Nation and Memory
Polish History
Week 4
Outline
1. Origins
2. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3. The Nobleman‘s Heaven
4. From the Deluge to the Partitions of Poland
5. Conclusion
1000
966 Mieszko I (Piast dynasty)
was baptised – Latin Church
997 Bishop Adalbert
(Wojciech) dies – first national
saint Polands
1000 Act of Gniezno, Otto III
and Bolesław the Brave
1025 Bolesław crowned as
first Polish King
1050 Polish court to Cracow
1126 Mazovian Prince Conrad
invited the Order of Teutonic
Knights to Northern Poland
1241 Mongol invasion,
stopped in Silesia
Outline
1. Origins
2. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3. The Nobleman‘s Heaven
4. From the Deluge to the Partitions of Poland
5. Conclusion
1333 Casimir the Great (III) crowned – golden era of Polish
Middle ages, new towns, conquest of Southwest Rus
1364 Cracow (Kraków) University founded
1386 Personal Union between Grand Principality of Lithuania
and Kingdom of Poland, Polish heiress Jadwiga marries
Grandprince Jogaila (Jagiełło) of Lithuania (baptism of
Lithuanians)
Grand Principality of Lithuania
• Lithuanians: pagan, baltic tribe (princes
and knights: war lords of Medieval
Europe)
• Elite: Lithuanian and Ruthenian knights
• Majority of population: Orthodox
Ruthenians (Belarussians, Ukrainians)
• Peasants: Ruthenians and Lithuanians
• Court language: Court Slavonic
• Questions: why Latin Church and not
Orthodox Church, why Poland and not
Vladimir/Muscovy?
Conflict with Teutonic Order
1410 Battle of Grunwald (in German history: Tannenberg),
Polish-Lithuanian troops defeat Teutonic Order
1466 Treaty of Toruń between Poland and Teutonic Order,
Gdańsk to Poland, control of West Prussia
1525 Teutonic Order was secularized and became vassal of
Poland
Battle of Grunwald 1410 (Jan Matejko, 1878)
Outline
1. Origins
2. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3. The Nobleman‘s Heaven
4. From the Deluge to the Partitions of Poland
5. Conclusion
Union of Lublin 1569
 United Kingdom of Poland and Grand
Principality of Lithuania in one single state
– the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The monarch (King of Poland and Grand
Prince of Lithuania) was elected by the
Polish and Lithuanian nobility and crowned
in Cracow
 Common Parliament (Sejm)
Common Foreign Policy and Currency
But separate administrations, judicial
systems, finances, armies
An old Latin proverb proclaimed that
the Polish Commonwealth was
"heaven for the nobles, purgatory for
the townsfolk, hell for the peasants,
and paradise for the Jews."
From: Norman Davies: God‘s
Playground. A History of
Poland. Vol 1. New York 1982
Wappen „Jelita“
Prerogatives of the King (ca. 1600)
 Commands the Army
 Calls the banns of the nobility together, but needs the
approval of the Sejm
Is not responsible to the Sejm, but has to obey the Articuli
Henriciani and the Pacta Conventa
 Supreme power off sessions of the Sejm
 Appoints ambassadors, but his right to give them directives is
restricted
 Appoints high officials and commanders of the Army, but
cannot easily dismiss them
 Appoints bishops
 Controls crownland and can give land as a feud no noblemen
Liberum Veto
Right of
Resistance
Confederation
Zerrissener
Reichstag
Liberum Veto (Latin "free veto") was a
parliamentary device in the Polish-Lithuanian
commonwealth that allowed any deputy of the
Sejm to force an immediate end to the current
session and nullify all legislation already passed
during the session. The first time used in 1652.
If the king violates ‚natural law‘, the Articuli
Henriciani or the Pacta Conventa (de non
praestanda-obedienta) does the nobility have the
right to organise resistance against the king
An alliance of noblemen, to act for national
interests but also to act for particular interests,
the King can be part of such a confederation
Parliament, which finishes a session period
without having made any decisions, without a law
having passed – because of use of Liberum Veto
Social structure of PolandLithuania, 1600
Norman Davies: God‘s Playground. A History of Poland. Vol 1. New York 1982
Outline
1. Origins
2. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3. The Nobleman‘s Heaven
4. From the Deluge to the Partitions of Poland
5. Conclusion
Wars 1576-1699
1576-1582 War against Moscow
1600-1611 War against Sweden
(Zebrzydowski-Rebellion 1606/7)
1609-1619 War against Moscow
1582 Victory: Gain of Livland and Polock
Polish victories, but no changes
1620-1621 War against Ottoman Empire
1621-1629 War against Sweden
No changes
Defeat: Peace of Altmark, Sweden gains
some coastal cities
Victory: Renewal of Deulina
Sweden gives coastal cities back,
confirmation of Polish rule in Livland
1632-1634 War against Moscow,
Conflict with Sweden
1648-1654 Cossack Uprising
1654-1655 War against Moscow
1655-1660 War against Sweden (Potop
– Deluge)
1658-1667 War against Moscow
1665-1666 Lubomirski Uprising
1672-1676, 1683-1699 Wars against
Ottoman Empire
Victory, Peace of Deulina, Gain of
Smolensk and Chernigov
Mostly defeats, some victories
Stopped
1660 Peace of Oliva: Status quo, Loss of
Livland
Defeat: Peace of Andrusovo: Loss of
leftbank Ukraine with Kiev
Defeat and Victory: Loss and Regain of
Podolia and part of rightbank Ukraine
King Jan III Sobieski
August the Strong, King of
Poland, Elector of Saxony
Peter the Great, painting by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)
Charles XII of Sweden
1657 Treaty of Wehlau: Independence of Duchy of Prussia
1699-1721 Great Northern War
1717 Silent Sejm: Start of Russian Protectorate
1730 Russia, Prussia, Austria agree to uphold status quo in
Poland
1733-35 War of succession
1764 Stanislaw August Poniatowski
1768-1772 Confederation of Bar against Russia (and King)
1772 First Partition of Poland
Catherine II (the
Great) of Russia
Painting by Johann Baptist
Lampi, 1794
Maria Theresia of
Austria
Ölgemälde von Martin van
Meytens, 1747-49
Friedrich II, der
Große (Frederik
the Great) of
Prussia
Painting by Antoine Pesne,
1745
Rejtan or Poland‘s Fall (1772), Jan Matejko 1866
1772-1791 Reform efforts culminating in Great or FourYear-Sejm (1788-1791)
Constitution of May 3rd, 1791
1. Catholic confession – state religion,
other confessions/religions tolerated
2. Nobility: liberties and rights
confirmed
3. Towns and burghers: habeas
corpus, right to buy land, access to
many offices, not represented in
Parliament (Sejm)
4. Peasants: legal protection, rights
and possessions guaranteed, new
foreign settlers completely free
5. Division of power: Executive (King
and government), Legislation
(Sejm), independent judicial system
6. King from House Wettin (Saxony) –
new ruling family
7. Army: Polish people/nation has to
defend herself – people‘s army
Confederation of Targowica (against reforms, appealing to
Catherine II for help - 1792 Second Partition of Poland
1794 Kosciuszko uprising
1795 Third Partition of Poland
After the Battle of Racławice (1794), painting by
Jan Matejko (end of 19th c.)
Outline
1. Origins
2. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3. The Nobleman‘s Heaven
4. From the Deluge to the Partitions of Poland
5. Conclusion
Why was Poland partitioned and what can
be done to regain independence?
God’s Punishment – Sins
Back to Catholic values, support Catholic
Church, pray and live virtuous life
Evilness of Prussia, Austria, Russia –
Break of international law
Uprisings, waiting for international crisis,
European war
Weakness of old Polish Constitution –
Anarchy, not Liberty
Restitution of May Constitution 1791, liberal
Constitution, stronger government
Guilt of noble factions - treason
Fight against traitors, replacement of
nobility in national leadership
Oppression of peasants
Liberation of peasants, (National)
Education of Peasants
Polish Backwardness
Modernisation, Polish Middle Class,
Organic Work
Suchodolski: The death of Józef
Poniatowskis at Leipzig