Anna Stanislawska (1650–1700) was a Polish aristocrat popularly regarded as the first woman writer in Polish literature, with her unique autobiographical epic poem improbably titled Transakcyja albo Opisanie calego zycia jednej sieroty przez zalosne treny od tejze samej pisane roku (1685) [A Transaction, or an Account of the Entire Life of an Orphan Girl by way of Plaintful Threnodies]. The backdrop of Stanislawska’s life was one of war and turmoil, but the account of her life reveals a woman at odds with her clamorous and exacting age, wanting traditional happiness (grounded in a spiritual conviction and an engagement with religious devotion), but not seeking, as was often the case, wealth, title, entitlement, and prominence, all of which Stanislawska happened to possess in abundance.