Prince Jerzy Ossolià Âski h. Topór (15 December 1595 â 9 August 1650) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), Crown Court Treasurer from 1632, governor (voivode) of Sandomierz from 1636, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire since 1634, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1639, Great Crown Chancellor from 1643, starost of Bydgoszcz (1633), Luboml (1639), Puck and Bolim (1647), magnate, politician, statesman and diplomat. Famous for being extensively educated, he was a skillful politician and a persuasive public speaker.
He is the founder of the Baroque church in Klimontów.
He was the Ambassador of Poland to England in 1621, and Ambassador of Poland to the Papal States in 1633. He negotiated with the Duchy of Prussia in 1635 and led another diplomatic mission to Emperor Ferdinand II and his parliament in Regensburg in 1636. As a leader of the pro-Habsburg faction at the royal court, he found an ally in the first wife of Wà Âadysà Âaw IV Vasa, Cecilia Renata of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand II. In 1639 and 1641 he once again negotiated with envoys from the Duchy of Prussia. A Catholic, he opposed Protestants and advocated limiting their rights and privileges. In his pro-Habsburg and anti-Protestant stance he was allied with Chancellor Albrycht Stanisà Âaw Radziwià Âà  and Queen Cecilia Renata.
In 1643 he was appointed Chancellor of the Crown. A close royal adviser, he often supported king Wà Âadysà Âaw IV Waza from the House of Vasa, arguing for increasing monarch power, although he was known for limiting and withdrawing his support if he knew it was impossible to win. Nonetheless, he was among the few who supported Wà Âadysà Âaw's plans in the late 1640s to wage an offensive war on the Ottoman Empire. He had few friends among the lesser szlachta, whom he mostly disliked and treated the Sejm and regional sejmiks as a 'necessary evil', although he rarely broke any laws.
From 1644 he switched his alignment from pro-Habsburg to pro-French and supported the second marriage of King Wà Âadysà Âaw with Ludwika Maria Gonzaga. During his life he became the enemy of Adam Kazanowski and Jeremi Wià Âniowiecki, whose power diminished with the marriage between Wà Âadysà Âaw and Cecylia in 1637. Rival of bishop and chancellor Piotr Gembicki, whom he eventually forced to retire from politics in 1642, receiving his position of Great Crown Chancellor.
He was not the wealthiest of magnates, his possessions were very small compared to those of Radziwià Âà Âs or Wià Âniowieckis, but almost none of them were mortgaged or loaned. In 1635 he funded the expansion of his family castle in Ossolin. Between 1639 and 1642 he funded the palace in the capital city of Warsaw.
After the death of Wà Âadysà Âaw IV in 1648 he supported the election of his half brother John Casimir and was instrumental in his election.
Ossolià Âski also was in favour of treaties with the Cossacks, he took part in the negotiations and was an important contributor to the Treaty of Zborów in 1649.
He was a well regarded speaker and orator (he served twice as the Speaker of the Sejm in 1631 and 1635).
He was also an author of:
He also wrote the diaries of the embassy to Germany (1877) and to Rome (1883).
Brother of Krzysztof Ossolià Âski (1587âÂÂ1645), voivode of Sandomierz (1638), and Maksymilian Ossolià Âski (1588âÂÂ1665), chorÃ à ¼y sandomierski (1624), Deputy Court Treasurer.
Jerzy married Izabella Danià Âà Âowicz h. Sas in 1620 in Lwów and had four children: