Izabela the Valiant

Historian Adam Zamoyski reveals the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, an uneducated, vulnerable girl cast into 18th century Europe.

About the event

Exploring a vast family archive and forgotten sources in many languages, Adam Zamoyski has recreated the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, cast into a man’s world in 18th century Europe. Her aristocratic position enmeshed her in high politics and close encounters with Frederick the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Rousseau, Joseph II, Marie-Antoinette and Catherine the Great. She lived through revolution and no less than five wars.

This is a story of triumph over adversity and betrayal, during a tumultuous time in the history of Poland and Europe.

About the speaker

Adam Zamoyski is a British historian of Polish origin. He is the author of the best-selling ‘1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March on Moscow’ and its sequel ‘Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna’, as well as several other acclaimed works on key figures and aspects of European history.