Kanclerz: Encyclopedia II - Kanclerz - Power and responsibilities

Kanclerz - Power and responsibilities

Chancellors, as most of the other offices in Poland and later, the Commonwealth, were nominated to the office for life by the King during the Sejm (Parliament) session. From 15th and 16th century, after the reforms of Alexander, Sigismund I and the Union of Lublin, the power and importance of the Chancellor office was stabilised, as the senatorial office lesser then the hetmans (military commanders who had however no right to vote in the Senat) and the Grand Marshals, but more important then that of the Grand Treasurers, Court Marshal and others.

By custom, the Greater Chancellor of the Crown directed the Commonwealth foreign policies towards the west - Western Europe and south - Ottoman Empire, while the Greater Chancellor of the Lithuania the policies towards the east - Muscovy (later, the Russian Empire).

Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor (who was not a direct subordinate of the chancellor) were responsible for the work of their chancelleries, respectively Greater and Minor one. They were supposed to be in constant contact and develop common policies, since their powers were equal. They were specifically forbidden from issuing illegal and contradictory documents, and could judge any documents contrary to the existing law 'irrelevant and without power'. In theory, the power of the Chancellors were equal. In practice, much depended on their personalities and political influence. Conflicts between Chancellors, while rare, when occurred, could paralyse the entire country. Such were the case during the conflict between Krzesław z Kurozwęk and Maciej Drzewicki between 1501 and 1503.

Among their other responsibilities were the matters of foreign affairs (correspondence with other countries) and to a smaller extent, the internal affairs, as they had also judiciary powers, presiding over the ‘assessors’ courts’ (Polish: Asesoria), that were the highest appeal courts for people subjected to crown laws (i.e. not subjected to ecclesiastic or magnates courts, but when chancellor was an ecclesiastic person, he could judge the priests of the king's court). They could judge in various cases, with the exception of when sides have already reached a compromise or in cases of the territorial disputes.

The Chancellors offices were the Chancelleries (respectively Crown and Lithuanian, Greater and Minor ones). Chancelleries were staffed with officials known as the chancellists (Polish: kancelista): the regent (regent kancelarii), secretaries (sekretarz in Crown)¹, writers (pisarz in Lithuania, equivalent to the secretary in Crown), archivists (Polish: archiwista), metricants (Polish: metrykant) and other clerks. Regent divided the work between the clerks. 2 secretaries (one responsible for private correspondence, second for official) presented the ready letters to the king for his signature. Writers designed the letters, clerks readied the final drafts. No copies were made, but instead they were written into the archives - books called Metrics (Polish: Metryki), who were taken care by the two metricans (respectively 2 in Poland and 2 in Lithuania). Metrican of Great Chancellor was called the Great Metrican, the one serving Deputy Chancellor was a Minor Metrican. The staff of Chancellery had no wage, just like the Chancellors, but in the middle of each reception room was the box into which all clients were supposed to deposit a varying amount of money, and nobody who planned on coming back could afford to be mean. Of much smaller importance were the local, provincial chancelleries, which mostly served as archives for copies of various documents.

Besides their official functions, the royal chancelleries functioned as a kind of semi-official, very prestigious schools. The officials of the chancelleries, who often started their work after their studies, after several years of work, often went forward in the administrative hierarchy, often reaching important posts of bishops or other ecclesiastic or secular offices. Many enlightened chancellors did not restrict the positions in their staff to nobility (szlachta), and often sponsored intelligent applicants from other social classes, not only by hiring them to the chancellery but by paying for their studies at universities in Poland and abroad. Among the most esteemed 'graduates' of chancelleries were Jan Dlugosz, Martin Kromer and Jan Zamoyski.

Chancellor often gave speeches representing the royal will. The symbol of their office was the seal, which was used to seal all documents passing through his office. He also sealed documents signed by the monarch and could refuse to seal a document he considered illegal or damaging to the country (such documents had no power without his seal). When the king died, the seal was destroyed during funeral and new one given to him by the succeeding king. The seal importance gave a rise to another name of the Chancellor - the sealer (Polish pieczętarz). Due to their important power the Chancellors were considered the guardians of the king and country, making sure the kings folly would not endanger the country by forcing it into an unnecessary war (among the wars prevented by the chancellors was the great crusade against the Ottoman Empire planned by Wladyslaw IV Waza in 1630s).

The chancellor powers combined with the fact that wars required funds which were given by the Senat. The nobles (the szlachta) who controlled the Senate were usually unwilling to increase taxes and levied upon them, which meant that Poland very rarely declared wars on its own. Usually it was attacked by its neighbors, and while it repelled all attacks till the end of 18th century, it almost never utilised any of its victories. The army was undermanned and under equipped (since usually any suggestion of bigger military budget when enemy was not on the doorstep was labeled as warmongering) and lands of Rzeczpospolita were constantly ravaged by new invasions, crippling its economy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Power and responsibilities", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki