Henrician Articles
 Constitutionsof Poland |
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The Henrician Articles or King Henry's Articles (Polish: Artykuły henrykowskie, Latin: Articuli Henriciani) were a permanent contract that stated the fundamental principles of governance and constitutional law in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the form of 21 Articles written and adopted by the nobility in 1573 at the town of Kamień, near Warsaw, during the interregnum following the extinction of Jagiellon dynasty. It functioned, essentially, as a constitution for Poland until the Constitution of May 3, 1791.
The document took its name from that of Henry of Valois, the first Polish king elected by "free election" {wolna elekcja}, who was obliged to sign the Articles before being allowed to ascend the throne. Subsequently every king-elect was required to swear fidelity to them, as is contrasted with the similar documents, the pacta conventa, which were tailored and different for each king-elect.
While pacta conventa comprised only the personal undertakings of the king-elect, the Henrician Articles were a permanent statute that all king-elects had to swear to respect, beginning with the first elected Polish king, later Henry III of France.
The provisions of the Henrician Articles stated that:
- kings of the Commonwealth were all to be chosen by election by the szlachta, and never to succeed by right of inheritance; use of the title of "prince" or "princess" was forbidden to king's children.[1]
- the king must convene a general sejm (Polish parliament) at least once every two years for six weeks;
- the king had no right to create new taxes, tariffs or such without approval of the Sejm;
- between sejms, resident senators were to be at the king's side as his advisers and overseers;
- the king had no right to call a pospolite ruszenie (levee en masse) without approval of the Sejm;
- the king had no right to declare war or peace without approval of the Sejm;
- the king must abide by the Warsaw Confederation's guarantees of religious freedom;
- if the king broke any of the Commonwealth's laws, the nobility (szlachta) were free to disobey the king's orders.
The Henrician Articles created the Council comprising 16 senators (also known as "residents"). The Council was elected every two years during the Sejm session. Four of their number (rotating every six months) were obliged to accompany the king and serve as advisors and supervisors to ensure that the king made no decision contrary to the laws of the Commonwealth.
The Articles upheld the informal tradition that the king could not send levee en masse troops to serve outside the Commonwealth's borders without compensation and that he must pay for the royal army (wojsko kwarciane). The Articles incorporated the Warsaw Confederation provisions guaranteeing almost unprecedented religious freedom. The Articles also included a list of official posts and titles in the Commonwealth.
Finally, if the monarch were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the szlachta, the Articles authorized the szlachta to refuse the king's orders and act against him (by raising a rokosz, or rebellion). Each king had to swear that "if anything has been done by Us against laws, liberties, privileges or customs, we declare all the inhabitants of the Kingdom are freed from obedience to Us".
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