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The brief history of Poland
Part 3.
Since the end of the Jagiellon dynasty till The Cossack Wars
- End of Jagiellon Dynasty: Beginning of Era of Popular Election of Kings
- The Catholic Reaction
- The Polish Constitution
- The Cossack Wars
1. End of Jagiellon Dynasty: Beginning of Era of Popular Election of Kings
Zygmunt II August, 1548-1572
Eighteen years before the death of Zygmunt I the Old, the Diet consented to recognize his son by the second marriage as successor to the throne, with the understanding, however, that henceforth elections of the king would not be restricted to the Diet but would be "viritim," i. e., open to the whole body of citizen nobles.
In 1548 Zygmunt II August became King of Poland. No sooner did his coronation take place than he came into a serious encounter with the Diet on account of his marriage with Barbara Radziwill, which, when heir to the throne, he had contracted without the knowledge and consent of the Senate. It was in violation of the constitution and his divorce was demanded. The king, who loved his wife tenderly refused to submit to the demand of the magnates whose personal jealousies inflamed by the machinations of Bona, the Queen Dowager, and her camarilla, were the chief motives for the humiliation of the king and his wife. A deadlock, lasting two years ensued. The opposition finally surrendered and Barbara was crowned queen in 1550. In his fight against the Senate the new king had exhibited a great determination and strength of character, attributes which unfortunately were not his in subsequent dealings. He failed in leadership in matters, which were then shaking the body politic to its foundation. His devious course with, reference to the Reformation has been traced in the last chapter. The example of Henry VIII of England and the separation of the Church in the Scandinavian countries fired the imagination of the Protestant leaders in Poland who were persistently clamoring for an independent Church and demanding action on the part of the king. Time-honored tradition and reasons of state prompted caution. The undecided king, the center of conflicting currents, discouraged by the lack of unity in the Protestant camp and influenced by the strong representations of Pope Paul IV, dodged the issue, deferring its consideration from Diet to Diet, not strong enough to face it squarely and to throw its lot with one side or the other.
Restitution of Alienated Crown Lands
Zygmunt II August similarly evaded the requests of the nobles for administrative reforms. It was only in 1562 that the king consented to the consideration of the program for the "Betterment of the Republic". As on a previous occasion the Deputies so now the Senators, in their patriotic enthusiasm expressed themselves ready to give up the charters or "the donation lists," as they were called, granted to them by former monarchs and which entitled them to large estates in the royal domains.
The Jagiellons had found it necessary in the course of events, to distribute their large domain among the lords as well as among the minor noble to secure the necessary support for their foreign domestic policies. By this time the royal domain had become very insignificant and as a consequence the state treasury, which depended almost exclusively upon the proceeds from those domains, was almost depleted. At the memorable session of the Diet of 1562 a law was passed whereby all land grants issued after the year 1504 were declared void and lands ordered to revert to the Crown. Three-fourths of the revenues from the returned domain were to be used for the maintenance of the king and of all the Crown offices and officials, and one-fourth was to be devoted to the maintenance of a regular army for the defense of the country. The measure was of great political and administrative value. Henceforth no grants of Crown domains could be made; the king could however, bestow the life use of some of them as "panis bene merentium" upon those who distinguished themselves by faithful service. Unfortunately, this soon became a source of corruption.
Cities Ruined by Unwise Legislation
The Diet of 1562, which met for putting through measures for bettering the status of the Republic, enacted most pernicious legislation regarding the economic life of the country. It abolished all restrictions on the free export of raw products and the free import of manufactured goods, and prohibited free export of domestic manufactures. The blighting effects this measure had upon industry were soon visible. The agrarian nobles profited by the lucrative exchange of their produce for the manufactured articles of foreign countries, but the Polish cities, already impoverished and not only deprived of protection afforded by a tariff but prohibited from exporting abroad, rapidly declined and faded into "rotten boroughs." The last possibility of the Polish King ever attempting to join with the cities against the nobles was thus removed. It was also in the time of Zygmunt II August that the struggle with Muscovy which since that time has practically never ceased, took on very serious aspects. Averse to war, the Polish King still was drawn into it by the disquieting aggressiveness of Ivan the Terrible the first Czar of Muscovy, who endeavored to "break a window" into the Baltic. The Poles were quick to see the danger coming from the east. Zygmunt August, appraising the situation correctly, saw in Muscovy the most formidable foe of the Polish State. The Polish ambassador at Rome informed the king that Ivan's agents were busy forming a coalition against Poland with the Pope at the head. The Pope, desirous of curbing the Reformation in Poland, welcomed Ivan's plans, designed to punish the heretics. To offset Ivan's plans the king took steps to assure himself of the friendship of the Hapsburgs and consented to marry Catherine, the daughter of Ferdinand I and sister of his first wife, two years after the death of the beloved Barbara Radziwill, his second wife.
The War with Ivan the Terrible 1562-1571
War with Muscovy came as a result of the claims of sovereignty of the Knights of the Sword over the Archbishop of Riga. The Knights of the Sword, amalgamated since 1237 with the Knights of the Cross, were the masters of that strip of the Baltic littoral which comprised Courland, Estonia and Livonia, the last being known in Poland by the name of Inflanty. Ivan decided to exploit the feud. He sent an army against the Knights and took a few cities. The Grand Master of the Order, receiving no support from the German Emperor, resigned and Gothard von Kettler took his place. The Swedish King, joining Ivan, overrode Estonia, and the Danish fleet occupied the seacoast of Courland and the Island of Osel. The Letts revolted against their Teutonic oppressors. Kettler and the Bishop of Riga, seeing that they would be unable to defend the country, turned to Poland for help and offered Livonia to the Polish crown. Kettler, following the example of the last Grand Master of the Order of the Cross, threw off his religious vows and became a secular prince of Courland and a vassal of Poland. After the extinction of his house, Courland was to become an integral part of Poland.
The Acquisition of Inflanty or Livonia 1561
Meanwhile, Livonia came under Polish sovereignty with a wide local autonomy. The accession of that province was very valuable. It gave Poland the estuary of the Dvina, with the City of Riga and other convenient ports on the Baltic.
Sweden and Denmark, content with their large acquisitions, soon entered into peace negotiations with Poland. Ivan, however, seeing in Poland's aggrandizement a blow to his ambition, resorted to arms and the war begun by him lasted a whole decade. The King of Poland protested to Queen Elizabeth of England against the illicit trade in arms which the English sailors were carrying on and threatened with death penalty those of them who might be caught indulging in it. In this document Poland sounded the following remarkable note of Warning: "The Muscovite, who is not only our opponent of today but the eternal enemy of all free nations, should not be allowed to supply himself with cannons, bullets and munitions or with artisans who manufacture arms, hitherto unknown to those barbarians." * In 1571 peace was finally concluded, according to the terms of which a part of Livonia and the Lithuanian city of Polotsk went to Muscovy.
The Hereditary Union of East Prussia with Brandenburg 1563
The Hereditary Union of East Prussia with Brandenburg 1563
While the war with Ivan was going on the ruling family of East Prussia became extinct and the country was, according to the treaty of 1525, to revert to the Polish crown. Owing, however, to the engagement with Muscovy and the still unsettled terms with the Scandinavian countries, Joachim Hohenzollern, the Elector of Brandenburg, was able to prevail upon Poland to allow him to establish himself permanently in East Prussia and thus to unite it with Brandenburg by a dynastic union. Polish diplomacy failed to recognize the grave danger of this expansion of Brandenburg. Every effort was then strained to stay the Muscovite menace and to establish a closer union with Lithuania and Ruthenia for more effective defense against the Muscovite aggression, the far-reaching consequences of which were not then fully discernible to west European diplomacy despite the Polish warning.
The Union of Lublin, 1569
The need of a closer union was the more urgent because the king was childless, and upon his death a strife was certain to ensue. The Jagiellons had hereditary rights in Lithuania and Ruthenia, but none in Poland. The two countries had separate parliaments, armies, money and institutions. The laws of the two countries also were not exactly the same; different also were the systems of taxation and of land tenure. The need of a more unified and homogeneous organization was frequently pointed out by the Polish statesmen and was favored by the nobles of Lithuania and Ruthenia, as it would give them the enjoyment of greater privileges and possibilities and opportunities for a broader social and economic development. The two countries had a similar economic basis and one and the same system of water routes. Moreover, Polish colonization at the time reached the Dnieper, and the Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian families became considerably interrelated by marriage and lost their separatist race consciousness. The Polish language had become the common property of the nobles of the three nations. The opposition was limited almost exclusively exclusively to the magnates, who were loath to lose the great prerogatives they enjoyed under the less democratic laws of Lithuania. Throughout Polish history until this very day, this element of large landowners of Poland. Lithuania and Ruthenia has consistently opposed all reforms which aim at the democratization of the country. They would rather see the country disrupted than see it democratic.
At the time of Zygmunt II August the body politic was still healthy enough to curb the anarchy of the magnates and when the Lithuanian and Ruthenian lords, after repeated attempts and persuasions on the part of the king and the patriots, which continued for several years, remained obstinate and left the convention, the king, amidst great enthusiasm, most solemnly declared the union accomplished "in contumacium." This took place in 1569 in the City of Lublin, and hence the union is known by the name of that ancient and historic town. It was a great political achievement and was characterized as the union of "the free with the free, and of the equal with the equal". It established equal rights and equal duties for all nationalities throughout the whole of the vast domains of the Republic stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and from the Oder to the Dnieper. In order to place the two countries on a constitutional equality, the king abdicated his hereditary rights in Lithuania, an act that was in pathetic contrast to his recognition of the Hohenzollerns to hereditary rights in East Prussia. Henceforth Poland, known as Korona or the Crown, and Lithuania formed one inseparable body with one king "who is not born to office," but elected by the citizens of the two countries jointly, and with one Diet to which the representatives of all the lands of the Republic were elected on the same basis. The currency was made common for the two countries and the laws of settlement and of land tenure identical. Volhynia, the province of Kieff, and Podlasie (the country watered by the Narew and the Bug) became integral parts of Poland, as did West Prussia. The City of Danzig in West Prussia received subsequently a special constitution. Ruthenia, with the exception of the three provinces above mentioned, became an integral part of Lithuania. Livonia belonged to both Poland and Lithuania, and the Moldavian Hospodar remained a vassal of the Polish King. Lithuania was to have separate courts, a separate treasury and a separate army. The Diets were henceforth common and held at Warsaw whither the king's residence was moved after the next election.
The union of Lublin was a work of compromise and far from perfection. It established, however, a common basis of law and government and served to solidify the two countries very substantially.
Death of the Last Jagiellon 1572
Three years after the establishment of the union, Zygmunt II August died and the distinguished royal family of the Jagiellons came to an end after a reign of almost two centuries 1386-1572. In the span of that reign Poland grew from a relatively unimportant principality into one of the greatest powers of Europe.
The Interrex
Immediately after the death of the last Jagiellon arose the important question, for which no provision existed in the constitution, regarding the status of the government during interregnum. All the state officers, administrative and judicial, acting in the name of the king, were deprived of the legal basis of their activities. Someone had to take the king's place until the election. Two men laid claims to the office of the interrex, the Archbishop of Gniezno and the President of the Diet. The contest was, in a way, a clash of the Catholic Church with the Reformers, as Firley, the President of the Diet, was a follower of Calvin. The jealousy of some of the other magnates prevented Firley's election. Archbishop Uchanski was declared to be the representative of the nation during the interregnum. This election established a precedent, and henceforth the Primate was the interrex pending the election of a new king.
The Cowl Confederacy
It is to the credit of the patriotism and civic maturity of the nobles that the life of the country went on undisturbed during this period. As in the interregnum following Ludwig's death, 1382-1384, the local of the nobles formed in various provinces carried on the administrative local work, set up temporary courts and executives, and admirably preserved order and peace. Like the interrex, the confederacies, known as those of the Cowl from the cowl worn as a sign of mourning, became recognized constitutional institutions during interregnum. The device which was of value as a spontaneous measure proved to be a clumsy and unwieldy one when made a regular instrument of government. Another precedent was established during the first interregnum, and that was the "convocation" session of the Diet, which always took place before the election of the king. The convocation Diet was held in Warsaw in January 1573. At this Diet the methods to be followed at the elections were adopted.
"Viritim" Elections
The non-Conformists tried to undo the law passed in Zygmunt I's reign, establishing the so called viritim or direct elections, proposing an indirect method by a body of chosen electors four times larger than the number of representatives in the Diet. The Catholics, whose power lay with the rank and file of the nobility, objected to the indirect methods as an usurpation of the "golden liberties" of the citizenry, and defeated the amendment in favor of the primitive methods suitable for a small town moot.
The Warsaw Confederacy and the Statue of Religious Tolerance, 1573
The place designated for the election was a field at the outskirts of the city of Warsaw. The choice of a city in the heart of Mazovia favored the Catholic Church, as, on account of the proximity of the city, the Mazurs could come in great numbers and sway the election.
Seeing that they were in a minority, the non-Conformists or Dissidents formed a closer association known as the Warsaw confederacy, in which they pledged themselves to see to it that law and order were preserved and that complete freedom of conscience be guaranteed. This act of the confederacy, demanding freedom of religious belief, was submitted to the Convocation Diet and overwhelmingly, carried, only the bishops voting against it. The act of the Warsaw Confederacy became the legal basis of the position of the non-Conformists in the future and one of the chief organic statutes of the Republic.
Election of Henri Valois
The election was held in April 1573, and over forty thousand voters assembled. There were many candidates: Henri Valois, the brother of the French King Charles IX; Archduke Ernest Hapsburg, the younger son of Emperor Maximilian II; Tsar Ivan the Terrible; King John of Sweden; Prince Stefan Batory of Transylvania, and some Polish candidates. The French candidate carried the election, supported by the Church and by many among the non-Conformists who were in his favor, provided he pledge the support of the articles of their confederation guaranteeing freedom of faith. The pacta conventa, or the covenant, which the elected king had to sign, specified great many conditions to be fulfilled, among them, the building of a navy on the Baltic. He had also to swear to respect the liberties and privileges of the nobles.
The King's Flight in 1574
The new king, reared in an entirely different political atmosphere, did not consider himself bound by the provisions of the covenant and almost immediately aroused serious opposition by his highhanded methods. He was in Poland only five months when the news of his brother's death reached him, and very soon after the country was apprised that their monarch had fled to become King Henry III of France. His behavior was shocking and humiliating to the nation, whose cultural attainments at the time were at least equal, if not superior, to those of France. Morfill, in his book on Poland, gives a description of the Polish delegation sent to France to inform Henri Valois of his election, which throws an interesting light upon the educational accomplishments of the Poles at that period. He says: "On conversing with the Poles, the French were struck with their facility in speaking Latin, French, German and Italian. Some of them even spoke the French language with such facility that, according to a contemporary writer they might have been taken for inhabitants of the banks of the Seine or the Loire, rather than men born in countries watered by the Vistula and Dnieper. The nobility of the Court of Charles IX were obliged to blush at their own ignorance, for there were only two, the Baron de Millan and the Marquis de Castlellau Mauvissiere, who could answer them in Latin, and they had been expressly sent to maintain the honor of their order. The other nobles, when the newcomers spoke to them in that language, could only reply by signs or stammering."
Opportunity for Foreign Monarchs to Meddle in Polish Internal Affairs
The experience with the universal direct elections and with foreign kings should have been taken for a bad omen, and the pre-election intrigues for an indication of how destructive the policy would eventually be for Poland, bound as she was on all sides by strong monarchies whose sovereigns sought the Polish crown for selfish and dynastic advantages. The elections opened a way for foreign enemies to take active part in Polish politics, and by intrigues and corruption to disorganize, demoralize and weaken the country. An enlightened body of patriots saw the dangers and tried to prevent them, but were defeated by the self-seeking magnates and the Church. A period of political decline was not slow to set in despite the noble efforts of great statesmen and warriors who endeavored to steer the ship of state clear of the rocks of destruction for which she was headed propelled by the exalted but impractical ideals of individual liberty on the part of the citizenry, and by the selfish designs of powerful and greedy neighbors aided in their destructive work by the ambitions and selfish particularism of certain Polish elements.
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2. The Catholic Reaction
The Reforms of Stefan Batory, 1576-1586
After the ignominious flight of King Henry new elections were ordered. In addition to the candidates of the preceding election a few more appeared but the issue simmered down to a choice between the Austrian Emperor, Maximilian II, and Stefan Batory, Duke of Transylvania, who was married to Anna Jagiellon, sister of Zygmunt II August. The Senate elected the former, the nobles the latter, and no compromise could be reached. Both sides gathered forces for a bloody decision of the question. Batory was first to arrive at Cracow, while the city was held by his supporters, and was promptly crowned in 1576. The party of the Emperor was loosing strength and soon capitulated. Batory was recognized throughout Poland and Lithuania with the exception of West Prussia. As a consequence a short war ensued, in the course of which Danzig suffered greatly for its obstinacy, and the rebellion came to a speedy end.
While the unanimous election of Henry Valois had been a keen disappointment, the divided election of Batory was to be a great success. The new King was a man of rare attainments and unusual abilities. Accomplished in the arts of diplomacy and warfare, he combined in one person the statesman and the general, blending wisdom and tact with knowledge and determination. He never transgressed any of his constitutional privileges and scrupulously respected the rights of the nobles, but in return demanded a similarly unequivocal respect of the law on the part of others, and dealt very decisively and severely with those who exhibited anarchistic proclivities. Famous is the case of the brothers Zborowski, powerful and wealthy palatines, who combined ambition with restless spirit. Samuel Zborowski had been banished from the country by Henri Valois, but returned in Batory's time, and launched a furious campaign against the King and his able chancellor, John Zamoyski, in the course of which he even went so far as to invoke the aid of foreign monarchs. When overpowered by Batory he was promptly executed and his brother and coworker exiled from the country. The palatines soon realized that it was not a figurehead who sat on the throne of Poland. George Oscik, the Lithuanian magnate who carried on treacherous negotiations with the Tsar of Muscovy, was, like Zborowski, dealt with, summarily.
It is significant that one of Batory's first reforms concerned the judiciary. The King's Court, to which final appeals were taken, in the course of time became a most inefficient institution, clogged with accumulated business and too remote from the people in a time when means of communication were very scanty and poor. Batory established three tribunals, which were to take the place of the King's Court of Appeals in civil matters. The tribunal at Piotrkow had jurisdiction over Great Poland, that of Lublin over Little Poland, and a separate tribunal was established for Lithuania. The King's Court continued to hear appeals in criminal cases. The judges of the tribunals were elected by the nobility. The King's consent to elective judges was not obtained until the Diet refused to vote the necessary funds for the war with Muscovy. The emancipation of the nobles from royal jurisdiction abolished the last vestige of kingly power over them. Moreover, the King's Court had been the only institution in which the despised burghers were on a footing of equality with the nobles. In defense of the nobles, with reference to their attitude toward other estates, it must be stated that they exclusively bore many state and military burdens, and that they had not considered their estate as a close corporation. On the contrary, thanks to the influence of Chancellor John Zamoyski, one of the greatest and finest spirits of Poland, thousands from among the burghers and business people were ennobled. The demand for elective judges was, however, against the political ideals of the King who well realized that what the country most needed was not more liberties, but a strong centralized power to guide it, and that any dissipation of such a centralized power was detrimental.
Aiming to establish a strong monarchical government, Batory singled out the Catholic Church for his particular favors. The principles of the Church favored the monarchical idea. The Catholic Church taught that the source of royal power was divine and that absolute monarchy was the best form of government, sanctioned by the Scriptures. The Jesuits were particularly gifted exponents of this theory and for that reason were greatly encouraged by the King. Despite Batory's strong leaning toward the Catholic Church he had, however, never submitted to the insistent demands made upon him to abrogate the Articles of the Warsaw Confederation, which he had sworn to maintain. Although he rejoiced to see the steady decline of the Reformation movement in Poland he never broke his pledge of tolerance.
Batory's illustrious reign is noted not only for his successful curbing of anarchy, but also his success in bringing about the organization of a strong standing army, the origin of which dated back to the time of Zygmunt II August, when the Diet had voted one-fourth of the income from the crown lands for defensive military purposes. A strong army was needed for the execution of Batory's plans which aimed at the development of Ukraine and a free access to the Black Sea, made hitherto impossible by the constant raids of Turks and Tartars. It did not take him long to organize a large and efficient army. Peasants were encouraged to join the infantry, and in compensation for their services their families were granted exemption from certain duties. Many of the peasants were raised to the rank of nobles in recognition of their valor. The Cossacks were drafted into the regular service and organized into regiments of light cavalry. While Batory was organizing the army, Ivan the Terrible invaded Livonia in 1577 and ruthlessly devastated the country. The Polish King was not quite ready to meet him, but very soon he rallied his forces and personally led them against the Muscovites. Not only were they driven out of Livonia, but were pursued eastward to Pskov. Ivan sued for peace but Batory though hampered by a lack of financial support from the Diet, refused to negotiate. The Tsar then brought into play all his powers of Oriental treachery and diplomacy. He again assured the Pope that hecontemplated joining the Roman Church and sending an expedition against Turkey. In return he asked support against the Polish King, whom he called the ally of the Infidel. The Pope dispatched Antonio Possevino a famous Jesuit, who persuaded Batory that it was for the best interests of the Church to establish peace. The treaty which followed, 1582, deprived Ivan of all his previous possessions in Livonia and of the Duchy of Polotsk. Batory's dream of conquering Moscow and adding this vast territory to the Polish union was not realized at the time, but he never abandoned it.
To offset the influence of Great Britain, then supporting Muscovy, Batory conceived the plan of strengthening the league of the Baltic cities. Amidst preparations for a new campaign against Muscovy, which was to be followed by another against Turkey, this great monarch died, after a short illness, in Grodno, on December 12, 1586, being only fifty-three years old.
The firm political structure he had reared by his constructive genius and the strong, government he had established with the aid of Zamoyski were soon to collapse, during the stormy and turbulent interregnum which followed his untimely death.
The Bigotry of Zygmunt Vasa, 1587-1632
The interregnum, 1586-1587, ended in a war. The chief candidates for the Polish throne were the Swedish Archduke Zygmunt Vasa, son of King John and Catherine Jagiellon, the second sister of Zygmunt II August, and Maximillian, brother of the Emperor Rudolph II. Astrong Party of nobles under the leadership of John Zamoyski favored the Swedish candidate. The other was commanded by Zborowski, who raged with hatred toward the great Chancellor of the late King. All the turbulent and boisterous elements held in leash by the strong hand of Batory gave vent to their reactionary impulses when kindled by partisan and political animosity. Riots broke out in many places. The discussions in the Convocation Diet were extremely animated and prolonged. The country was desirous of having the interregnum ended, but evidently no compromise could be reached. Finally, on the 19th of August, 1587, the Swedish Archduke was declared King by the Zamoyski faction. Three days later the Zborowskis announced the election of Maximillian. The choice of the Zamoyski faction prevailed, but the victory of the partisans of the Swedish Archduke proved to be a great disappointment at first and a veritable calamity in the end. The new King, though very young, was not that tabula rasa he was depicted by his tutor which would easily receive the impress the Poles wanted to make on it. On, the contrary, he was possessed of a strong character and came to Poland with a ready political program which was entirely out of accord with the political tendencies of the party that had elected him.
The new King was ultra-Catholic and regarded the propagation of the Faith as his chief mission. In this he naturally sided with the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain. The party that had elected him, though comprised in a large majority of Catholics attached to the Church, was heir to the lofty principles of tolerance which characterized the Jagiellon polity, and for that reason chiefly was so vigorously opposed to the election of Maximillian, seeing in a union with the Hapsburgs a danger to the time-honored institutions of the Republic. Zygmunt very soon alienated his former supporters and began very ardently to foster Catholicism by all available means. He married one of the Austrian princesses without asking the consent of the Senate. He thus closely bound himself to Hapsburgs and violated the constitution which he had sworn to respect. To make matters worse, it was soon discovered that he was planning to abdicate the throne in favor of Ernest Hapsburg in return for the support of his claims in Sweden by the Emperor. The understanding also provided that Ernest was to release him from the pledge of ceding Esthonia to Poland, to which he had sworn in the pacta conventa. He was impeached, and though at the "Inquisitorial" (as it was called) session of the Diet he denied the charges, his prestige became undermined, 1592.
The Growth of Jesuit Influence
Meanwhile the Catholic reaction had been making great headway. The Jesuits began to exercise a powerful influence over the education and modes of thought of the people. Their pupils were brought up in a hitherto unheard of fanaticism and servility to the mighty.The very conservative Polish historian, Professor Sokolowski so characterizes the results of the Jesuit endeavors: "Superficiality and pompousness had become the chief characteristics of literature as well as of education; the authors and orators concealed their dearth of thought and lack of substance under a flood of classical quotations; the manly style of the time of Zygmunt II August dissolved itself into macaronism, seasoned with seeming earnestness. The style once so deftly ridiculed by Kochanowski (Carmen Macaronicum) received the right of citizenship in literature, and encyclopaedic knowledge drowned all originality of thought and soberness of judgment."
The King encouraged far-reaching repressive measures and gave a personal example of intolerance by withholding all state offices from non-conformists or "dissidents," and by not heeding the complaints made against the "heretical tumults." The Protestants were held up to scorn, subjected to maltreatment as enemies of their own country, and were made the victims of the street riots and pillage.
Religious fanaticism, hitherto alien to the Polish character, was diligently instilled by a foreign King, seeking to advance his own interests through an exaggerated devotion to the Church. The Jesuits became a veritable power, and through their influence alone could one obtain offices and distinction. Great statesmen and patriots, like John Zamoyski and Peter Skarga, the King's chaplain, himself a Jesuit, and others, saw that the course pursued by the King was fatal to the country.
The dynastic difficulties of the King in his native country to the north plunged Poland into a series of disastrous wars. John III Vasa died in 1592. At the news of his father's death Zygmunt went to Sweden. Many among the Poles hoped that he would never return. Unfortunately for Poland, Sweden fearing the fanatic, refused to recognize him, although he was crowned at Upsala. His uncle, the Duke of Sudermanial headed the opposition. When the latter ascended the throne as Charles IX, Zygmunt turned to Poland with a request for support against his uncle. The Polish Diet refused the support, where upon Zygmunt recalled the "pacta conventa" and magnanimously offered Esthonia to Poland in order to force an inevitable war upon an unwilling country. The Polish victory under Chodkiewicz at Kirchholm, in 1605, would have led to a great offensive campaign against Sweden had the nation's attention not been turned to an internal rebellion and a war with Muscovy.
The Rebellion Against the King
The rebellion, known as that of Zebrzydowski, who was its leader, was an attempt to overthrow the King whose foreign policy was so inimical to the interests of the country, and who so persistently opposed every measure of sound internal reform. When a proposal of changing the method of election was made, whereby the principle of majority vote was to supersede the unanimity of decision, the King vetoed the measure. It was apparent to everybody that "absolutum dominium" was the aim of the King, who disregarded all constitutional restrictions. In 1605 he again married a Hapsburg Princess and again without the consent of the Senate. The occasion produced the spark which caused the conflagration. The opposition now deprived of the wise and conservative leadership of Zamoyski who had died, formed a confederacy and raised a considerable rebel army. Unfortunately they failed in their desperate attempt to get rid of the blighting influence of the royal enemy of Poland, and the victorious King could continue unhampered his disastrous policy of intrigue and selfishness. It was on account of his personal character that the Russian campaign inaugurated most auspiciously, ended in a fiasco.
The War with Muscovy
The self-styled Tsar of Russia, Demetrius, who followed the murdered Boris Godunov to the throne of Moscow, was a man of westernsympathies and a friend of Poland. His wife and court were Polish. In 1606, while the Zebrzydowski rebellion was raging in Poland, the agents of Basil Shooyski murdered Demetrius and with him a large number of Poles residing in Moscow. This act led to war with Poland. The Polish hetman, or commander-in-chief, Stanislav Zolkiewski, reached Moscow, took Shooyski and his family as prisoners and entered into negotiations with the Council of Boyars. By a solemn treaty, the boyars recognized Wladyslav, the son of the Polish King as their Tsar and subsequently the population of the capital took an oath of fealty. A splendid opportunity offered itself for Poland to civilize the vast domains of Muscovy.
The fanatical and ambitious Zygmunt frustrated this great opportunity by recalling Zolkiewski and the crown troops from Moscow and by insisting on his personal claims to the crown of the Tsars. The population of the Muscovite capital abhorred the thought of a Jesuitic sovereign. Aided by the Orthodox clergy and other conservative elements of Moscow who feared the influence of the democratic institutions of Poland the opposition rose, and an anti-Polish movement was successfully launched. Patriarch Hermogen absolved the people from the sworn oath. At the news Zygmunt, having captured Smolensk, hastened to Moscow, but came too late. The private Polish troops stationed there could not curb the animated bands directed by the butcher Minin and the Prince Pojarski. Michael Romanoff was elected Tsar, and the dream of union with Russia under Polish leadership, conceived by Witold and running like a red thread through the political thought of' the Jagiellon dynasty, came to a seeming end, though Wladyslav did not abandon his claims to the throne of the Tsars.
The Echoes of the Thirty Years' War
No sooner had the conflict with Muscovy terminated than the dark clouds of two new wars gathered on the horizon. The Cossacks, whom the Polish frontier palatines endeavored to harness, were not rebelling against all restriction but their constant raids on Turkey both in Europeand Asia Minor brought on retaliatory expeditions by the Tartars, instigated by the Sultan. Polish palatines themselves, who owned estates larger than many a sovereign principality in central Europe, were carrying on wars of their own with the Hospodars of Moldavia and also with the Turks and Tartars, and many a time placed the Polish government in almost awkward position. Advantage was taken by Turkey of one those local encounters to declare war on Poland. The campaign was undertaken chiefly with a view of striking at Austria which was then in the throes of the Thirty Years' War and in which she was indirectly assisted by Poland. The Polish King endeavored, but did not succeed, to bring Poland to the side of the Hapsburgs. He, however, permitted recruiting volunteers for the army of Ferdinand II, his brother-in-law. A great Turkish host invaded Poland in 1620 and defeated a valiant small army under the leadership of the venerable Zolkiewski. The famous conqueror of Moscow fell in the battle of Cecora, not far from Jassy, and the Polish army was annihilated. This bloody and determined battle retarded the progress of the Turkish advance and by preventing the Ottoman armies from effecting a juncture with their allies, enabled the Emperor to win the famous battle of the White Hill. The Turks renewed their campaign on a larger scale in the following spring, but were halted by the desperate, defense of Chocim on the Dniester. In 1621 peace was restored between Poland and the Porte.
Meanwhile, the successor of Charles IX of Sweden the gifted Gustavus Adolphus, desirous of finally disposing of his cousin's claims, sent an expedition which, in 1617, occupied Livonia. A series of pour-parlers followed. The Poles were anxious for peace and refused any money to carry on further war, but the ambitious King would not consent to renounce his claims. The conflict continued intermittently. When the Swedish troops, however, overran West Prussia and threatened the city of Thorn, the Diet granted the necessary funds to start a vigorous defense. In 1629 Hetman Stanislav Koniecpolski defeated the Swedes, and by the intervention of England and France, both vitally interested in the success of Gustavus Adolphus, a six years' truce was established, the terms of which, were most unfavorable for Poland. By this truce of Altmark Sweden was allowed to retain possession of her Livonian conquests, besides holding a large portion of the Baltic littoral, which gave her, control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic and a considerable revenue derived from port tolls. The amount of these tolls in 1627 alone amounted to 500,000 rix-dollars.
Not a single measure championed by the King brought any gains to Poland. It was also in the reign of Zygmunt III that the unfortunate error of Polish diplomacy with reference to East Prussia was consummated. The recognition, by the last Jagiellon, of the right of the Brandenburg Electors to succession in East Prussia in the case of extinction of the Anspach line, was confirmed in the year 1618, when the Elector became the ruler of that part of Prussia.
The Uniate Church
The ineptitude and intolerance of Polish diplomacy of the Vasa period are also partly responsible for the failure to bring all the Ruthenians into a union with the prevailing religion in Poland. From the very first years of the political consolidation of Poland withLithuania and Ruthenia it was the greatest concern of the statesmen of the united countries to bring the Ruthenians closer to the Catholic Church; and it was with this view that Jagiello and Witold delegated Catholic and Ruthenian bishops first to the Council of Constance 1414-1418, where the matter was not settled, and later to the Councils of Basel and Florence, 1431-1449. As is well known the union of the Eastern and Western churches was established in Florence in 1439, each church retaining its own rites, and liturgy, but both recognizing the Roman Pope as the sole head of the Church. The union was not lasting anywhere except in Poland, where it remained in force practically throughout the XVth century. The Grand Duke of Moscow repudiated it from the very beginning, and in Greece it came to an end with the fall of Constantinople. It was a great fault on the part of Poland to allow the union to disintegrate and to permit the Ruthenians to go back again, jointly with the Muscovite Church, under the corruptive influence of Constantinople. This political blunder was in large measure due to the Reformation. With the advent of the Reformation the idea of the union became unpopular, the Protestants joining hands with the Ruthenians to undermine the established Church. With the Catholic reaction setting in at the close of the XVIth century the idea of the union again became a matter of considerable concern. The conditions in the Orthodox Church at the time were most revolting, and strongly resembled those of the Roman Church in Luther's days. The metropolitans and bishops were leading dissolute lives, and the common clergy were ignorant and equally immoral. High ecclesiastical offices could be obtained for money or by favoritism. Under the influence of the expurgated Catholic Church the conditions in the Ruthenian clergy began to change for the better, and, goaded on by Polish statesmen, the Ruthenian bishops convoked a synod at the Lithuanian city of Brzesc (now known by the Russian name of Brest-Litovsk) in 1595 to discuss means of reform and the possibility of renewing the union with the Roman Church. The union of the two churches received at the time paramount importance in view of the fact that Muscovy, in retaliation for unscrupulous exploitation on the part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, established its own church with the Tsar at the head (1589), and the fear of the possible gravitation of the Ruthenians toward Moscow became very real, and entirely justified. As early as 1567, even before the separate Muscovite Church was established, the metropolitan of Moscow, Nikon, called himself the Patriarch of Great and Little Russia. The proceedings of the synod and the ultimate schism proved conclusively that in certain groups there were decided leanings toward the Muscovite Church, and that they were ready to exert every effort to prevent a union with the prevailing Church in Poland. A considerable element among the Ruthenian schismatics was also actuated by Protestant motives. As a result of the discordant interests only about two-thirds of the Ruthenians joined the union. The dioceses of Lemberg, Przemysl, Lutsk and Mohilev were left in the hands of the schismatics. All the others, not excluding that of Kieff, came into the Uniate Church. In a considerable measure the failure to rally greater support of the union was due to the shortsightedness and obstinacy of the Polish clergy in their refusal to admit the Ruthenian bishops to membership in the Polish Senate. The well conceived but poorly executed Brzesc union resulted in unfortunate division and strife in Ukraine, that had many lamentable results and which contributed in a degree to the precipitation of the Cossack rebellions and the ultimate loss of the Cossacks to Poland.
The regrettably long reign of Zygmunt III Vasa, 1587-1632, characterized by intolerance, intrigue and incompetency, is the turning point in Polish history. The era of political decline begins with him, brightened by moments of unequaled heroism and supreme political wisdom.
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3. The Polish Constitution
The constitution of Poland was never written. It was a body of laws sanctioned by ancient custom and subsequent legislation. By the end of Zygmunt Vasa's reign it became a rigid state instrument, and underwent but few changes until the last quarter of the XVIIIth century.
The Polish Republic
The Commonwealth of Poland consisted of the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the domains of Prussia, Mazovia, Zmudz (Samogitia), Kieff, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlasie and Livonia or Inflanty. The victories over Muscovy in the XVIIth century placed a number of other territories under Polish sovereignty. In addition, Poland exercised sovereign power over Courland, East Prussia, Moldavia and Wallachia. Since the establishment of the union among the component states at Lublin in 1569 Poland had been a Republic, at the head of which stood an elective King.
The King
The Piasts were hereditary rulers of Poland. By the will of the childless Kazimir the Great, the last Piast, the crown of Poland went to his nephew, Ludwig of Hungary. If Ludwig had left male heirs, their right to the Polish throne would have been undeniable. There was no law or custom, however, which would recognize a woman to hereditary right of succession. To secure this right for his daughters, Ludwig had to compromise, and granted the famous privilege of Koszyce in 1374. His daughter, or the grand niece of Kazimir the Great, was elected. If she had sons they would have inherited the right to the Polish throne. But Jadwiga died childless, and the status of her consort, Jagiello, was not clearly defined. In consequence, his sons, by a Ruthenian princess, were not recognized as royal heirs in Poland. With Jagiello's oldest son, therefore, begins the period of elective kings. It was only because the Poles desired to preserve the union with Lithuania, where the descendants of Jagiello had hereditary rights, and not because of any legal obligations, that they had elected kings of his house until the extinction of the dynasty.
The sons of the King had no more claims to the throne than anyone else.
The Elections
Every nobleman of Poland, Lithuania and the other parts of the Republic had a right to vote. The representatives of the more important cities were members of the electorate, aswere also Poland's vassals, with the exception of the Duke of Prussia, to whom this privilege was denied. Until the end of the Jagiellon dynasty the elections were indirect, through representatives in local assemblies and the Diet.
After the reign of Zygmunt II August, "viritim" or direct elections in person prevailed. The viritim elections took place in a suburb of Warsaw, where the knighthood and dignitaries formed two separate camps. Here the assembled electorate listened to the exhortations of the representatives of the candidates and their supporters. On the day set for the election the Senators and Deputies met with the nobility of their respective provinces and took a viva voce vote on the various candidates. Unanimous consent was necessary to make the election valid. The Primate announced the result of the election.
The elected candidate, first by his representatives and then in person, swore to uphold the constitutional privileges enumerated in the pacta conventa, which the pre-election or "convocation diet" had drawn up, whereupon a duly executed diploma of election was handed to him. He did not become, however, vested with monarchical authority until after the coronation, which took place at Cracow. The coronation ceremony was followed by a special "coronation diet" at which the King confirmed the laws of the Commonwealth.
The Powers and the Duties of the King
At first the King's power was considerable. He was the lawmaker, and although at a comparatively early period he regularly consulted his Council, he was not legally bound by its decisions. He could not, however, infringe upon the privileges and rights of the several estates. The law of 1505, known as "Nihil novi," limited his legislative power considerably and gave it to the Diet.
The King was the supreme judge until the elective tribunals were established in Batory's time, which, however, did not supersede him in civil matters. He was commander-in-chief of the army. He could call out the national militia, but only with the consent of the Diet, of which he was an integral part.
He convened the national and local diets at times instanced by law and at other times on extraordinary occasions. He specified the matters to be submitted for the consideration of the Diet. The resolutions and acts of the Diet, as well as court decrees, were issued in his name. He had power to appoint ambassadors to foreign countries, but could give them instructions in minor matters only. The ambassadors were responsible to the Diet. Similarly, the King could confer with foreign representatives only in the presence of the Council of the Senate. The King could not go abroad, marry, or secure divorce, without the assent of the Senate. Although the King derived his power from the election, he was responsible to nobody. He was merely limited by the privileges which he granted, or which were granted by his predecessors and which he confirmed. After the extinction of the Jagiellon dynasty the electorate claimed the right to renounce allegiance to the King in case of his disregard of the law or of the articles of the covenant (de non praestanda-obedientia).
The executive power of the State was vested in the King. He was, however, handicapped in the exercise of it by the life tenure of officials and by their independence. He had the sole right to appoint civil and military officers, but could not recall any officials unless guilt had been established before the Diet sitting, as a court of justice. The right of appointing bishops was vested in the King, and he had the power to donate; or mortgage crown lands.
Offices
All offices were life tenures. The chief offices which, with the exception of the Hetmans and the Under-Treasurer, entitled the incumbent to senatorial dignities were:
1. The Chancellor, or Keeper of the Great Seal. Both ecclesiastical and temporal nobles could hold this office. The Chancellor was the representative of the King and the interpreter of his will and intentions. He read the speeches of the Crown, presented to the Diet the matters for consideration, negotiated with foreign ambassadors and acted as intermediary between the people and the king. All royal decrees, mandates and correspondence were prepared and sign signed by him.
2. The Under-Chancellor attended to minor affairs and assumed the duties of the Chancellor in his absence.
3. The Grand Marshall had charge of the King's safety, and was at the head of the administration of the police and judicial departments of the capital and its vicinity. His jurisdiction was very' large.
4. Two Under-Marshalls, assisting the Grand Marshall, were also regular officials.
5. The State Treasurer had charge over the royal exchequer. He was responsible for the collection of revenue and the expenditures approved by the Diet. His reports were regularly submitted to the Diet, and for every misuse of funds he was responsible with his private fortune. He was also in charge of the mint and of the royal domains.
6. An Under-Treasurer attended to the minor matters of the office.
7 and 8. One Grand Hetman commanded the Crown army and another the Lithuanian army. They were charged with the duty of defending the country against invasion and of guarding the Republic against internal disturbances.
9. The Field Hetman was a military official of a lower rank. His duty was to defend the frontiers of the country. He also substituted for the Grand Hetman when necessary.
All the above mentioned dignitaries were ex-officio ministers of state.
There were many minor state or court offices, some of which during the course of time lost their significance and were retained merely for honorary designations.
Of the crown officers who discharged their duties outside of the capital, the following were the most important:
The "Voyevoda" was a provincial Governor with a very limited duty and responsibility. At first he acted as chairman of the provincial diet, but later this custom came into disuse. The Voyevoda led the militia of his province in case of war, looked after the weights and measures in towns, prescribed the prices of products, and had jurisdiction over Jews. The office entitled the holder to a seat in. the Senate.
The "Castellan's" was one of the offices which, like that of the Voyevoda, had a, historical tradition, but which in time proved to be a mere honorary title of the leader of the nobility of a district. In case of war he organized the citizens of the district and led them to the Voyevoda. The office gave the incumbent senatorial rank.
The actual executive work in the country was done by the Starostas. They enforced the decrees, and had charge over the law and order of their respective districts. They were also judges of the nobility in criminal matters, and sometimes, but very seldom, in civil cases also. The civil jurisdiction was almost, wholly in the hands of special judges, appointed by the King from the lists of candidates presented by the nobility of the districts.
Some of the offices were considered incompatible, i.e., could not be held at the same time by one and the same person. No two provincial offices could be filled by one person, a crown dignitary could not hold a provincial office; the Hetman could not be a Marshall, neither could the Chancellor be Treasurer of the Crown.
The Diet
The King, the Senators and the representatives of the knighthood constituted the Polish Diet or Parliament. The King was an integral part of the Diet, although his constant presence during the sessions was not required. At the time of the death of Kazimir the Great, in 1370, there were as yet no general assemblies of the nobles. Each province or district discussed its local affairs in small conventions. Gradually inter-provincial congresses began to be called to discuss affairs of a more general nature. At first these congresses were rare, but at the beginning of the XVth century they became more frequent. One reason for them was the development of the mutuality of interests with the greater consolidation of the country; another, the more frequent requests of the king for advice and approval of his activities. The more limited his power became the more frequent were the meetings of the representatives of the various sections of the country. Hussitism, controversies over church tithes, elections of the king, and other such matters called for frequent national assemblies of the nobles of the country. As there was no regular Diet, they first formed confederacies. Sometimes the representatives of the local assemblies met with the king's council. In this way, to the ancient advisory council of the king, consisting of his relatives, ministers, bishops, woyevodas and castellans were added the more democratic elements. The newcomers regarded their presence in the Council as of right and not of royal grace. When their numbers grew, and they became the spokesmen of a definite economic and social class, they were differentiated from the bishops and dignitaries were requested to meet separately from the original council, which in contradistinction to the chamber of the deputies of the local assemblies of the nobles, was designated as the Senate. The past history of the Senate determined its composition. It consisted of the archbishops and bishops, ministers of state, castellans and woyevodas. The high state offices created after the Senate was definitely constituted (the middle of the XVth century) did not find representation in it. That is why the Under-Treasurer and the Hetmans had no seats in the Senate. The number of senators in the year 1569 was 140; their number increased to 150 during the reign of Wladyslav IV and John Kazimir. After the loss of Livonia the number of senators decreased by four.
The Deputies were elected by the land assemblies, which were the legislative organs of the local autonomous government, and were bound to observe the mandates given to them. Some measures like those referring to taxation, had to receive the unanimous consent of the Diet and then of the local assemblies. This procedure was in conformity with the old custom whereby the King's Council had to get the consent of every local assembly for a measure infringing upon the privileges of the nobles. The theory of the procedure was that the privileges of the nobles formed not only the objective law of the country, but the subjective right of every individual whom they concerned. For every contemplated change of the privileges the consent of all those whom the change concerned was therefore required. When the national assembly took the place of the local assemblies the unanimous consent of the representatives and their constituencies was still required for the validity of any measure, which concerned the nobility as a class, or as individuals. When the House of Representatives was definitely differentiated from the King's Council, in 1493, the representation of the nobility was very slight. Usually a province or the administrative unit presided over by a woyevoda sent two representatives. By the middle of the XVIth century there were not more than two score of representatives in the House. During the reign of the first two Zygmunts their numbers increased. The local assemblies sent six delegates each. In 1569 there were 95 representatives in the House. In the next century the number of deputies was increased to 172.
There was no specified place or time for the sessions of the Diet. The king summoned it whenever occasion arose. Sometimes it met twice a year, at other times once in several years. In the XVth century the sessions lasted for a few days; in the XVIth century deliberations lasted several months. Later on the Diet met regularly every second year, and the time limit was six weeks. Extraordinary sessions could be called between the regular sessions and were to last not more than two weeks. At first the Diets met chiefly in Piotrkow, later in Warsaw. Although unanimous consent was required for the validity of the measures, yet it was not very difficult to obtain it, despite the specific instructions of local assemblies. The public spirit animating the Diet conquered all technical difficulties. Later on attempts, such as that by John Zamoyski, were made to introduce the principles of modern parliamentarism. They failed on account of the reaction which set in after the of the Protestant Reformation movement.
The "Liberum veto," whereby one deputy could dissolve a session of Parliament and render nugatory all its previous decisions, came into life in the middle of the XVIIth century, in the era of moral and political decline.
Confederacies
The Confederacies were unions formed by the nobility, or magnates, the Diet or the King, with the aim of achieving certain things, which could not be obtained by ordinary means. They supplemented, as it were, the imperfect constitutional machinery. They first came into being during the interregnum following the death of Ludwig in 1382, and took the place of the regular government which, acting in the name of the King, were without legal sanction during the interregnum. After the death of Zygmunt II August in 1572, and later, attempts were made to provide for regular authority during an interregnum but were frustrated. Confederacies were sometimes formed during the life of the king when the government did not or could not fulfill its duties.
The legal basis for the confederacies lay in the conception of the supreme sovereignty of the nobility. That was why a general confederacy, i.e. comprising, the representation of the whole nobility, was considered superior to the king. They sometimes attempted to subject the king to their jurisdiction. Naturally the power of the confederacy depended on its strength. A confederacy, which failed on account of lack of strength, was a rebellion. Sometimes the king formed counter confederacies. When the king joined a confederacy it received legal sanction from the outset. The closest analogy in modern times to a Polish confederacy was the Ulster movement against Irish Home Rule. In Poland Sir Edward Carson would have been recognized as the Marshall of the confederacy. With several counsellors added, he would have constituted the executive board of the confederacy. The representatives of the various districts in the confederacy formed a Council similar to the Diet. When the confederacy was general i.e. embracing the whole country, the enactments of the Council superseded those of the regular Diet. The decisions of the confederacy were taken by a majority vote. In view of the fact that the Diets required unanimous vote, the confederacies were at times the only way out of serious difficulties. In the long run however, they did more harm than good in undermining the already weak foundation on which public law rested in Poland.
Administrative of Justice
Each estate or class of Polish population had a distinct legal position with its own courts vested with judicial authority. The district courts of justice with elective judges were the lower courts of the nobility. The court met three times a year in a place designated by law and had jurisdiction over civil matters. The chamberlain's courts had cognizance over land boundary disputes. The starostas' courts had jurisdiction over criminal cases, and entertained civil suits in cases where one of the parties was a non-resident noble. For gathering evidence the courts had power to appoint special commissions. Appeals from all the above courts in civil matters could be taken to the tribunals, of which there were three: one for Great Poland, one for Little Poland and the third for Lithuania. Appeals in criminal cases were taken to the King's court. No appeal from a decision of the Tribunal could be taken to the King's court. At times the Diet acted as a court, but only in cases referred to it by the tribunals. Cases of lese majeste and of high treason came into its competence. The trial could not last longer than the time specified for the session of the Diet, and a liberum veto could annul the court decrees.
In matters pertaining to land ownership and the collection of tithes the clergy had to resort to ordinary courts. In criminal offenses of the clergy, and in matters pertaining to canon law, the bishops wielded judicial authority. The bishop's court was the court of first instance, the primate's court the second, and the nuncio's court the third.
The townspeople had their own courts based on German law, with elective judges and the mayor as presiding officer. Appeals from these courts went to the King's court.
The peasants were dependent in their disputes upon the owner of the village. In those villages, which were founded upon the German law, elective courts remained, but the chief of the village became in time an appointee of the owner of the Manor and a tool in his hands.
The Jews had their own courts, but in cases against Gentiles jurisdiction was in the hands of the Governor's' or Voyevoda's courts; appeals could be taken to the King's court. Sometimes the King's court acted as a court of first instance. Jews who settled in the villages came within the jurisdiction of the owner of the village without the right of appeal.
Finances
The state revenue was derived from various duties and taxes, and from the leasing of the crown domains. The land tax was a general tax, from which only the clergy, and later the nobility also, were exempt. The products of the salt and metal mines were taxed, as were also, dwellings in the country and in the cities. Mint seigniorage, excise taxes, the various taxes levied in the cities on commerce, transportation, manufactures and crafts, and the Jewish capitation tax were the other kinds of state revenue. The tax rate was a variable quantity; in cases of need the Diet would double, treble, and even quadruple the usual tax rate. Until the year 1717 the clergy were exempt from taxation. In extraordinary cases the Church would donate to the state treasury a "subsidium charitativum," the amount of which was fixed by the Church Council. After 1717 the Church paid a regular annual tax.
The expenditures went for the maintenance of the King and his court, for state administration and foreign representation, and for the regular army. The collection of taxes and the disposition of the revenues were under the control of the Treasurer, responsible to the Diet. Some taxes went directly to certain officials on whose ability to collect them depended the size of their incomes; others were farmed out, and in some instances the army officers collected the taxes designated for the maintenance of the army.
In addition to state taxes there were provincial and town duties of all kinds levied by the proper authorities. The Church tithes were devoted exclusively to the maintenance of the clergy.
National Defense
"Great democracies are not belligerent." On account of the persistent refusals of the nobility to make suitable appropriations for national defense the standing army of Poland was very small.
It was composed of natives and foreigners, who were paid a stipulated amount for their services. In return for the multifarious privileges the nobility was bound to serve in the national militia and to answer the call to arms whenever made by, the king in conformity with a resolution of the Diet authorizing the levy. The nobles were obliged to appear fully equipped. A military census was taken every five years. In the XVIIth century about 300,000 men were registered in the national militia.
The militia was composed entirely of heavy and light cavalry, hussars, uhlans and dragoons. The regular army had all kinds of arms, ordnance, cavalry and infantry; the latter having been put on a regular and efficient basis by King Stefan Batory. In addition, private troops were maintained by the spiritual and temporal magnates. Most of the residences of the magnates were fortified castles. The number of these castles was very large. Many of them were very spacious and beautiful in design. Since 1572 the Cossacks have been utilized for light cavalry purposes and stationed at the frontiers of the country. The "registered" (as they were called) Cossacks received pay for their services and were exempt from any control by civil authorities. They were subject to the jurisdiction of their Chief, who, in turn, was under the Polish Field Hetman. During the reign of Zygmunt II August, Biala Cerkiev was the seat of the Cossack Chief, and the depository of their magazines and munitions. King Stefan Batory moved the capital of the registered Cossacks to Trachtymirov, on the Dnieper, below the City of Kieff.
Legal Status of the Various Classes of the Population
The nobles were the ruling class with the exclusive right to enjoy full citizenship. Nobility was, hereditary in the male line, and an escutcheon was an outward sign of it. The power to ennoble resided originally in the King, but after the end of the XVIth century the approval of
the Diet was required. As the class-consciousness of the nobility grew, attempts were made to restrict admission. Naturalization of foreign nobles, after 1641, similarly became a matter over which the Diet had sole control. In the XVIIth century a new conception, that of, a scartabellate developed, whereby the newly ennobled persons enjoyed but certain privileges. Only their progeny in the third generation came into possession of full rights of citizenship. This was the only gradation in the ranks of the nobility who guarded jealously against the rise in station of anyone by reason of hereditary title. By the act of 1638 no noble could accept or use a title, which had not been registered in the acts of the Union of Lublin in 1569. The Polish Kings were prohibited from giving titles to Poles but were free to bestow them upon foreigners. Orders were not allowed in Poland. In violation of the law, the first was established in 1705, during the period of political disintegration.
The following were the special privileges and immunities enjoyed by the nobility exclusively:
The right to acquire and own land in the country as well as real estate in cities, with all the wealth below the surface;
The property of the nobles was exempt from confiscation without due process of law; only to the nobility was the door of the more exalted temporal and spiritual offices open;
They were exempt from taxation, making only such contributions as they voluntarily imposed upon themselves, with the single exception of compulsory military duty in case of war.
A noble was answerable only to his own courts. For killing a person not of noble rank he was punishable by a fine only. He enjoyed the right of habeas corpus; had complete freedom of speech, was an elector of the King and qualified to become a candidate for the royal office.
Finally, he had a voice in the affairs of the country by electing delegates to the National Diet through the local assemblies. There was only one restriction to which the nobles had to submit, and that was the prohibition of being a merchant or an artisan. By settling in a city and engaging in this kind of work a noble forfeited all his rights to nobility.
Next to the mobility in order of enjoyment of special privileges and immunities was the Roman Catholic clergy. All the higher ecclesiastical offices were given exclusively to persons from among the nobility, with the exception of the doctoral canons," to which only priests holding doctors degrees in theology, law and medicine could be appointed. Beginning with 1496 no cathedral chapter could have more than five plebean members, all of whom were required to have doctor's degrees. In the case of a dearth of properly qualified doctors of noble rank, priests from among other classes of society could be appointed. Catholic diocesan bishops were ex-officio members of the Senate. Many high state offices including that of the Chancellor, were open to the clergy, and as a rule were occupied by them alternatively, i.e., an office vacated by a temporal dignitary would in turn be occupied by a spiritual person, and vice versa.
The King appointed the bishops and canons, as well as the abbots and rectors. Kazimir, the Great had attempted to influence the cathedral colleges in the election of bishops, Jagiello followed his example, and his second son, Kazimir Jagiellonczyk, obtained this right from the Pope, confirmed later by Sixtus V in 1589. The policy of Poland consistently endeavored to submit the Church to State control. Those among the clergy who by importunity or procurement, obtained appointments in Rome, and in this wise infringed upon the royal prerogatives, were liable to the penalty of exile and confiscation of personal property.
The nobility was tireless in opposing the tax exemptions of the clergy, the tithes and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. By a law of 1510 the Diet prohibited bequests of land to the Church in order to stop the tremendous growth of "the dead hand," as the Church estates were called. In 1562 the church courts were deprived of the right to enforce their decrees by means of the executive power of the State, and in 1635 appeals to Rome were made illegal. In the XV11th century restrictions were placed upon the building of monasteries and convents, and further restrictions placed upon bequests.
The legal guarantees of equality of rights of dissidents with Catholics were contained in the provisions of the Warsaw Confederacy of 1573, and were sworn to by every new monarch. With the growth of the Catholic reaction they became more or less a dead letter, and dissidents were made, the subjects of discrimination. No bishop of the Orthodox Church or even of the Uniate Church was recognized in the Senate, and State offices were very seldom filled by persons from among the non-Conformists. In 1632 the Diet prohibited the erection of new dissident churches in the cities of the Crown, and in 1717 this prohibition was extended to the rest of the country.
The Arians or anti-trinitarians were declared to be outside of the term "dissidents," and were banished from the country in 1658. The underlying motive for this radical method of dealing with the sect was political rather than religious.
The XVIth and XVIIth centuries saw the decline of the once, prosperous and powerful Polish cities. Geographical and economic conditions as well as pernicious legislation were the causes of it. Gdansk (Danzig) only, and a few other maritime cities continued to prosper. The direct interchange of the products of the manor for the foreign manufactures and luxuries, and the development of self-sufficing, communities around the manor eliminated the need of cities, and their marts and fairs. The character of the city population changed. The old, prosperous and respectable families became ennobled and settled in the country; others emigrated. The lower elements came into power, and, not appreciating the real causes of the decline of the cities endeavored to put the blame upon the Jews and other foreign elements. The weakness and disorganization of the cities became reflected in their relation to other elements of the population and to the Government. The cities lost their former right to home rule and representation, and were subjected to the authority of state officials and private magnates. The voyevodas prescribed prices for city products, the rates of excise taxes, etc., and the Diet established rules as to profits and even as to private expenditures and the kind of dress to be worn (lex sumptuaria). The disintegration of city life was accelerated by special rights claimed by the nobility owning real estate within the city limits and by the clergy, who did not want to submit to the city administration and established special jurisdiction of their own. In this they were encouraged by the Diet, which passed laws, making certain persons and houses exempt from municipal law, and dependent solely upon provincial authorities and their jurisdiction.
The burgesses did not have access to any state offices or to the higher spiritual positions. They were excluded from the national militia. Only the Prussian cities and the City of Cracow had a right to the acquisition and tenure of land outside the town limits.
Aside from the economic advantages the nobility planned to derive, by making themselves independent of the cities, the chief motive in destroying important and powerful cities was to remove every possibility of furnishing the King with an ally strong enough to overturn the existing order of things and to introduce absolute government in Poland. The cities declined very rapidly, and even the so-called "storage laws" could not prevent this process. By these laws no merchant, foreign or domestic, could pass a "storage" city without offering his wares for sale on a specified day.
In the XVIth century there was not so much as a trace left of the independence of the peasant and his right to self-government. The laws limiting his freedom became more rigid, and the punishment for flight from the jurisdiction of his master more severe The owner of the Manor had jurisdiction over his peasants, and prescribed laws and regulations for them; he could transfer them from place to place; he could take away certain leased parcels of land and, give them others instead; he prescribed the amount of free labor the peasant had to render. There existed no state regulations as to the number of free days the peasant was obliged to give to his landlord, as to the number of beasts of burden that he had to bring with him to help in the work and as to the other duties he had to perform.
In time the manor became an entirely independent economic unit. The peasant was obliged to buy all his necessities of life from the landlord and was compelled to sell all the products of his farm to the manor. The manor also established a monopoly of milling, bleaching and of spirits and beer production. The landlord compelled his peasants to purchase certain quantities of these drinks for various occasions, such as marriages and christenings. Similar conditions prevailed in church estates and crown lands, except that in crown lands the peasant had a right to appeal to the royal referee's court for redress.
In spite of the loss of personal liberty, dating from 1496 in Poland and lasting longer than in the western countries of Europe, the Polish peasant was not a slave. He could not be sold and he was not, deprived of legal competence, although since 1573 he was the "peculium" of his overlord. He could hold property, both real and personal, and nobody could deprive him of it. He had hereditary rights to his land and could buy land from his landlord, to which his children had hereditary claims. His rights however, were greatly restricted; he could not leave the landlord except with his consent, or, as in some places, by forfeiting a certain sum, but by law he remained a free man. His legal status' resembled that of minors or of women in those countries where they are not permitted by law to enter into any transactions without out the consent of father or husband. The fact that in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries many peasants from foreign countries settled, in Poland indicates that the lot of the peasant in Poland was better than that of his conferees in some of the west European countries.
The Jews in Poland had complete autonomy in their internal affairs. In each city in which they were allowed to live there was a special Jewish college called "Kahal," which governed the Jewish affairs of the community In addition they had other colleges, such as that of neemunim to supervise or police the community; shamaim to collect taxes, gabbaim to attend to charities, and others. The members of the colleges were elected annually from among the taxpayers. Every year during the great fairs at Lublin and Jaroslav the representatives of the Jews from all the provinces of Poland assembled in synods to settle the internal affairs of the various communities and inter-communal matters; also to make joint representations to the King and to apportion the taxes levied upon them as a body. In time the Jewish autonomy became weaker, and they came more under the supervision of the woyevoda and his subordinates, but they always retained their right to appeal to the King's court for redress. In 1699 the King issued a special codification of all the privileges concerning Jews and by this document their status was clearly defined.
The Jews could not settle in the towns belonging to the Catholic Church, and in such cities of the Crown as Warsaw; for example, whose ancient charters forbade their settlement. To insure themselves against competition, the burghers made the Jew's sign covenants limiting the scope of their pursuits. In some cities the Jews were prohibited from leasing real estate or handling customs and other tax collections. In those cities, however, where they had a right to settle, they could own real estate and houses. In the villages the Jews were subject to the jurisdiction of the landlord. On the whole, their disabilities in Poland were comparatively few, although from the very beginning the Jewish settlers were looked upon with disfavor by the peasants, and were made the subject of numerous complaints and blind vengeance: particularly in times of economical crises or other calamities like the Black Death of 1360. The laws of the country were designed to protect them against outrages and cruelties on the part of the native population and were effective until the time of the Catholic reaction, when all non-Conformists, either, Christian or Jews, became ostracized and subject to the "tumults" of the ignorant and fanatical street rabble. As a matter of fact, the Jews suffered less than the Protestants, and had more protection than the Christian non-Conformists.
Upon joining the Catholic Church the Jews received nobilitation and came into possession of the golden liberties of the nobility, the highest privilege the Republic could offer.
The liberality of the Polish law giving a wide autonomy to the Jewish population worked against the best interests of the Republic, as it was conducive to the perpetuation of a distinct race consciousness, and prevented the polonization and nationalization of an element of the population which had become attached to the land of their adoption, where they found homes, work and protection at a time when they were cruelly persecuted almost everywhere else in Europe. Subsequent laws modeled after foreign patterns, which prohibited Jews from employing any help other than that of their coreligionists, from sending their children to Polish schools, from living outside of ghettos, and from wearing apparel like the rest of the population, helped to widen the gaps which the original grants of autonomous rule had established.
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4. The Cossack Wars
Political and Economic Conditions of the Country in the First Half of the XVIIIth Century
It was an almost foregone conclusion that Wladyslav, the older son of Zygmunt III, would succeed his father to the throne. He was the antithesis of the older Vasa, and was as much loved by the people as his father had been hated. Though of a Swedish father and a German mother, he was a Pole in every respect other than race. He was sincere and open minded, cordial and easy going, democratic and sympathetic to arts and sciences, and tolerant in matters of religious belief. It was almost worth while to have endured Zygmunt for the compensation afforded by his son. His election was a matter of form. Unfortunately the era of anarchy had lasted too long to allow for a speedy rectification of conditions. Moreover, the nobles, despite their fondness for Wladyslav, had not failed further to restrict the King's powers. The Convocation Diet took from him the power to declare war except for defensive purposes, and ordered void all decisions which the King might make in conjunction with the Senate in the interim between the biennial sessions of the Diet, irrespective of how important and urgent the matters may have been if they were considered inimical to the interests of the nobles. In the pacta conventa they enjoined the King from levying the chimney tax and the acreage tax, the only two kinds of taxes the nobles paid, and which amounted to a mere bagatelle. The King was deprived of the Power to enlist foreign soldiers without the consent of the Senate and of the House of Deputies. The consent of the two Houses was also made necessary for the King's marriage. "So was accomplished the building of the edifice of the nobles' liberties; the royal power, completely fettered, became a plaything in the hands not of the nobles, but of the oligarchy of the magnates. The small land assemblies and the "kinglets" (as the magnates were called), leading the masses of landowners on the leash of their own ambitions and interests, became the supreme majesty in the Republic."
The political tendency was toward decentralization, as at the local assemblies various convenient measures could be more easily passed than at the National Diet. The country became divided into a great many entirely independent administrative units. The provincial soldiery, paid by the local legislatures took the place of the national army. Magnates, holding the local assemblies in the hollow of their hands, accumulated immense wealth by all sorts of injustices and extortion. Their holdings and power became disquietingly large. Some, like the Radziwills owned 16 cities and 583 villages, and kept an armed retinue 6,000 strong. The Potockis owned 3,000,000 acres, and 130,000 serfs. In national affairs they were able to exercise a powerful influence by direct representation in the Senate and by patronage among the representatives of the nobility in the Diet. The spirit of overbearing wantonness among the magnates was particularly strong in Lithuania and Ukraine. The frontier lords, less disturbed by sovereign authority and less protected from foreign invasions, developed an attitude of haughty independence and became intractable. It was in those provinces particularly that the exploitation of the peasant was most pronounced, though the peasant of Ukraine was, thanks to the incomparable fertility of the soil, better off economically than his brethren in Poland and Lithuania. Yet, because of the lawlessness of his overlords and their retainers, mostly impoverished Polish yeomen and squires, who differed from him in language and religion, his lot was unenviable, and for this reason most of the Cossacks were recruited from among the Ruthenians, who fled to the Sich on the Dnieper to become free highwaymen. In Poland proper, as all over Europe at that time, the peasant was attached to the soil and severely exploited.
With the growth of the Polish exports of grains the stimulus of enlarging land holdings greatly increased. As the manors of the nobles grew the peasants' holdings shrank proportionately, and the amount of free labor exacted from them mounted indefinitely. In 1633 a law was enacted whereby every settler who lived on a nobleman's estate for a year became his subject. The peasant in some cases was obliged to begin labor at the age of eight, but never later than at fifteen. He sometimes had to work five or six days a week, giving the use of his horses or oxen in time of harvests. There was, however, no definite slave class in Poland, as was the case in Germany and Muscovy, and the fact that German peasants continued to settle in Poland even as late as the XVIIIth century constitutes sufficient proof that the conditions of the peasants in Poland, bad as they may have been, still were better than in the adjoining countries.
The peasant had to buy his beasts of burden from the landlord. The crops could not be sold in any way except through him, and he could not buy anything except in the store of the manor. This strikingly resembles the "company stores" in some of the American factory towns. The landlord had, in addition, a monopoly of whiskey and beer sales, flour milling, linen bleaching, and so on. Certain industrial privileges of the lord were farmed out to Jewish moneylenders, who became the subjects of hatred of the exploited peasant. In addition to local duties, the peasant had to bear many state and church burdens in the form of taxes and tithes. The landowner was the supreme judge, often unjust and cruel.
The lot of the town plebs was somewhat better, but town life had become demoralized since the old prosperity of the Polish towns vanished. Home rule had been superseded by crown or local land officials, who exacted from the population heavy contributions, in both lawful and unlawful ways. The quality of city products deteriorated with the rigid enforcement of the regulation of profits modeled after west European legislation: the maximum profit of a Polish merchant was put at seven per cent.; for a foreign merchant, five per cent.; and for a Jew, three per cent. The Diet went so far as to prescribe the limit of expenditures and the type of dress of city people. Many skilled artisans and merchants left the cities; their places were taken by petty Jewish mongers and cobblers. The rich burghers sought nobilitation and settled in the country. Incidentally it may be stated that nobilitation at the time became more difficult, the law of 1641 requiring unanimous consent of the Diet in each case of nobilitation.
In proportion as the economic prosperity of the cities declined their political rights became curtailed. In the XVIIth century the city of Cracow was the only city that had representation in the Diet. In times of grave crisis some of the other cities were asked to send representatives. Few and unheeded were the voices of those statesmen who pointed out that fine cities were an embellishment for every country, and a source of economic and national strength.
The Entanglements of Foreign Policy
The new King and the foremost political thinkers of the time realized that reforms were urgently needed. Conditions, however, over which the King had no control, prevented, even the first attempts at reform. Prior to Wladyslav's election, Tsar Michael Romanoff broke the truce to which he had agreed in 1618. He anticipated a disorderly interregnum, and planned to profit by it and to regain some of the territories he had ceded to Poland. He miscalculated, however, the extent of Polish unpreparedness and paid for it by a loss of the provinces of Seversk, Czernihov, Smolensk and a surrender of all claims to Livonia, Estonia and Courland. In return, Wladyslav resigned his claims to the throne of Muscovy. By Article IV of the treaty the King of Poland recognized the Grand Duke Michael Fedorovich a "Tsar of all the Muscovite Russias, without, however, giving him any right whatever over the Ruthenias which belong ab antiquo to Poland," The terms of the Polanov peace of 1634 marks the zenith of the achievements of the Polish sword in the east.
Synchronously with the war against Muscovy, Poland carried on a war with Turkey. The Muscovite defeats and the brilliant successes of the small Polish forces operating against the Turks under the command of Crown Hetman Stanislav Koniecpolski cut short the war in 1634. Poland promised to restrain the Cossacks and Turkey agreed to curb the Tartars. The right of the Turkish Sultan to appoint the Moldavian hospodars was recognized, with the proviso, however, that the appointments be made from a list of candidates submitted by the Polish King.
The successful completion of the two campaigns brought great glory to the martial King. The country now expected a lasting peace, but a turn of circumstances favored a retaliatory war on Sweden for the restoration of lost territories. In the year of Wladyslav's election Gustavus Adolphus perished in the battle at Lutzen and his youthful daughter ascended the Swedish throne. This was during the Thirty Years' War, when the power of the Protestant forces was beginning, temporarily, to wane, and the time seemed to be most propitious for a war on exhausted Sweden. To offset this possibility and, to draw Poland into the war on the side of Sweden, Richelieu strained every means which his ingenuity could devise. Among other compensations he offered in return for help against the Emperor was the long lost and wealthy province of Silesia. England and Holland added the weight of their influence to bring Poland into line. The King, whose foreign policy was entirely different from that of his father, and was, in fact, pronouncedly anti-Hapsburgian, was inclined to side with Richelieu, but the raison d'etat demanded immediate action against Sweden. The Diet, however, though not sparing compliments for the King's virtues and valor, preferred peace to any far-reaching political schemes, and lent but a deaf ear to the King's demands for war appropriations. With such an attitude on the part of the knighthood no far-reaching plans could be attempted. A temporaryagreement was made with Sweden whereby peace was to be preserved for twenty-six years; the Swedes were to return all the territories which they occupied in Prussia and the Polish vessels which they captured on the Baltic. All towns and castles, however, which they occupied in Livonia, were to remain in their hands, and the question of Wladyslav's hereditary rights to the Swedish crown was left in abeyance. This agreement was signed on September 12, 1635, at Sturmdorf, and hence it is known by that name. The unsatisfactory settlement of a situation which contained possibilities of epochal importance illustrates the pettiness of the nobles of that reactionary period, who were concerned with nothing except good, easy living and the enjoyment of unlimited rights. They were constantly suspecting the King of Machiavellian designs to introduce despotism, and were unable to rise to an understanding of any involved problem of foreign policy. They were, moreover, deprived of a sense of collective national pride, as the following humiliating incident may well illustrate. The King, desirous of developing new sources of revenue, which were required for the most fundamental needs of the state, and which the avaricious gentry would not grant, proposed maritime import duties at the Polish ports of entry. Such duties were being levied in all the neighboring countries and in the Polish ports during Swedish occupation. After long debates the Diet finally approved the measure. The city of Danzig, however, fearing that such a measure might deflect trade from its doors, refused to allow the collection of the taxes at the port and threatened armed resistance. Wladyslav replied by dispatching four warships to the recalcitrant city. The city invited Danish intervention in the matter, and the Danish Admiral, having captured the Polish war ships and torn down the royal insignia and flags, entered the city amidst demonstrative ovations by the populace. Wladyslav had a right to expect that the Diet would be stirred with indignation over this act of rebellion and treason, and would authorize appropriate steps against the city. Something entirely different happened. The suspicious nobles saw in the King's act an attempt to subjugate Danzig, to organize a powerful navy on the Baltic and to establish with its aid absolutum dominium in Poland. The adjudication of the matter in the courts was a hollow mockery and an insult to the King and to the national honor of a great country. The incident also frustrated the King's efforts to build up a Polish fleet on the Baltic.
Conditions on the Ukrainian Frontier
In spite of the, nobles' desire for peace at any price the country was plunged into a most bloody and devastating war with the Cossacks, which, because it had the character of a social and religious revolution, was thoroughly destructive, and fought with terrific furor and rage.
Ukraine, an enormous prairie watered by the Dnieper and its tributaries, was a country "flowing with milk and honey." With the union of Lithuania and Poland it came under Polish sovereignty, but its population, because of the inaggressiveness of the Polish character and the Uniate Church, became but very slightly Polonized (Some historians, like Prof., Bobrzynski and others, consider the establishment of the Uniate Church prejudicial to the interests of the Polish State. Because this Church became united with the prevailing Church, the Polish government did nothing to encourage the establishment of Roman Catholic churches in Ukraine and, as a consequence, thousands of the descendants of Polish settlers became Ruthenized. Rome hoping to conquer, eventually, Russia by means of the Uniate Church was similarly quiescent in its activities in that region). The growth of the power of the palatines and the unscrupulousness of their agents created a grave social discontent among the Ukrainian peasants which was kept alive and nourished by the church agents of Muscovy. They were even successful in inspiring the hitherto indifferent Cossacks with religious fervor. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophan, sent by the Russian Tsar on a journey through Ukraine, told the people about the holy fire that every year on the eve of the Resurrection descends from heaven upon the tomb of the Savior, which is in the possession of the true Christians, i.e., those who belong to the Greek Church. He did not fail, also, to lay strictures upon the Roman Church, and to advise the Ukrainians to abstain from wars upon Muscovy, whose rulers and people follow the path of the true Church of Christ and are hated for it by the Poles.
Frontier populations are usually hard to manage. It is particularly so when the frontiers are extensive and inadequately protected against the constant raids of such nomadic half savages as had been roving on the abutting seas and steppes. Small wonder that constant warfare was more or less of a normal condition on the Ukrainian frontier The southernmost plains of Ukraine adjoining the Black Sea, known as "Dzikie Pola" or Wild Steppes, became the habitat of the Cossacks and the Tartars, where they could organize their bands, and whence they could undertake their raiding expeditions into Poland and Turkey. By the treaty of 1634 Poland was bound to restrain the Cossacks from such raids on the domains of the Padishah. This implied supervision over them, which the Cossacks resented. When the Polish Diet voted to build a strong fortress on the first Dnieper Cataract, near the main seat of Cossackdom, open rebellions broke out among the Ukrainian peasants. The fortress, known by the name of Kudak, was built in 1635 by a French engineer, Beauplan, on the Dnieper, where the Russian city of Ekaterinoslav is now situated. Immediately upon its completion and before a sufficient garrison was stationed in the fort the Cossacks stormed and demolished it. This and several other rebellions were put down by the Field Hetman Nicholas Potocki, with the aid of one of the Ukraine palatines, Jeremiah Wisniowiecki, an intense foe of the Cossacks, and a man of indomitable courage and of an adventurous character, a scion of one of the, oldest princely families of Lithuania, and owner of extensive territories in Ukraine. In retaliation for the rebellion, the Diet of 1638 passed a law divesting the Cossacks of "all their old prerogatives and other decora," and decreeing that "those of the rabble whom the fortunes of war had spared, be turned into peasantry." Even the "registered" or salaried Cossacks who had hitherto been faithful were deprived of the privilege to elect their own chief, whose residence city was taken and placed in charge of a Crown official. Rebellions followed which were subdued, and the Kudak fortress rebuilt and strengthened. The Cossacks sent delegates to the King and the Senate asking for the restoration of some of their privileges and enouncingcertain others, such as the right to elect their own Hetmans. The Senate and the Diet were shortsighted and refused to grant any concessions. The Ukrainian palatines were particularly active in preventing any concessions being granted to the Cossacks. It was in their interest to convert them into serf labor. A contemporary writer, the Bishop Piasecki of Przemysl, said, "this change in the life of the Cossacks was a private gain and a loss to the Republic." The oligarchy of magnates was, however, supreme. They terrorized the King and subordinated the public weal to their private interests. It may be of interest to record here the fact that it was during this period that the women of Poland and Lithuania for the first time in their history collectively memorialized the Diet demanding better protection against exploitation, and the restriction of the rights of fathers and an enlargement, of the rights of mothers.
Wladyslav well realized the folly and perilousness of the course adopted with reference to the Cossacks. The policy of Zygmunt August and of Batory of utilizing the Cossacks for a war with Turkey, and befriending rather than alienating them; appealed to him much more. To achieve this it was necessary first to administer a severe blow to Turkey, which had been fomenting disturbances. Accordingly, he began, with the aid of Hetman Konieepolski, to organize an army, expending upon it the private fortune of his second wife, Marie Louise Gonzague, the French Duchess of Mantois, and negotiated an alliance with Venice and the Pope, and also with the Cossack leaders. Although the Porte was a source of constant danger and the Tartar raids almost incessant, yet because the campaign was planned by the King without the knowledge and consent of the magnates and. their heir retainers, they voted against it in 1646, preferring, as they thought, immediate peace to questionable political advantages in the future.
Chmielnicki's Rebellion 1648
Equally unsuccessful were the King's endeavors to bring about the organization of a special patriarchate for the Ruthenianschismatics in order to make them independent of either Constantinople or Moscow. The Pope Urban VIIIth objected to it but the Polish bishops assembled in Warsaw in 1643, supported the King and invited all the schismatics to a friendly conference the next year in Thorn. This "colloquium charitativum", which made Wladyslav famous in Europe and inspired Martin Opitz to write a poem in honor of the King, did not bring about the desired results. The King, busy organizing a campaign against Turkey, which the new Pope, Innocent X, was to finance to a considerable degree, left the matter in the hands of the Apostolic See, and failed thereby to bring about the organization of an independent Ruthenian Church.
Owing to the above mentioned opposition of the Senators and Deputies the campaign against Turkey did not come to pass, but a terrific Cossack revolution broke out under the leadership of Bohdan Chmielnicki, a poor but ambitious Polish nobleman who in his action was, to a great extent, actuated by revenge for the outrage suffered at the hands of a Crown dignitary, who abducted his wife and burned his manor. Social and religious causes were responsible for the uprising, which was not directed against the King, who was loved by the Cossacks, but against "the magnates, the Jews and the Jesuits." The Ukrainian peasants and the Cossacks forced into serf labor rose almost to a man. Upon receipt of the news of the rebellion the King dispatched a commission to discuss and straighten out the differences with Chmielnicki. Before the commission arrived the Polish Field Hetman sent, contrary to the orders of the King, a body of troops against Chmielnicki, who were defeated by him in two encounters. It was at that time that the brilliant and wise Wladyslav died on May 20, 1648, during the journey he had undertaken to pacify Ukraine by his personal influence and intervention. The nobles unjustly suspected him of instigating the revolution in order to overpower them and to deprive them of their liberties.
The Further Cossack Wars
The Cossack revolution was the main issue at the pre-election Diet. There were two parties: one led by Chancellor George Ossolinski was for compromise with the Cossacks; the other, headed by Jeremiah Wisniowiecki, was for a ruthless war of extermination of the "rabble." The peace party prevailed, and a commission was elected to carry on the negotiations, but failed, first because of the unfortunate choice of the commissioners, and second, because the revolution had received such a momentum that it was difficult to stem it. To make matters worse, the unmanageable Wisniowiecki, who had an insanely intense hatred of the Cossacks, organized a private and successful expedition against them. Soon the regular army and the militia had to be sent to support his individual endeavors, but the army was defeated, and an immense host of infuriated Ukraine peasants began to move into Poland. Lemberg held out against a long siege, but finally surrendered. Chmielnicki then moved on to the fortress of Zamosc near Lublin. The situation became very serious. In the meantime Wladyslav's brother, Jan II Kazimir, an ex-Cardinal and Jesuit, released from his Church vows by the Pope, was elected King. Chmielnicki favored Jan Kazimir, and upon his election resolved to withdraw into Ukraine. Through the good offices of Adam Kisiel, the Governor (Voyevoda) of Kieff, a Ruthenian and a schismatic, who, from the beginning had urged peaceful negotiations, the Cossacks obtained many concessions: the recognition of their independence of anyone except the King, the restoration of ancient privileges and the recognition of Chmielnicki as their hetman.
Their demands for the abolition of the Church union and the banishment of the Jesuits could not be granted. Both sides remained dissatisified. The Ukrainian nobles and the magnates bitterly resented the action of the Diet in granting any concessions and continued their raids upon the despised rebels. Wisniowiecki openly defied the Diet and the treaty with the Cossacks, and gathered forces for further expeditions. Soon the Diet reversed itself and sent an army to support him. "Jarema" Wisniowiecki was elected Generalissimo of all the forces. Chmielnicki joined hands with the Tartars, who under the leadership of the Crimean Khan Islam Girey, came to drive the Polish troops out of Ukraine. Wisniowiecki brilliantly defended the fortress of Zbaraz on the river Gniezna, a tributary of the Sereth, in Podolia, but the army, under the leadership of the King, was surrounded and routed. The Cossacks agreed to stop the revolution on condition that the provinces of Kieff, Bratslav and Czernihov were made into an autonomous Cossack state that all registered Cossacks be given equal rights and privileges with those of the Polish nobles; that all Jesuits and Jews be sent out of the Cossack state; that the Ruthenian metropolitan be given a seat in the Polish senate; and that all crown officials in the Cossack state be chosen from among the schismatics (opponents of the Church union). The consideration of the matter of the abolition of the Church union they consented to defer until the next session of the Diet. These demands, large as they were, however, did not satisfy the followers of Chmielnicki, and were deemed to be insufficient, particularly since the registered Cossacks were to be limited to but 40,000. The other tens of thousands of Cossacks and the hundreds of thousands of peasants who revolted against oppression and exploitation could not be forced back into their old conditions of subjection. On the other hand, the loss of a very large portion of Ukraine was not cherished by the magnates, neither was the Polish clergy ready to admit the Ruthenian metropolitan into the Senate. In 1651 the third Cossack war began. It was carried on with great determination on both sides. Chmielnicki sought support everywhere. He declared himself the champion of the Greek Church in a holy war against Rome, and brought over the Patriarch Eudox of Antiochia to help in fanning the flames of religious hatred. He carried on negotiations with the Tsar of Muscovy, the Hospodor of Wallachia and the Duke of Transylvania, and declared himself the vassal of the Sultan, who recognized him as Duke of Ukraine. The Polish King gathered a big army, won a brilliant three days' battle at Beresteczko on the Styr, in Volhynia and was confident of final success when the news of a revolution of the peasantry in Poland reached him. The agents of, Chmielnicki, were disseminating the seeds of unrest, throughout the length and breadth of the Republic. The ground was well prepared for a serious uprising. The peasants began to plunder and burn the manors, and murder their masters, whom they hated. The uprising was directed by one Kostka Napierski, said by some, to be the illegitimate son of Wladyslav IV, and assumed disquieting proportions. When the news of it reached the nobles in camp, many of them, led by the traitors Christopher Opalinski and Jerome Radzieyowski, left the King, whom they bitterly disliked, and willfully, returned home. The rebellion was soon suppressed, but the victory over the Cossacks and Tartars could not be, exploited in the manner its magnitude justified. By the terms of the new peace agreed upon at Biala Cerkiev, in 1651, the number of registered or state supported Cossacks was reduced to 20,000; the self-governed Cossack territory was limited-to the Province of Kieff alone; the schismatic were to have equal rights with the Uniates and the Jews were to be allowed to reside in Ukraine.
The new treaty was resented by the nobles. The King like his predecessor, was accused of favoring the Cossacks and endeavoring to accomplish a coup d'etat with their help. The same men who abandoned him at Beresteczko and who made it impossible for him to pursue the enemy were at the head of the malcontents. The terms of the treaty at Biala Cerkiev were not ratified by the Diet of 1652, which disbanded without accomplishing anything as a result of the insistence of one deputy that it was unconstitutional to prolong the Diet beyond the time specified by law. This deputy Wladyslav Sicinski, prompted by the haughty potentate Janus Radziwill, covered himself with the fame of Herostratus in Poland. Some historians claim that he is unjustly regarded as the first man to have had invoked the liberum veto. In 1637 George Lubomirski broke up the Diet by his personal opposition. Prior to that Diets were dissolved by recalcitrant minorities. In 1607 the famous preacher Peter Skarga was instrumental in bringing about the disruption of the Diet because the dissidents were given equal rights with those of Roman Catholics. However, Sicinski's action is generally regarded as the beginning of the cursed "liberum veto," which proved to be a legal sanction of anarchy. The situation became grave. Chmielnicki was still in command of an immense army and was preparing for another invasion. A fortunate circumstance only saved Poland from a catastrophe at the time. Chmielnicki contemplated establishing an independent Cossack state, and for, family reasons began a war with the Hospodar of Moldavia, which ended in a marriage of the Moldavian Princess with Chmielnicki's son. Fearing such a strengthening of Moldavia, the two neighboring Princes of Transylvania and Wallachia joined Poland against the Cossacks. When the Turkish Sultan also turned against Chmielnicki truce was established in 1653.
Finding that the Turkish Sultan could not be relied on to the extent he anticipated, Chmielnicki turned to the Muscovite Tsar, and offered to him his allegiance and that of Cossackdom. By the treaty of Pereyaslavl, in 1654, Ukraine became a part of the Muscovite empire under the name of Little Russia. The Cossacks received a great measure of freedom in internal affairs, and the right to elect their own hetmans and chiefs. The number of registered Cossacks was raised to 60,000 and the church metropolis of Kieff was left independent of the Patriarch of Moscow. Chmielnicki's act led to an inevitable war between Poland and Russia, lasting from 1654 to 1656. The Tsar's armies entered Lithuania and Ukraine. The encounters were exceedingly bloody, and the vengeance wrought on the Cossacks and peasants was terrible. When the Tartars joined the Poles against the Russians and the Cossacks the country was turned into a veritable inferno. According to some historians over 100,000 people were slaughtered, 1,000 churches burned and 120 cities razed. "Fire and sword" swept the beautiful Ukraine country and destroyed all the civilization which the hard work of the preceding centuries had built. The rivers of blood and destruction flowing in Ukraine turned into a Polish "Deluge" when the Swedish armies swooped down upon Poland from the north.
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