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François Xavier Joseph de Lowendal

1742–1808

Born
28 Dec 1742, Warsaw
Country of birth
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, today Poland
Died
20 Sep 1808, The Hague
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Warsaw

    Birth, Warsaw

  2. Child born: Carl Valdemar Danneskiold-Løvendal

    Birth, Paris

  3. Child born: Komtesse Francoise Marguerite af Danneskiöld-Lovendal

    Birth

  4. Died · The Hague

    Death, The Hague

What was it like?

The world around Warsaw, 1742: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

François was born around the same time as Isabelle de Charrière, Giovanni Paisiello, and Carl Michael Bellman.

Born around the same time

  • Isabelle de Charrière

    1740 · Dutch French-language writer and composer (1740-1805)

  • Giovanni Paisiello

    1740 · Italian composer of the Classical era (1740-1816)

  • Carl Michael Bellman

    1740 · Swedish poet, songwriter and composer (1740–1795)

  • Ivan VI of Russia

    1740 · The fifth Emperor of Russia (1740–1741)

  • Nicolas Chamfort

    1740 · French journalist and moralistic author

  • James Boswell

    1740 · Scottish lawyer, diarist and author (1740–1795)

Fashion

Elaborate Festive Headgear

During festive occasions, women in regions like Chełmskie wore elaborate headpieces constructed from vinca garlands, colorful wool weavings, and ribbons to signify status and abundance. This ritualized headwear was carefully removed after church services and stored for future use.

Essential Peasant Clothing Materials

Peasant clothing for both men and women relied on basic, durable materials like linen shirts, wool garments, and sheepskin coats for warmth. Women often wore aprons and wrapped headcloths, while footwear varied from simple leather shoes to boots.

Music
Around 1745–1746

Cost of a pipe organ in 1745

In 1745, a pipe organ was ordered for a church in Slutsk from Königsberg for 1,000 silver Polish zlotys, with another 1,000 zlotys paid for its transport and installation.

Music for peasants and festivals

Peasants and local gentry danced at inn parties and harvest festivals to the sound of instruments like bagpipes, often performing at celebrations following the completion of agricultural work.

Getting around

Common modes of transportation and travel speeds

Travelers used various wheeled vehicles, such as carriages for the wealthy and simple carts called kolasa for commoners, while poorer people generally traveled on foot. In the 18th century, the expansion of the postal system allowed stagecoaches to travel 60 to 100 kilometers per day on main roads.

Splendid processions of the magnates

Magnates displayed their immense wealth by traveling in elaborate caravans that included dozens of wagons, hundreds of horses, and sometimes exotic animals like camels and pack mules. These processions were grand spectacles that required hundreds of attendants to manage, protect, and serve the noble traveler.

Daily life

Lighting and cooking tools

Light depended on cost: poorer households used tallow candles made from animal fat, while wealthier homes burned more expensive beeswax candles. Cooking tools included suspended cauldrons or three-legged pots used over fires, and iron frying pans.

Peasant homes and cooking smoke

Peasant homes were often smoky huts where smoke escaped through roof holes, though some had chimneys to heat and cook simultaneously. Noble homes separated kitchens from living areas to avoid smoke and heat.

Food

Buckwheat as a Local Delicacy

Buckwheat porridge was a popular delicacy among urban residents, who sometimes used it to bake a cake called tatarczuch.

Preserving Cabbage in Tree Trunks

Middling townspeople often stored sauerkraut in hollowed-out tree trunks to preserve it for winter.

Prices and wages

Uniform cost for a militia guard

In Toruń during the mid-18th century, a city militia guard had to save about 1 złoty polski to purchase missing parts of his uniform.

Around 1740–1740

Treasurer salary at a noble court

Around 1740, the salary for a treasurer in a noble court was 500 tynfs per year, along with clothing and food for their servant and fodder for two horses.

Work

Hardship and Discipline for Serfs

Some peasants consumed poppy seeds to cope with their misery, as they were often left without basic furniture and forced to sleep on straw with their cattle. Travelers reported that field overseers monitored work progress daily and used whips to punish those who failed to meet their tasks.

Industrial Labor and Transport

Zinc ore, or galman, was a major industrial product in the Tenczyn area, with an annual production of 600 to 800 barrels. Peasants were obligated to transport this ore by sledges during winter to river ports on the Vistula.

News and letters

Efficient and Secure Postal Service

During the 18th century, the Polish postal system was remarkably efficient and fast, with regular mail routes allowing for swift delivery even during times of war. Letters and documents were highly secure, and the system often surpassed international standards for confidentiality.

Mail Dispatch Frequency Varies

Postal delivery frequency varied by route importance; while major routes like Warsaw to Breslau (Wrocław) had mail dispatches twice a week, other connections, such as the route between Warsaw and Vilnius, were serviced only once every 14 days in the early 18th century.

During their lifetime

  1. 1747

    William IV appointed stadtholder in 1747

    In 1747, William IV was appointed the first stadtholder of all provinces, a response to widespread unrest and economic crisis.

  2. 1751

    Death of Stadtholder William IV

    Stadtholder William IV died at the age of 40, leading to a regency under his wife Anna for his young son.

  3. 1772

    First Partition of Poland annexations

    Prussia annexed West Prussia, acquiring 36,000 square kilometers and approximately 600,000 people, which significantly impacted local administration and demographics.

  4. 1773

    Construction of the Bydgoski Canal

    The Bydgoski Canal was constructed, creating a vital waterway connection between the Brda and Noteć rivers to improve regional trade transport.

  5. 1780

    Fourth Anglo-Dutch War begins

    The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War broke out over trade disputes, leading to a disastrous defeat that signaled the end of Dutch economic dominance.

  6. 1782

    Diplomatic recognition of the United States

    The Dutch Republic became the second European nation to officially recognize the United States of America as an independent country.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.