page_title: Szlachta
section_title: The role of women as purveyors of culture
hierarchical_section_title: Szlachta / Cultural and international connections / The role of women as purveyors of culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Barbara Urszula Sanguszkowa (1718-1791) Polski: Portret Barbary z Duninów Sanguszkowej (1718-1791) Українська: Портрет другої дружини маршалка ВКЛ Павла Карла Санґушка Барбари з Дунінів Санґушкової
context_page_description: The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class in the Kingdom of Poland and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Grand Duchy and its neighbouring Kingdom became a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
  The origins of the szlachta are obscure and are the subject of several theories. Traditionally, its members were landowners, often in the form of "manorial estates" or so-called folwarks. The nobility won substantial and increasing political and legal privileges for itself throughout its entire history until the decline and end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Apart from providing officers for the army, among its chief civic obligations were electing the monarch, plus filling advisory and honorary roles at court, e.g., Stolnik - "Master of the King's Pantry," or their assistant, Podstoli, and in the state government, e.g. Podskarbi, "Minister to the Treasury". They served as elected representatives in the Sejm and in local Sejmiki assemblies, appointing officials and overseeing judicial and financial governance, including tax-raising, at the provincial level.
context_section_description: High-born women in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth exerted political and cultural influence throughout history in their own country and abroad, as queens, princesses 
  and the wives or widows of magnates. Their cultural activities came into sharper relief in the 18th century with their hosting of salons in the French manner. They went on to publish as translators and writers and as facilitators of educational and social projects.
  Notable women members of the szlachta who exerted political and/or cultural influence include:
  Queen Jadwiga
  Bona Sforza
  Zofia Lubomirska
  Anna Jabłonowska
  Elzbieta Lubomirska
  Eleonora Czartoryska
  Izabela Czartoryska
  Barbara Sanguszko
  Tekla Teresa Lubienska
caption: Barbara Sanguszko, philanthropist, writer and salon hostess at Poddębice. Oil by Marcello Bacciarelli
exif: {}