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Crown of the Kingdom of Poland

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For the crown used by Polish kings, see Polish Crown Jewels.

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
Korona Królestwa Polskiego Template:Pl icon
Corona Regni Poloniae Template:La icon
1385–1795
Flag of Poland
Royal Banner (c. 1621)
Anthem: "Bogurodzica"
"Mother of God"

"Gaude Mater Polonia"[1]
"Rejoice, oh Mother Poland"
StatusPersonal union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1399–1569)
CapitalKraków (before 1596)
Warsaw (after 1596)
Religion
Roman Catholicism
GovernmentMonarchy
Elective monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
King 
• 1385–1399
Jadwiga of Poland (first)
• 1764–1795
Stanisław II August (last)
Historical eraMiddle Ages
Early modern Europe
August 14 1385
May 3, 1791
January 7 1795
CurrencyPolish złoty
ISO 3166 codePL
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)
Habsburg Monarchy
Kingdom of Prussia
Russian Empire
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, 1635
High-level administrative map of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its fiefdoms in 1619 (superimposed on present day political map of Central and Eastern Europe).
  The Crown possessions of the Kingdom of Poland
  Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
  Duchy of Prussia (semi-independent Polish fiefdom).
  Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, Lithuanian fief.
  Duchy of Livonia.

The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Korona Królestwa Polskiego, Latin: Corona Regni Poloniae), or simply the Polish Crown or just the Crown, is the common name for the historic (but unconsolidated) Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, including Poland proper. The Polish Crown was at the helm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

History

The kingdom has been traditionally dated back to c. 966, when Mieszko I and his pagan Slavic realm joined Christian Europe (Baptism of Poland), thus culminating the process of creation of the state of Poland started by his Polan Piast dynasty ancestors. His oldest son and successor, Prince Bolesław I Chrobry, Duke of Poland, became the first crowned King of Poland in 1025.

Constitution of 1791

Main article: Constitution of May 3, 1791

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is the second-oldest, codified national constitution in history, and the oldest codified national constitution in Europe; the oldest being the United States Constitution. It was called the Government Act (Ustawa Rządowa) Drafting for it began on October 6, 1788 and lasted 32 months. Stanisław II Augustus was the principal author of the Constitution, and he wanted the Crown to be a constitutional monarchy, similar to the one in Great Britain. On May 3, 1791, the Great Sejm convened, and they read and adopted the new constitution. It enfranchised the bourgeoisie, separated the government into three branches, abolished liberum veto, and stopped the abuses of the Repnin Sejm.

It made Poland a constitutional monarchy with the King as the head of the executive branch with his cabinet of ministers called the Guardians of the Laws. The legislative branch was bicameral with an elected Sejm and an appointed Senate; the King was given the power to break ties in the Senate, and the head of the Sejm was the Sejm Marshal. The Crown Tribunal, the highest appellate court in the Crown, was reformed. The Sejm would elect their judges for the Sejm Court (the Crown's parliamentary court) from their deputies (posłowie).

The Government Act angered Catherine II who believed that Poland needed permission from the Russian Empire for any political reform; she argued that Poland had fallen pray to radical Jacobinism that was prominent in France at the time. Russia invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.[2][3] The Constitution was in place for less than 19 months; it was annulled by the Grodno Sejm.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Political aspect

The creation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a milestone in the evolution of Polish statehood and the European identity. It represented the concept of the Polish kingdom (nation) as distinctly separate from the person of the monarch.[14] The introduction of that concept marked the transformation of the Polish government from a patrimonial monarchy (a hereditary monarchy) to a "quasi-constitutional monarchy" (monarchia stanowa,)[14] in which power resides in the nobility, clergy, and (to some extent) working class, also referred to as an "elective monarchy".

A related concept that evolved soon afterward was that of Rzeczpospolita ("Commonwealth"), which was an alternate to the Crown as a name for the Polish state after the Treaty of Lublin in 1569.[14] The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was also related to other symbols of Poland, such as the capital (Kraków), the Polish coat of arms and the flag of Poland.[14]

Geographical aspect

The concept of the Crown also had a geographical aspects, particularly related to the indivisibility of the Polish - Crown -territory.[14] It can be also seen as a unit of administrative division, the territories under direct administration of the Polish state from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century (currently part of Poland, Ukraine and some border counties of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania, among others). Parts formed part at the early Kingdom of Poland, then, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until its final collapse in 1795.

At the same time, the Crown also referred to all lands that the Polish state (not the monarch) could claim to have the right to rule over, including those that were not within Polish borders.[14]

The term distinguishes those territories federated with the Crown Grand Duchy of Lithuania (     ) from various fiefdom territories (which enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy or semi-independence from the King), such as the Duchy of Prussia (     ) and the Duchy of Courland (     ).

Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin, Crown territories may be understood as those of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles, or other areas under the sovereignty of Polish nobility. With the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine (which had a negligible Polish population and had until then been governed by the Lithuania), passed onto Polish administration, thus becoming Crown territory.

During that period, a term for a Pole from the Crown territory was koroniarz (plural: koroniarze) - or Crownlander(s) in English - derived from Korona - the Crown.

Depending on context, the Polish "Crown" may also refer to "The Crown," a term used to distinguish the personal influence and private assets of the Commonwealth's current monarch from government authority and property. This often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected King (royalists) and persons loyal to Polish magnate (confederates).

Provinces

Crown lands were divided into two provinces: Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska). These were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships (the Polish names of the voivodships and towns are shown below in brackets).

Greater Poland Province

Main article: Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown
Template:Pl icon Voivodeships of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations
Template:Pl icon Template:En icon Map showing voivodeships of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

Lesser Poland Province

Main article: Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown

Royal Prussia Province (1569–1772)

Main article: Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia (Polish: Prusy Królewskie) was a province of the Kingdom of Poland from 1466 and then of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land (Kulmerland), Malbork Voivodeship (Marienburg), Gdańsk (Danzig), Toruń (Thorn), and Elbląg (Elbing). Polish historian Henryk Wisner writes that Royal Prussia belonged to the Province of Greater Poland.[15]

Other holdings or fiefs

Towns in Spisz (Szepes) County (1412–1795)

Main article: Szepes_county § The Pawning of Szepes towns and the Province of 13 Szepes Towns

As one of the terms of the Treaty of Lubowla, the Hungarian crown exchanged, for a loan of sixty times the amount of 37,000 Prague groschen (approximately seven tonnes of pure silver), 16 rich salt-producing towns in the area of Spisz (Zips), as well as a right to incorporate them into Poland until the debt was repaid. The towns affected were: Biała, Lubica, Wierzbów, Spiska Sobota, Poprad, Straże, Spiskie Włochy, Nowa Wieś, Spiska Nowa Wieś, Ruszkinowce, Wielka, Spiskie Podgrodzie, Maciejowce, Twarożne.

Duchy of Siewierz (1443–1795)

Main article: Duchy of Siewierz

Wenceslaus I sold the Duchy of Siewierz to the Archbishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki, for 6,000 silver groats in 1443.[16] After that point it was considered to be associated with the Lesser Poland Province[17] and was the only ecclesiastical duchy in Lesser Poland. The junction of the duchy with the Lesser Poland Province was concluded in 1790 when the Great Sejm formally incorporated the Duchy, as part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (1466–1772)

Main article: Prince-Bishopric of Warmia

The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia[18] (Polish: Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie,[19]) was a semi independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia, and a protectorate of Kingdom of Poland, later part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Peace of Thorn (1466-1772)[20]

Lauenburg and Bütow Land

Main article: Lauenburg and Bütow Land

After the childless death of the last of the House of Pomerania, Bogislaw XIV in 1637, Lauenburg and Bütow Land again became a terra (land, ziemia) of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1641 it became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the 1657 Treaty of Bydgoszcz, which amended the Treaty of Wehlau, it was granted to the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg-Prussia in return for her help against Sweden in the Swedish-Polish War under the same favorable conditions the House of Pomerania had enjoyed before. Lauenburg and Bütow Land was officially a Polish fiefdom until the First Partition of Poland in 1772 when King Frederick II of Prussia incorporated the territory into Prussia and the subsequent Treaty of Warsaw in 1773[21] made the former conditions obsolete.

Duchy of Livonia

Main article: Duchy of Livonia

The Duchy of Livonia was held as a condominium (joint domain) with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia

Main article: Duchy of Courland and Semigallia

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was held as a condominium (joint domain) with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Duchy of Prussia (1525–1618)

Main article: Duchy of Prussia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Gaude Mater Polonia Creation and History". Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  2. ^ Henry Smith Williams (1904). The Historians' History of the World: Poland, The Balkans, Turkey, Minor eastern states, China, Japan. Outlook Company. pp. 88–91. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. ^ Jerzy Lukowski; W. H. Zawadzki (2001). A Concise History of Poland: Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki. Cambridge University Press. pp. 101–103. ISBN 978-0-521-55917-1. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  4. ^ Bill Moyers (5 May 2009). Moyers on Democracy. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-307-38773-8. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  5. ^ Sandra Lapointe; Jan Wolenski; Mathieu Marion (2009). The Golden Age of Polish Philosophy: Kazimierz Twardowski's Philosophical Legacy. Springer. p. 4. ISBN 978-90-481-2400-8. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  6. ^ Norman Davies (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 699. ISBN 0-19-820171-0.
  7. ^ Dorothy Carrington (July 1973). "The Corsican constitution of Pasquale Paoli (1755–1769)". The English Historical Review. 88 (348): 481. doi:10.1093/ehr/lxxxviii.cccxlviii.481. JSTOR 564654.
  8. ^ Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  9. ^ Jerzy Lukowski (3 August 2010). Disorderly liberty: the political culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  10. ^ Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  11. ^ Joseph Kasparek-Obst (1 June 1980). The constitutions of Poland and of the United States: kinships and genealogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-881284-09-3.
  12. ^ Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  13. ^ Jerzy Lukowski (3 August 2010). Disorderly liberty: the political culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 228. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodorski, and Michal Pietrzak, Historia panstwa i prawa polskiego (Warsaw: Paristwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987, p.85-86
  15. ^ Henryk Wisner, Rzeczpospolita Wazów. Czasy Zygmunta III i Władysława IV. Wydawnictwo Neriton, Instytut Historii PAN, Warszawa 2002, page 26
  16. ^ Davies, Norman (2005). God's Playground: A History of Poland. Columbia University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-231-12817-9.
  17. ^ Zygmunt Gloger Geografia historyczna ziem dawnej Polski "Właściwą Małopolskę stanowiły województwa: Krakowskie, Sandomierskie i Lubelskie, oraz kupione (w wieku XV) przez Zbigniewa Oleśnickiego, biskupa krakowskiego, u książąt śląskich księstwo Siewierskie"
  18. ^ Lubieniecki, Stanisław; George Huntston Williams (1995). History of the Polish Reformation. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-7085-6.
  19. ^ Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie @ Google books
  20. ^ Lukowski, Jerzy; Hubert Zawadzki (2006). A Concise History of Poland. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85332-3.
  21. ^ Translation of a treaty between the King of Prussia and the King and Republic of Poland. In: The Scots Magazine, vol. XXXV, Edinburgh 1773, pp. 687–691.

References

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