Kanclerz: Encyclopedia II - Kanclerz - History

Kanclerz - History

During the times of fragmentation of Poland, each Polish prince had his own chancellor, but with the reunification of Poland, the office of Chancellor of Kraków (contemporary capital of the Kingdom of Poland) became dominant and other, local chancellors disappeared by the early 15th century. Also in the 15th century, the Chancellor office split into that of the Great Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor (however the Lithuanian Deputy Chancellor was created later, in the mid-16th century). The Deputy Chancellor was however not a subordinate of the Chancellor and his independence was specifically confirmed by the laws passed during the reign of the king Alexander the Jagiellonian. The Sejm of 1504 confirmed the Chancellors office, its powers and responsibilities for the first time, specifically stating that one person cannot hold both Chancellor's offices.

After the Union of Lublin in 1569 those offices were doubled yet again (into Crown - Poland proper - and Lithuanian chancellors), thus resulting in four Chancellors (one Chancellor and one Deputy for Crown, and another pair for Lithuania).

At first, the Chancellor office was always given to the ecclesiastic person. From 1507, Sigismund I the Old decoded that the title of Great Crown Chancellor would be rotated between secular and ecclesiastic nobles, and at least one Chancellor (both in the Great and Deputy pair and in the Crown and Lithuanian one after the Union of Lublin) was required to be a secular person.

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