Lights and shadows of the Polish-Lithuanian Nobles’ Republic
Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz
Institute of Literary Research
Polish Academy of Sciences
ORCID: 0000-0002-0775-7263
Published: 22/12/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/ahi.2023.2.13
ABSTRACT: The article attempts to synthetically present the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a republic governed and, in a sense, also created by the nobility. This multinational and multi-faith state, which assumed form in the 16th century because of the shape of its political system, was a kind of singularity in Europe of absolutist monarchies that only grew stronger and stronger. The author tries to present solutions adopted in that state – a system of a monarchia mixta with a growing role of parliament – Seym, and a social peculiarity – the enormous political importance of the nobility, making it a political nation. She analyses the functioning of the system and the state, which was effective and efficient at the beginning, and assured Commonwealth peace and security till the middle of the 17th century. The author also discusses a crisis, first of the political system and later of a state paralysed by inefficiency of institutions in the first half of the 18th century. Ultimately, it traces the intents of its modernisation crowned by a Constitution of 3 May 1791 and a struggle with a foreign intervention, which ended with a defeat and a total partition of the country in 1795.
Keywords: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, political system, elective monarchy, monarchia mixta, nobility, political nation, Seym (Diet).
