Tadeusz Reytan (surname also alternatively spelled as Rejtan, and rarely Reyten; Belarusian: Тадэвуш Рэйтан; Lithuanian: Tadas Reitanas; 20 August 1742 – 8 August 1780) was a nobleman from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was a member of the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the Nowogródek Voivodeship. Reytan is remembered for a dramatic gesture he made in September 1773, as a deputy of the Partition Sejm. There, Reytan tried to prevent the legalization of the first partition of Poland, a scene that has been immortalized in the painting Rejtan by Jan Matejko. He has been the subject of many other art works, and is a symbol of patriotism in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Despite his efforts, the partition of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was legalized soon afterwards.
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Biography
Tadeusz Rejtan was born on 20 August 1742 in Hruszówka (now Lyakhavichy District, Brest Region of Belarus). The date is as given in the Polish Biographical Dictionary, some other sources give other dates. He was the son of a minor, but relatively wealthy noble, Dominik Rejtan, podkomorzy of Novogrudok and Teresa Wołodkowicz. He was likely the oldest of five brothers. His brother, Michał, would come to hold the position of pisarz (scribe) of Nowogródek. His grandfather, also named Michał, was the skarbnik (treasurer) of Mazyr. The family had been aligned to the powerful Radziwiłł family, and Tadeusz would also pledge his allegiance to them.
Afterwards, he served in the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army in a cavalry banner. He might have participated in the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), but historians are not certain about the validity of that claim.
In 1773, in the Bar Confederation's aftermath, a special session of the Polish–Lithuanian Sejm was convened in Warsaw, capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, by its three neighbours (Russian Empire, Prussia and Austria) in order to legalize their First Partition of Poland. That Sejm became known as the Partition Sejm. Rejtan was one of the deputies that tried to prevent the first partition's legalization, despite threats from the foreign ambassadors. For example, Russian ambassador Otto von Stackelberg declared that in the face of refusal the whole capital of Warsaw would be destroyed by the Russians; other threats included executions, confiscation of estates, and increase of partitioned territory.