Piotr Kmita Sobieński, Piotr Kmita Sobiński of the Kmita noble family, Count of Wiśnicz, Szreniawa, was Grand Marshal of the Crown from 1529 onwards, voivode and starosta of Krakow, starosta of Spiš, starosta of Przemyśl, starosta of Koleński, Castellan of Sandomierz, one of the richest and most influential persons in contemporary Poland.
Background
He was the heir of 28 villages, including Wiśnicz, Sobienia and many royal estates, among others, Lipnica Murowana. He was the younger son of Stanisław Kmita and Katarzyna of Tarnowski, husband of childless Barbara Kmita of Herburtów, who inherited from him, among others things, Lesko and Zagórz).
Career
An educated person who was a lover of books He gathered a considerable amount of books in the castle Wiśnicz. He was also an ardent supporter of Erasmus of Rotterdam.
He spent his youth at the court of Emperor Maximilian I, where he distinguished himself for his military valor and humanistic refinement.
In 1524 he defeated the Turkish army in Terebovl. In 1520 he received from Sigismund I the Old the right to collect tributes on the roads to Ustjanowa Dolna.
He traveled to Hungary in support of John Zápolya, and entered the so-called triumvirate at Bőny, alongside Piotr Gamrat and Andrzej Krzycki. In 1532 he became castellan of Sandomierz, and starosta of Bőny in 1533.
In 1535 he acquired the Sandomierz province, which in 1536 came to be part of KrakóWest
In 1523 he received from Emperor Charles V, the title of Count of Wiśnicz. He was a patron of culture, his court in Wiśnicz was one of the finest centers of Polish Renaissance, gathering the era of the best minds of lawyers, writers and poets. Kmita financed the publishing poems of Klemens Janicki, Stanislaw Orzechowski, and courtier Marcin Bielski.
He also aroused the admiration of his contemporaries in Europe like Desiderius Erasmus, who dedicated his work to him.
Kmita died without descendants on 31 October 1553, and his funeral took place a month later. He was buried in the now defunct Saint Anthony Chapel in the Wawel Cathedral, in his family mausoleum.
He is one of the characters on the famous painting by January Matejko, Prussian Homage. Petrus Cmitha comitus a Vyssnycze, palatinus et capitaneus Cracoviensi, regni Poloniae supremus marsalcus ac Scepusiensi, Premisliensi, Sandecensem et Colensi capitaneus (1540).
Membership
In 1518, he became Marshal of the Crown Court and in 1522 member of the Polish parliament on the Reich of Nuremberg.