Szlachta: Encyclopedia II - Szlachta - History

Szlachta - History

Szlachta - Etymology

The Polish word "szlachta" (meaning the "gentle class" or "noble class", an untranslatable term essentially encompassing the idea of gentility or nobility of blood, and treating the English words gentry and nobility as roughly coterminous: a specific nobleman was a "szlachcic," a noblewoman was a "szlachcianka"). Early Polish historians thought it may derive from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. "Szlachta" is thought by some simply to mean "Lechitians," or "men of Lech's" (in modern Polish, "z Lecha"), probably denoting the ruling warrior class in Lech's tribe. Even to this day, some Ukrainians refer to Poles as "Lachy" (Lechitians), while Turks use the term "Leh". Another theory states that this word derives from old German "geschlech" or "slahta" ("house, family"), like many of the other Polish words concerning nobility [for example Polish "rycerz" ("knight") comes from German "ritter" and Polish "herb" ("crest") comes from German "erbe" ("heirdom")]

A kindred term that might be applied to an early Polish nobleman was "knight" ("rycerz"), Latin nobilis (plural: nobiles), or możny (plural: możni). Some powerful Polish nobleman were refered to as magnates ("magnat").

Szlachta - Origins

See also: History of Poland (966-1385)

The Polish nobility probably derived from a Slavic warrior class, forming a distinct element within the ancient Polonic tribal groupings. This is uncertain, however, as there is little documentation on the early history of Poland, or of the movements of the Slavonic people into what became the territory so designated.

Around 14th century there was little difference between those called knights and those referred to as szlachta in Poland. Members of the szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country (pospolite ruszenie), and thereby became the kingdom's privileged social class.

Szlachta - Szlachta rise to power

See also Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth#State organisation and politics

Nobles were born into a noble family, adopted by a noble family (this was abolished in 1633) or ennobled by a king or Sejm for various reasons (bravery in combat, service to the state, etc. - yet this was the rarest means of gaining noble status). Many nobles were, in actuality, really usurpers, being peasants or merchants, who moved into another part of the country and falsely pretended to noble status. Hundreds of such false nobles were denounced by Walerian Nekanda Trepka in his Liber generationis plebeanorium (or Liber chamorum) in the first half of 16th century. Many sejms issued decrees over the centuries in an attempt to resolve this issue, but with little success. It is unknown what percentage of the Polish nobility came from the 'lower' orders of society, but most historians agree that nobles of such base origins formed a 'significant' element of the szlachta.

The Polish nobility enjoyed many rights that were not available to the noble classes of other countries and, typically, each new monarch conceded them further privileges. Those privileges became the basis of the Golden Liberty in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite having a king, Poland was called a noble "republic" (Rzeczpospolita) because the king was elected by all interested members of the nobility and Poland was considered to be the property of this class, not of the king or the ruling dynasty. This state of affairs grew up in part because of the extinction of the male-line descendants of the old royal dynasty (first the Piasts, then the Jagiellons), and the selection by the nobility of the Polish king from among the dynasty's female-line descendants.

Poland's successive kings granted privileges to the nobility at the time of their election to the throne (the privileges being specified in the king-elect's pacta conventa) and at other times in exchange for ad hoc permission to raise an extraordinary tax or a pospolite ruszenie.

Poland's nobility thus accumulated a growing array of privileges and immunities:

In 1355 King Kazimierz III the Great decreed that the nobility would no longer be required to pay taxes, or pay with their own funds for military expeditions outside Poland.

In 1374 King Louis the Hungarian approved the Privilege of Koszyce (Polish: "przywilej koszycki" or "ugoda koszycka") in Koszyce in order to guarantee the Polish throne for his daughter Jadwiga. He broadened the definition of who was a member of the nobility and exempted the entire class from all but one tax (łanowy, which was limited to 2 grosze from łan (a measure of land size)). In addition, the King's right to raise taxes was abolished; no new taxes could be raised without the agreement of the nobility. Henceforth, also, district offices (Polish: "urzędy ziemskie") were reserved exclusively for local nobility, as the Privilege of Koszyce forbade the king to grant official posts and major Polish castles to foreign knights. Finally, this privilege obliged the King to pay indemnities to nobles injured or taken captive during a war outside Polish borders.

In 1422 King Władysław II Jagiełło by the Privilege of Czerwińsk (Polish: "przywilej czerwiński") established the inviolability of nobles' property (their estates could not be confiscated except upon a court verdict) and ceded some jurisdiction over fiscal policy to the Royal Council (later, the Senat), including the right to mint coinage.

In 1430 with the Privileges of Jedlnia, confirmed at Kraków in 1433 (Polish: "przywileje jedlneńsko-krakowskie"), based partially on his earlier Brześć Kujawski privilege (April 25, 1425), King Władysław II Jagiełło granted the nobility a guarantee against arbitrary arrest, similar to the English Magna Carta's Habeas corpus, known from its own Latin name as "neminem captivabimus (nisi jure victum)." Henceforth no member of the nobility could be imprisoned without a warrant from a competent court of justice: the king could neither punish nor imprison any noble at his whim. King Władysław's quid pro quo for this boon was the nobles' guarantee that his throne would be inherited by one of his sons (who would be bound to honor the privileges theretofore granted to the nobility). On May 2, 1447 the same king issued the Wilno Privilege which gave the Lithuanian boyars the same rights as those possessed by the Polish szlachta.

In 1454 King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon granted the Nieszawa Statutes (Polish: "statuty cerkwicko-nieszawskie"), clarifying the legal basis of voivodship sejmiks (local parliaments). The king could promulgate new laws, raise taxes, or call for a levée en masse (pospolite ruszenie) only with the consent of the sejmiks, and the nobility were protected from judicial abuses. The Nieszawa Statutes also curbed the power of the magnates, as the Sejm (national parliament) received the right to elect many officials, including judges, voivods and castellans. These privileges were demanded by the szlachta as a compensation for their participation in the Thirteen Years' War.

The first "free election" (Polish: "wolna elekcja") of a king took place in 1492. (To be sure, some earlier Polish kings had been elected with help from bodies such as that which put Kazimierz II the Just on the throne, thereby setting a precedent for free elections.) Only senators voted in the 1492 free election, which was won by Jan I Olbracht. For the duration of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, only members of that royal family were considered for election; later, there would be no restrictions on the choice of candidates.

In 1493 the national parliament, the Sejm, began meeting every two years at Piotrków. It comprised two chambers:

• a Senate of 81 bishops and other dignitaries; and
• a Sejm of 54 deputies (in Polish, "deputy" is "poseł") representing their respective sejmiks.

The numbers of senators and deputies later increased.

On April 26, 1496 King Jan I Olbracht granted the Privilege of Piotrków (Polish: "przywilej piotrkowski", "konstytucja piotrkowska" or "statuty piotrkowskie"), increasing the nobility's feudal power over serfs. It bound the peasant to the land, as only one son (not the eldest) was permitted to leave the village; townsfolk (Polish: "mieszczaństwo") were prohibited from owning land; and positions in the Church hierarchy could be given only to nobles.

On 23 October 1501, at Mielnik Polish-Lithuanian Union was reformed as the Union of Mielnik (Polish: unia mielnicka, unia piotrkowsko-mielnicka). It was there that the tradition of the coronation Sejm (Polish: "Sejm koronacyjny") was founded. Once again the nobility attemped to reduce the power of the magnates with a law that made them impeachable before the Senate for malfeasance. However the Act of Mielno (Polish: Przywilej mielnicki) of 25 October did more to strenghten the magnate dominated Senate of Poland then the lesser nobility. The nobles were conceded the right to refuse to obey the King or his representatives--in the Latin, "non praestanda oboedientia"--and to form confederations, an armed rebellion against the king or state officers if the nobles thought that the law or their legitimate privileges were being infringed.

On 3rd May 1505 King Aleksander I Jagiellon granted the Act of "Nihil novi nisi commune consensu" (Latin: "nothing new without our consensus"). This forbade the king to pass any new law without the consent of the representatives of the nobility, in Sejm and Senat assembled, and thus greatly strengthened the nobility's political position. Basically, this act transferred legislative power from the king to the Sejm. This date commonly marks the beginning of the First Rzeczpospolita, the period of a szlachta-run "republic".

In 1520 the Act of Bydgoszcz granted the Sejm the right to convene every four years, with or without the king's permission.

About that time the "executionist movement" (Polish: "egzekucja praw"--"execution of the laws") began to take form. Its members would seek to curb the power of the magnates at the Sejm and to strengthen the power of king and country. In 1562 at the Sejm in Piotrków they would force the magnates to return many leased crown lands to the king, and the king to create a standing army (wojsko kwarciane). One of the most famous members of this movement was Jan Zamoyski. After his death in 1605, the movement lost its political force.

Until the death of Zygmunt II August, the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, monarchs could only be elected from within the royal family. However, starting from 1573, practically any Polish noble or foreigner of royal blood could become a Polish-Lithuanian monarch. Every newly elected king was supposed to sign two documents - the Pacta conventa ("agreed pacts") - a confirmation of the king's pre-election promises, and Henrican articles (artykuły henrykowskie, named after the first freely elected king, Henry of Valois). The latter document served as a virtual Polish constitution and contained the basic laws of the Commonwealth:

• free election of kings;
• religious tolerance;
• the Diet to be gathered every two years;
• foreign policy controlled by the Diet;
• a royal advisory council chosen by the Diet;
• official posts restricted to Polish and Lithuanian nobles;
• taxes and monopolies set up by the Diet only;
• nobles' right to disobey the king should he break any of these laws.

In 1578 king Stefan Batory created the Crown Tribunal in order to reduce the enormous pressure on the Royal Court. This placed much of the monarchs juridical power in the hands of the elected szlahta deputies, further strenghtening the nobility class. In 1581 the Crown Tribunal was joined by a counterpart in Lithuania, the Lithuanian Tribunal.

Szlachta - Transformation into aristocracy

For many centuries, wealthy and powerful members of the szlachta sought to gain legal privileges over their "equals." Few szlachta were wealthy enough to be known as magnates (karmazyni — the "crimson ones," from the crimson color of their boots). A proper magnate should be able to trace noble ancenstors back for many generations and own at least 20 villages or estates. He should also hold a major office in the Commonwealth.

Some historians estimate the number of magnates as 4% of szlachta number. Out of 1 million of szlachta, tens of thousands of families, perhaps only 200-300 persons could be classed as great magnates with country-wide possessions and influence, and 30-40 of them could be viewed as those with significant impact on country's politics.

Magnates often received gifts from monarchs, which significantly increased their wealth. Often, those gifts were only temporary leases, which the magnates never returned (in 16th century, the anti-magnate opposition among szlachta were known as the ruch egzekucji praw - movement for execution of the laws - which demanded that all such possetions are returned to their proper owner, the king). One of the most imporant victories of the magnates was the late 16th century right to create ordynacja's (similar to majorats), which ensured that a family which gained wealth and power could more easily preserve this. Ordynacje's of families of Radziwiłłs, Zamoyski's, Poniatowski's or Lubomirski's often rivaled the estates of the king and were important power bases for the magnates.

With the partitions of Poland, the magnates finally got the recognition in law they craved. The equality among szlachta was no more, as the law systems of the partitioning powers recognized only the privileged aristocracy and treated the poorer szlachta as normal citizens, or extreme cases, peasants.

All szlachta privileges were finally abolished after the Second World War under the communist regime of the People's Republic of Poland.

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