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The brief history of Poland
Part 2.
Since union with Lithuania till the Golden Age of Poland
- The Union with Lithuania
- Oligarchal Rule In Poland
- The Republic of Nobles
- Protestant Reformation and the Golden Age in Poland
1. The Union with Lithuania
The Extinction of the Piast Dynasty
With Kazimir the Great the Polish dynasty of the Piasts came to an end in 1370. Kazimir was married thrice but left no male heir. Long before his death the matter of succession to the throne was widely discussed. Realizing the growing dangers to the country from the Order of the Cross on one side, and from the German Empire, Bohemia and Brandenburg, all united under one dynasty, on the other, the King and the country saw the need of a permanent union with another strong nation. The Hungarian King Ludwig, son of Karl Robert and Elizabeth, Kazimir's sister, was chosen heir to the Polish throne. In acceding to this choice in preference to a native Prince of the House of Piast the magnates demanded certain guarantees from Ludwig. First, that he would restore the lost provinces, particularly Pomerania, to Poland; second, that no Polish troops would be used in wars carried on in the interests of Hungary; third, that the public offices in Poland would be given to Poles exclusively; and fourth, that there would be no interference with home rule and with the privileges and exemptions in force at the time. After having sworn to all the above named guarantees, Ludwig was proclaimed heir to the Polish throne without any opposition on the part of the numerous Piast princes.
In 1370 Ludwig, then King of Hungary, ascended the throne of Poland. Ambitious but narrow minded, be soon came into conflict with the Polish nobles, whom he desired to subdue as he had subdued the barons of his native land. Feeling against him rose high when he tore Red Russia from Poland and gave it to one of his friends with a feudatory title. Great Poland openly rebelled. Soon, however, he entered into a compromise with the nobles, particularly those of Little Poland, over the matter of succession to the Polish throne Ludwig had no son, but he had three daughters, and his desire was to leave a throne to each of them.
The Origin of Special Concessions in Favor of the Nobility
To insure the consent of the nobles to the acceptance of his second daughter as Queen of Poland he entered into a pact with them by which, for the support of his daughter, he promised the restoration of the lost provinces, reconfirmed his pre-coronation guarantees and offered certain additional privileges, and a practical exemption from taxes, except on land, and those were made very low. This famous covenant of Koszyce, made in 1374, introduced a new feature into the political life of the country. Henceforth the Kings of Poland were forced to make certain agreements before their titles and prerogatives were recognized by the nobles. The other importance that attaches to this covenant lies in the fact that for the first time in Polish history class privileges received legal sanction. Heretofore only individuals had been granted exemptions. Now the whole nobility, or knighthood, as a class, were given certain special privileges.
The First Civil War Over Royal Succession
After the death of Ludwig, in 1382, an open revolt broke out against his daughter Mary, who was betrothed to Siegmund, Markgrave of Brandenburg, and son of Emperor Karl IV. It was feared that through such a union German domination would again be forced upon Poland. During the interregnum lasting two years, Jadwiga, the younger daughter of the deceased king, married to an unimportant German prince, was agreed upon as Queen of Poland by the confederacy of Great Poland, with the specific understanding, however, that the queen reside permanently in Poland. This confederacy of the nobility was the prototype of a political organization which was peculiarly Polish, and which played an important role in the future history of the country.
After a fierce civil war among the various factions which desired to restore one of the native princes to the throne, the youthful Jadwiga was crowned as the sovereign of Poland on October 15, 1384.
Union with Lithuania in Defense Against Teuton Aggressiveness
The magnates of Little Poland, who, until the maturity of the Queen, were to be the regents of the country, now conceived a plan of annulling Jadwiga's marriage and uniting Poland and Lithuania against their common enemy, the Order of the Cross, through the marriage of the Queen with the Lithuanian Prince Jagiello. At the time Lithuania was in the throes of a civil war skillfully grafted upon the country by the intrigue of the Grand Master of the Order, who, in a peaceful development of Lithuania and her growing propensities toward Christianity, saw a vanishing opportunity for further conquests.
The founder of the Lithuanian Empire was Gedymin, 1315-1341, who had carried his successful expeditions against the Northern Slavs and Ruthenians as far as Pskov on the north and the Dnieper on the east, and conquered Kieff on the south. Though a pagan himself, Gedymin favored Roman Catholicism, built churches in Wilno and Novogrodek, gave his daughter, Anna Aldona, to Prince Kazimir the Great, and intended to become a Christian himself, but his plans were frustrated by the intrigues of the Order of the Cross. After his death Lithuania became divided among his sons. At the time of Jadwiga's ascendance to the Polish throne Lithuania consisted of two independent duchies one with a native Lithuanian population and the other composed almost entirely of conquered Ruthenian territories. After a long feud between the rulers of the two duchies, craftily supported by the Chevaliers of the Cross, peace was established to make joint war against the Order possible. This peace came at the time when the Polish statesmen were planning the union with Lithuania. It was not difficult to induce Jagiello to make the first move. He consented to receive baptism in accordance with the Roman Catholic rites and to introduce Catholicism in Lithuania. He also agreed to extend the privileges of the nobility and pledged himself to restore to Poland her lost provinces. The new covenant with the King guaranteed: first, all Polish offices to the local nobility; second, compensation for military service outside of Poland; third, the right to elect judges of certain courts; and fourth, jurisdiction over the peasant's in the landowners.
Social and Political Significance of the Union
The first guarantee was a severe blow to concentration of military power in the hands of the King, for the commanders of the castles could not be appointed from among other than local nobles, and the second guarantee put a restraint on his freedom with reference to foreign affairs. In divesting the King of the power to appoint criminal judges the nobles scored a great victory which was, however, largely exploited by the magnates to further their control over the rank and file of the nobility. The fourth privilege gave the landlords supreme power over their peasants.
With the coronation of Jagiello in 1386, who, on baptism, took the Christian name of Wladyslav, all of his domains in Lithuania proper, as well as in White and Black Russia, Ukraine, Volhynia and elsewhere, became integral parts, of the Polish state. These extensive lands over which Poland had waged long wars thus became peacefully united with Poland. At about the same time Red Russia was reclaimed from Hungary by force of arms and the Hospodar of Moldavia, seeking protection against Hungary, paid homage to King Jagiello and became his vassal. In 1389 Wallachia recognized Polish, sovereignty, and in 1396 Bessarabia followed the course of her neighbors. In this way Poland reached the lower Danube and Dnieper and the shores of the Black Sea. A strong healthy colonization movement again resettled its natural course into the sparsely settled territories of Ruthenia, Volhynia and the fertile plains between the Dniester and the Dnieper, carrying with it advanced agriculture, industries and prosperity, law, order, language and literature. The Polish influence had not died out in what is now Roumania until the beginning of the past century. A hundred years ago Polish still was the language of the upper classes of that country.
The University of Cracow
Polish science took a powerful upward swing after the reorganization of the Kazimirian Academy in 1400. Queen Jadwiga, a noble and pious woman, bequeathed her personal wealth for the endowment and enlargement of the Academy. A School of Theology was added to the existing departments.
King Jagiello, after whom the University had been named, gave in perpetuity the income from certain domains toward maintenance of the institution. The charter, organization and character of the old Academy was changed. The bishops of Cracow became the hereditary ex-officio chancellors of the Academy and the professors, students, librarians and other officers were organized into a university corporation and came under special jurisdiction. The office of the Rector of the University was made elective, the incumbent to be chosen from among the professors.
Soon the fame of the new university spread over all Europe and attracted a large number of scholars and students from foreign countries In the second half of the XVth century almost one-half of the students enrolled were of foreign birth. The total enrollment was very large and both the student body and the teaching staff were recruited from all strata of society. Beside the sons of the potentates sat young men from the humbler ranks of nobility, of city birth and even peasants. By means of large donations wealthy patrons increased the endowment and opportunities of. the Academy. Several commodious and well equipped college dormitories were built, and a number of preparatory schools established. The stimulus given by the Academy to the intellectual life of the country was pronounced and beneficent. "The University became the living link connecting Poland with European science. It gave rise to that union of Poland with the civilization of the west, which molded the country's character and history and which has left on her an imprint so strong that nothing can remove it."
At the time the University was reorganized, theological questions were occupying the minds of the greatest thinkers of Europe. The Cracow Academy came at once to the front in these discussions and made important contributions. The respect with which the ecclesiastical world listened to the dissertations of the Polish scholars and the influence they exercised at the deliberations of the great Church synods of the XVth century is an eloquent tribute to the scholarship of the Academy. In spite of the preoccupation of the faculty with problems of theology and the control the Church exercised over the teaching at the University, Humanism found an early echo at Cracow. Great as was the reputation of the University for its theological dissertations, it was insignificant in comparison with the renown it gained by its contributions to science. The mathematical and astronomical works of Voyciech of Brudzev, the medical knowledge of Matthew of Miechow and the glory of the immortal Copernicus, astronomer and economist, placed the Jagiellon University among the foremost European temples of learning.
Importance of the Union for Lithuania
For Lithuania the union with Poland had the most far-reaching political and cultural advantages. The civilization of Lithuania was very low at the time. Slavery was the basis of her social and economical structure. The prince's power was absolute. He was supreme lord over the life and death of his subjects. The Lithuanian nobles or "boyars" held lands as feudatories and had no right to dispose of them. Without the permission of the prince they could not even marry. Through the union with Poland the "boyars" received many rights and privileges similar to those which the Polish nobility enjoyed. The introduction of the Roman Church and the spread of the standards of European civilization which came with the mighty tide of Polish colonization brought Lithuania into the family of western nations. She shook off the influence of the east to which she had nearly succumbed under the influence of Northern Slavic and Ruthenian peoples, who were under her sovereignty and whose life standards though low, were still higher than those of the Lithuanians. Before the union with Poland Ruthenian had become the language of the court and of the nobles. Though crude, it was superior to the Lithuanian tongue which not developed into a literary language untill the XIXth century.
By uniting with Poland, Lithuania could freely concentrate her energy on the Order of the Cross, as the wars with Poland for the supremacy over Ruthenian provinces naturally ceased. This was a great political advantage.
Lithuania's Position in the Dual State
The enemies of Poland and Lithuania were quick to perceive that this union of the two countries was against their interests and decided to bring about its disruption. For this purpose they utilized Jagiello's cousin, the indomitable Duke Witold, who was the ruler of another part of Gedymin's empire, and who had temporarily abandoned the old feud which existed between his father and Jagiello. Entangled in the web cleverly spun by the Order of the Cross, the ambitious Witold declared war against Jagiello. To stop the bloody civil strife Jagiello appointed Witold the sole Governor of all Lithuania and Ruthenia. Witold accepted the appointment and adopted the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania. Order was soon restored in the domains under Witold's rule and extensive foreign conquests were made. He recaptured Smolensk, which remained under Polish sovereignty for over a hundred years, until 1514: the republics of Pskov and Novgorod also came under his control. These successes, together with his far-reaching schemes of capturing Moscow and crushing its overlords, the Tartars, led him subsequently to refuse to pay tribute to Jadwiga and her husband. But the defeat he suffered at the hands of the Tartar Khan led to another treaty between Poland and Lithuania in 1401, by which Witold was recognized as Grand Duke of Lithuania for life, but after his death the duchy was to revert forever to the Polish crown. In the adoption of this new treaty the Lithuanian boyars for the first time in their history took part in matters of state, and officially concurred in the stipulations of the treaty. By a special document the Polish nobles promised the Lithuanian boyars that after Jagiello's death no king would be elected without their knowledge and consent.
Defeat of The Order of the Cross
In the course of one of his wars with Jagiello, as payment for help Witold ceded to the Order of the Cross that part of the territories abutting on the Baltic which lie between of the Niemen and the Dvina, known as Zmudz. When the union with Poland was restored he realized that he had made a bad bargain and demanded the return of the province. The warlike Master of the Order, Ulrich von Jungingen, answered by sending an overwhelming expedition, joined by the best troops of Brandenburg, Hungary, Stettin and volunteers from all over Europe. They were met by an army of one hundred thousand Poles, Lithuanians and their vassals at Grunwald in the Mazurian Lakes region a little south of the recent battlefield of Tannenberg, where the Russians met with such disastrous defeat at the hands of Von Hindenburg. Five hundred years ago the same battlefield saw the crushing defeat of the Teutons. The might and glory of the Order was forever shattered, and Poland soared up as one of the most powerful states of Europe, extending from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from the Oder and the Carpathians to the Dnieper.
This stupendous victory welded more firmly the bonds uniting the peoples of Poland and Lithuania. In the year 1413 the representatives of the nobility and clergy of the two countries met at Horodlo, on the River Bug, in Volhynia, and confirmed the previous treaties between the two countries. It was agreed to introduce into Lithuania the Polish institutions and offices, and, in the future, to call joint political conventions of representatives of the two countries. The coats-of-arms of the Polish nobility, was given to the Lithuanian boyars of the Roman Catholic faith to express by this outward sign of brotherhood the spirit permeating the union of the two nations, which was so beautifully worded in the sentences of the Horodlo treaty: "He shall receive no grace of salvation whom love does not sustain. It is love that creates laws, rules nations, builds cities and leads the republic to her best destinies, perfects all virtues of the virtuous. Therefore, we prelates, knights and nobility of the Polish crown by this document do unite our homes and future generations With the knighthood and nobility of Lithuania".
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2. Oligarchal Rule In Poland
The Settlement of Difficulties with Lithuania
The sentiments voiced in the treaties with Lithuania were expressions of a lofty political ideal which the, Lithuanian people, due to their political immaturity, were slow to appreciate at first. The far-sighted Witold of Lithuania realized the great importance of the union, as only thus united could Poland and Lithuania withstand the pressure exerted upon them by their neighbors. But his ambitions would not allow him to become entirely reconciled to an inferior role, and he never could tolerate having Poland play the master part. After the battle of Grunwald he suddenly withdrew from the field, and by this action prevented Jagiello from exploiting the victory in a way which the defeat suffered by the Knights justified. The city of Malborg, capital of the Order, remained in the hands of the Knights, who, by the breathing spell afforded through the retirement of the Lithuanians and Ruthenians, were able to gather their scattered forces. This was the reason that Jagiello could obtain from the Order only the recession of Zmudz and an indemnity of one hundred thousand bushels of small Prague silver coins. Subsequently, on account of Witold's ambition and the nefarious intrigues of the Knights, a new war with the Order broke out, which lasted for a number of years and the settlement of which was entrusted to the Church Council of Constance. For a long time Witold held the unruly princes of his domains in an iron grip and compelled them to respect the union, but toward the end of his life he again fell prey to the enticements of the German Emperor, who offered him a separate crown. The emperor looked with disfavor upon the union of the two countries and in order to sever it, took advantage of the vanity and ambitions of the old prince. Only the energetic intervention of the magnates of Little Poland and the death of Witold prevented a disruption of the union.
The elements in Lithuania which were least benefited by the union were the Ruthenian princes and boyars belonging to the Greek Church, who had been denied the dignities, rights and privileges of the Roman Catholic nobility. The death of Witold in 1430 afforded opportunity for an open revolt. The Lithuanians and Ruthenians proclaimed Swidrygiello , the youngest brother of the King, Grand Duke of Lithuania, in violation of the existing treaties with Poland by which Lithuania, after the death of Witold was to return to the sovereignty of Poland. To avoid possible hostilities Jagiello recognized Swidrygiello's title, but in spite of this, the latter, incited by the Emperor and the Order declared war. He suffered a serious defeat at Lutsk in 1431. Meanwhile the Teutonic knights again invaded the province of Great Poland and burned twenty-four cities and over a thousand villages. Poland was then compelled to ask for a truce of two years.
Because of his ill success in arms and his policy of fostering the religious schism Swidrygiello was forced from his throne by his subjects. He was replaced by Zygmunt, one of Witold's brothers, who, by the treaty of Grodno, in 1432, was recognized by Jagiello as Grand Duke of Lithuania, with the understanding, however, that Lithuania's independence would cease with Zygmunt's death. By the same Grodno treaty the nobles of Lithuania and Ruthenia, who were of the Greek faith, were admitted to full citizenship, and were given Polish escutcheons on equal terms with the Roman Catholic nobles. Considering the prevailing feelings and prejudices of the Roman Catholic world of the XVth century, one cannot but admire the spirit of the convention which, in this noble way, endeavored to lay solid foundations for the extension of the Polish state and to base them upon principles of justice and equality.
The Growth of the Special Privileges of the Nobility
By the trend of events narrated in this and the subsequent chapters, these political ideals of justice and equality were in time narrowed down in their application to but one class: the nobility, a term which in time became synonymous with citizenship in Poland, and which did not necessarily imply ownership of land.
The Polish nobility came into existence at a time when the Poles were in a comparatively early stage of social development, when the clan was the basic unit of the social structure. With the introduction of escutcheons, whole clans were admitted to nobility. In this manner, unlike the other European nations, where nobility developed in a relatively later stage of social evolution, a great many elements of a low economic and social status became nobles, and this also accounts for the fact that there were proportionately more nobles in Poland than in Western Europe, and that there were no differences in the grades nobility as found among other nations. The additions to the nobility were also numerous and were accomplished either through adoption or the conferring of nobiliary honors. The former method, which required the consent of the clan, was the usual practice until the XIVth century, when it was replaced by that of nobilitation by the king, who, in an earlier period, conferred his own escutcheon upon the candidate, admitting him, as it were, to his own clan. At a later date various coats-of-arms were bestowed at the nobilitation ceremonies. All those who had an escutcheon were nobles. The possession of land was not a necessary prerequisite to a title of nobility, but those of the nobility who were land owners in some instances enjoyed special privileges.
In the time of Wladyslav Jagiello the nobility became strongly differentiated from the other classes of society, and the magnates among the nobility acquired almost absolute power in matters of state. Many causes were responsible for the development of an oligarchic monarchy in Poland at that time. The King was an uneducated foreigner who had to rely upon native advisers to gain popularity. Unscrupulous and powerful magnates took advantage of this circumstance to secure for themselves privileges in addition to those granted to them and to the nobility in general by the Koszyce Pact with King Ludwig in 1374, and subsequently by King Jagiello at the time of his coronation in 1386. Moreover, the almost incessant wars which Jagiello was obliged to carry on required great sacrifices in men and wealth. To obtain them he had to make frequent requests of the nobles and magnates who, in return turn for their services, demanded concessions and privileges. The war taxes weighed heavily upon them, and, as many of the nobility were poor, the constantly increasing tax levies tended to impoverish them still further. This accounts for the fact that in spite of the broadened political privileges gained, the rank and file of the nobility were unable to assert themselves in the government. In the local conventions called by them from time to time they demanded reforms and participation in the affairs of the country on the basis of the principle of "no taxation without representation. Bending to their will, the king would frequently submit his more important projects to the approval of these conventions. The custom took firm root, and the nobility did not miss a single opportunity of insisting upon their rights and of endeavoring to obtain further privileges.
On the eve of an expedition against the Teutonic Knights in 1492, the nobility assembled at Czerwinsk and obtained, in return for the promise of participation in the expedition, several economic and fiscal privileges, and the recognition of the principle that a nobleman's property cannot be confiscated without due process of law. In 1430, only two centuries after the Magna Charta, and almost a century before the English "habeas corpus law" was enacted, the Polish nobles secured at Jedlnia, in consideration of the recognition of the claims of Jagiello's sons to the throne of Poland, the famous privilege: "Neminem captivaimus, nisi Jure victum," according to the terms of which no nobleman could be arrested except upon the verdict of a court or when caught in the act of committing murder, arson or theft. The same Jedlnia Act required the consent of the nobles to the coinage of money by the king.
Ascendancy of Ecclesiastical Power
The privileges gained by the nobles, which resulted in restrictions of the regal power, were also aimed at the magnates, who usurped all the high state offices and exercised undue power over legislation. This circumstance led the clergy to side with the nobles against the magnates, With the help of the nobles the clergy soon secured control over the destinies of the country, its government, education and foreign policy.
Jagiello was married four times, and only by his last wife was there a male issue, The first son, Wladyslav, was born ten years before Jagiello's death. Upon the ascent to the throne of Poland by the youthful king, the regency of the country was placed in the hands of Zbigniew Olesnicki, Bishop of Cracow, and later Cardinal, a man of power and ambition, who had already played a very conspicuous part in the affairs of the country at the close of Jagiello's reign. During the regency he became practically omnipotent. It was because of this ecclesiastic rule in Poland that the union with Bohemia, eagerly sought by the Hussites, did not come to pass. As is well known, the Huss movement in Bohemia was partly religious and economic, but principally nationalistic. It was the uprising of the middle and lower classes of Bohemia against the German rule and the supremacy of German influences. The upper strata of the Bohemian nation were at that time completely Germanized and had assumed German names. The ruling dynasty of the kingdom was that of Luxemburg. When Huss was treacherously burned at the stake in the year of the Council of Constance, 1415, an open revolution broke out in Bohemia, which lasted for a period of over fifteen years. The Catholic clergy were banished and Hussitic services introduced. The Taborites, or radical wing of the Hussites, destroyed many castles and churches. In 1419 the Bohemian King died and the throne was to pass to his brother, Emperor Siegmund. The Hussites then turned to Jagiello with an offer of the crown of Bohemia. The Polish clergy immediately raised a try against it. The Archbishop of Gnesen, Nicholas Tromba, who, at the Council of Constance, was a candidate for the Papal tiara, called a synod at Kalisz, which resolved to bend every effort to crush the spread of the Huss doctrines in Poland and to deal sharply with the heretics. At the same time Emperor Siegmund, in order to gain Polish support, approached the Polish sovereign widower, offering the hand of his sister-in-law, with a dowry of the much-coveted Province of Silesia. The marriage did not come to pass. Neither did the union with Bohemia. Submitting to the pressure of the powerful clergy, Jagiello reluctantly refused the Bohemian crown. The Czechs then turned to Witold, who accepted the invitation on condition that they make peace with the Church. He converted King Jagiello to his views, and soon an armed expedition, under the leadership of Zygmunt Korybut, the king's nephew, was ready. This action led the Pope, Martin V, to proclaim a crusade against Poland, and the Emperor started to form a coalition against Jagiello and Witold. In view of this coercion and also in view of the fact that Korybut did not succeed in reconciling the Czechs to the Church, Witold was compelled to resign from his plans.
Suppression of Hussitism in Poland
Due to the ceaseless work of the clergy the reaction against the Hussites in Poland reached its apogee in the edict of Wielun, 1424 which commanded all the Poles residing in Bohemia to return to Poland, and those of the Poles who were suspected of sympathies with the heretics were turned over to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Bishop Olesnicki, who was responsible for the edict, was also instrumental in bringing about the meeting of the Emperor with Jagiello and Witold, at which they promised to recall the armed expedition from Bohemia. Soon afterward Emperor Siegmund died and again the Czechs turned to Poland with an offer of the crown. At that time Olesnicki was regent, Wladyslav III, the youthful son of Jagiello, being King of Poland. It goes without saying that the offer was again declined. A large portion of the nobility, under the leadership of Spytek of Melsztyn, Abraham of Zbonz and others, protesting against what they considered a shortsighted policy, bound themselves into an armed confederacy. They were defeated and their followers dispersed. After their defeat, Hussitism in Poland came to a speedy end, but the dissatisfaction with the ecclesiastical regime, which was responsible for increased taxation, for a disastrous war with Turkey, and which failed to exploit the possibility of a union with Bohemia, grew and bore fruit with the ascent of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, the second of Jagiello's sons, to the throne of Poland.
The Turkish Campaign for the Liberation of the Balkan Slavs
The above mentioned war with Turkey was a direct consequence of Olesnicki's plan to secure the crown of St. Stephen's for King Wladyslav III, during whose childhood he had managed the affairs of the country. The union with Hungary was to compensate the loss of Bohemia and to pacify the minds of those who were dissatisfied with his policy regarding the Czechs. Moreover the union would have given an opportunity rendering services to Christianity by expeditions against the infidel Turks, who, for almost a century had established themselves in Europe and were threatening western civilization. Hungary had been carrying on constant wars against the Ottomans, and of late John Hunyadi had achieved great fame in his campaigns against them. The union with Hungary under the existing circumstances was most unpopular among the Polish magnates, who foresaw the burden it would impose and the difficulties into which it might lead the country. The contrary view, however, championed by Olesnicki, prevailed and soon after his coronation the youthful Wladyslav III organized a crusade to liberate, the Serbs, Bosnians and other Balkan peoples from the Turkish yoke. Large Polish forces joined the Hungarians.
The first campaign in 1443 was very successful. After his disastrous defeat at Nish the Sultan Amurad asked for peace and offered as a price the return of Serbia, Albania and the other provinces which the Turks had taken from Hungary; he also offered to evacuate a large number of fortresses and to release all war prisoners, and an indemnity of one hundred thousand florins in gold. The terms were so extraordinary that no one believed that the Sultan could ever, respect them but with the advice of Hunyadi and other conservative men, peace was agreed upon at Szegedin on August 1, 1444. The news was received with joy in Poland. The home affairs of the country demanded the king's attention. A special assembly of nobles was immediately called at Piotrkow. Unfortunately, however, the Papal legate, Cardinal Julian de Cesarinis was able to persuade the warrior boy-king that his oath of peace with the infidels was not binding, and that in the interest of the Church war should be resumed immediately. On the 24th of September, less than two months after the treaty of Szegedin, Wladylav was again in the field. The only ally, which kept his promise to help in this expedition, was Wallachia. The Greeks and the Serbs did not send the promised assistance. Overwhelming Turkish forces surrounded the Christian army at Varna on November 10, 1444, and almost entirely annihilated it. The Polish King met his death on the battlefield. "He was the only king in a Christian state," says the Polish historian Bartoszewicz, "who desired disinterestedly to save Christianity." But he succeeded only in dragging his country into countless difficulties.
The Subordination of the Church to the State
The deceased king's brother, Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, who had been discharging the office of Grand Duke of Lithuania, was very slow in ascending the Polish throne to which the nobility, assembled in April 1445, at Sieradz elected him. The chief reasons for his procrastination were his ambition to restore to Lithuania the provinces of Volhynia and Podolia, which were administered by Polish Governors, and his disinclination to subscribe to the liberties and privileges of the clergy and nobility. When, after many fruitless presentations, the king remained recalcitrant and insisted that the two provinces be put under Lithuanian control, and that he be not compelled to sign the pacta conventa, the magnates conditionally elected Boleslav of Mazovia. Thus threatened, Kazimir accepted the crown on June 18, 1447, without how ever, for the time being, taking an oath for the preservation of the privileges granted by his predecessors.
His first act after the coronation was to curb the power of the clergy by subordinating the church to the state. This effort found a sympathetic echo among the nobles, and was in accord with the then modern precepts of Humanism, which, in spite of the medieval teachings of the Cracow University, were taking root in Poland, and had a warm supporter in the energetic and wise young king. The gentry was at odds with the Church at the time over the ways the tithes were collected. In view of the enormous depreciation of currency it was to the advantage of the nobles to pay the tithes in specie. For the same reason the Church insisted that the tax be paid in kind. The struggle over this issue lasted for many decades. The efforts of the Polish ruler were strengthened by the then existing schism in the Church. As is well known, the cause that led to the schism was the question of the superiority of the Council over the Pope. The Council of Basel, 1431-1449, holding an affirmative view on the subject, declared Pope Eugene IV, who was of the opposite opinion, deprived of his dignity and elected Felix V in his place. Bishop Olesnicki, who at that time was regent of Poland, concurred in the view laid down by the Council of Basel, but proclaimed the country's neutrality with reference to the two popes, an attitude which prevailed until the ascent of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, The new king saw in the schism an opportunity to secure the coveted privileges, and informed Pope Nicholas VI, Eugene's successor, of his readiness to recognize him, provided the right of nomination to ninety benefices in the arch-diocese of Gnesen be granted to him, as well as a part of the church tithes, which he needed for a war with the Tartars. This recognition of the Pope Nicholas VI, in opposition to the Cracow University and to Bishop Olesnicki as well as the king's success in securing from the pope the desired concessions, were a great, blow to the ecclesiastical power in Poland. The victory was clinched when the king, after an obstinate fight established in 1460, his appointee at the See of Cracow. The nomination of bishops then became a recognized attribute of the Polish sovereign.
The Struggle with the Oligarchy
The fight of the king with the Church was gratifying to the nobles, but they were restless over the fact that no recognition of their own privileges was forthcoming. Bound on one hand, by his promise to return the provinces of Volhynia and Podolia to Lithuania, and, on the other, pressed by the Poles to take an oath on their liberties, the king tarried with the convocation of the Diet, fearing that the existing tension between Lithuania and Poland might lead to a disruption of the union. He was also desirous of postponing the sanction of the Polish liberties to which he was politically and temperamentally averse, and which tended to saddle an oligarchic rule upon the country.
The Lithuanian claims were finally granted by the Poles, but in practice, only Volhynia came under Lithuanian control, Podolia remaining with Poland. The king seized upon the retention of Podolia as an excuse for opposing the Poles, who were clamoring for recognition of their privileges. A strong opposition arose with Bishop Olesnicki at its head. Only in 1453, six years after his coronation, did the king finally swear to respect and. preserve the liberties granted by his predecessors. He also submitted to the demand for an advisory council of four dignitaries, without whose consent he should undertake nothing of importance. The king's submission to this demand was a signal victory for the magnates. The privileges sanctioned by the king though embracing the whole of the nobility, redounded chiefly to the benefit of the wealthy potentates, and the great mass of common nobility remained without relief in their economic difficulties, caused by the constant wars and the lack of security against the iniquities of the lords.
In his fight against the aristocratic oligarchy the king could not rely upon the cities, as did the rulers of other parts of Europe. The cities, which elsewhere in Europe constituted the buttress of the kings against the feudal lords, were, in Poland, losing their strength after the fall of Constantinople and were, in addition, inhabited in a large proportion by Germans, Jews and Armenians, who took no great interest in the matters of state and remained foreign to the country in which they lived and traded for generations. The great mass of citizen-nobles constituted, therefore, the only element which could be utilized by the king to curb the oligarchy. External circumstances expedited the extension of the rights and privileges of the Polish knighthood.
Prussia's Request for Admission into the Polish State
The Prussians, suffering from the heavy fiscal burdens placed upon them by the Knights of the Cross and seeing greater economic advantages for themselves by joining Poland turned to Kazimir with a request that he accept them under his sovereignty. The union of the Prussia nobility and of the cities, known as the Lizard Union from the emblem it chose, repeatedly petitioned the king to admit their country into the fold of the Polish State, which guaranteed to its citizen's liberty, safety and prosperity. The king's final consent to their request, against the advice of Bishop Olesnicki, led to a war with the Order. At the call of the crown in 1454, great hosts of the nobles of Great Poland assembled at Cerekwica, not far from the city of Chojnice. Here they demanded of the king an extension of their rights, which, in view of the impending war, was granted. Very soon afterward, a similar charter was granted to the nobility of Little Poland, assembled in camp near the city of Nieszawa. The statutes of Nieszawa, 1454, were made to apply to the nobility of the whole of Poland, and constituted the beginning of a regular constitution in Poland. These statutes became in reality the organic law of the country regulating the relationship of the various classes constituting the Polish nation. They abolished the usage of common law in the courts of justice and introduced the general application of the Wislica statutes as amended since the time of Kazimir the Great. They also exempted the nobility from the jurisdiction of the king's courts except in cases of murder, arson, theft and rape. Henceforth all cases came before judges nominated by the nobility and appointed by the king. The statutes limited the rights of the peasants, of the townspeople and of the Jews. They provided that no war could be declared by the king without the consent of the local land assemblies of the nobility, and that no new constitution or any law which would apply to the nobility could be promulgated by the king without the consent of the local land assemblies. The king was requested to attend the assemblies, either in person or by proxy. The local land conventions were to elect plenipotentiaries to represent them in the larger or general gatherings, the time and place of which was to be designated by the king. These general assemblies, jointly with the king, had the power to make laws for the whole country. Representatives of the general assemblies were to convene at Piotrkow at stated intervals to advise the king in matters relating to state business. The dignitaries, without whose advice the king was not permitted to undertake, take anything of importance, constituted the continuation of the ancient Colloquium, which later, developed into the Senate.
The war with the Order of the Cross, caused this internal revolution in Polish affairs, lasted for twelve years, 1454-1466, and thanks to the unfaltering support of the Prussian towns and nobility ended in a complete triumph of the Polish arms. By the treaty of Thorn 1466, Pomerania, Chelmno Michalow and the western part of Prussia with cities of Malborg and Warmia, went to Poland. The eastern part of Prussia, with its capital Krolewice (Konigsberg) remained in the hands of the Order as a fief of Poland. The Great Master of the Order pledged himself to recognize no other sovereigns except the Pope and the Polish King, and to form no other alliance or declare war without the consent the King of Poland. In return, he received a seat in Polish Council of the Crown. The victory of Poland over the Order was hailed with joy by the Prussian nobles. They preferred the political liberties of Poland to the iron rule of the Order and manifested their sympathies by assuming Polish names. The barons von der Baysen changed their family name Bazenski, the barons von Unruh to Niepokojczyck the counts von Hutten to Czapski, the von Oppelinski to Bronikowski and so along the line.
By the crushing of the Order and by the of free access to the Baltic and the possession of such ports as that of Gdansk (Danzig), Poland became a great political power, with inherent possibilities for an enormous economic expansion, which was so unfortunately thwarted by the ensuing wars.
The Extension of Polish Influence to Hungary and Bohemia
The war with the Order made it impossible for Kazimir Jagiellonczyk to press his claims to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary, after the childless death of Wladyslav Hapsburg, son of Emperor Albrecht, whose beautiful sister he had married. The Hungarians proclaimed Matthew Korwin, the son of John Hunyadi, as their king, and the Bohemians chose George of Podiebrad, a Hussite. The dissatisfied Catholic element in Bohemia turned to Poland. Kazimir intervened, and as a consequence his son ascended the throne of Bohemia. Soon afterward Hungary, at the death of Matthew Korwin, who left no legal sons, united with Bohemia under the same sceptre. Polish influence was, in this way, established over a wide area and in foreign lands, but at the same time it was rapidly waning in the old native province of Silesia. The clergy of that province, guarding against the spread of Hussitism, which exercised such a peculiar fascination over the western Slavs, were Germanizing the autochthonous population by all available means. The Bishop of Breslau threatened with dispossession those of his Polish peasant tenants who would not in the course of five years adopt German customs and the German speech.
The Turkish and Muscovite Perils
A break with the Lithuanians was also impending in spite of the perils which threatened both Poland and Lithuania from the Turks in the south and from the growing aggressiveness of Moscow on the east. The Turks settled on the Moldavian coast of the Black Sea in 1480, and occupied Akerman and Kilia, strong fortresses guarding the mouths of the Dniester and Danube, and endangered Polish transcontinental commerce and the Polish political sovereignty in Moldavia. On the east, the expanding autocracy of Moscow had already throttled the free Russian republics of Pskov and Novgorod, and was, exhibiting disquieting designs for further conquests. Lithuania became restless.
At the time when, the foreign policy with reference to the newly arising conditions on the east was being shaped, Kazimir died in Grodno on June 7, 1492, after a reign of forty-five years, rich in great events, men and glory. His character and achievements gave him an illustrious name and a prominent place ace in Polish History.
Humanism in Poland
It was during the reign of Kazimir that Humanism gained a firm footing in Poland and a host of talented poets; historians and political thinkers sprang up. The beginnings of Humanistic currents in Poland date as far back as the second decade of the XVth century. In a short while the new turn in literature and philosophy found numerous adepts on the banks of the Vistula. A literary society known as "Sodalitas literaria vistulana" was organized at Cracow in 1489 composed of young enthusiastic poets, and writers. The classic authors were studied profoundly and numerous literary productions paved the way for the future development of national art and literature. The Polish writers soon became masters of the classic style and earned their laurels from the Popes, as did Klemens Janicki (1516-1543). The tradition of Latin letters continued well into the XVIIth century although the Polish language in literature had by the time superseded Latin almost completely. For his beautiful lyrics Matthew Sarbiewski (1595-1640), a professor at the University of Wilno, received the laurel wreath at the Capitol of Rome, and for centuries after his death his works in neo-Latin were studied beside the Roman classics in the principal colleges of Europe.
One of the earliest Humanists in Poland was George of Sanok who contributed a great deal toward awakening of interest in the ancient authors and their philosophy of life. He was soon overshadowed by a series of remarkable thinkers and writers. The struggle for supremacy between the King and the Church and the unsettled social conditions created a body of original political thought. Senator Jan Ostrorog (1420-1501) wrote a remarkable treatise advocating the subjection of ecclesiastical power to that of the State. He advised the curbing of the excessive prerogatives of the nobility and urged the nationalization of cities, the equalization of laws and the abolition of certain privileges. The favorable reception which Ostrorog's theories received in contemporary Poland is an indication of political maturity of the Polish nobility, and also shows how deeply the principles of sound political thinking had become imbedded in Polish life. Poland's political experience radiated abroad. The work "De optimo Senatore" by Bishop Goslicki, of Posen (known in Latin as Goslicius), was widely read and commented upon all over Europe.
Just as the struggle of the Crown with the Church called forth a whole literature on political and social philosophy, so the controversy with the Knights of the Cross, submitted to the Popes and Church Councils for adjudication, gave rise to juristic studies and historical research. The able defense of Pond's' claim against the Order presented in the "Tractatus us de potestate Papae et Imperatoris respectu Infidelium" at the Council of Constance in 1415 by Paul of Brudzev, rector of the Cracow University made the author famous in Europe. This is but one of the numerous treatises prepared by Polish scholars on the subject. Towering above all other writers stands the historian Jan Dlugosz (1415-1480), who is considered superior to the celebrated historians, Commineus and Guicciardini. The "History of Poland" by Dlugosz, one time secretary of Cardinal Olesnicki, is one of the most profound historical works of the XVth century. The erudition of the author the painstaking examination of the sources, his searching criticism and gift of analysis and observation, his masterful classifications and method of presentation mark an era in history writing and laid solid foundations for all future national histories of Poland.
The end of the XVth century records Poland not only as one of the largest empires of the continent but as a country with a well developed and pronounced culture of her own.
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3. The Republic of Nobles
The Beginning of Serfdom
Immediately after the death of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, John I Olbracht was elected King of Poland, 1492-1501. The Lithuanians elected his younger brother, Alexander, as Grand Duke of Lithuania, in violation of the existing agreements. The new king was educated in accordance with the principles of Humanism, and, like his father was determined to resist the power of the secular and temporal lords, and in these efforts sided with the nobility, whose idol he had become. The first two Diets which he convened during his reign, in 1493 and 1496, both at Piotrkow, amplified the statutes of Nieszawa. By the new law the nobility were exempted from tariff duties and other fiscal burdens, the peasants were restricted in their right to leave their villages, and the landlords were given the power to represent their peasants in the courts. Thereafter no peasant could appear in court unaccompanied by his landlord. This last provision, amplified by further statutes, finally threw the whole peasantry into complete dependence upon the private jurisdiction of the landowners. The peasants lost their right to leave their settlements without the permission of the landowners, and the family could send but one of their boys to study in a city. By a further regulation they were not permitted to leave the country for seasonal work in neighboring states where higher wages prevailed.
This movement to restrict the peasants coincides with the opening of the Baltic and the accession of the large Hanseatic port of Gdansk (Danzig), through which a great opportunity presented itself for selling Polish grain and other agricultural products in Europe. To be able to produce grain for export the landowners needed a reliable and cheap labor force Even prior to this time, as a result of the enormous depreciation of currency that took place in Poland, and similarly throughout Europe, in the XVth and XVIth centuries a tendency had arisen among the landlords to demand rent in the form of services and produce rather than in specie, as had been the custom since the days of the first German settlements. Payment in services and other restrictions formed the foundation of serfdom. The year 1496 is regarded as the beginning of legal serfdom in Poland, leading to a patrimonial form of agrarian life, with the manor as the center of every economic unit, and the landlord the source of supreme law a power. The same year ushered in the era of gradual decline of Polish cities. From this brief account it may be observed that the economic development of Poland was in complete contrast to that of contemporary England.
Growth and Decline of the Polish Cities
As has been mentioned before, the cities and towns of early Poland served chiefly as stations for transitory foreign commerce. Such was the original character of Kruszwica, Cracow, Lemberg, Posen and Breslau. In a later period when the German settlers changed the mode of Polish urban life and made them the foci of various crafts and industries, the cities became more closely fused with the entire social and economic fabric of the state. The cities, producing domestic utensils, cloth, beer and other articles of daily use, began to exchange them for the grain and other farm products of their immediate vicinity. In the XIIIth and XIVth centuries the Polish cities produced broadcloths, metalware, wire, tin sheets, swords, knives, paper, furniture, glassware, bricks and pottery in considerable quantities. In 1357 a whole street in the City of Cracow was inhabited by glass workers, and at Posen a glass factory was established at the beginning of the XIIIth century.
Aside from the local merchants, the Polish cities had merchants who engaged in foreign commerce. They acted as intermediaries between the north and south, and the east and the west. Salt, silks, spices, wine, lemons, precious stones, trinkets and articles of a similar nature were imported, and cloth, grain, tallow, bristles, hides, furs, naval stores, lumber and other raw products were exported. Cities like Lemberg were important commercial centers for foreign trade. Here were agents from many marts, such as Venice, Holland and Constantinople. The earliest exports of grain went to Holland, England and France. At the initiative of Emperor Emanuel Paleolog, regular exports of Polish grain to Constantine began in the XIVth century. This was responsible for the energetic colonization movement in fertile Ruthenia during the reign of Kazimir the Great. The Levant trade had always been a very important item in the commercial business of the country, and the fall of Constantinople proved to be disastrous to the prosperity of the ancient and most important Polish cities. The difficulties put in the way of the Polish merchants by the Order of the Cross controlling the Baltic seacoast were relieved after the Jagiellon victory at Grunwald, in 1410, as considerable concessions were then obtained. In 1466 Prussia, with its seaports, became a part of Poland, and the whole course of the Vistula came back under the control of Poland. It afforded a great boom to commerce and agriculture, particularly since under the progressive law, promulgated by Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, in 1447, all navigable rivers were declared the property of the Crown and therefore public property, free for general use. Large freight fleets sailed back and forth upon the Vistula, carrying endless cargoes of wheat, rye, hemp, tar, honey, wax, bristles, fats, lumber, skins and furs to Danzig. The acquisition of Danzig and such other ports as Klaypeda (Memel) and Krolewiec (Konigsberg) resulting in an enormous increase in exports, caused a revolution in the economic and political life of the country. Its effect upon the organization of agriculture and the lot of the peasant has been mentioned. The nearer the district was to the Vistula and the easier the access to that Nile of Poland, the sooner were changes visible, and the earlier did the peasant lose his individual liberty and become a serf.
The enormous growth of exports produced a marked effect upon the cities. Due to the introduction of credit on a most extensive scale, they grew in wealth, and numerous families acquired enormous riches. At one time five European sovereigns were entertained by a merchant in Cracow. Private palaces, artistic public buildings and beautiful churches adorned the towns. Art flourished. Vit Stwosz, the, great Polish sculptor of the time, who designed the triptych of the high altar in the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary, was not a mere accident. He was a product of his milieu. Many foreign, particularly Italian, architects were brought over to design public and private buildings. In daily life the burghers wore sumptuous dress of silk and lace, fine furs, gold jewelry and precious stones. "Poor, indeed, was the master artisan or merchant who did not use silver tableware at home and whose wife did not possess a bonnet ornamented with pearls." The many gold, silver and bronze candelabra, chandeliers, candlesticks and other domestic utensils left from that period, still found in churches, museums and in private families as heirlooms, bring testimony to the prosperity and high standards of the cities of the XIVth and XVth centuries. The chroniclers and other writers give us, absorbingly interesting descriptions of city life. The cities were clean and salubrious. Life was quiet, industrious and moral, particularly in the earlier centuries. Private property was regarded as a sanctity, and the smallest theft was punished severely, sometimes by death. Heavy punishment was similarly visited upon dissolute women.
The houses in the cities were built of stone or brick and covered with tile roofs. In the XVIth century all new houses were required to be built of stone, eliminating the waste and danger of fires. To help the poorer inhabitants to rear more expensive structures the city fathers exempted their properties from taxation for long periods of time, frequently for twenty years or more. At the end of the XVth and the beginning of the XVIth centuries all the principal cities established municipal waterworks, and pipes carried the water to every house. Sanitary regulations were numerous and strict. Since the XIIIth or XIVth century there was not a city in all Poland which did not have a hospital, an almshouse and a free public bath. In the larger cities physicians were employed to visit regularly the hospitals and to supervise the drug stores. In cases of contagious disease home quarantine was maintained, and during epidemics large numbers of physicians were employed the city, and indigent persons received free food to sustain their vitality and resistance. By law, graves were dug three yards deep.
The fire regulations were very definite. Many cities awarded special prizes to those who were most proficient. in extinguishing fires. Chimney sweepers were retained in every town, and in many cities the building of narrow streets was prohibited. The streets were well paved and kept clean. Residents were not permitted to put garbage in front of the houses, and refuse of all kinds was regularly collected and carted away to the dumping grounds outside of the city limits.
The development of Polish commerce in the XVth century is said to have been greatly stimulated by the excellent postal service enjoyed by the cities during this period. In 1583 the postal monopoly was farmed out by the king to Sebastian Montelupi, a rich merchant of Lemberg, who organized a remarkably regular postal exchange with foreign countries. During his administration the larger cities received their mail regularly every week, and the rates charged were uniform and moderate, in accordance with a schedule based on distance zones.
The causes of the decline of the Polish cities were numerous. The fall all of Constantinople and the discovery of sea routes to the Orient have already been mentioned. The heterogeneous character of the native population, which, in addition to economic differences created class and racial struggles within municipalities and made impossible harmony and strength, was another important factor. This disintegration of municipal harmony was taken advantage of by the powerful magnates and by the officers of the Crown, who had jurisdiction over the Jews and over those parts of the community which were not within corporate limits to extend their powers and prerogatives.
With the disruption of the patriarchal relations between the masters of the guilds and the journeymen and apprentices, the cities witnessed many strikes and riots. The municipal government became demoralized and its competence gradually curtailed. The artisans were too much concerned with their trades and class struggles and the merchants too much absorbed in their commercial transactions, to pay much attention to the political events that were taking place in the country and to the concentration of power in the hands of the nobles. Meanwhile pernicious legislation was being enacted, which cut the arteries of city prosperity and development. The very heterogeneity of the city populace, consisting of from one-eighth to one-fifth of Germans or of their nationally undigested descendants, of a still larger proportion of Jews, and an admixture of other foreign elements, such as Scotchmen, Frenchmen, Italians and Armenians-- this heterogeneity was also responsible for the indifference of the cities in the destinies of the country and for the neglect to exercise the right they possessed to representation in the national diet.
The law exempting nobles from paying export duties when shipping their products abroad gave to the landlords great advantage over the merchants. Similarly injurious to commerce was the privilege given to the nobles of importing foreign wares for personal use, duty free. The merchant's usefulness became thereby curtailed in a considerable degree. With a view of monopolizing all the land of the country, the nobility secured the passage of a law in the memorable year 1496 forbidding burghers to own land outside of the city limits. Thus the source of the merchants' supply of large quantities of farm products for export was eliminated. Further legislation of this sort, which went so far as to prohibit a burgher from occupying an ecclesiastical office higher than that of a canon, coupled with the keen foreign competition the merchants had to encounter, interior city disorders, jealousies and competition among the cities, and perpetual and devastating wars, were additional causes for the rather precipitous decline of the once flourishing Polish cities with their splendid civilization. In the XVIIth century the cities had already become but a shadow of their previous glory.
The Growth of Political Power of the Nobility
It was during the reign of John Olbracht that the nobles secured extraordinary privileges and economic advantages. Satisfied with their gains, they voted the necessary money for the war planned by the king. Jointly with his brother Wladyslav, King of Hungary and Bohemia, John Olbracht organized a campaign against Turkey to reconquer the coast of the Black Sea and to overawe the vacillating Hospodars of Moldavia. The campaign resulted in a complete collapse of the plans of the king and the annihilation of an army of 80,000 men. The defeated ruler then proceeded to organize a crusade against Turkey jointly with the German Emperor, the Hungarian King and the Pope, but he died suddenly in the midst of the preparations.
At the time of the king's death Lithuania was, in the throes of a war of her own with Muscovy. Nine years of independence had convinced the Lithuanians of their error in striving to sever the bonds uniting them with Poland, and hence the news of the election of Alexander, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the throne of Poland, was received with great joy by them. The pact uniting Lithuania with Poland was renewed. Henceforth Lithuania and Poland were to, form one inseparable unit. The elections of the king were to be held in common, all alliances and privileges were to be made binding for the two countries, the money was to be the same, and Polish kings were to become automatically, upon their election, Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The separatist tendencies among the Lithuanians came to an end with the death of John Olbracht and the ascent of Alexander. The new king unlike his father and brother, was favorably inclined toward the oligarchy. Upon his becoming Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1492 he had granted a privilege to the Lithuanian potentates by which all the activity ties of the Grand Duke came under the control of the Council of Magnates. Upon his coronation as King of Poland in 1501, the Polish magnates obtained from him a similar privilege. By this act the rather extensive powers of the king were in a large measure obliterated, and his role was reduced to that of the President of the Senate. This important grant is known as the Mielnik privilege. By the provisions of this act the Senate could, in the name of the people, refuse obedience to, the king in instances of "tyrannical behavior" on his part. The nobility, disorganized through great losses in their ranks suffered in the war with Turkey, was unable to resist the return to power of the magnates, but tried to oppose them by the employment of such means as the refusal to pay taxes or to serve in the army. These circumstances led to a state of almost complete disorganization in matters of internal administration, intensified by an economic crisis and the gathering black clouds on the boundaries of the country. The Order of the Cross ceased to pay homage to the king, the Tartars and Wallachians were ravaging the southern provinces of the country, and intervention in the war carried on between Lithuania and Moscow grew near. In view of the situation the king, convoked the Diet which met regularly every year, until order was restored and conditions regulated. In order to offset the extraordinary powers of the Senate the nobility forced through, at the Diet held at Piotrkow in 1504, a law called the "Incompatibiliailia," which defined the powers and duties of the various crown offices and specified which of these were "incompatible," i.e. which of them could not be held by the same person at the same time.
The next year at the Diet which met at Radom, a statute was passed known by its two initial words as "Nihil novi." This statute provided that nothing new could be undertaken without the unanimous consent of the three estates: the King, the Senate and the representatives of the land assemblies of the nobility. This statute also provided that no nobleman should engage in trade or commerce under the penalty of forfeiting his right to nobility. The nobility opposed the establishment of a regular army, fearing that it might become a powerful weapon in the hands of the king, but solemnly declared their duty and readiness, as land owners, to defend the country from foreign enemies. With few exceptions the representatives of the cities were entirely eliminated from the Diets.
Soon after the signing of the new statute Alexander died, and his brother, Zygmunt I, the youngest son of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, was elected King of Poland and Lithuania. There was general feeling that Prince Michael Glinski, who was known to have plans for establishing an independent kingdom of Ruthenia, was responsible for the death of King Alexander, and, fearing that dissensions might arise if a new monarch were not elected at once, the Lithuanians proclaimed Zygmunt as their sovereign even before the Poles had a chance to express their preference. Poland soon followed the wise course taken by the Lithuanians and proclaimed Zygmunt King of Poland. The reign of Zygmunt 1 (1506-1548) known as the Old, because he was forty when he ascended the throne, abounded in great events in internal as well as external affairs. It was in his reign that the nobility finally established itself as the dominant factor in Polish life to the detriment of the cities and peasantry, in spite of the king's leanings toward a strong government by a selected group backed by a well disciplined regular army and a responsible force of administrative officials. In the first part of his reign the king distinguished himself by his ability and character. Many intricate problems were satisfactorily solved, the exchequer was replenished, jurisdiction regulated, a state mint established, and a large number of the mortgaged crown estates redeemed. In the second part of his reign, as an elderly man, he succumbed to the influences of his Italian wife, Bona Sforza, a woman of low instincts, treacherous and greedy, and ready to exploit her position in order to increase her private fortune. No methods were too mean to be employed in gaining her ends. Through her pernicious influence corruption crept into public life, high offices were given to incompetent favorites and state revenues used to swell private fortunes. A tide of indignation against corruption and the squandering of the royal domains swept through the country, and an open revolt broke out under the leadership of the powerful and impetuous Peter Zborowski.
Mazovia
While important administrative reforms were being introduced many other influences were at work to make Zygmunt's reign memorable. Humanism had made triumphant inroads into Polish thought despite the attempts of the Cracow University to stem it, and laid the foundation for the mighty swing by which the Protestant reformation made its appearance in Poland. At that time the complete fusion of Mazovia with Poland in 1529 took place after the extinction of the Piast Mazurian dynasty. Previously Mazovia had been a vassal principality with an autonomous government, completely independent of the Polish government. The entrance into Polish political life of the Mazurs, who at that time were much inferior in education and economic and political development to the rest of Poland, made itself felt immediately because of their steadfast adherence to the Church and ancient custom, and their aversion to progressive tendencies. Only one year after their entry into the Diet added burdens were put upon the peasants, and henceforth serfdom became more strongly entrenched.
Duchy of East Prussia
At the same time that Mazovia, with its capital of Warsaw, came into the fold of the Polish state, a precious Polish possession, that of East Prussia, was, through the shortsightedness of the king and his Council, drifting away from Poland.
[Duke of Prussia Swearing Allegiance to King of Poland at Cracow, 1525]
At the time when the Reformation was making great headway in the northern states of Germany, Albrecht Hohenzollern-Anspach, Grand Master of the Order of the Cross, decided to abandon the Roman Church, and, with the consent of the Polish King, became the secular prince of the vassal province of East Prussia. One of the reasons which led the king to give his consent to this recognition was the ferment the Reformation was causing in West or Royal Prussia, and the rioting at Danzig and elsewhere. He feared that a refusal might lead Albrecht to bring the whole of Prussia into an armed contest with the Crown. He preferred to settle the matter amicably, and by the Treaty of Cracow, Albrecht was recognized as hereditary Prince of East or Ducal Prussia, under the sovereignty of Poland, with a right to the first seat in the Polish Senate. After signing the treaty, Albrecht paid public homage to the Polish King at the market place of Cracow in 1525. The Pope and the German Emperor protested, and it is only to be regretted that instead of confiscating the territories of the Order after its secularization, as he had a right to do according to the terms of the Treaty of Thorn, the Polish King chose the other policy, which proved to be one of the greatest blunders in Polish history. The whole course of Polish and perhaps of European history would have been different had not Zygmunt been bent upon this policy, which, in addition to the reason given above, he was persuaded to follow because of the wars he was carrying on with Muscovy. The second of these conflicts with that power ended in 1522, and resulted in the loss of Smolensk, an important strategic point which, from that date until 1611, remained in Muscovy's hands. Further reason for endeavoring to avert a possible Prussian rebellion was the political anarchy in Hungary and the fear of a war with Turkey, which constantly threatened Poland.
Ukraine
The southern frontier of the country had also to be guarded against the Tartars of Crimea who perpetually harassed Poland's borderlands. Many castles and fortresses were built by Zygmunt to hold them back, among them being the famous fortress of Bar. Of the Polish generals who distinguished themselves in defense of the country during the reign of Zygmunt I, the name of Jan Tarnowski stands out most prominently. It was he who defeated Petryllo, the Moldavian Hospodar whose expedition was undertaken at the prompting of Muscovy. Tarnowski's victory over the Moldavians at Obertin in 1531 is one of the beacon lights in the remarkable military annals of Poland. No single victory, however, could put an end to the Moldavian and Tartar raids which were a curse to the civilization of that region, and rendered the proper development of the fertile black soil of Ukraine almost impossible. Flourishing settlements were annihilated over and over again by fire and sword. This condition was one of the causes that retarded the Polonization of the native semi-civilized people. Another was the lack of aggressiveness on the part of the Poles. In deference to the feelings of the native, population, Roman Catholic churches or Polish schools were seldom built in these regions, and the descendants of Polish settlers, finding no buttress in Polish institutions, often lost their language and religion, accepting those of the Ruthenians. Moreover, the constant fighting with the Tartar, Turkish and Moldavian raiders lowered standards of civilization and developed a warlike, self-reliant but impetuous and almost unmanageable frontier race.
The exalted conception of political freedom and the universal respect the Poles have always entertained for the rights of other nationalities proved to be a source of political weakness as exhibited in the state polity with reference to Prussia and Ukraine. In her political ideals Poland was a pioneer among the nations and hard, indeed, is the lot of the pioneer and leader! She, like France at a later period, bled profusely that new and higher forms of life, which she worked out in her experimental laboratory, might replace the hoary moulds that had been hampering the progress of mankind.
To enable the peaceful development of Ukraine and Podolia a regular army was kept in a chain of border towns and attempts were made to draft into service the half-civilized refugees from everywhere, but mostly from Ukraine, who formed a kind of bandit republic around the cataracts of the lower Dnieper. The citizens of that republic, known by the Tartar name of Cossacks, lived by piracy and highway robbery. Polish generals were sometimes successful in utilizing this republic of outlaws, robbers and plunderers for staying Turkish and Tartar expeditions.
The other neighbor who interfered with the development of the frontier territories of Poland was Muscovy which, since the times of Ivan III, exerted constant pressure in her efforts to establish a foothold in the west, encouraged by the German Emperor and German princes, who disliked the growth of Poland.
Lack of Adequate Military Preparedness
Threatened on all sides, the country made every effort to change its fiscal basis and to establish an adequate system of taxation for purposes of defense. Following the example of other countries of Europe, the King endeavored to form a regular army. When plans miscarried, he proposed another measure, whereby the country was to be subdivided into five sections, each section contributing its knighthood once in five years for a year's service at the frontiers of the country. Those who wished to be excused from service could do so on the payment of a stipulated tax. The excellent measure was passed by the Diet, but was rendered practically inoperative by the impossibility of agreement as to the methods of property appraisals and the preservation of registers and tax lists. The great reforms planned by the King and his Chancellor, John Laski, the Archbishop of Gnesen, and supported by a great body of patriots, fell through because of the shortsightedness and stinginess of a small group of obstructionists.
What is true of democracies even now applies in a greater measure to Poland of that period. The large mass of the citizenry was preoccupied with their daily tasks and duties and could not devote much time and thought to the affairs of government. The Polish nobility never shirked their duties in the defense of the country but it was impossible for them to keep in close touch with government matters, particularly in those days when the means of transmission of intelligence were meager and undeveloped. This laissez faire attitude gave opportunity to the selfish and unscrupulous elements to defeat the purposes of legislation and reforms and to use them for the benefit of their individual interests.
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4. Protestant Reformation and the Golden Age in Poland
The Precursors of the Reformation
The efforts of Zygmunt the Old and of the patriots to change the fiscal system of the country, and to introduce satisfactory administrative and military reforms, were considerably retarded by the progress of the Protestant Reformation which, at that time, absorbed the attention of the country and occupied the minds of the people to the exclusion of all other matters. Luther's "heresy" was immediately and sympathetically echoed in Poland after its promulgation in Germany. The ground was well prepared for it. Religious, political and economic conditions similar to those which made it popular in the German states existed in Poland. The Polish clergy led as dissolute a life as did the clergy elsewhere in Europe. The indignation of the nobles at the freedom the clergy enjoyed from taxation and other burdens was intense. Strong was also their opposition to the church tithes as well as their resentment at Papal interference in matters of state. The renowned writer of the time of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, Jan Ostrorog, in his dissertation, "Monumenturn pro reipublicae ordinatione congestum," expressed the prevailing opinion when he wrote in 1473: "The Polish King recognized nobody's supremacy save that of God; instead of assuring the new Pope of his obedience he will sufficiently fulfill his duty if he congratulate him, and at the same time remind him that he should rule the Church justly. It is below the dignity of the king to write to the Pope with humility and humbleness. The clergy are obliged to help the state; one should not be indignant when the king orders the melting of church utensils for public needs. All payments for the benefit of the Pope should be abolished. Poland needs all the funds she can spare for the war with invaders and for the preservation of internal order. The proclamation of jubilee Papal bulls as well as fees for funerals, marriages, etc., should be prohibited. The king should nominate the bishops. In order to decrease the large body of faitneants, the number of cloisters should be restricted, the admission of foreigners to them prohibited, and sermons in the German language restricted." Such were the predominant sentiments of the time, in true keeping with the teachings of Humanism, which spread in Poland through constant contact with Germany and Italy, in the principles of which several generations preceding the Reformation had been reared, and in accordance with which they shaped their views and opinions. The memory of the Huss movement had not completely died out in Poland, and the similarity of Luther's teachings with Hussitism made them popular. Moreover, the political demands of the nobility, striving for complete emancipation from ecclesiastical jurisdiction and for the establishment of a national Church, with the king or a synod at the head, formed a fertile soil for the reception of the Reformation, the seeds of which took firm root in all parts of Poland with the exception of Mazovia.
That Poland was not free from "heretics" at all inferred from times since the XIVth century can be inferred from the fact that as early as 1326 the famous Pope John XXII "was compelled" to appoint a special inquisitor for Poland in the person of Peter of Kolomea, a Dominican. There is, however, no documentary evidence of any work of the inquisitors in Poland.
The Growth of the Reformation Movement
The Lutheran movement began in Prussia and in the larger Polish cities, such a Cracow, where the German element was considerable. One of the first and most ardent representatives of Luther in Poland was Jan Seklucyan. But. Lutheranism was not as popular as Calvinism, for the reason that the latter was considered more appropriate for a free republic, and was more pleasing because of its recognition of laymen in church councils. In addition to these two schools a great variety of other teachings found ready followers in Poland. Hundreds of reformers, fleeing persecution in their own countries, came to Poland, where, they were accorded complete freedom of action and speech. The Queen's confessor, Francis Lismanin, an Italian, was one of he most active workers in the court circles. Two other Italians, Francis Stankar and Lelius Socino, and a Pole, Peter of Goniondz, preached against the Trinity and organized a sect known under different names: Socinians, Arians or Antitrinitarians. The various sects found their patrons among the powerful magnates. The relatives of the once famous Bishop and Cardinal Olesnicki became the followers of Zwingli, and the Radziwills of Lithuania adopted Calvinism, as did most of the magnates and nobles of Little Poland. In Ruthenia, under the leadership of the magnate Stadnicki, the Antitrinitarians became supreme. Ancient Hussitism revived, and under the name of the Bohemian Brotherhood conquered almost the whole of Great Poland. There were also many independent Polish reformers. The Primate's nephew, the younger John Laski, achieved considerable renown not only in Poland, but in Germany, Denmark and even in far distant England. Here he enjoyed the protection of King Edward VI and became an intimate friend of Primate Cranmer in whose house he lived while in England.
With the growth of the movement the income and the power of the established Church diminished. Royal edicts against the heretics were not enforced and Church anathemas were disregarded. Priests who married were shielded by the nobles. Tithes were uncollectable and decrees of ecclesiastical courts unheeded. Animosity and spitefulness went so far that because he wore his cap during the mass preceding the session of the Diet of 1552, Deputy Rafal Leszczynski was chosen president of the chamber. No discussion on any matter was allowed at this remarkable Diet until the Church agreed to suspend its right to civil jurisdiction. The bishops for a time remained obstinate, but finally were compelled to pledge the suspension of church trials over the nobles as well as over their peasants until the matter be settled with the Pope by a special delegation sent to Rome. Some of the deputies went so far as to demand the exclusion of the bishops from the Senate, the confiscation of all church estates for the purpose of national defense, the abolition of the celibacy of the clergy, and like measures. Laws were passed forbidding the execution of Church decrees by the government and the collection of St. Peter's pence. The non-conformists were not, however, able to obtain equal rights with the Catholic clergy in teaching religious doctrines, but received equal rights in filling crown offices.
The Reformation spread like wildfire among the upper classes and in the cities. Many churches were converted into Protestant places of worship, images burnt, many priests of high and low rank abandoned the Church, and young ladies of the best families did not hesitate to marry priest-apostates. The life of the nobles and the city patriciate was thoroughly revolutionized. When the Papal legate, Alois Lippomano, appeared at the Diet of Warsaw in 1556, he was hailed with the cry: "Ecce progenies viperarum."
Unpopularity of the Movement Among the Lower Classes
The masses of the peasantry and of the city plebs however, remained almost untouched, by the new religious currents, and stubbornly resisted all attempts to convert them to the new order of things. This was the cause of the ultimate collapse of the movement which, however, by the stimulation it gave to independent thought and by the utilization of the Polish tongue instead of the medieval Latin for purposes of propaganda, created the Golden Age in Polish life and literature.
The Cultural Effects of the Reformation
The Gospels and the Bible were translated into Polish, and a large number of pamphlets and discussions intended for the great mass of the people to whom no other, except their native language, was intelligible, was printed in Polish. By that time even the burghers began to consider Polish as their native tongue, and although a considerable minority still continued to use German, yet in 1536 the City Council of Cracow proclaimed Polish as the language to be used in prayers and sermons in the churches of that town. The German and Latin books began to be supplanted by Polish prints.
The art of printing found a very early application in Poland. In 1465, only a few years after the invention of the art, a German printer was invited to Cracow by the University. He printed two books: "Joannis de Turrecremata Cardinalis S. Sixti vulgariter nuncupati. Explanatio 'in Psalteriurn finit Cracis" and "Omnes libri Beati Augustini AureIii." The earliest book containing a text in the Polish language was printed in Breslau in 1475 and is at the present time in the possession of the British Museum. The first Slavic books were published at Cracow. Owing to the freedom and tolerance existing in Poland at the time and to the interest taken in scientific matters, the Polish capital became the center of cultural activity for a large area, comprising the Eastern and South Eastern nations of Europe. The earliest books for Hungary, Moldavia, Transylvania, Ruthenia and Lithuania were printed at Cracow. In 1490 a book store was opened in that city and a few years later a permanent press was established. The large printing activity contributed to the spread of the doctrines of Humanism and of the Reformation and incidentially the development of Polish literature.
The Cracow University was hostile both to the religious tenets and to the profanation of science literature by the employment of anything but the Latin language. It clung to its medieval conceptions but maintained a high order of scholarship in science and mathematics. At its request a globe was made in 1510 which is the first known globe to mention the name of America. The wrong placing of the new name serves but to emphasize the ancient origin of this remarkable Polish relic which preceded by five years the celebrated Frankfurt-Weimar orb of Schoner. The Globus Jagellonicus was first described by Prof. Thaddeus Estreicher in 1900 in the Transactions of the Cracow Academy of Sciences for that year. There he points out that the Polish globe is the earliest globe of the after Columbus era, that it is the earliest to indicate any part of the New World and the first to delineate the South American continent. It is also the first globe on which the continent of America is shown to be distinct from that of Asia. The fact that the University of Cracow possessed in 1510 or thereabouts a globe indicating the latest geographical discoveries throws indirect light on the keen interest taken by the Polish scholars of the time in the progress of science.
In this connection it may also be worth while to mention that it was the Cracow edition of Ptolemy, prepared in 1512 by Jan of Stobnica, a professor of the Jagiellon University, which first contained a map of North and South America, showing the connection of the two continents by an isthmus.
Eager as the University evidently was to keep abreast with the latest discoveries in science and geography, it was equally determined in its opposition to the new currents in philosophy and theology. No Humanists were tolerated on the faculty, and as a consequence the University lost in time its best professors and most of its students. The nobility and the burgesses sent their boys abroad, to Erfurt, to Padua, Venice, Pavia, Paris and elsewhere. The young men returned full of enthusiasm and new ideas about life, government and religion. A host of talented writers appeared. Some discussed matters of state freely and criticized the existing conditions, pointing out, as did the highly gifted Andrew Frycz Modrzewski, the necessity of equalization of all the estates before the law, and the advantages of a prosperous and free peasantry. Others, like Orzechowski, thundered against the despotism of the nobility, the iniquities and the foreign character of the Church and the great privileges of the Jews in matters of money lending and usury. A large number of historians, poets, dramatists and fiction writers sprang up among all classes of society. Klemens Janicki, the poet- laureate, was a peasant; Simon Szymonowicz, the author of beautiful bucolics, was of city birth; so were other distinguished writers, like Sebastian Klonowicz and the brothers Zimorowicz. Nicholas Rey, the greatest satirist of the time, was born in a noble family, but of modest circumstances. Polish literature really had its beginning with Rey. His pictures of life, men and conditions are masterpieces of style, wit and perspicuity. They served as models to many future writers.
At this time Polish national consciousness reached its fullest realization in art as well as in science. Copernicus (1473-1543), one of the most revolutionary minds the world has known, who by his epoch-making researches freed science forever from the shackles of theology, like all truly great men, was far from narrow specialization. That he published a remarkable work on money is well known to economic historians. But the treatise he wrote in support of his country's claims to the territories that had been illegally occupied by the Order of the Cross is less generally known and it is precisely this patriotic trait in Copernicus which aside from the everlasting glory he brought to Poland's name, has endeared him forever in the heart of his nation.
Just as Polish science of the XVIth century was crowned by the immortal works of Copernicus, so was the Polish Parnassus of that age glorified by the writings of John Kochanowski (1530-1584) the nobleman of Sandomir. Until this day poems and dramas delight the most fastidious taste by their beauty, deep thought and fine sentiment. The stimulus given to writing in Polish supported by the religious reformers gained momentum as time advanced, and as early as 1548, at the funeral of King Zygmunt the Old, the Bishop of Cracow, for the first time in history, used Polish at so solemn an occasion. King Zygmunt August and his sisters spoke the most elegant Polish. Martin Bielski wrote a history of Poland in Polish. Latin was being supplanted, but of course not completely. It was still the medium of expression of the philosophical and scientific minds of Poland, who were plentiful in that glorious period. Joseph Strus the king's physician, was widely known in Europe by his writings. His work on "The Pulse," published in Posen, created a great stir in the medical world of the time. James Przyluski published a monumental and masterful codification of the laws of Poland, with commentaries. Simon Marcius Czystochlebski wrote a work concerning pedagogical problems, and Martin Kromer became the worthy successor of John Dlugosz, the famous Polish historian of the time of Kazimir Jagiellonczyk.
A high type of culture evolved. Freed from the shackles of feudalism and scholasticism, enriched by the toil of a serf-peasantry, the Poles of the upper classes, with their exuberant nature and impressionable minds, created in the XVIth century a distinct and high civilization of their own, akin in many ways to that of the Latin and the Teuton worlds yet different from both of these by virtue of a different racial, geographic and social environment.
The Protestant Sects
The Reformation in Poland was doomed to failure because the large mass of the peasantry was inimical to the reforms, as were the poorer nobles who in mentality differed very little from the peasants. Another cause for the ultimate failure of the movement was the weakness of the Protestant element caused by their differentiation into a number of denominations combating each other. The Protestant leaders, realizing the dangers of a divided front, bent every effort toward uniting the various factions into one large body, and to working jointly for the establishment of a national church, similar to the Church of England They finally succeeded, in 1570, in uniting the less radical wings. This union was known as the Concord of Sandomir. The Anti-Trinitarians did not join in it.
While the non-Conformists were quarreling, the Roman Church, after the Council of Trent, picked up its old self-confidence and courage and launched a vigorous counter-movement under the leadership of Hosius, Bishop of Warmia, and the Papal Nuncio John Francis Commendoni. It was chiefly due to the indefatigable energy of these two men that the crumbling edifice of the Roman Church in Poland was saved from destruction.
Collapse of the Effort to Establish a National Church
In the meantime the nobility was bringing strong pressure to bear upon the new king, demanding the limitation of the rights of the clergy. Submitting to it, Zygmunt II August proclaimed, in 1562, the Statute of Tolerance which, among other things, deprived the ecclesiastical courts of the power to enforce their decrees. This step led the Pope to enter into negotiations with Ivan the Terrible, the great enemy of Poland, whereby Ivan was to use his military power to punish the Polish nation for its tolerance of heretics. Indignation rose high, and a break seemed to be imminent after the Papal Nuncio refused to grant the king a divorce from his third wife, Catherine Hapsburg. Preparations were being made for the convocation of a religious council, for which the reformers were busily preparing, and to which they invited Calvin. The Pope protested against the holding of this council, and the king, ill and hesitating, fearing a break with the Pope, vetoed the proposal establishing an independent Church of Poland. In the same year, 1565, the first Jesuits brought over by Bishop Hosius appeared in Poland, and an era of feverish activity against the heresy began. The established Church was able to rally the great masses and at the local elections to force through representatives favoring the Church. As their numbers increased in the Diet they were able, aided faithfully by, the Mazurs, to stem the progress of the plans for "the improvement of the Republic" championed by the "Dissidents," the name by which the non-Conformists were known in Poland.
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