The agreement of partition had been signed in Vienna in February 1772.

The Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops had simultaneously entered the Commonwealth early in August and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves.

The occupation manifesto had been issued on August 5, 1772, much to the consternation of a country too exhausted by the endeavors of the Confederation of Bar to offer successful resistance.

Several battles and sieges have taken place place nonetheless, as Polish troops refused to lay down their arms (most notably, in Tyniec, Kraków, and Częstochowa).

Jacob Frank's imprisonment in Częstochowa has lasted thirteen years, yet it has only increased his influence with the sect by surrounding him with the aura of martyrdom.

Many Frankists have established themselves near Częstochowa, and kept up constant communication with their "holy master"

Frank has inspired his followers through mystical speeches and epistles, in which he states that salvation can be gained only through the "religion of Edom," or dat ("law"), a mixture of Christian and Sabbateanism

Frank is released, after the first partition of Poland, by the Russian general Aleksandr Bibikov, who had occupied Częstochowa in August 1772.