Michał Franciszek Sapieha

Michał Franciszek Sapieha (1670 – November 19, 1700 ) was a Polish-Lithuanian magnate of the Sapieha family, Koniuszy (Master of the Horse) of Lithuania, and a general of Lithuanian and Russian armies. One of the major culprits behind the crime was the Canon of Vilnius, Krzysztof Białłozor whose brother had been executed on Sapieha's orders a year earlier, and who instead of giving confession that Sapieha asked for, was the first to physically attack him. Michał was dragged out of the abbey where he was being kept prisoner, and hacked to death with sabres. His supporters who had been captured were killed along with him, while those who were merely suspected of being sympathetic to him were forced to slash at the corpse to prove their loyalty to the anti-Sapieha cause.

Title On 14 September 1700, Sapieha obtained the title of Prince from Emperor Leopold I. The title became extinct upon his death on 19 November 1700. That year the family lost its dominant position in the Grand Duchy as a result of its defeat in the Lithuanian Civil War. Most of the family members were stripped of their titles and privileges by the victorious confederates.

In 1768, members of the Sapieha family obtained recognition of the princely title from the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the family appeared in the list of persons authorized to bear the title of Prince of the Kingdom of Poland in 1824. The title was recognized in Austria in 1836 and 1840, and in Russia in 1874 and 1901. In 1905, the family obtained the qualification of Serene Highness in Austria.