Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
  • Królestwo Polskie i Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie (Polish)
  • Regnum Poloniae Magnusque Ducatus Lithuaniae (Latin)
1569–1795[1]
Royal banner (c. 1605 – 1668)
Royal coat of arms (c. 1587 – 1668)
Motto: 
    • Si Deus nobiscum quis contra nos
    • "If God is with us, then who is against us"
    • Pro Fide, Lege et Rege
    • "For faith, law and king"
Anthem: 
  • Gaude Mater Polonia
  • "Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (green) and its vassal states (light green) in 1619
Capital
Official languages
Common languages
(see § Languages)
Religion
GovernmentFederal parliamentary elective monarchy[a]
King and Grand Duke 
• 1569–1572 (first)
Sigismund II Augustus
• 1764–1795 (last)
Stanisław II August
Grand Chancellor of the Crown 
• 1569–1576 (first)
Walenty Dembiński
• 1793–1795 (last)
Antoni Sułkowski
Grand Chancellor of Lithuania 
• 1569–1584 (first)
Mikołaj Radziwiłł
• 1793–1795 (last)
Joachim Chreptowicz
LegislatureGeneral sejm
• Upper house
Senate
• Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Historical eraEarly modern period
1 July 1569
5 August 1772
3 May 1791
23 January 1793[1]
• Third Partition
24 October 1795[1]
Area
1582[7]815,000 km2 (315,000 sq mi)
1618[8]1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)
1700[9]733,500 km2 (283,200 sq mi)
Population
• 1582[7]
8,000,000
• 1700[9]
8,000,000
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Russian Empire
Kingdom of Prussia

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,[b][c] also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (Polish: I Rzeczpospolita),[d][10][11] was a federative real union[12] between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, existing from 1569 to 1795. This state was among the largest,[13][14] most populated countries of 16th- to 18th-century Europe. At its peak in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth spanned approximately 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)[15][16] and supported a multi-ethnic population of around 12 million as of 1618.[17][18] The official languages of the Commonwealth were Polish and Latin, with Catholicism as the state religion.

The Union of Lublin established the Commonwealth as a single entity on 1 July 1569. The two nations had previously been in a personal union since the Krewo Agreement of 1385 (Polish–Lithuanian union) and the subsequent marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, who was crowned as Władysław II Jagiełło, jure uxoris King of Poland.[19][20] Their descendant, Sigismund II Augustus, enforced the merger to strengthen frontiers of his dominion and maintain unity as he remained childless. His death in 1572 marked the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty. It introduced an elective monarchy, whereupon members of domestic noble families or external dynasties were elected to the throne for life.

The Commonwealth's parliamentary system of government and elective monarchy, called the Golden Liberty, were an early example of constitutional monarchy. The General Sejm, the bicameral Parliament, held legislative power; its lower house was elected by szlachta nobles comprising some 10% of the population. A constitutional statute, the Henrician Articles, bound the king and his government, which tightly circumscribed royal authority. The country also exhibited unusual levels of ethnic diversity and great religious tolerance by European standards, guaranteed by the Warsaw Confederation Act of 1573,[21][3][22][23][24][e] though the practical degree of religious freedom varied.[25] Poland acted as the dominant partner in the union.[26] Polonization of nobles was generally voluntary,[27][26] but state efforts at religious conversion were sometimes resisted.[28]

After a long period of prosperity,[29][30][31] the Commonwealth found itself under sustained, combined assault from its neighbours and entered a period of protracted political[22][32] and military decline. Its growing weakness led to its partitioning among its neighbours, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, during the late 18th century. Shortly before its demise, the Commonwealth adopted a major reform effort and enacted the 3 May Constitution, which was the first modern codified constitution in European history and the second in world history after the United States Constitution.[33][34][35][36]

  1. ^ a b Partitions of Poland at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference warsaw-capital-1596 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Richters, Katja (2012). The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church: Politics, Culture and Greater Russia. Routledge. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-136-29636-9. formed part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth which was ruled by Catholic monarchs who made Roman Catholicism the state religion
  4. ^ Janusz Sykała: Od Polan mieszkających w lasach – historia Polski – aż do króla Stasia, Gdansk, 2010.
  5. ^ Georg Ziaja: Lexikon des polnischen Adels im Goldenen Zeitalter 1500–1600, p. 9.
  6. ^ "Poland - Partition, Sovereignty, Revolution". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b Panstwowe Przedsiebiorstwo Wydawnictw Kartograficznych: Atlas Historyczny Polski, wydanie X, 1990, p. 14, ISBN 83-7000-016-9.
  8. ^ Bertram Benedict (1919): A history of the great war. Bureau of national literature, inc. p. 21.
  9. ^ Wilson, Peter (1998). German Armies: War and German Society, 1648–1806. London: UCL Press. Page 131.
  10. ^ Howard, Peter (2016). The Routledge Research Companion to Heritage and Identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-04323-2.
  11. ^ Bardach, Juliusz (2003). Historia ustroju i prawa polskiego (in Polish). Wydawn. Prawnicze LexisNexis. p. 13. ISBN 978-83-88296-02-4.
  12. ^ Zbigniew Pucek: Państwo i społeczeństwo 2012/1, Krakow, 2012, p. 17.
  13. ^ Norman Davies, Europe: A History, Pimlico 1997, p. 554: "Poland–Lithuania was another country which experienced its 'Golden Age' during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The realm of the last Jagiellons was absolutely the largest state in Europe"
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wandycz2001-66 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Benedict1919 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ According to Panstwowe Przedsiebiorstwo Wydawnictw Kartograficznych: Atlas Historyczny Polski, wydanie X, 1990, p. 16, 990.000 km2
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pogonowski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ According to Panstwowe Przedsiebiorstwo Wydawnictw Kartograficznych: Atlas Historyczny Polski, wydanie X, 1990, p. 16, just over 9 million in 1618.
  19. ^ Gudavičius, Edvardas. "Lietuvos feodalinės visuomenės ir jos valdymo sistemos genezė: 2 dalis" (PDF). Ministry of the Interior (Lithuania) (in Lithuanian). p. 8. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  20. ^ Spečiūnas, Vytautas. "Jonas Albrechtas". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ a b George Sanford, Democratic Government in Poland: Constitutional Politics Since 1989, Palgrave, 2002, ISBN 0-333-77475-2, Google print p. 11 – constitutional monarchy, p. 3 – anarchy
  23. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. 1: "The Origins to 1795", Vol. 2: "1795 to the Present". Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-925339-0, 0-19-925340-4
  24. ^ Halina Stephan, Living in Translation: Polish Writers in America, Rodopi, 2003, ISBN 90-420-1016-9, Google Print p. 373. Quoting from Sarmatian Review academic journal mission statement: "Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was ... characterized by religious tolerance unusual in premodern Europe"
  25. ^ Gross, Feliks (1999). Citizenship and Ethnicity: The Growth and Development of a Democratic Multiethnic Institution (notes). Greenwood Press. p. 122. ISBN 0-313-30932-9.
  26. ^ a b J. Smith, David; Pabriks, Artis; Purs, Aldirs; Lane, Thomas (2002). The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Routledge. pp. xxiii–xxiv. ISBN 0415285801.
  27. ^ Fiszman, Samuel (1988). The Polish Renaissance in Its European Context. Indiana University Press. p. 40. ISBN 0253346274.
  28. ^ Rieber, Alfred J. (2014). The Struggle for the Eurasian Borderlands. From the Rise of Early Modern Empires to the End of the First World War. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 158–161. ISBN 9781107043091.
  29. ^ "In the mid-1500s, united Poland was the largest state in Europe and perhaps the continent's most powerful state politically and militarily". "Poland". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Slavs in European History and Civilization was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference A social and religious history of the Jews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Martin Van Gelderen, Quentin Skinner, Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-80756-5 p. 54.
  33. ^ Blaustein, Albert (1993). Constitutions of the World. Fred B. Rothman & Co. ISBN 978-0-8377-0362-6.
  34. ^ Isaac Kramnick, Introduction, Madison, James (1987). The Federalist Papers. Penguin Classics. p. 13. ISBN 0-14-044495-5. May second oldest constitution.
  35. ^ John Markoff describes the advent of modern codified national constitutions as one of the milestones of democracy, and states that "The first European country to follow the U.S. example was Poland in 1791." John Markoff, Waves of Democracy, 1996, ISBN 0-8039-9019-7, p. 121.
  36. ^ Cite error: The named reference Davies 699 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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