Grand Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From 1765 he was the marshalakof the Supreme Tribunal of the Duchy. In 1773 Joachim Chreptowicz was appointed Deputy Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 1791 Joachim Chreptowicz became Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed to the post of Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, his last high position, in 1793 by the Confederation of Targowica. Thus he became the last chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Achievements
In 1773 Joachim Chreptowicz became one of the creators of the Commission for Education, which was the world’s first ministry of education, and for twenty years he was the head of the Department for the Vilna Academy and schools of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During that period the Department achieved a significant success, primarily in increasing the number of schools of various levels and in making education more secular.
During the Four-Year (Great) Seym, (1788-1792) Joachim Chreptowicz offered a number of solutions to some urgent problems. For his service to the state he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle by the last King of Poland a and the Grand Prince of Lithuania Stanislaw Augustus Poniatowski.
Joachim Chreptowicz reorganised the system of running farms by landlords, especially the system of land use by peasants and of imposition duties on them. As a result, the life of peasants in Shchorsy was improved, though it depended also on Joachim Chreptowicz’s philanthropy. There were schools, chemist’s shops and doctors in his estates.
The agricultural reform resulted in a threefold increase in Joachim Chreptowicz’s income. The new system, introduced by him, existed till the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861.The landlord running the estate in Shchorsy was one of the best in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The projects, implemented by Joachim Chreptowicz, included metallurgical works in Vishneva (1778) that existed until 1870 and some enterprises in other estates. In Shchorsy he created a beautiful palace and park ensemble after designs of foreign architects Giuseppe Sacco, Carlo Spampani and Jacob Gabriel. A school, a Uniate church were constructed, a library which was collected through Joachim Chreptowicz’s life with archives were established in the estate. The library of over ten thousand books, included the works by the greatest philosophers, by Roman and Greek authors , Italian and French classical literature as well as the works on the history of Belarus, Lithuania and Poland.
In the late 18th century Joachim Chreptowicz became one of the founders and members of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science. He wrote poems in Polish.
Views
Joachim Chreptowicz proved himself to be an outstanding propagator of physiocratic ideas. He affirmed that human beings with their needs, interests, rights and responsibilities should be at the centre of everything. He treated the society as a body constituting a part of nature and including human beings and their moral principles. Human beings when they lose normal interconnections with nature (being deprived of freedom, security or property) become outcasts, useless for themselves and for the society.
According to Joachim Chreptowicz the moral order depends on the physical order of nature. Moral laws correspond entirely to what is useful and necessary for human beings in their lives. He considered human beings and their abilities (primarily intellectual capabilities) to be the main element of production. He believed that with a proper organization of public life in conformity with requirements of «natural law» there emerge the possibility of continuously increasing material security and education for all.
Connections
Joachim Chreptowicz was married and had 4 sons and a daughter.
