“My Parents Resolved to Place Me under the Care of Her Serene Highness Princess Sapieha”. Youthful Memoirs of Stanisław Mikołaj Treter from His Stay at the Court of Teofila Strzeżysława Sapieha, née Jabłonowska

Abstract

Against the backdrop of memoir writing in the Stanisławian era, the diaries kept in childhood and youth by Stanisław Mikołaj Treter constitute a remarkable phenomenon. Texts of this kind, written by a minor in the second half of the eighteenth century, are indeed rare. The subject of this article is the young Treter’s notes from the period of his stay at the court of Teofila Strzeżysława Sapieżyna, née Jabłonowska, presented as an important testimony to the process of education and the shaping of a young nobleman’s attitudes. The starting point for the analysis is the parents’ decision to place their seventeen-yearold son at a magnate court, which was intended to complement his earlier home education conducted by his father, Stanisław Kajetan Treter. The boy’s notes, documenting his everyday life, reveal an orderly courtly reality dominated by chancellery duties, language learning, musical exercises, and religious practices. Participation in social and artistic life also played an important role, enabling the young author to internalize the norms governing elite society. The diaries of Stanisław Mikołaj Treter constitute a significant contribution to research on the history of education, upbringing, and the history of travel. They also constitute a valuable source for exploring the mentality of the younger generation of the Polish nobility during the Enlightenment, shedding light on its values, everyday experiences, and perception of the world.