Count Xavier Branicki

{{Short description|Polish-French financier and writer (1816–1879)}}

{{One source

| date = April 2020

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{{Infobox person

| name = Count Xavier Branicki

| image = File:Xavier Branicki.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Le comte François Xavier Branicki

| native_name = Franciszek Ksawery Branicki

| native_name_lang = Polish

| birth_name = Franciszek Ksawery Branicki

| birth_date = {{birth date|1816|10|26|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1879|11|20|1816|10|26|df=yes}}

| death_place = Assiut, Khedivate of Egypt

| death_cause =

| resting_place = Montrésor

| resting_place_coordinates =

| monuments =

| nationality = Polish, French

| other_names =

| education =

| occupation = Financier, Political writer

| years_active =

| era = 19th century

| known_for = Crédit Foncier de France, Philanthropy, Montrésor

| movement =

| spouse = Pelagia Zamoyska

| partner =

| children = Augustin Branicki, illegitimate but acknowledged

| parents = Wladyslaw Grzegorz Branicki, Róża Potocka

| relatives =

| awards = Chevalier of the Legion of Honor

| signature =

}}

Count Xavier Branicki (in Polish: {{lang|pl|Franciszek Ksawery Branicki}}, in French: {{lang|fr|François Xavier Branicki}}; 26 October 1816 – 20 November 1879) was a Polish nobleman, political exile, and landowner who took French nationality.

Biography

He became a political writer, financier, art collector, and philanthropist. He was the owner and restorer of the Château de Montrésor and estate in France. He was descended from a powerful magnate family with immense land holdings in the Duchy of Lithuania and in Ukraine, partly as a result, it is said, of a family connection with Catherine the Great. He was a member of the close circle of Napoleon III. He was a co-founder of the Crédit Foncier de France, a bank that continues to this day.Henryk Mościcki: Branicka Aleksandra, in: Polski Słownik Biograficzny. vol. 2: Beyzym Jan – Brownsford Marja. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności – Skład Główny w Księgarniach Gebethnera i Wolffa, 1936, pp. 393–396. Reprint: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Kraków 1989, {{ISBN|8304032910}}

Publications

Branicki was the author of the following works:

{{cite book|title=Libération de la France par un impôt sur le capital|date=1871 |place=Paris|publisher=E. Dentu|pages = 31|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5456787j}}.
{{cite book|title=L'impôt sur le capital, libérateur de la contribution de guerre – Moyens pratiques de l'appliquer|place=Paris|year=1871|publisher=E. Dentu|pages=32|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54566572}}.
{{cite book|title=La politique du passé et la politique de l'avenir, esquisse d'une constitution|place=Paris|year=1876|publisher=E. Dentu|pages = 130|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5459447x}}.
{{cite book|title=Les nationalités slaves : lettres au R. P. Gagarin|place=Paris|year=1879|publisher=E. Dentu| pages = 408|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5726026b|id = Slav}}.

File:Montresor04.jpg, Branicki's decades-long restoration project]]