Sebastiano Montelupi
| Sebastiano Montelupi de Mari | |||||
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Commemorative stamp issue, 2008 (detail).
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| Born | 1516 | ||||
| Died | 18 August 1600 (aged 83–84) Kraków |
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| Monuments | Montelupi Monument, St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków | ||||
| Residence | Montelupi House, Main Square, Kraków | ||||
| Nationality | Polish (patent of naturalization awarded by King Sigismund II) | ||||
| Other names | Sebastian Wilczogórski | ||||
| Citizenship | Florentine (awarded 1567) | ||||
| Occupation | merchant, banker, postmaster | ||||
| Years active | 1557–1600 | ||||
| Net worth | estate at death estimated at fl.150,000 | ||||
| Title | Master of the Royal Posts | ||||
| Term | 1568–1600 | ||||
| Predecessor | Pietro Maffon | ||||
| Successor | Valerio Tamburini Montelupi | ||||
| Spouse(s) | Urszula Baza (1551–1586), m. 1567 | ||||
| Partner(s) | Carlo Montelupi (younger brother) | ||||
| Children | Valerio Tamburini Montelupi (adopted) | ||||
| Parent(s) | Valerio Montelupi de Mari | ||||
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Sebastiano Montelupi (Polish: Sebastian Montelupi, name occasionally Polonized as Wilczogórski, 1516 – 18 August 1600), was an Italian-born merchant and banker in Kraków, Poland, and Postmaster General of the Polish royal postal service under Sigismund II Augustus, Henry III of Poland, Anna Jagiellon, Stephen Báthory and Sigismund III Vasa.
Montelupi left Italy in 1536, settling in the Kingdom of Poland in 1557. He worked for the merchants and bankers Carlo and Bernardo Soderini until establishing himself independently in partnership with his younger brother Carlo.
In 1567 he married the teenaged Urszula, daughter of doctor of medicine Wojciech Baza (died 1569), physician to the court. The year after the wedding the couple moved into a kamienica residence in the centre of Kraków, rebuilt in the Renaissance style. This building, known as the Italian House or Montelupi House, also served as the central post office. Urszula was to die without surviving issue on 12 July 1586, aged 35, after 19 years of marriage. At one point Francesco Pucci had consulted John Dee on Montelupi's behalf, to determine whether their childlessness could be due to witchcraft.
As a merchant, Montelupi traded with Italy, Germany, England, Austria and Russia. He was banker to, among others, the papal nuncios at the Polish court. In 1574, the city reimbursed Montelupi a little over fl.1,827 for his contributions to the ceremony of receiving and performing hommage to the new king, Henry III; these contributions included a yard and a half of red Chinese cloth for the dish holding the keys to the city, and a number of vermeil vessels and a large silver vase that were presented to the king. In 1581 Montelupi advanced fl.3,000 to King Stephen Báthory to help finance that year's campaign against Muscovy. Towards the end of his life he became court banker to King Sigismund III, and consul of the Italian community in the capital. In the 1580s he funded the publication of work by the Franciscan writer Annibale Rosselli. He died in Kraków on 18 August 1600, aged 84, leaving an estate valued at fl.150,000. He was succeeded by his nephew and adopted heir, Valerio Tamburini Montelupi (Walerian Montelupi, 1548–1613), who thus became the richest citizen in Kraków.
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