P RE FA C E

TH I S i s not the b ook o f an inve stigator I t .

i s simply an attempt to present the results o f

much work al re ady done b y others o na d it
c u l t and complicated s ubject in s uch a way a s
,

to reach and interest the many t o whom Po

land s great pa s t a s well a s her present prob

,

lem s and their wide s ignicance are pra cti ,

cally unknown .

It i s impossible to mention a l l the many a u

t h o rit ie s whose work has contributed t o the
preparation o f thi s book but I must g r
, atefully
acknowledge my special debt to Rope l l and
Caro s Geschichte Pol ens s till the be s t general

,

history o f Poland fo r the period it covers ; to

the book s and articles o f M r R N isb e t Bain
. .

o nmany Slavonic s ubj ect s ; and to M r Robert .

Howard Lord without whose authoritative and

,

illuminating Work The S econ , d Pa rtitionof P0

la n ,d much o f t h i s boo k could scarcely have
b e en writt e n
.

J ULI A S WI FT O RVI S
 CO N TE N TS
I N TR ODUCT IO N 1x

I . O RIGI N AND EARLY HI S TORY : THE E RA OF B EGI N

NI N G S , 6 2 1 86
9 3

II . THE J A GIELL O N KI N G S : TH E E RA 0F G RE ATN Es s ,

8 61
1 3 5 72
I I I THE EL E C TI VE
. M O NA R C H Y : THE E RA OF D E CL I NE ,
1 5 72 - 1 7 63 .
98
I V POL I S H S OC IETY I N THE E IGHTEE N TH C E N T U RY
. I 67

V THE. LA S T KI N G OF POLAND : T HE ERA OF P A RT I

T IO N , 1 6 1
7 3 7 95
I . The Fi rst Pa rt i t i o n 1 87

2. Th e Na t i o na l Re v i va l a nd t he Se c o nd Pa r
t it i o n 20 3
3 . Th e Re vo l ut i o no f I 7 94 a nd t h e T hi rd Pa r
t it io n 23 1

VI THE G RAND D UC H Y OF WA R SAW 2 39

VI I . THE C O N GRE SS K I N GD O M

AND T HE RE VOL U TI O N
O F T8 3 O 24 7

V I I I THE
. RE VOL U TIO N OF I 8 63 2 62

IX . P OLAND S I NC E 1 8 63
I . Pru ss i a nPo l a nd 2 84

2. R u ss ia nPo l a nd 2 92

3 . A u st ri a nP o l a nd 30 7
X . T HE PO L E S AND THE WAR 317
G E NE AL OGI CAL TA B L E : THE J A GI E LL O N K I N G S OF
POLAND 333
B I B L IOGRA PH Y 335
I ND E X 3 37

34637 1
 L I ST OF M APS

P OLAND AND L I TH UAN I A B EFORE THE UN IO N OF LU B L I N

1 563 50

POLAND : THE PA RTITIO N S OF I 7 72 , 1 7 93 , AND 1 7 95 20 2

THE G RAND D UC H Y 0F WA R S AW , 1 8 0 6-1 8 1 3 2 42

P OLA ND IN 1 8 1 5 2 52
 I N TR O D U C TI ON

O N CE again after a century o f O blivion the

problem o f Poland has become a 11 v 1 ng ques
tion in E uropean politics The Great War and
.

the rallying o f Russia England and F ran c e

, ,

to the cause of Serbia Belgium and Alsace

, ,

Lorraine have brought the whole question o f

the rights o f small nationalities to the fore ,

and have aroused high hopes o f national re c ~

o gn it io n and autonomous government in the

breasts of many peoples subj ected during long
,

generations to the arbitrary and galling rule

o f alien conquerors .

N owhere are these hopes stronger than among

the Poles Perhaps also they are now
. here
better founded The Polish question i s so much
.

more than a m erel y Polish question so much ,

more even than a Prussian o r a Russian o r an

Austrian question as it is often erroneously
c o nsidered ; it I s I n fact a European question
, ,

o f such vital importance that the Poles are

,

probably right in thinking that in mere self,

defen s e and fo r her own purposes Europe must

, ,

no w in her ti me o f crisis solve this age -long

, ,

problem in t h e only possible way by re co gniz

x I N TR O D U C TI ON

ing Polish nationality and securing fo r the Poles

an autonomous free government Fo r it is the
.

simple truth that upon its solution depends in

large measure the solution of the far greater
problem whether the Slav peoples are to main
tain an honorable place in the Europe o f the
future o r be crushed o u t o f existence by the a d
va n c in g might o f Pan -Germanism .

F ive hundred years ago Poland wa s already

an o l d state and one o f the greatest in Europe ,

with territories stretching far to the north east , ,

and south o f her homeland the basin of the

,

river Vistula From the Baltic southwards to

.

the Carpathians and the Black Sea from the ,

O der eastward to the Bug she stretched a ,

great wedge o f plain and river valleys separat

ing eastern o r Slavonic Europe from the west .

These possessions which made her inco n

,

t e s t a b l y the greatest power in eastern Europe ,

were wo nand held by her only after a life and -

death struggle against the great c hampion of

Germanism in the Baltic lands the Order of the
,

Teutonic Knights Thi s semi -monastic mili

.

tary order o ne o f the many which came into

existence during the Cru sade s wa s engaged ,

under papal sanction in conquering colonizing

, , ,

and forcibly Christianizing the Baltic seaboard .

By I 3 S6 the Whole Baltic coast from Pome

,
 I N TR O D U C TI ON xi

rania to the Gulf of Finland was in it s hands

, .

Poland was thu s cut O ff from the sea and her

very existence threatened I n this crisis she
.

turned to her neighbor o nthe east the Grand ,

Duchy o f Lithuania and O ff ered the crown o f

,

Poland to the reigning Grand Duke Jagiello o n , ,

condition o f his marrying Hedwiga the last o f ,

Polan d s ruling hou s e Hedwiga had made very

.

di fferent plans She was in fact already b e

.
, ,

trothed to her cousin a prince of the House

,

o f Habsburg and it wa s only after her nobles

,

h ad shut her up and threatened to starve her

that she yielded to their wishes and married ,

Jagiello who became King O f Poland under

,

the title of Wl a d is l a u s I I .

This union wa s o f enormous advantage t o

Poland Lithuania wa s a large and powerful
.

state which had come into existence fo r the

,

purpose o f prese rving the Lithuanian tribes

from extinction at the hands o f the Knights .

O ccupying originally the v alley o f the river

N ie m e n Lithuania had taken ad v antage o f
,

the weakness o f Russia under Tartar rule t o

overrun and annex the vast territories of south
ern a nd western Ru s sia Black White and , ,

Little Russia includi ng the great basin o f the

,

Dnieper River Her Grand Dukes also at this

.

time were rulers O f exceptional ability mighty ,

x ii I N TR O D U C TI ON

in war and wise in peace a nd u nd e r the lead

,

e rs h ip o f Wl a d is l a u s I I and his six successors

Poland became and remained for two hundred

years the mightiest s tate in Europe both in ,

territory and prestige .

\
Twenty years after the union in 1 4 1 0 the , ,

Knights received their death blow in the great

-

battle o f G riine wa l d near Tannenberg and

, ,

fty yea rs later their territories were divided ,

Poland annexing West Prussia which gave her ,

once more an outlet on the Baltic and control

o f the mouths of the Vistula while East Prussia
, ,

the territory originally occupied by the Knights ,

was left to them only as a e f o f the Po lish

Crown Under the successors o f Wl a d isl a u s
.
,

and especially as a result o f the wise and pros

pero ns reign o f his second son Casimir IV the, ,

many di fferent national elements making up the

state were fused and consolidated into a h o
m o ge n eo u s political unit . Under Sigismund I I ,

the last o f the race Poland and Lithuania

, ,

hitherto two states under a common king were ,

united ( by the Union o f Lublin in 1 5 6 9) into a

single state with a com mon Di et a common
, ,

religion and a common nationality

,
.

With the extinction o f t h e Jagiellon dynasty

in 1 5 7 2 Poland started o nthe downward path .

The monarchy al way s electi ve in theory now

, ,
 I N TR O D U C T I ON x iii

became so in fact A blind and s el sh a ris t o c

.

racy the ruling class inthe country O bsessed

, ,

with the ideal o f individual libe rty guarded ,

so j ealously their medi aeval privilege s o f the

l iberu m veto the ridiculous and impossible
right o f each individual to kill legislation by
his veto and the Pa cta con
, ven to a humiliating
,

and paralyzing capitulary impo sed upon the

kings at election that any governmental
action became practically impo ssible and ,

Poland sank deeper and deeper into anarchy ,

inaction and deca y and this at the v ery tim e

, ,

when other European states all about her were

rapidly ridding them s el v es o f their medi aeval
ism and building up s trong centrali z ed modern
gove rnment s Small wonder that Poland soon
.

became the tool o f foreign Powers working o ut

their o wn aggrandizement ! During the two
hundred years o f her elective kingship Poland
had among others o ne F rench o ne Hungarian
, , , ,

three Swedish and two German (Saxon ) kings

, ,

each o ne put upon her throne by t he intrigues

o f their government s working upon the C upid

ity and poverty o f the Polish nobility That .

the kingdom remained territorially intact and

outwardly powerful fo r so long was due almost
'

solely to the fact that Poland s neighbor s were

no t quite ready to despoil her That th ey would

.
xiv I N TRO D U C TI O N

ultimately do so unless she changed her ways

was clearly realiz ed and frankly predicted by
more than o ne o f her rulers Stephen Batory
the Hu n
.
,

garian King who ruled from 1 5 7 5 to
,

1 5 8 6 said :
, Poles yo u o we your preservation
, ,

not to laws for yo u know them not nor to

, ,

government for you respect it not ; yo u owe it

,

to nothing but chance .

And again nearly a century later John Ca si

, ,

mir the last o f the Swedish rulers of Poland

, ,

before he abdicated the throne in des pair made

the following remarkable prediction : God
grant that I may be a false prophet but I warn ,

y o u that unless you ta ke steps to heal the dis

eases o f the State the Republic will become
,

the prey o f its neighbors The Powers will .

prefer to partition Poland rather than posses s

it as a whole under the anarchical conditions
o f to day And yet for something more than

- .

a century longer Poland preserv ed at least a

nominal independence and the gloom of the ,

period o f her sure decay wa s lighted up by

more than o ne brilliant political episode .

Such were King John S o b ie ski s saving o f

Vienna from the Turks and t h e Russian a d ,

venture O f Sigismund I I I as a result of which ,

he reigned fo r two years as Czar of Muscovy .

By the end of the eighteenth century Poland s
 I N TR O D U C TI ON x v

neighbors were ready to deal with her a n d she ,

was torn to pieces her independence destroyed

, ,

and her territories divided among her assassins ,

Austria Russia and Prussia Russia taking by

, , ,

far the larger share But though her body

.

politic was cut to pieces the soul of Poland

,

did not die O n the contrary ever -since her

.
,

destruction as a state her feeling as a people has

been growing stronger until t o day there is no
, ,

national group where the national conscious

ness i s s tronger o r where patriotism ames
higher than among the Poles I .

Until recently the Poles have regarded s uc

c e s s fu l revolution against the Czar as the only

path to freedom but since the Revolution o f

,

1 8 63 the last o f a series which always ended

in failure and were fo llowed almost a u t o m a t i
cally and necessarily by ruthless repression
a wiser feeling has been evolved The visi o n .

ary and the idealist have given place as Polish

leaders to practical statesmen who have seen
and hav e taught their countrymen that the
only p o ssibility fo r Polish autonomy i s through
a friendly understanding with Russia M o re .

over they have believed for some time that

,

s uch an understanding was not so remote a

possibility as the existing relations between
the two peoples would seem to imply .
x vi I N T RO D U C TI ON

A s the s cope o f the Pan -Germani s t policy

gradually revealed itself to Europe and its ,

menace t o the whole Slav world began to be

unders tood Pole s were among the rst to
,

recognize the importance o f Poland in the a p

p ro a c h ing struggle o f the Slav people s against
German hegemony The location o f Poland
made it inevitable that o nher territory must
be fought the rst battles o f the German a d
vance o nRussia ; in Poland must be erected the
rst lines o f defense o f the great Slav Empire
against Pan Germanism and the Polish lead
-
,

ers realized that when the crisis came Russia ,

would pay a heavy price to have behind those

defenses a loyal Slav population looking to the
C z ar as the leader o f the Slav cause They .

have therefore made it quite clearly under

, ,

s tood during the pa s t few years that a proper

recognition o f their autonomy within the Em
pire wa s the price they asked for reconciliation
with Ru ssia and loyal support o f the Czar s

Gov ernment .

O n the other hand it has long been ob viou s

,

to enlightened Russian s that the Ru s s ica tio n

policy in Poland was not only a mistake but ,

al so a failure and that s uch end s as it achieved

,

were to the advantage neither o f Poland nor

o f Ru ss ia
, but o f Germany a conviction
XV I I I I N TR O D U C T I ON

the Germans will serve as a sacrice upon the

,

altar o f her Resurrection .

What the real signicance o f these documents

m a y be and what Fa t e h o l d s in store for P0

land are matters that the future alone can re

veal M eanwhile however the anti German
.
, ,
-

feeling that Poles and Russians shared before

the war almost the only feeling they had in
common has been enormously increased by
German policy since the war began Austria .

also issued a proclamation to the Poles before

her invasion o f the Russian provinces o ffering ,

them independence under Austrian and Ger

man protection But when the Polish terri
.

tories came into German hands the promise

was apparently forgotten and a policy o f Ger
,

m an iz a t io no f the harshest sort was im m e d i

ately inaugurated .

B ut it i s scarcely possible to expect Germany

to do otherwise Recognition o f Polish auton
.

o m y in the Russian province s would mean ,

no t only abandoning the policy o f Germaniza

tion pursued consistently and with heavy cost
fo r a century in her o wnPolish provinces but ,

also reversing the general policy by which ever ,

since the time o f the Great Elector the Hohen

,

z o l l e rn s have amalgamated and absorbed alie n

populations and made Germany a unit T o day -

.
 I N TR O D U C TI ON xix

as always it i s only by Germanizing the Slavs

,

that Germanism can advance at their expense .

I f she cannot Germanize the Poles not only ,

can Germany not advance beyond them but ,

their nationalism constitutes a very serious

menace t o the loyalty of the Poles in her o wn
provinces The problem o f Poland i s thus a
.

v ital o ne for Germany .

I t is no less so for Russia Russia aspire s to

.

be the protector and leader o f the great Slav

race the champion o f the ri ghts o f Slav na
,

t io n a l it ie s
. Yet th e most numerous o f Slav
nations and the only o ne toward whom she has
,

entire freedom o f action the Poles have re

, ,

c e iv e d nothing but repression at her hands If .

Russian leadership o f the Southern Slavs is to

be in any sense a real leadership based o nm u
tual condence she must show her good faith
,

by rst putting her o wn house in order and

m a king her policy consi s tent by doing j ustice
t o the Pole s .
 A B RI E F H I S T O RY O F
PO LA N D

CHA PTER I
O R I G I N AN D E A RBY HI S T O RY
THE E RA O F B E G I NN I N G S , 96 2
1 3 86

I .
96 2
1 1 39

WHEN the light of history rst dawned upo n

them the Slav ancestors o f the Polish people
,

were dwelling in the valley o f the Vi s tula .

How they came there and where they came

from are largely matters o f conj ecture The .

real history of Poland in any proper sense b e

gins with the tenth century F or the years .

before that date we have no reliable b istori

cal material though legends abound as t o the
,

origin and early life o f the Polish state .

F rom what scanty material we have it seem s

probable that the Slavs an Indo -European peo
,

ple co m ing fro m As ia we do not know when

o

o r why
were settled about the second cen
,

tury A D on the Danube were driven thence by

. .
, ,

some stronger peo ple perhaps the Romans and

, ,

were later at home for some centuries o n the

slope s and plateaus o f the Carpathians O nce .
2 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
again they were driven o u t thi s time by the
,

Avars in the s eventh century and eeing , ,

north south and west before their conquerors

, , ,

s cattered themsel v e s all over central and south

we s tern Europe O n .e large group pushing ,

westward were stopped by the Germans o n

,

the Elbe which thus marked th e ir western

,

boundary They are known a s the Western

.

Slavs fo r obvious reasons and they occupied

, ,

the territory between the Elbe and the Bug ,

th e Baltic an, d the Carpathian s The Pole s

.

were part o f thi s group while the Russian s

, ,

o r Eastern Sla vs their

, age -long foe s formed a ,

group j ust next them o nthe east in the valleys

,

o f th e Dnieper and it s tributaries .

I n the ninth century the invasion o f another

Asiatic people the M agyars and their perma
, ,

nent s ettlement o n the plains of Hungary ,

thru s t a wedge right into Slavdom effectively ,

s eparated the Slavs o f the north and those o f

the s outh and re sulted in an entirely s eparate
,

historical development o f the t wo region s It i s .

only in the last two centurie s that the e x pa n

s ion o f Ru s sia to the south and the revival o f
a strong race consciousnes s as shown in the
-
,

Pan -Slavic movement have brought the South

,

ern Slavs once more i n to contact with their

bret h ren o f t h e north .
 T HE E RA O F BEG I NN I N G S 3

The Eastern Slavs o r the Russian s s ettled

, ,

along the upper reach es o f the Dnieper very ,

early !opened tip a vigorous trade with the

Scandinavian s to the north of them and later ,

pushed down the river to the Black Sea and

traded with Con s tantinople}The great barren
steppe o r prairie bordering the Black S ea o n

the north which formed Russia s south ea stern
,

boundary wa s a No M an s Land a great

,

,

highway along which through the ages the , ,

Asiatic people s followed o ne another in long

procession to the west and by which they re ,

turned ea s t again Over it had wandered from

.
,

time immemorial nomad s o f all race s and

,

countries and Ru ssian trade needed constant

,

protection against these peoples all e rc e r and ,

more warlike than themselve s This pro t e c .

tion wa s s upplied by the Va ran gia ns a b a nd ,

o f N or s emen who under the leadership o f

, ,

their chief , came into the Dnieper Val

ley in the ninth century and conquering the , ,

Slav people already there built up the r s t ,

Russian s tate with its capital at Kiev

, .

The evidence fo r the origin o f the Polish

state i s not so clear l T h e Western Slavs . ,

spread over the country between the Elbe and

the Bug lived probably in separate half
, ,

nomadic triba l groups until pre ssure from the

 4 B R I E F H IS TO R Y OF P OL A N D
German s o nthe west obliged them to combine

y

fo r defense The Pole s whose name signie s
.

Plain dwellers o r Lowlanders occupied

-

,

the region o f the Wartha and according to the,

legends it was a Polish peasant Piast who

, , , ,

drawing the tribe s together founded the Polish ,

s tate and established a dynasty that ruled in

P oland for ve hundred years The Poles have .

alway s claimed to be the purest of Slav peoples ,

but it i s probable that in Poland as in Russia

there wa s a strong N ors e element The Vik ing s .

were all along the Baltic seaboard at this time ,

s ailing up the rivers plundering and taking

,

po s session o f the lands as they pleased and ,

there is at lea s t indirect evidence o f their pene

t ra t io nby way o f the rivers into the P olish
plain .
Mgu k o b

In the tenth century when Duke Mie ,

law I the rst non -legendary ruler o f Po

,

suppo sedly the great grandson o f Piast emerge s

-
,

into history his state comprised the greater

,

part o f the Slav t rib e s e a s t o f the O der we s t

_ ,

o f the Bug north o f the Carpathians and south

, ,

o f the N e t z e River Though at di fferent times

.

in succeeding centuries the Polish state ex

tended its rule far to the east and to t h e west
of these lines yet it is the territory W ithin them
,

that is properly Poland Whenever there has .

6 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D

hea then brethren to believe and be baptized ,

and thus save their lives as well as their souls .

I t was to oppose this advancing G e rm a ndo m

and Christendom that the union o f the Poles
into a single state had come about but when ,

Duke M ieczyslaw came to the head of the state ,

h e found the odds again s t him in the struggle .

That the Ge rman s had gained a real inuence

in the country i s seen by the fact that they had
set up a bishopric at Gne sen under the Arch,

bishop o f M agdeburg and that Mieczyslaw

,

held s ome o f hi s land s under Imperial suze

ra in ty Unable to oppo s e both Germanism
.

and Christianity he became a Christian in the

,

hope o f saving his s tate from absorption by the

German s Putting away hi s heathen wives he
.
,

m arried a Christian prin c e w o f Bohemia the ,

P rincess Do b ra wa and set to work to bring

,

his people to his new faith As a good deal o f

.

preliminary work had probably already been

done and a s M ieczyslaw had the help o f J o r
,

d a n German Bishop o f Gnesen and o f St Adal

, , .

bert Bishop o f P rague P oland soo nbecame a

, ,

Chri s tian s tate at lea s t outwardly

, .

With this same aim of maintaining the inde

pe n den ce of Poland the Duke made friends with
,

the Germans After the death o f Do b ra wa

.

he married a Germ an wife and e ve n took ,

 T HE E RA O F B EG I NN I N G S 7

s ides W
ith the Empire against the Slavs west
o f the O der In return in the latter part o f his
.
,

reign he received German help in a war against

,

Bohemian encroachment o nhis territories At .

his death Poland had emerged from its heathen

obscurity and had become a recognized part o f
,

the Western Christian world This is quaintly .

s ymbolized in the O ld legend which made

M iecz yslaw blind until hi s seventh year when ,

h e received full sight .

According to the Slavonic custom M ieczys ,

l a w divided his lands among hi s son s But .

the eldest dreamed o f a great united Poland , ,

and in order t o realize his dream drove o u t his ,

brothers and ruled alone over the whole king

dom a s B o l e s l a u s I (992
, Hi s dispos
'
s e ss ed brothers f o u s e d their neighbors against
him and he was obliged to ght o n all hi s
,

frontiers Th e wars which lled his reign how

.
,

ever were not all defensive He desired t o free

, .

Pol and fro m all dependence o nthe Emperor ,

from whom as suzerain he held his lands west o f

the Wartha and al so he dreamed o f conquering
,

B ohemia and uniting it with Poland in a great

Slav Empire He thought t h e a m a l ga m a t io n
'

o f the two peoples would be easy o n account ,

o f the likeness o f the two languages .

F or fteen years he fought the combined

 F
8 B R I EF HI STO RY O F P OLA N D

forces o f Bohemia and the Emperor Henry I I

fo r these purposes and in the end gained hi s
,

freedom from Imperial control and annexed

the Bohemian provinces o f Moravia Silesia , ,

and Cracow t o his territorie s He was not able .

,

however to accomplish the union o f Bohemia

,

and Poland Fo r a ye ar indeed he held and

.
, ,

ruled Bohemia but he was no t strong enough

,

t o keep it without the Emperor s sanction and

Henry would acknowledge his claim only o n

conditions o f I mperial dependence which Boles
laus refused t o accept When this plan failed
.
,

he made his peace with the King o f Bohemia ,

and tried to get him t o unite with Poland in

forming a league o f Slav states against the
Germans This also failed but this early a t
.
,

te pt a t Pan Slavism s how s that even in the

m -

eleventh century the sure instinct o f a great

P olish leader recognized in Germany the abid
ing danger to Slav independence and saw in ,

u nited opposition the only s afety for Slavdom .

After he had nished his we stern campaigns ,

B o l e sl a u s made an expedition into Russia in ,

order t o replace o n the throne o f Kiev hi s

so ninl a wr
- - g
S v ia t o po l k e x pe l l e d by the sons o f
Vladimir the Great He was unable to a c c o m
.

p l is h it, however as the

, country was against
S v ia t o po l k Shortly be fore hi s death Boles
.
,

I
 THE E RA O F BEG I N N I N G S 9

laus took the title o

f King
which he was the
,

rs t o f his line to bear .

From the beginning o f his reign B o l e s l a u s ,

s aw the importance o f having the support o f

the Church in his proj ect o f independence
from the Empire He desired the independence
.

o f the Polish Church a s at once a s tep toward ,

an d a guaranty o f the independence o f the

,

Polish stat e He made Gnesen a great shrine

. ,

by placing there the relic s o f St Adal bert the .

,

m artyred Bishop o f P rague which relic s he ,

bought from the Prussian s by whom St , .

Adalbert had been murdered when he went

a mong them t o preach the Gospel Shortly .

a fter I n the year 1 0 0 0

, the Emperor O tto I I I
,

paid a visit o f piety to the shrine o f the saint ,

who was his o l d friend as well and B o l e s la u s ,

g o t him o n this occasion to raise the See o f

Gnesen t o metropolitan rank with j urisdiction ,

o ver the thre e bishoprics o f Cracow Breslau , ,

and Kolberg thus freeing these Polish sees from

,

d ependence o nMagdeburg In his internal as .

well as in his foreign policy B o l e s l a u s showed

,

him s elf a great ruler He founded churches ,

. ,

endowed monasteries and schools built roads , ,

and encouraged commerce with all the neigh

boring states In order to increase the wealth
.

and prosperityo f the cOu nt ry he settled pris ,

Io B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

oners o f war o nthe land gave them their free ,

dom and set them to work to clear the fore s t

, ,

plant the land and make themselves into pros

,

p o u s colonists The King also protect ed the

e r .

p o or and the powerless from the oppression o f

t h e nobility and e xa c ted the strictest and most
,

implicit obedience from high and low alike .

Though genial and kindly with his friends and

associates he was stern to the evil doer and to
,
-

those who crossed his will The strength o f .

the ruler s pe r so nality was the meas ure of good

government in those primitive days The great .

nobles struggled unceasingly fo r the right to

rob and to exploit their pea sants and only the ,

s trong arm o f a strong king held them back .

The o ld chroniclers speak often o f the warm

a ffection in whi c h B o l e sl a u s was held by his
people over whom he s pread the protection o f
,

his j usti c e .

Becau s e he made hi s kingdom really inde

pendent o f German control both in Church
!
.

and State B o l e s l a u s i s often called its real

,

founder Though the Germans tried to ignore

.

this independence and fo r centuries continued

,

to demand and sometimes go t the recognition

, ,

o f their sovereignty over Polish lands it was ,

never really e ffective and Po l a n d remained

,

centurie s what B o l e sl a u s had made her the

for
,

 T H E E RA OF B E G I N N I N G S I I

unconquered kernel o f Western Slavdom .

Germany had indeed suc c eeded in C h ris t ia niz

ing Poland but she had failed to conquer her
, ,

which wa s the ultimate purpose o f the conver

s ion
.

The political organization of the kingdom

over which B o l e s l a u s ruled was very simple .

Clas s distinctions had already come into ex

ist e n ce . All men except the slaves takenin
war were free and equal before the law but ,

there wa s a d is t inc t iOn between the t a ,

o r landed nobility , and the km eteno r s imple

freemen who possessed no land but worked
, ,

the land belonging to some member o f the no

b il it y and paid him for it both in s erv ice and
,

in produce O riginally in all probability the

.
, ,

km eten also were landowners and there was ,

simply the one free class but before the time

,

o f B o l e s l a u s the natural inequalities among

men and the pressure o f economic necessity

had created the di fference M ilitary service
.

was required o f all t h e sz l a chta o nhorseback

,

and the km eteno nfoot and the constant wars

, ,

which were so impoverishing depressed the ,

poorer nobles oftentimes to the km etenclas s .

Ea c h war meant more slav es and more km eten ,

but in spite o f this the nobles remained for

centuries the mo s t numerous as well as the
12 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
most important the only rea lly important
part o f the nation All nobles were o f the same
.

rank and all classes were governed by the king

,

directly and paid tribute directly to him The

, .

feudal system with its divided sovereignty was

never introduced into Poland F rom the ear .

liest times some noble s were more important

than others but theybecame so undoubtedly
, , ,

through that personal initiative which di ffer

en t ia t e s o n e man from another in even the

most democratic s ociety Ability to lead in .

war was probably the basis of most early s u

p e ri o ri ty as ,w a r was their chief occupation
and the main element in their live s The in .

u e n ce o f the Germans undoubtedly hastened

this development o f the higher nobility the s o ,

called magnates o r pa n s of later centurie s .

'

The d is t ric tj wh ich was the unit o f local go v

e rn m en t in early Poland and which through it s
, ,

assembly o f the inhabitants and its local mag

is tra t e managed its o wnlocal aff airs was the
, ,

oldest institution among the Poles a nd wa s ,

probably based o nthe o rI gI na l division o f the

land among the tribes I t was an institution
.

far older than the princely po we r,L was common

to all Slav peoples and was thoroughly demo
,

cratic as were all the early Slav institutions

,
.

Throughout the country, in the c e nter o f a

x4 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

Rixa now rose again s t their oppressors aided

, ,

inmany cases by those colonies of prisoners o f

war which B o l e s l a u s had established In m a ny .

communities where Christianity formed only a

,

thin o fcial v eneer o v er the o l d paganism the ,

people rose against the new faith which wa s ,

regarded more o r less as a German inno v ation

and an instrument o f oppression They pil .

l a ge d and destroyed the churches and killed

the clergy The ex ternal enemie s o f Poland
.

also Russians Pru ssi a ns and Bohemian s

, , , ,

taking advantage o f her defenseless position ,

seized the moment to in v ade her territories ,

an d destroyed what little of value the rav ages

o f ci v il war had spared They burned village s
.

an d towns killing o r carrying o ff the in

, habit
ants so that great tracts o f coun t ry were en
,

t ire l y depopulated and made into a desert In .

all this desolation only one leader showed him

self able to protect his territory against a g
re s s io n This chief wa s M a s l a v o f M a s o v ia
g .
,

who made the marshes o f his country a refuge

fo r the persecuted o f other states and thereby ,

built up a d o mination fo r himself w hich it was

found hard to destroy F inally after ve ye a rs
.
,

o f this anarchy the young Casimir was re

,

called to his kingdom which he rufe d with

,

wisdom for sixteen years restoring order , ,

 T HE E RA OF B EG I NN I N GS 1 5

r ebuilding towns and churches and insuring ,

peace with Russia by marrying M ary the sister ,

o f t he Grand Prince o f Kie v He was able .

,

howev er to do but little inthe way o f winning

,

bac k lost territories .

His s o n B o l e s l a u s I I called the Dauntless L/

, , ,

was primarily a soldier eager to ght for any ,

and every cause but he was a bad ruler a rob

, ,

ber o f c itizens an oppressor o f the poor He

, .

became however the champion o f dispossessed

, ,

princes o f whom this turbulent age furnished

,

many and spent long years ghting to restore

,

t o their thrones the rulers of Hungary of Rus ,

sia and o f Bohemia The long wars kept the

, .

King and his soldiers away from Po land dur

ing many years and the story that i s told o f
,

internal conditions during this absence sh o ws

only too plainly that Poland was but v ery
slightly Christianized and civili z ed a nd that ,

it wa s very easy for her to drop back into

pagan and barbarous ways of life .

It is s aid that the wives o f the soldiers de ,

se rt e d by their husbands fo r war and the pleas

ures o f foreign cities especially Kiev where

, ,

the voluptu o us life o f t h e East had made a

stro ng appeal to their senses had very gen ,

e ra l l y cons o led themselves wi t h o ther l o vers ,

s o me o f them their o wnslav es Rumors of thi s .

1 6 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D

situation reaching the soldiers they had rushed ,

home without permission from the King to

, ,

punish the unfaithful wives a nd their serv ile

seducers A civil war resulted in which even
.
,

the womentook part often ghting for their ,

lovers against their husbands In the midst of .

the struggle the King appeared with the few

,

troops faithful to him and meted o u t punish ,

ment to all slav e s women and renegade sol

, , ,

diers alike So terrible was his v engeance that

.

Stanislaus Bishop o f Cracow threatened him

, ,

with excommunicati o n if he did not cease his

bloody work The King in a rage rushed into
.
, ,

the church and stabbed and killed the Bishop

before the high altar At this the nobles rose .

in a body and drov e him from his throne and

,

his kingdom the Po pe excommunicated him, ,

and visiting the sins o f the father upon the chil

,

dren excluded his sons from the succession

, .

This action was especially signicant as it was

the rst time that the Church had come into
p o litical importance in Poland S o me a u th o ri .

ties believe that the quarrel between Bishop

Stanislaus and the King was the result o f polit
ical di fferences that the Bishop had j oined an
,

aristocratic party which was struggling t o re

d uce the power o f the King in its o wninterests ;
certainly the exile o f B o l e s l a u s greatly strength
 T HE E RA 0 F B EG I NN I N GS 1 7

e ned the nobles but the kingly power was still

,

s o great that the King s brother Wl a d is l a u s lx

Herman succeeded him with o ut protest o r

,

q u estion Wl a d is l a u s was not allowed how

.
,

ever by the Pope to call himself King but

, , ,

only Duke of Poland , .

Wl a d is l a u s himself quite incapable o f rul

,

in g put the whole kingly power into the hand s

,

o f a dishonest and unworthy favorite who ruled ,

s o badly that nally the sons of Wl a d is l a u s l ed

a re volt which drove him from the country .

The death of Wl a d isl a u s Hermanfo r a tim e

in creased internal di fculties An illegitimate .

s o n o f Wl a dis l a u s contested the throne with

B o l e s l a u s I I I the legitimate successor and in

, ,

vol ved B o l e s l a u s in a long warfare external as L ,

,

well as internal because all o f his neighbors

, ,

P russians Pomeranians Bohemians and Ger

, , ,

m ans eager fo r his territory seized the o ppo r

, ,

t un it y o f the contested succession to in v ade

his borders B o l e s l a u s conquered them all and
.
,

reunited Silesia and Pomerania to Poland f .

Wi t h the E m peror Henry V he signed a peace

which was sealed by B o l e s l a u s s marriage wi t h
,

Henry s S I s t e r and the latter years of his

reign were devoted to the work o f re Chris -

t ia n iz in g his people who during the preced

,

ing reigns had shown so plainly ho w slight an

 1 8 B RI EF H I ST O RY O F P OL A N D

impression the prm CI pl e s o f their religion had

made upon their lives .

X But though B o l e s l a u s I I I had been able to

reconquer provinces and maintain Poland s in

dependence against the Empire the long period ,

o f disorder following the death of M ie cz ys

law 1 1 had enormously weakened the prestige

and power o f the monarch y and had s trengt h ,

ened proportionately that o f the nobility and

the C lergy which increase d rapidly during t h e
,

years o f confusion When j ust before hi s

.
,

death in 1 1 3 8 B o l e sl a u s I I I di vided his terri

,

tory among his four sons he put an end to ,

the u nity o f Poland for two hundred years .

Though nominally the kingship was in the

hands o f his eldes t So n Wl a dis l a u s Duke o f
, ,

Cracow the alienation o f so much of his terri

,

tory in addition to other circumstances made

, ,

his control o ver his brothers purely nominal

and began the s o called Partitional Period
-
,

,

whi c h lasted fo r t wo hundred years during ,

which the territ o ry and the sovereignty o f

Poland were divided and redivided into many
independent but weak and small principali
ties co nstantly warring wi t h o ne another
, .

During this period all sense o f Poland s un ity

as a state was lost her weakness exposed her to

,

constant aggression from without and ne ce s ,

 T HE E RA OF B EG I N N I N G S 19

s it a t e d an entire reorganization both external

,

and internal when m 1 3 2 0 a strong Prince b e

,

cam e Duke o f Cracow and once more u nit ed lf

,

the Polish lands .

B o l e s l a u s I had had a v ery de nite policy o f

Slav union and Slav ad v ance against the Ger
m ans and in pursuance o f this idea had pushed
,

the limits o f his state westward and northward

t o the Elbe and the Baltic After his death
.

this statesmanlike policy was gi v en up and no ,

on e o f his descendants showed any practical

appreciation o f the Vital necessity o f the po s

session o f all the territories within these limits ,

if Poland was t o hav e a defensible frontier

against German aggressi o n and was to remain
,

the greatest of central Europeanstates which

B o l e s l a u s had made her .

The reign o f the German Emperor Henry I V

( 5
1 0 0 1 when Germany was weakened by 3
M
her great internal struggl e against the Pa pa c y ,

o ffered the most favorable o ppo rt u nit ym e

Po les t o reco nquer Po merani a and the Wes t ern
Slavs and thus conso lidate the state Had
, .

they used it their wh o le future wo uld have been

di ff erent But no ruler o f V l S l OIl and power
.

aro se from the confusion and di f c ul t ies o f t h e

p eriod , and nothing was d o ne S o when
. a ,

century later the Germ ans had settled their

,
20 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D

internal di fculties and were ready to begin

another eastwa rd movement the Poles were ,

at their mercy Their opportunity to become

.

a western European state was gone never to ,

return Henceforth they were obliged to turn

.

their ambitions toward t h e east .

4
2 . 1 1 39 3 20
i

When B o l e sl a u s I I I di vided his lands among

his four sons with suzerainty over his brothers
,

in the hands of the eldest he was following an ,

o l d Slav custom common to both Poland and

,

Russia The idea at the bottom of this custo m

.

was that the kingdom belonged not to the eld ,

est son o f the reigning m o narch but to the ,

whole princely family and that the senior mem ,

ber o f the family by virtue o f his seniority

, ,

ex ercised a certain fatherly authority o ver the

others which was shown by his possession o f
,

the capital and other chief places o f the king

dom He was bound howev er to provide for
.
, ,

the younger members o f the family and was ,

thus obliged to carve up his kingdom into ever

smaller and smaller bits as the generati o ns ,

multiplied According to this theory the ter

.
,

rit o ria l divisions were merely temporal ar

rangemen t s lasting only during the lifetime of
,

a single prince and were not hereditary in the

,
22 B R IE F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
system was o f course in this direction and
, , , ,

neither side ever lacked fo r champi o ns ready

to take up arms in its defense The result was .

unceasing civil war from o ne end of t h e country

,

to the other .

In Russia it resulted in such weakness that

the princes were unable to defend themselves
against the attacks o f the savage Po l o v s t u i o n
their southeastern frontier and were obliged ,

to abandon their territories including their

capital Kiev the mother of Russian cities
, ,
,

with all its splendors and its traditions to the ,

barbarians and to emigrate far to the north

,

east and to the southwest and there in better , ,

protected regions to begin a new political life

, .

In Poland the anarchy lasted two hundred

years from the death o f B o l e s l a u s I I I in
,

1 1 3 9 until Wl a d is l a u s Lokietek ( 1 3 1 9 1 3 3 3 ) e s
,
-

t a b l is h e d once more the unity o f the mon a rchy .

During those two hundred years events o f far

reaching importance had taken place As h a s .

been said abo ve when B o l e s l a u s I I I died he

, ,

left his kingdom divided among his four sons .

Wl a d is l a u s the eldest had Cracow no w the

, , ,

capital o f the country Little Poland Silesia , , ,

and Pomerania T o B o l e s l a u s he left M a s o v ia

.

an d C uja v ia To Mieczyslaw Great Poland

. ,

and to Henry his fourth son Sandomir The

, , .
 T H E E RA OF B E G I N N I N G S 23

youngest so n Casimir received no t h I ng from

, ,

his father but at the death o f his brother

, ,

Henry a few years later he succeeded to San

, ,

d o m ir .

Wl a d is l a u s I I was not at all content with his

partial sovereignty His wife Agnes a Ger .
, ,

man ambitious and unsympathetic with Polish

, ,

ways desired to introduce the German feudal

,

system a nd she urged her h usband to dispos

,

sess his brothers and rule alone over a great

kingdom as his father had done As VVl a d is .

laus was much older than his brothers being a ,

man o f thirty while they were all three chil

,

dren under twelve it seemed no t a di fcult ,

thing to do The nobles and clergy however

.
, ,

whose powers were far greater in a divided weak

state than in a strong united o ne rallied to , ,

the support of the minor brothers and a long ,

civil war followed in which nally Wl a d is l a u s

,

was not only defeated but dri ven from his o wn

possessions He a nd his wife also were e x co m
.

m un ic a t e d by the Pope because they had used ,

barbarian and Russian troops against their own

people Wl a dis l a u s went to Germany got the
. .
,

assistance of t h e Emperor F rederick Barba ,

ro ssa who acco mpanied him back t o Poland at

,

the head o f an I mperial army and attempted ,

to reseat Wl a d is l a u s o n his throne B ut the .

 24 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D

exped ition did no t accomplish its purpose .

S o m e years after B o l e s l a u s IV who had taken

V , ,

the throne after the exile o f his brother made ,

a treaty by which the sons o f Wl a d is l a u s were

u
allowed to take possession o f Silesia (which as ,

s tated above formed part o f the share o f the

,

kingdom which B o l e s l a u s I I I had gi ven to

their father) on condition o f renouncing all
claim to the throne o f Cracow This line o f .

princes feeling themselves unj ustly excluded

,

from their rights by the Poles a nd closely co n ,

ne ct e d with Germany by marriage and other

association gradually became Germaniz e d and
,

alienated from Poland Silesia became known .

as a German pro v ince with distinctly German

,

interests long before its separation from Poland

,

was o fficially recognized in 1 3 40 I t is only in .

the las t fty years since 1 8 7 0 that there ha s

, ,

come about a rev i val o f Polish nationalism in

this pro v ince .

After the death o f B o l e sl a u s his son Leszek , , ,

inherited M a so v ia a nd C u ja v ia but B o l e s l a u s s ,

I/ brother M ieczyslaw I I I took the throne o f

, ,

Cracow He tried to restore the royal power but

.
,

only succeeded in making himself s o unpopular

by his tyranny that he was dri v en o u t by the
nobles and clergy who made his brother Casi
, ,

mir the youngest o f the so ns o f B o l es l a u s I I I

, . ,
 T HE E RA 0 F B EG I NN I N G S 25

ruler in his place By the death within a few

.

years o f his nephew Leszek s o no f B o l e s l a u s

, ,

I V Casimir came into possession o f M a s o v ia

,

and C uja v ia and thus ruled over a far larger

,

territory thanany o f his brothers Two senior .

f
line s that of Wl a d is l a u s I I and that o f M ie c z ys -
,

law I I I were thus excluded from the throne

, ,

and for a long period o f year s constantly dis

p u t e d the succession with the descendants o f
Cas imir s ometime s successfully sometimes
, ,

no t But in the main the line of Casimir re

.

mained the dominant o ne probably because it

,

was supported by the clergy who during all , ,

this period were growing strong j ust in propor

,

tion as the princely power grew weak The .

acti v e part played by the clergy in political

affairs with the very import a nt privileges and
,

immunities fo r their order which resulted from

it i s indeed the great outstanding ch a racter
,

is t ic o f this period I t was through the Church

.

that there came into Poland those Western

and German elements which during the ,

twelfth and thirteenth centuries destroyed the ,

primitiv e orga nization o f the Polish state and ,

transformed the life o f the Polish people I t is .

therefo re necessary to consider the position o f

the Church in some detail .

The great reform in the Roman Catholic

26 B R I EF H IST O R Y O F P OL A N D

Church started by the monk Hildebrand after ,

wards Po pe Grego ry VI I in the lat ter part ,

o f the eleventh c entury had transformed the ,

inner life of the Church in western Europe and ,

had also greatly strengthened its external p o si

tion Hildebrand s theory o f the Church wa s
.

that it was the representative o f God s power

o nearth and therefore the spiritual ruler o f the

,

world supreme over kings as over the humblest

,

o f their subj ects T o make this

. theory a real
.

ity he saw it was necessary rst t o reform the

,

clergy to make , them able eager and devoted , ,

workers in the cause showing in their lives as ,

in their words the power of the life o f the spirit ;

and s econdly to a c I Iire such gov ern
, mental
p ow ers for the Church that she should be
practically independent o f the state should ,

form indeed a little state within the state

, , ,

wi th her o wnlaw h e r o wn courts her o wn, ,

s o uT ce s o f rev enue and with the power of

,

this independence should be abl e to curb the

sav age passions and hold in check the ra pa c
ity the lawlessness and the cruelty o f the
, ,

medi aeval princes .

I t was a great ideal and perhaps it is needless

,

to say that it was nev er completely realized .

But it came near enough to success to make the

Church very powerful greatly to raise the ,
 T HE E RA OF B EG I NN I N G S 27

whole level o f the c lerical life and to produce ,

no t a few saints and martyrs wh o se h o ly lives

burn ed like beacons in the darkness of a vio
lent and barbarous world .

I t was not until the end of the twelfth cen

tury nearly a hundred years after their intro
,

duction t o western Europe that ,

o f these reforms reached Poland .

Poland had a married clergy the churches were ,

the hereditary property o f the priests and the ,

state had entire legal and governmental co n

trol ov er the clergy as o v er all other parts o f
t h e populati o n Pope Inn o cent I I I the great
.
,

est o f all the champi o ns o f papal and clerical

power was much interested in Poland and
, ,

took active and energetic steps to bring the

Polish Church into line with the rest o f West
ern Christendom The political disorder in
.

Poland j ust at the time when his attention

,

was turned toward her o ffered him a unique

,

opportunity He found t he German clergy

.

v ery ready to help and th e Pol ish clergy

, ,

though they opposed th e papal ideas at rst ,

came later to understand the Pope s purpose

,

saw its ad vantages fo r them and co operated ,

gladly The religious feeling so charac teris t ic

.
,

o f the age in wes t ern Euro pe also sh o wed it ,

self inPoland in the respo nse o f princes and

,
28 B R I EF H IST O RY O F P OL A N D

people to the quickened zeal and the new de

mands o f the Church I t resulted not only in
.
,

the foundation o f schools and m o nasteries and

the endowment o f churches but also in the
,

granti n g by all the princes o f countless im

m un itie s to the clergy in their duchies .

cause a house dedicated to the highest

must no t be subj ect to the laws o f earthly
princes W ,

a s the beginning of many a docu 7

ment in which twelfth and thirteenth century

princes freed great religious foundations from
dependence o n themselves And no t infre
.

quently they closed with these or similar sig
ni ca nt words : This is done fo r the sal vation
o f our own so ul s and o f the s ouls of o u r fore

f athers .

By 1 2 5 0 by far the greater p a rt o f the

clergy were subj ect exclusively to clerical
courts were freed from the dues and serv ices
,

which they had previ o usly paid to their princes ,

and the b e ne ce d clergy had the right to hold

courts fo r the peasantry who lived and worked
o n their estates .The election o f bishops and
abb o ts also and the conferring o f b e ne ce s
, ,

formerly in the hands o f the king were no w e n

,

t ire l y in the hands o f the clergy The Church

.

was thus practically free from all kingly o r

princely gov e rnment This system o f im m u
.
3 o B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
no dues fo r the rst few years and v ery mod er ,

ate ones thereafter made the Germanpeas

ants eager to come s The princes s eeing that ,

th ey were good colonists welcomed them ; and ,

partly as a matter of convenience partly b e ,

cause the colonists dem a nded it allowed them ,

to li v e under German law By 1 2 40 their posi .

tion in the country was well established .

The inv asion o f the Mongols or Tartars in

the year 1 2 4 0 made the need for colonists mu c h
greater Batu a nd his Tartar Horde swept
.

across the steppe across Russia into Poland

, , ,

an d down into Hung a ry where a great battle ,

was fought in which the Tartars were not in

,

deed defeated but were obliged to pay so dear

,

fo r V ictory that they retired from Poland as

well as from Hungary They left behind them .

a devastated country ruined towns and a po p , ,

u l a t io nso d im in s h e d that colonists were a ne

ce s s it y if the life o f the country wa s to go o n .

T h e princes in this c rI s is turned to the Ger

mans and o ffered them practically their o wn
terms if they would come to Pol a nd These .

terms were self gov ernment freedom from

-
, ,

tax ation and in most cases from military serv

,

ice In return the German colonists built up

.
,

strong rich towns better in every way th a n

, ,

Poland had ev er had before These colonists .

 THE E RA O F B EG I NN I N GS 3 1

s oon came to form as they had formed at

,

home a wealthy middle class which Poland

, ,

had never had which she had greatly needed

, ,

and which was o f the greatest value to her in

counteracting the inuence o f the nobles and
establishing new stand a rds o f comfort and
economic e fciency .

The nobles for obviou s re a s ons disliked t h e

, ,

immunities o f the Germans and were slow ,

bring German peasants onto

they saw the advantages of immunity fo r them
s elves and began to demand it As the prince s,
, .

were poor v ery numerous and hopelessly at

, ,

odds wi t h o ne another they were dependent

U pon their nobles and the ,
,

baro ns o r more ,

powerful o f the nobles were thus in a position

,

to make demands which the prince could not

well refuse The result was that they too freed
.

themselves from dues and public services s uch ,

as t h e building o f castles and roads the repair ,

o f bridges and from the j urisdiction o f all the

,

royal o fcials Sometimes they were even ex

.

em pted fro m military service Quite generally .

t hey go t the ex c lusive right to hold c o urts for

the peasants living o ntheir estates which was ,

the mos t remunera t ive o f all these pri vileges .

In granting these i m munities the princes made

s ome exceptions In case o f inv asion by the
.
 3 2 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

barbarians exe m ption from military service

,

did no t hold no r did the exemption from tax e s

,

and dues in times o f great and exceptional pub

lic need O ften also in granting j urisdictions
.
, , ,

the prince kept the ultimate power o f life and

death in his o wnhands and reserv ed the right ,

t o summon the nobles be f ore him in person e v en ,

when he freed them from the j urisdiction o f hi s

officials .

The net result o f all this was that by the end

o f the thirteenth century the higher clergy and

the richer and more powerful nobles had v ery

largely passed from under the king s control
,

and were practically free from the burdens o f

public service and o f taxation This meant a .

corresponding depression o f the sz l a chta and

km ete nclasses upon whom quite contrary to
, ,

I II o l d law and custom the whole public burde n
,

no w fell Nor was this all During this same

. .

period the higher nobles and clergy had become

the most powerful factor s in the go v ernment
o f the kingdom and the king had as sumed

quite a secondary place .

I t was during the struggle between M ie c z ys

7 law I I I and the party that supported Ca s i
mir that the foundations of aristocratic gov
e rn m en t were laid As soon as he was on the
.

th rone Casimir called a synod o r general assem

,
 TH E E RA OF B E G I NN I NG S 33

bly the bishops o f the kingdom and this as

of

s e m b l y pro mulgated decrees o nthe o n e hand

,

against the plundering o f the poor peasants

which h ( I been so grievous an ev il under
.

M ie z y s w I I I and o nthe o ther against the

,

seizure by the princes o f the land of ecclesias

tics after their death Casimir also created a
.

permanent advisory council o r senate composed ,

o f the richer and more powerful nobles and th e

higher clergy which in the course of a few year s

,

to o k to itself many o f the powers of the King .

They did not hesitate to threaten deposition

at o ne time th even nego tiated wi t h the de
( e y f
throned M ie c z ys laizv I I I
4 i

when C a s im I r did
anything with o ut their ad v ice or against their
will After the death o f Casimir it was the
.
,

Senate whi c h chose his so n Leszek the White L

, ,

as his successor using the opportunity to pro

,

claim that the legality o f the Senate s ch o ice

was quite independent o f the sanction o f either

Emperor o r Pope ; and although his claim was
hotly co ntested by Mieczyslaw I I I in a long
civil war yet in the end Leszek retained the
,

kingship and thus v indicated the power o f the

Senate .

During the reign o f Leszek the White Po m ,

e ra nia be c ame an independent du c hy and the?

Teutonic Knights settled in M a so v ia the latter ,
 34 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
an event of sinister and far -reaching importance
in Po lish his t o ry be c ause the p o wer was thus
established which was nally to cut Poland o ff
from her Bal t ic seaboard thus altering and
,

impoverishing her wh o le future .

B o l e s l a u s I I I had ruled o nthe Baltic coast

from the island o f Riige n to Konigsberg in ,

cluding the mouths o f the three rivers O der , ,

Vistula and Pregel Under B o l e s l a u s IV th e

, .
,

Germans conquered to the O der Shortly after .

,

Casimir the J ust gave the co untry about the

mouth o f the O der t o the princes o f the country
an d allowed them to take the title o f Dukes o f
P omerania The rest o f the country
. that
is the Vistula region and Danzig
, he ruled
directly through go v ernors B o th governor and
.

dukes united against the Danes who coveted ,

the country and after a time succeeded in seiz

ing Danzig The Po les neglected to send help
.

at this critical moment and the Pomeranians

, ,

thrown back o nthemselves chose as their gov ,

e rn o r a Pomeranian , Sv e nt o po l k who dro v e

,

o u t the Danes and took Danzig Leszek con

.

rmed him in his gov ernorship but S v ento ,

polk was no t satised He wanted to be inde

.

pendent Some o f the Polish princes favo red

.

his pretensions but Leszek wou ld no t co nsent

,

t o it and called the Council in order to lay the

 T HE E RA 0 F B EG I NN I N G S 35

matter before it S v e nto po l k came to the

.

C o uncil kidnaped Leszek carried him o ff o n

, ,

his horse to a lonely place and killed him ; and ,

as a result the Council gav e him his title O f

,

Duke o f Pomerania and Danzig !

Conrad the younger brother o f Leszek was
, ,

D uke of M a so v ia and on account o f the posi

, ,

tion o f his duchy it was upon him that there

,

fell the brunt o f the task o f beating o ff the con

stant attacks o f the sav age heathen tribes
the Prussians and Lithuanians and kindred
pe o ples to the northeast who took a d v a n ,

tage o f the weakness o f Po land in the early

thirteenth century t o push forward with special
vigor Conrad a violent passionate nature in
.
, , ,

a moment o f rage had killed with his o wnhand

his Palatine Kristian who had spent his life
,

ghting against the Prussians and had become

a terror to these savages After his death C o n
.
,

rad could nd no o ne to ll his place and the ,

P ru ssians invaded pillaged and occupied at

, ,

will the border districts o f M a so v ia To get rid .

o f them Conrad had to buy them O ff and was ,

obliged to tax his people exorbitantly fo r the

purpose They were obliged to give their fur
.

c o ats and o ther clothes as taxes since it was ,

these arti c les that the Prussians especially

wanted Even this su fced only temporarily
.
,
 3 6 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
and Conrad at his wits end nally sought help
,

,

fro m the Teutonic Knights .

V The O rder o f the Teutonic Knights came into

i

existence during the Third Crusade with the

fo unding by some benevolent Germ a n mer
chants from Lubeck and Bremen o f a hospital
fo r the Crusaders in Acre Later the hospital
.

became attached to the German C h urch o f St .

M ary in Jerusalem and in 1 1 98 the Brethren

,

o f the H o sp ital o f St M ary were made into an

.

order o f knights a nd the rule was established

that henceforth only Germans o f n o ble birth
could become brethren of the O rder They .

lived a semi monastic life under the rule of St

- .

Augustine and their duties were to ght to

, ,

convert the heathen and t o care for the sick

,

with the emphasis in practice distinctly o nthe

ghting After the Crusades were over it was a
.

little di fficult t o nd a place fo r these turbulent

soldiers o f the Cross They had gone to Hun
.

gary in 1 2 1 I to help the king ght the Comans ,

but had be en turned out of the co untry as a re

sult o f trying to make themselves independent
rulers o f Transylvania I t was then that the
.

Duke o f M a s o v ia invited the Knights to come

t o his aid o ffering them the district o f Kulm
,

and freedo m to co nquer what else they co uld at

the expense of the Prussians All they needed .
3 8 B R I EF H I ST O R Y O F P OL A N D
B lack marked the lowest point in the degrada
,

tion o f Po land and during the extraordinary

,

confusi o n t hat fo llowed the death o f the latter

extrao rdinary even fo r Po land in this period
Waclaw King o f Bohemia took possessi o n of
, ,

the kingship and held it fo r six years ( 1 3 0 0

M any of the Polish princes supported
him as the only hope o f uniting and saving their
unhappy country where v iolence was the ordi
,

nary way o f life in times of nominal peace a s

well a s in times of war ; where privileges were
constantly assumed and responsibilities and
duties abandoned without any kind of legal
sanction and only might was right M any of
, .

the lesser nobles lost land and freedom quite

arbitrarily during this time while the peasants ,

were so badly treated by both no b Ie s and o f

I
c ia l s that in some regions whole communities

ed to the woods and be c ame bandits and rob

bers Waclaw took the rst necessary steps to
.

ward the restoration o f order and this task wa s ,

carried further and Poland nally reunited by

Wl a d is l a u s I called Lokietek o r Long Span
,
-
, ,

who was crowned king in 1 3 2 0 .

3 86

3 . 1 3 20 1

Wl a d isl a u s Lokietek Duke , and of C u ja v ia ,

brother of Leszek the Black had been recog ,

 T H E E RA O F B E G I N N I N G S 39

niz e d as king in his O wnduchy in I 3 0 6 but had ,

later been deposed in favo r o f Waclaw o f B 0

h e m ia But after t h e death o f Wa c law he was
.
,

recalled having in the mean time wo nthe gra t i

,

tude o f t h e wh o le country and proved his ability

as well as his patriotism by a victory over the
Teutonic Knights The as sassination of Prz e
.

m is l a u s I I the last representative o f the line of

,

M ieczyslaw I I I had removed all ri vals to the

,

claims o f Wl a d is l a u s to the whole kingdom of

the Piasts which he united once more into a
,

single sovereignty with however some im

, , ,

portant excepti o ns Silesia was held by B o

.

b emia with the consent o f its princes M a s o v ia ,

was ruled by its o wnduke and Po merania wa s ,

in the possession o f the Knights N o t since .

B o l e s l a u s I I I howev er had any Polish prince

, ,

ruled so many provinces and the satisfaction

,

o f the country was expressed by the solemn

crowning o f Wl a d is l a u s at Cracow by the Met

ro po lit a n Bishop o f Gnesen The ceremonial .

observ ed o nthis occasion became the custom fo r

the coronation o f all succeeding Po lish kings .

Recogni t io n by the Pope gave Wl a d is l a u s

the support o f the clergy and he had also the ,

support o f the mass o f his people in the great

task o f c ementing this formal unio n by internal
regeneration and by united opposition to the
4 0 B R I EF H I S TO RY OF P OLA N D
foe s that menaced it from without Wl a d is l a u s .

encouraged in every way the revi val o f order

and prosperity in his kingd o m He cleared the .

highways o f brigands and in a tour thro ugh the

,

country he made a beginning at least o f the , ,

great task o f abolishing pri v ilege and restoring

the supremacy o f the Polish law He did not .
,

indeed attempt to take away the German law

,

from those communities to whom its use had

been legally granted but all immunities as
,

sumed without sanction during the peri od o f

disorder had to be given up and the persons
concerned returned t o their former status under
Polish law Irrespecti v e o f what the previous
.

arrangement had been the King now took to ,

himself the sole right o f holding the high e st

courts fo r both laws .

In 1 33 1 the King called at C h e nciny an

assembly which may be considered the rst
'

Po lish Diet I t was composed o f Se ators

. n ,

Chan cellors from each duchy members o f the ,

local magistracies and the nobles At the Diet

, .

o f Chen c iny the King fo r the rst time a d

m it t e d all the nobles no t merely as hereto ,

fore the higher nobles and clergy co mposing

,

the Senate to a share in his co unsels From .

this time o ntheir powers grew steadily a nd aft er

1 3 7 0 v ery rapidly T he di s tinctions between the
.
 T H E E R A O F B E G I NN I N G S 4 1

km ete ns who had no voice in the gov ernment

, ,

and the s z l a chta all o f wh o m ha d became sharp

, , .

At the same time al so the distinctions between

the greater n o bles who al o ne were eligible to
,

the Senate and to other places in the public

service and the sz l a chta o r lesser nobles also
, , ,

grew sharper .

The nobles o r equestrian order formed the

, ,

main army o f the country other classes serving ,

only when in v asion o r special need demanded

it and many o f the greater nobles led whole
,

detach ments to war under their o wnarmorial

banners thus usurping the war functions of
,

the king s o fficials the castellans and palatines

, ,

even a s in pe ace th e y had usurp e d th e ir j uris

dictions .

Commerce revi ved rapidly as order and se

c u rit y increased The German burghers made
.

the most o f the opportunities that the situ

ation o f the Polish cities o ffered for trade .

Cracow especially at the j unction o f great over

, ,

land trade routes soon became the center o f

,

an enormous transit trade A great highway .

from the south brought the products o f Hun

gary and the N ear East throug h the passes o f the
mountains into Cracow o ntheir way north to
Th o rn Stettin a nd Danzig whence ships car
, , ,

ried them to Fl a nders a nd England Cracow .

4 2 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
also lay midway on the great road that led
from the Black Sea a n d the South Russian
ports to Breslau Prague and the western
, ,

European capitals Both Cracow a nd Danzig

.

( now in the hands o f the Teutonic Kn ights )

were members o f the Hanseatic League and had
thus every facility for using their trading o p
p o rt u n it ie s. The rich merchants of Cracow b e

came powerful enough to get a law enacted

enabling them to buy land and thus to become
nobles Trade along the Vistula was also build
.

ing up the M a so v ia ntowns and Wa rsaw began ,

in the early fourteenth century to be a town

o f some importance .

During the whole of the reign of Wl a d isl a u s

Lokietek the Teutonic Knights kept up a co n
1

s tant and menacing pressure o nhis frontiers .

A v ictory ov er them which the King won in

1 33 2, however kept them from further e n
,

c ro a c h m e n t o n Polish lan d and showed the

P oles that the O rder was not in v incible .

B ut the Knights were not Poland s only

enemy The Ki n. g of Bohemia claimed the

Polish throne as the successor o f Waclaw and ,

carried o n almost constant warfare o n the

s outhern border while o n the northeast the
,

V igorous young Lithuanian s tate was becoming

a dangerous neighbor .
 T HE E RA O F B EG I NN I N GS 43

The rise o f Lithuania is one o f the most re

markable o f historical phenomena The Lith .

uan ia ns a peo ple of the same race as the

,

Prussian s had dwelt fo r centuries amo ng the

,

swamps and fo rests o f the upper N iemen se ,

cure intheir independen ce and their paganism .

They had li ved a separate loosely organized

,

tribal existence The coming o f the Teutonic

,

Knights their conquest of the Prussians and y

, ,

espe c i a lly their absorption o f the Knights o f J

the Sword and the resulting annexation o f a l 4

most the whole Baltic coast had roused the ,

Lithuanians to a sense o f their o wn danger .

Under able leaders the scattered tribes threw

o ff the habits o f centuries and united to form a v

V igorous and warlike nation and created a state J

which during the next hundred years became
by its conquests a v ast empire and the greatest
political force in central Europe .

M en d o v g the rst o f the great Lithuanian

,

princes ruled from 1 2 4 0 to 1 2 6 3 j ust when the

, ,

Tartar in v asions were weakening Poland and

Russia As Lithuania was not inv aded by the
.

Tartars she was able to derive advantage from

,

the misfo rtunes o f her neighbo rs and t o conquer

fro m Russia great slices o f her western terri
tories A century later at the death o f G e d y
.
,

min ( 1 3 1 5 another of her great rulers ,

 44 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D
the Grand Duchy o f Lithuania extended from
an
J Courland to the Carpathians d from the Bug
to the ri v er Desna comprising Black White
, , ,

and Little Russia including the great Dnieper

,

Valley and Kiev .

The great West Russian prov inces weak and ,

disorganized by the Tartar invasions o ffered ,

J little resistance to the Lithu a nians who o c ,

c u pie d the territori es gradually and generally

,

without v iolence restored order and appointed

, ,

prince s o f great Lithuanian families a s their

go vernors The Lithuanians pagans and bar
.
,

b a ria ns were thus brought into close contact

J
,

with Christianity and with a ci v ilization far

older and more ad v anced than their own M any .

o f the princes were converted to Christianity

by the Russians some of them married Russian

,

princesses o f former reigning houses and very ,

4 generally they adopted the habits o f life and in

general the ci vilization o f the Russians The .

l dialect o f White Russia became the language o f

the court and remain e d so until the sev enteenth
century .

G e d ym innev er became a Christian He could .

nev er bring himself to accept a religion in whose

name the Teutonic Knights the bitterest ene
,

mies o f his country fo ught and killed his people

,
.

But his sons and most o f his people adopted

4 6 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

sometimes with Bohemia and sometime s with

the Teutonic Knights whom Wl a d is l a u s Lo kie
,

tek had spent his life in ghting and whose pos

session of Pomerania he regarded as the most
serious menace to his kingdom His deathbed.

instruction s to his son charged him to make the

reco very of Pomerania his rst ( I y but Casi ,

mir did not follow this ad v ice e was not a

.

ghter like his father but a statesman who

,

desired by peace to heal Poland s wounds by

wise legislation to restore order and prosper

it y and by diplomacy and foreignalliances to
,

bring her o u t o f her isolation and into intimate

and r relation s with other Euro pean
states hus he believed could the integ
rity o f Poland be preserv ed He saw that the
.

long wars o f his father had barely held his foes

at bay He preferred to lose what territory he
.

must in order to be sure o f what was left and in ,

pursuance o f this policy he gave up to Bohemia

all claim s o nSilesia fo r himself and his s ucces
s ors accepting in return the King o f Bohemia s
,

renunciation o f all cl a im to the Polish throne if" ..

With the Knights also he made a treaty by

which he acknowledged their claims to Pom e
rania to Kulm and to M ich e l o w and in re
, , ,

turn go t them to withdraw from C u ja v ia and

Do b z yn The Polish people were much oppo s ed
.
 T HE E RA 0 F B EG I NN I N GS 47

to this treaty The King had hard work to get

.

it thro ugh the Diet and never wholly regained

,

the popularity it cost him The national in .

s t in c t was undoubtedly right in opposing the

relinquishing of Poland s claims o n her sea

board and it is a curiou s fact that Casimir

,

seems to hav e been unaware of its v alue .

To balance these losses Casimir added the

,

Kingdom o f Galicia or Halicz to Poland Thi s .

great territory had been settled by Russian refu

gees from Kiev in the twelfth century and had
become under able princes o ne of the greatest
o f Russian principalities I n 1 3 4 0 the princely
.

line became extinct and Casimir claimed the J/ .

country in the right o f his m o ther O lgie rd o f /

. .

Lithuania s o no f G e d ym in also claimed it and

, , ,

war fo llowed but neither ruler really wanted

,

to ght the other and the mediation of the

,

King o Hungary brother

f ,
-in-law o f Casimir re ,

s u l t ed in a compromise by which Poland got

East Galicia with Lemberg ( Lwow) and Lit h u

ania had the rest .

I nternal policy was howev er Casimir s re a lJ

, ,

interest and the basis of his title the Great .

He protected the J ews carefully dened the

,

spheres o f Po lish and M agdeburg o r Teut o ni c

law and established within the kingd o m a s u
,

preme court o f appeal fo r both laws Appeal .

4 8 B R I EF H I ST O R Y O F P OLA N D

to German courts outside o f Poland for nal

, ,

j udgment was no longer permitted to c o m

,

m un it ie s under German law He also tried .

by legislation to impro v e the condition of the

km eten s and to protect them against the e v er

increasing power of the lords B ut Casimir s re .

forms s to pped s hort o f the only measure that

could really impro v e their condition perma
ne nt l y : namely to give them a s h a re in the go v
,

e rn m en

inderision by nobles the peasant king

t In spite o f the fact that he was called
.

the ,

condition o f the peasantry became worse after

Casimir as the nobles became better organized
and more united I t was under Casimir a nd
.
,

largely as a result o f the position his alliances

gave h is kingdom that M a s o via decided to
,

accept the suzerainty o f Po land instead o f

that o f the Knights Her allegiance was o f.

great v alue was worth indeed far more than

,

many fortresses on Poland s northeastern b o r

der Casimir devoted much o f his attention

.

to internal impro v ements He founded new .

towns built castles churches a nd monasteries

, , , ,

attracted many foreigners to the co untry and

left it richer and more prosperous th a n it had
ever been .

In order to keep the government in the hands

o f a king of his o wnsort who could maintain its
,
 T H E E RA O F B E G I N N I N G S 49

integrity and keep the peace Casimir secured ,

the suc c ession to the throne of his

Louis z King o f Hungary He called a Diet at
.

Cracow in 1 339 which elected Louis to the

Polish throne thus setting aside the claim s
,

o f the more direct heirs the princes of Cuj a

,

v ia and M a s o v ia in return for which Louis

,

promised never to tax without the consent o f

the Diet Louis of Anj ou the new king who
.
, ,

came to the Polish throne in 1 3 7 0 was a very ,

able ruler but too occupied with other in

,
- J

t e re s t s to pay much attention to Poland He .

Visited the country only twice indeed in the , ,

twel v e years of his reign He wanted to keep

.

the Polish throne in his family howe ver so he , ,

saw that Poland was decently governed and ,

the prestige o f his name and power protected

her from many dan gers and di fficulties Before .

his death he got the Polish nobles to elect as

queen his daughter Hedwig and in return he
, ,

reduced the land tax to so small a sum that the

crown became dependent fo r supplies o n the
votes o f the estates Queen Hedwig in
.

married Jagiello Grand Duke o f Lithuania

, ,

which is the most important single event in

Po lish history as it united Poland with the
,

great Lithuanian Empire and made her a great ,

powerful a nd heterogeneous state

, .
 C HA PT ER I I
THE J A G I E LLO N KI N G S
THE E RA OF G R E AT N E SS 1 3 8 6 1 522
,
-

THE union o f Poland and Lithuania under

on e king brought together two states which
V had nothing in common but their enemies the
,

Teutonic Knights and the rapidly rising Grand

D uchy o f M usco vy and which contained ele
,

ments so diverse so antagonistic even that it

, ,

was an all but impossible task to weld them

together and make o f them a real political unit .

Y et this was exactly the task that the Jagiellon

kings set themselves and that they succeeded
,

init is a gre at credit to their statesmanship .

o u r out o f the seven o f them were statesmen

o f real ability
. They were o f the patient tactful
, ,

cautious type seeing the limits o f their tasks

,

and staying c arefully wi t hin them B ut they

.

were none o f them really great kings They .

lacked the poli t ical v ision the genius for a d

,

m inistration which was necessary to stem the

rising tide o f the p o wer o f the nobili t y and it

,

wa s precisely during this period o f Po land s

greatness that the aristocratic constitution

 5 2 B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D

ural center o f all the disaffection to the union

that existed in Lithuania Jagiello had caused
.

the death o f his un cl e Wito wt s father in order

,

,

to secure the Lithuanian throne using fo r thi s ,

purpose the serv ices o f the Teutonic O rder

e ver ready to promote dissension among its
neighbors Wit o wt ambitious and v ery able
.
, ,

both as a statesman and a soldier had himsel f ,

as pired to the throne o f Poland and failing that , ,

had determined to k eep Lithuania sep a rate ,

raise it to a kingdom and rule it himself He

, .

was supported in this ambition not only by ,

) the Teutonic O rder and by the German Em

p e ro r Sigismund , but al s o probably by
, the ,

maj ority o f the Lithuanian nobility Their o p .

position to t he union wa s both political and

religious Religiously though Lithuania proper
.
,

was o fcially Roman Catholic infact she wa s ,

still more than half pa gan while the province

,

o f S a m o git ia was frankly pagan and remained

s o fo r a long time The rest o f the territory

.

that conquered from Russia which was v e ,

sixths o f the whole bel o nged to the Eastern

o r Greek O rthod o x Catholic Church and was ,

f 7
almost as hostile t o Roman Catholicism as to
paganism Since the Greek Church i s so im
.

portant an element in P o lish history a word ,

regarding its history i s perhaps in place .

 T HE E RA 0 F G R EAT N E SS 53

O riginally as is well known the Cath o lic

, ,

C hurch was o ne Each bish o p was supreme in

.

his o wn diocese and subj ect to no superior

authority ex cept the G eneral Church Councils .

When h owever the Rom a n Empire broke into

, ,

two parts the Eastern and the Western as

n
, ,

a result o f the barbarian i vasions t h e two ,

branche s O f the Church developed very dif

fe re n t l y The Church o f the West W
. a s very

s trongly inuenced by Roman law Changes .

in its creed in its ritual and also the incre a s

, ,

ing claims o f the B ishop o f Rome to suprem

acy over the other b ishops and nally o v er ,

the world completely estranged the Eastern

,

Church and led to its rej ecti on o f the author

ity of the Councils where these matters were
decided in favor o f the West I t continued its .

existence as a s eparate Church composed of ,

the patriarchates (or archbishoprics ) o f Anti

o ch Alexandria Jerusalem
, and Constantino
, ,

ple Although no o ne o f t he se e v e r attained a

'

supremacy over the others at all comparable

to the supremacy o f Rome in the West yet ,

Constantinople being the capital city and the

residence o f the Emperor its patriarch did a o
,

quire a ninuence and a prestige much greater

than that of the other patriarchs .

I t wa s from the Church at Constantinople

54 B RI EF H IST O R Y O F P OLA N D
that the m 1 s s 1 0 na r1 e s were sent who Christi a n
iz e d Russia and from C o ns t a n t in o ple t h e Rus
sians d eri v ed not only their religion but their
, ,

learning their art their philosophy and their

, , ,

whole ci v ilization The culture which they de

.

Ve l o pe d had thus a strong O riental strain based

as it was upon Byzantine tradition On the .

other hand the fact that the Pole s were Ro man

,

Catholics me a nt that their civilization was e s

s en t ia ll y Roman and Teutonic in origin T his .

di fference has been the basal reason fo r the

age long antagonism o f these two greatest and
-
, ,

geographically most closely connected o f Slav

, ,

peoples From the v ery moment o f her conver

.

s ion O rthodoxy h a s been a nintegral part a

, ,

necessary characteristic o f Russian national ,

ism and opposition to the o ne has been from

, ,

the Polish point o f v iew necessarily opposition ,

to the other All the o l d Russian part of Lit h u

.
-

ania wa s thus s teadily opposed to a ny union

w ith RomanCatholic Poland .

Politically also there were di fculties Lith

, , .

u an ia was feudally organ ized and the greater ,

nobles as well as the Grand Duke dreaded the

lessening o f their authority o ver their v assals
and their peasantry which amalgamation with ,

a state so loosely organized and so decentralized

a s Poland would be almo s t sure to produce .
 T HE E RA O F G R EAT N E S S 55

They resented also Poland sclaim o nthe bo rder

provinces o f Vo l h ynia and Po d o lia which Lith ,

ua n ia narms had conquered and were jealous ,

o f Poland s claim to superiority o n the basi s

o f the higher le v el of her ci v ili z ation .

Wito wt had therefore a strong following

, , ,

and Jagiello saw that he could not afford to re

main his enemy especially when the Teutonic
,

Knights began their inev itable campaign against

him in 1 3 90 Accordingly by the Compact
.
,

o f Wilna in 1 4 0 1 Jagiello s urrendered all his

,

righ ts to the Gfa nd Duchy to Wit o wt o nthe ,

sole condition that the two states were to have

j ointly elected sov ereigns and were to pursue
a common policy Wit o wt then j oined Jagiello
.

in the war against the Knights and together ,

th e y inicted upon them the great defeat at

G riin e wa l d
, o r T nnenber g (J uly
a J a ,

g ie ll o was unable to follow up his v ictory how ,

ever because Wit o wt withdrew the Lithuanian

,

army to meet a Tartar raid at home and the ,

Polish army had to be persuaded to ght This .

took so much time that the opportunity passed

and the peace signed the following year the ,

W
13 was in fact little
more than a truce as it left the O rder ter
,

rit o ria l l y intact The Knights simply with

.

drew from S a mo itia and Dobr gn Polish

 5 6 B RI EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
prov ince s that they had in v aded during the
war and paid an indemnity .

The King wa s determined to have more a nd ,

saw that t o do it it wa s nece s sary to conciliate

Lithuania s till further Accordingly he opened
.
,

negotiation s with Wito wt and in 1 I the Union

Ho ro d lo was made which put the two state s
g
o nterm s o f exact equality .
S ep arate and d
i e n
tical admini s tration s we re pro vided for the two
'

co u ntrie s rall the gre at o fcers o f s tate being

,

duplicat e d o ne fo r the Crown as Poland
,

wa s designat ed o ne fo r the Grand Duchy Th e

, .

Grand D uke wa s declared t o be in al l respe ct s

the equal o f the King o f Poland a n d all the
pri vileges o f the Polish nobles were extended to
yf h e Roman Catholic noble s o f Lithuania T his .

las t conce ss ion meant exemption from all the

s ervices and dues o f a feudal nature which had
been in force since t h e time o f G e d ym in and ,

wa s a great ad v antage to the nobility though ,

it impoverished the state The limitation o f

.

the pri vilege to Roman Catholics was to secure

Poland again s t the M uscov ite lean ing s o f the
O rthodox inthe o ld Russian pro vince s Thi s
- .

enactment s ecured to the Union the support o f

all the Catholic Lithuanian nobles in spite o f
the fact th at Wit o wt did not like it and pre
ve nted it s being carried o u t in many cas e s .
 T HE E RA O F G R EAT N ESS 57

Durin g the next reign in 1 4 34 a un io of the

, ,
n
Greek a n d Roman churches to o k place at a
CO II YQ I LJ LL E QLCDLB known
, as the Union
oLEl o re n

which resulted in e s t a b l iSt g

ce ,

what is known as the Uw ch The .

O rthodox Church conceded recognition o f the

Pope and in return the Roman Church agreed
,

to their u s e o f their o wnritual the retention o f ,

their o wncreed and o f a married clergy This .

arrangement wa s a con v enient compromise by

which without violence t o their faith the Dr
, ,

t ho do x nobles o f Lithuania could enj oy the

benets o f the Union o f Horodlo a nd it was
very generally adopted throughout the Ukraine
and later in Lithuania thus considerably in
,

creasing Lithuanian s upport O f the Union .

The death o f Q W B
very real loss to the kingdom O bliged when
Q Q was a
.
,

only a girl for political reason s to gi v e up her

, ,

cousin William o f Habsburg to whom she wa s

, ,

betrothed and whom she dearly lov ed and to ,

marry a man twice her age whom she had ,

never seen and whom all her circle regarded

as a barbarian she reconciled herself to the
,

marriage by reg a rding it as a Christian mis

sion as well as a patriotic service and de voted
her life to Christianizing educating and ci vil
, ,

iz ing her people Her sympathy with the poor

.
5 8 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
,

and the oppress ed was well known all o ver the

kingd o m but she had more vigorous qualities
,

as well O n o ne o ccasion when Jagiello was

.
,

absent in Lithuania and the Hungarians in

vaded the Polish border she herself led an
,

army against them notwithstanding the fact

,

that the Hungarians were her o wnpeople She .

founded a Lithu a ni a n College at Prague and ,

bequeathed her j ewels fo r the completion of

the Univ ersity o f Cracow founded in 1 3 6 4 by
,

Casimir the Great Jagiello outlived her thirty

.

three years and had two other wi ves after her

death .

The Hussite wars took place during the

reign o f Jagiello and the Hussite inuence was
considerably felt in Poland The King not only
.

helped the Hussite cause with men and money ,

for political reasons but allowed public dis

,

e ussions o f the points at issue between the

Hussites and Roman Catholics to take pl ace

freely in Cracow This was a u niq u e a nd re
.
l .

markable thing in ft e e nt h century Europe

-
,

where bigotry was so characteristic of religious

z eal and persecution the chief attention paid

to new religious ideas .

Durin a ie ll o s long reign o fort e i ht

f -

W . He e s tablished a gov
 6o B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
he had s mall desire to exchange the Lithuanian
throne fo r the more troublesome one o f Poland .

resol ved to become King o f Poland only

it io no f reestablishing the real union o f
the two crowns I t was three years before t h e
.

questions at issue between t h e two countrie s

had been s ettled s u fciently to his liking for
him to accept the throne of Poland .

Under Qgsjmjrk Po m e re l ia ( Pomerania west

in t he possession o f the Teu
0'
a v 4
o f the Vistula ) ,

tonic Knights s iII ce the thirteenth century was

,

i f r
e as the result o f the long war

which Casimir waged against them inalliance

6
w ith the townspeople and gentry o f Po m e re lia .

if
These classes in 1 440 formed the s o -called
sian League fo r the defense o f their

against the O rder which had become ,

simply a governing a ristocracy wholly o u t o f ,

touch with the people a nd exploiting them I n

,

its o wnselsh interest s In 1 4 5 4 the Prussian

.

League o ff ered its allegiance to Casimir and

fought with him for thirteen years fo r freedom
from the O rder The length o f the war was due
.

v ery largely to the fact that the Polish nobles

made the King s dependence upon them for

men a nd money the occasionto exact as the ,

p ce o f ev ery subsidy constitutional conces

a ,

s ion s o f the great e st importanc e T he delay s .

 TH E E RA OF G R E AT N ESS 61

and uncertainties thus entailed hampered the

King greatly but nally he managed to get
,

the money with which to pay Bohemian mer

ce n a rie s the best soldiers o f that day by whose
, ,

a s sistance t h e O rder wa s at last defeated , , .

Casimir s diplomatic skill also wo nthe Pope

,

heretofore the champion o f the Knights to his ,

S ide and it wa s through papal mediation that

,

the Pe a ce o f Thorn ( 1 46 6 ) was nally signed

which gav e to Poland Po m e re l ia o r Polish Prus ,
-

sia Over East Prussia o r Prussia proper the

.

King was able to establish only hi s suzerainty ,

the Teutonic O rder continuing to rule there

\but as vassals o f the King o f Poland The
,

Grand M aster o f the O rder was given the rst

place in the Polish Se nate hav ing a seat at the ,

King s right hand and had exclusi v e ju ris d ic

,

tion o ver his own territories even the amount of ,

milit a ry service he rendered being left largely

to his o wndecision .

This compromise treaty was a keen d is a p

pointment to the King who had counted o n ,

conquering the O rder once for all and subj ect

ing it absolutely to Poland but his hands were ,

tied by the selshness and fatal blindness o f

the nobles B ut after all Poland s gains were
.
, ,

very great The possessi o n o f the Baltic sea

.

bo a rd after three hundred year s off ered great

, ,
62 B R I E F H IST O RY OF P O LA N D

opportunities for commercial expan sion and

,

tended to bring Poland into the wider channel s

o f the life o f the West .

F rom the constitution al point o f view the

struggle between the King and the nobles who
formed his army was o f the greatest impor
tance Proting by the King s necessities
.

which they ought to hav e felt were their o wn

necessitie s also but did no t
, the 5 2%
f used to go to war until the King had granted
re

the s o called Statute s o f N ie sz a w
-

by which he promised neither t o make new

laws nor call the nation the sz l a chta ) to
arm s without the consent o f the sz l a chta As .

exemption from all tax es and dues ex cept mili

e ngranted them by Loui s
3 .
(
:

by the riv il e e o f Kas

g
ha

in order t o secure the s uccession o f hi s
S g
daughter to the throne ) and as military s erv ice
,

no w became voluntary with them and legisla

tion was in their hands they were theoretically
,

in control o f the state and needed only the

,

machinery by which to use their new powers

and carry o u t their will They found this ma
.

chinery in their local assemblies o r Dietines or

w
,

S e iki and later in the central D ig

, f hich
they developed to meet their requirements .

To understand this development we must

 T HE E RA O F G R EAT N ESS 63

loo k back to the time o f Casimir the Great ,

when the sz l a chta desirous o f resisting the

,

King s e fforts toward centralization looked

,

about for means to their end The most natu .

ral and e ff ectiv e instrument that came to their

hand was the local assemblies o f the principali
ties o r palatinates as they came to be called
, .

The sz l a chta succeeded in transforming these

hitherto official councils into general as semblie s
o f all the sz l a chta o f the pro v inces At rst .

the Dietine s concerned themsel v e s with local

a ff airs only but as the sz l a chta wo nnew and
,

wider rights from the Crown they exercised

'

these also through the S ejm ikt partly because ,

they were in existence and no machinery for

united action was but probably chiey b e
, , ,

cause it was natural to them to act a s members

o f the local community rather than a s citizens

o f a united s tate The long Partitional Pe

.

rio d had created this pro v incial feeling which

led inevitably to a decentralized state .

The result o f this was that fo r purposes o f

taxatio n after 1 3 74 and o f legislation after
,

1 4 5 4 the King had to consult each Dietine sep

,

a ra t e l y This wa s di fcult in many ways and

.
,

the need o f a central Diet was greatly felt The .

germ o f o ne indeed existed and was developed

, ,

in the next reign but Casimir had to deal with

,
 64 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

the Dietine s directly and found it a s low a n

, d
trying process .

The Hussite mo v ement was at its height in

Bohemia during Casimir s reign and Ca s imir
, ,

tolerant like all the Jagiellos was v ery friendly ,

with the Hussite leaders T he King o f Bohemia

.

at this time was Geo rge Po d ie b ro d s ki who t e ,

a l iz ing that papal oppo s ition t o h I s policy o f

toleration toward the Hu ss ites would make the
s uccession o f his o wnso nimpossible made an ,

alliance with C a sI m I r by which Casimir s elde s t

s n Wl a dis l a u s became King o f Bohemia o n

o , ,

the death o f Po d ie b ro dski in 1 4 7 1 Casimir .

also tried to put his s econd son John Albert o n , ,

the Hungarian throne a nd was ted long years

,

inthis fruitless a n d mistaken attempt one

o f the v ery few mistakes that Casimir made .

While he was wasting his e ff orts o nthe south

an d we s t his enemies o nhi s Lithuanian fron
,

tiers Teutonic Knights Turks Tartars a nd , , ,

M usco v ites all encouraged a nd aided by the

,

hostile King o f Hungary were making s eri

o u s trouble M usco vy particularly under it s
.
, ,

V ery able and astute Czar v had thrown

o ff the T artar yoke and had s et to work to

expand toward the west and particularly to ,

i
re conquer the o l d Russian lands in the posses
-

tsion o f Lithuania The Turks also in 1 4 53

.
, ,
 T HE E RA O F G REAT N E SS 65

had captured Constantinople and had taken the

ib
n Tartars o f the Crimea under their protection ,

and the combination had become a very serious

menace to southern Europe A league was in .

process of formationagainst them which Casi

mir joined in 1 4 8 4 chiey in order to keep open ,

Poland s great southern trade route which was

seriously menaced by the Turkish capture o f

the Moldav ian to wns commanding the mouths
o f the Danube a n d the Dniester Poland had .

exercised a v ery loose sort o f su z erainty o ver

M o ldav ia since It had been su fficient ,

howev er to protect her trade which wa s the

,

chief v alue to her o f the pro v ince .

During the war o v er Moldavia the King o f

Hungary M atthias C o rv inu s the inveterate
, ,

enemy o f Casimir was killed The Hungarians I , .

3 2

at o nce elected Wl a d is l a u s of Bohemia to ll his

pla c e which eff ecti vely sol v ed the Hungarian
,

problem fo r Poland and put the Jagiellon dy

nasty in pos s on
si 9 ouf f r thr nes
se o .

u rI ng the reign o f Casimir and under his

wise guidance P oland and Lithuania had re
,

mained closely united and the state had b e

c o me a great European power The separatist .

tendencies in Lithuania still v ery str o ng and

1
R m nP i n f H li w
o a r l f M ld v i in1 393
ce o a cz a s ru e r o o a a ,

wh n t hi o wnwi h h b ec m e v ssa l of t h e Ki ng of
e , a s s , e a a a

Po la nd .
 66 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

con s tantly pushing Lithuania toward M u s co vy ,

were alway s recognized by Casimir as a v ery

real danger to the union and he worked inc e s
,

sa n t l y to counteract these tendencies by c o n

structive me a ns He promoted Catholic pro pa
.

.
ganda in Lithuania by ev ery means in his power
1 except persecution o f the O rthodox which he
would not consider for a moment He also fa .
,

v o re d the Uniate churche s established in Lith

,

ua n ia in 1 4 4 3 by considering the Uniates as

,

Catholics and extending to them all the privi

leges granted to the Catholics by Horodlo He .

nev er appointed a V iceroy for Lithuania o r a l

lowed even o ne o f his sons to represent him
there but kept the go vernment entirely under
,

his o wn direction thus maintaining absolute

)unity a nd centralization
,

The long reign o f Casimir IV was followed by

short reigns o f his third and fourth sons .

o h nAlbert ( 1 4 92 1 5 0 1 ) a nd Alexander ( 1 5 0 1

The reign o f John Albert was lled with

wars against the Turks which were alm o st
,

ne ver successful and necessitated constant a p

peals for money to the s z l a ch ta who gav e very
,

little but extorted in return concessions that

,

went far toward ruining the country To .

a v oid the neces s ity o f applying to e ach Dietin e

68 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D

necessities The . had apparently spent

s z l a chta

the interv ening years preparing for this occa

s ion and came to the Diet o f 1 4 96 with a whole
v olume o f new demands which when enacted ,

into laws a s they were before the Diet a d

,

completed the process which made the

sz l a chta a class ap a rt possessing a l l the privi
,

lege s o f gov ernment free from all its burdens

, ,

and holding the other clas s es in a s ubj ection

that no t only degraded the commercial and
agricultural clas ses politically but ultimately ,

ruined them economically thus destroying the ,

prosperity o f the whole country and dimin

is hin g v ery s eriously the sources o f wealth for
the state O ne o f the most important o f these
.

enactments was o ne by which the burgesses

were depri ved o f the right to hold land o utside
t h e ve
ry T
re S fiEt e d area o f the city walls This .

practically excluded them from holding any

land at all and thus made it impossible for
,

the richer merchants as in other countries to

, ,

buy landed estates and thus enter the noble

,

and military clas s No t only was a great in

.

c en t iv e to the accumulation o f wealth by this

class thus destroyed but another enactment
,

exempting the sz l a c ta from all exp ort a d n

im p o rt duti es put the burgesses at such a dis
ad vantage commercially that they soon ceas ed
 T HE E RA O F G R E AT N E SS 69

to be a wealthy class and in the co urse o f a ,

century no longer formed a class dis t inct from

the peasantry t o whose level they had been
,

gradually pressed down .

The agricultural class also which had strug , ,

gled long and manfully to maint a in its free

d o m was n
, o w pushed down into a condition

o f serfdom by statutes which o nthe o n e hand

, ,

limited the freedom o f the farmers by obliging

them to stay o nthe land and work only fo r
their landlords and at customary wages during
harvest time when other labor was short and
prices for o utside labor high ; and o nthe other , ,

changed the system o f land tenure into what

was practically the s o cage system .

Another law passed at this time by whic h the ,

h o lding o f Church b e ne ce s was limited to

'

those whose parents were both noble put the 1

,

Church on the side o f the privileged and de

p riv e d the lower classes o f their best champi o n .

And in return fo r all this John Albert go t ,

nothing at all from the sz l a chta personally wh o ,

contented themselves with voting him two

small subsidies o ne o f which came o u t o f the
,

towns and the other fro m the peasants ! Small

wonder that the King s Italian tuto r Buona
,

1
E x pt i nw m d f t h
ce o as a n ni
e o t whi h d
ree c a to r es , o c oc o rs

of ca n nl w me di i n n
o a , d t h e l o gy o f pl ebeia nongm we re
c e, a o

a l one e l i g ib l e.
 7 o B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D

corsi should have advised him to restrain the

,

liberties o f the n o bles at all costs th o ugh it is ,

no t at all probable that the King all o wed him

,

self to be defeated by the Turks and Tartars in

M oldavia in order to increase the royal author
ity as some of his nobles accused him o f doing
, .

In spite o f his misfortunes the King seems t o

hav e kept the condence o f the masses o f the
people Even the Diet in 1 5 0 1 shortly befo re
.
,

his death granted back to him the entire con

,

trol o f the military forces o f the kingd o m in

order t o facilitate his opposition to the Turks ,

who during the later years o f the reign were

rav aging Poland s southeasternborder

.

John Albert was succeeded by his brother

\(Alexander ( 5
1 0 1 who in open dea ce n
o f the agreement o f Horodlo had been elected
7

Grand Duke o f Lithuania in (1 492 Steady !

pressure from M uscovy h o we v ef had at last

, ,

con vinced Lithuania that u nI o nwith Poland

was useful a nd from this time on the Lit h u a ni
,

ans took the Kings o f Poland fo r their Grand

Dukes .

During Alexander s reign howev er Poland

, ,

c o uld give Lithuania little help Turks and .

M o ldavians continued their raids o n her b o r

ders and the Teutonic Knights under a vigor
, ,

o u s and able Grand Master Albert of Hohen ,

 THE E RA 0 F G R EAT N E SS 7 1

z ollern took ad vantage o f the situation to re

,

fuse homage to the Po lish King and to attempt

the reconquest of Polish Prussia Wo rse than .

that however the sz l a chta took advantage o f

, ,

the weakness of Alexander both in character ,

and in health to complete their work o f wreck

,
i

ing the kin gship and despoiling the lower classes .

Percei ving ho w much greater their power o f

extortion was over an uncrowned than over
a crowned king the s z l a chta presented to him
,

and obliged him t o sign in place of the usual

,

c o ronati o n agreement by which the King sim

,

ply conrmed the pri vileges o f the nobility a ,

whole series o f arti c les known as the Articles

,

o f Mielni ca by which the King was depriv ed

,

o f the control o f the mint and the regalia and ,

his appointing power greatly reduced ; members

o f the Senate also were exempted from pro se cu

tion by the royal courts .

The Pa cta Convento thus became wha t it

afterwards remained under the elective king
ship o ne o f the most formidable governmental
,

weapons in the hands o f the ruling c lass .

B ut even greater humiliations were in store

for the King In 1 5 0 4 the Diet enacted that the
.

ro yal estates should not be m o rtgaged without

the unanimous consent o f the Senat e given
during the s itting o f the Diet ; that the King
 7 2 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
should be constantly attended by a permanent
council o twenty four Senators (the Senators
f -

were to take six month turns at this some

-

what arduous addition to their functions ) and

that the Grand Chancellor and the Vice Ch a n
c e ll o r should be appointed only during the ses

s ion o f the Diet and should re c e e the ra t i

,

cation o f the Senate I n 1 5 0 5 at the famous

.
,

DW by the Edict NM the

, IJ I ,

Diet was gi ven its permanent organization and ,

the King bound himself and his success o rs

nev er to alter it o r any other part of the Con
,

s t it u t io n o r to enact new legislation without

,

the consent o f both houses of the Diet

.

Alexa nder s death in 1 5 0 6 left the country in

J
a bad condition The nances were ruined by
.

extravagance and bad go vernment ; the south

eastern pro v m ce s were wasted by Tartar raids ,

while Lithuania was threatened by M uscovy

without a nd to rn by feuds a mong the nobles
within .

Fortunately the new King Sigismund I ,

( 1 50 6 Alexander s brother was a man

,

I o f character talents and experience in go v ern

, ,

ment His brother Wl a d is l a u s o f B o hemia and

.
,

Hungary had made him Gov ernor o f Silesia

, ,

the most troubl e s ome o f all his possessions ,

w h ere Sigismund had sp ee dily put an end to

 T HE E RA O F G R E AT N E SS 73

the continual and age long d is s e ns Io nbetween -

Slavs a nd Germans reorg a nized the n a nces , ,

and made t h e pro v ince a model of a modern well

governed state There i s no doubt that Sigis
.

mund understood Poland s problems a nd that

his policy of peace abroad and o f economy

,

and nancial reorgani z ation at home designed ,

to pay Poland s debts and gi ve to the King a n

income that should make him in some meas ,

ure at least independent o f the sz la chta was

, ,

a wise o ne and had he come to the throne a V

,

little earlier before the sz l a chta were so rmly

,

entrenched he might have been able to carry

,

o u t his po l ic v and put the kingship in a po

sitiou of v antage that later monarchs could

have sustained and thus hav e prev ented t he
,

worst of Poland s degradation B u t it wa s

.

too late The sz l a chta already supreme legis -

V
. ,

l a t iv e l y during this reignsteadily en croa ched

,

upon t h e ex ecuti v e authority a nd pas s ed stat

utes forbidding the Captain -General o r Grand ,

Hetman to levy troops t h e Lord Trea s u re r
,

,
l
to collect taxe s o r the Grand Councillor to ,

direct the tribun al s of the k ingdom The Diet .

was to attend to these matters henceforth O n .

the other hand the King upheld the sz l a chta

,

in their determined op position to the attempt

o f the magn a t e s to s ep a rat e th e ms e l v e s fro m
74 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

the sz l a chta and become legally what they were

,

in large measure eco nomically a nd socially a ,

c lass apart The v ictory o f the sz l a chta is seen

.

in the enactment of the Digt g f 1 5 2 7 which did ,

away with all exemptions from military serv ice

and obliged every great noble as well as e v ery
,

poorer o ne to contribute to the army according

,

to his means As the troops thus contributed

.

had to be placed under the King s direct co n

trol this measure was of real ad v antage to the

,

monarchy O n the other hand however sus

.
, ' ,

p ic io n o f the magnates o f the Senate through ,

who s e hands as o fcers of the Crown the pub

, ,

lic money must necessarily pass kept the Diets ,

o f 1 5 2 2 and 1 5 2 3 from v oting anything at all

for national defense notwithstanding the fact

,

that the King was at war with the Turks This .

was only the culmination o f a policy o f parsi

mony and indecision o nnancial matters that
hampered and in large measure made im po s
, ,

s ible the King s work o f rehabilitati o n

.

In V iew o f these facts what the King a c co m

p lis h e d in the way o f nancial regeneration is

really remarkable At the v ery beginning of

.

his re I gn he called to conference with him some

,

o f the successful foreign merchants and bankers

o f Cracow such as the Scotchman J o hn Bo er

, , n ,

an d the German s Kaspar Beer a n

,
d the two
 7 6 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

M any Dietines were also now steadily curtailing

the rights o f the peasantry The obligation to .

work o ne day a week without pay on the l o rd s

land now became in s ome palatinates a legal

, ,

and a general o ne instead o f a matter o f in

,

dividual arrangement as heretofore .

T l t was during this reign that the Re forma

t ion came into Poland Poland had close rela .

tions with Wittenberg and other German uni

v e rs it ie s through her youth who attended them

in large number s and the doctrines o f Luther

,

spread rapidly especially in Polish Prussia

, .

I I n Danzig in 1 5 2 4 v e important churche s

, ,

( changed from the Catholic to the Protestant

worship The Protestant mov ement here as
.
,

in many other place s was as sociated with a ,

democratic political mo vement which aimed at

getting the to wngov ernment o u t o f the hands
o f the ruling oligarchy The Lutheran party .

were able t o force the election o f a new town

council but not content with a moderate v ic
,

tory they pro ce e ded t o abolish Roman C a t h o l i

'

c is m , close t h e monasteries a nd de c lare all ,

Church property conscated to the Go vern

ment Thes e measures so o ffended the Ro man
.

Catholics still v ery numerous in the town

, ,

that the political issue became seco ndary and ,

wh enthe King came with his troops a n d re

 T HE E RA O F G REAT N ESS 77
stored the o l d order the sentiment of the towns
people was generally with him .

Though Sigismund was himself a strong Cath

olic and regarded the Lutheran doctrines as
dangerou s inno vations he was not bigoted and !A
,
v

neither pers ecuted Protestants nor allowed the

con version o f hi s friends to that faith to m a ke a
difference in his condence in them either per
son a l l y o r o fcially
. He wa s equally tolerant
toward the Greek Church and his favor and
,

friendship toward their religion did much to

keep the d Russian provinces faithful to the
o l -

union with Poland at a time when ex ternal

e vents strongly t ax ed their allegiance .

Temperamentally a lover o f peace and re,

garding it as a necessity fo r restoring prosperity

to the country and rebuilding the strength o f
the monarchy Sigismund managed by diplo
,

macy and compromise to keep the country

from a long war but at no time during his
,

reign can he be s aid to hav e been really at peace

with Musco vy .

O riginally a very tiny principality belonging

t o a v ery minor prince o f the group that mi
grated from Kiev to the northeast M uscovy
,

had used an excellent trading positi o n to b e

co me rich under able prin c es had extended her
,

territories and by friendship with the Tartar

,
 7 8 B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF P OLA N D
kha ns had grown strong enough to lead the
movement that nally freed the Russian princes
from the Tartar yoke Having thus achieved
.

the position o f leader in an all -Russian cause ,

the M uscov ite prince laid claim to all the lands

hitherto Russian ( under the suzerainty of the
Grand Prince o f Kiev ) and called himself by
virtue o f his claim upon them Czar of all ,
,

Russia The Russian principalities ind e pe nd

.

ent o f him no less thanLithu a nia regarded this

, ,

claim as entirely prepo s terous but M usco vy ,

nev er abandoned it and in the end she made it

,

good I t meant meanwhile permanent hostil

.
, ,

ity between M uscov y a nd Poland and any ,

cessation o f hostilities was nev er felt to be more

than a truce .

Sigismund s relations with M uscovy as well

a s his whole foreign policy were complicated ,

an d made ex tremely di fcult by the treachery

o f P rince M ichael G l ins ky A Lithuanian o f
.

great talents highly educated traveled a sol

, , ,

d ier o f European renown Prince M ichael had

,

wo n the heart as well a s the favor o f King

Alex ander who had made him Court M arshal
,

o f Lithuania and had left the go v ernment o f

the Grand Duch y practically in his hands The .

3
1
P rince had used his position to enrich himself
an d hi s fa mily to s uch an exten t that at Alex
 80 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

best foreign s erv ice the Czar s army while in ,

,

fe rio r in personnel could generally defeat them

,

by superior organization Fo r these reasons .

S molensk the great border fortress o f Lit h u

,

ania remained in Russian hands though Sig

, ,

is m u n d nev er ac knowledged its los s by any

treaty .

Similar reason s and the added pressure o f the

T urks o nthe south made necessary Poland s

recognition o f the transformation o f the terri

tories o f the Teutonic O rder into the Duchy
Prussia Albert o f Hohenzollern the Grand
g
.
,
K

aster was con v erted to Protestantism in I 5 2 2

, ,

and to k eep the territory o f the O rder in

his o wn po s se s sion he followed the custom o f
,

the day and seculariz ed it ; that is he declared ,

it no longer the property o f the O rder but a ,

s ecular duchy hereditary in his family Though

, .

this was naturally extremely obj ectionable to

, ,

the Roman Catholic Powers from whom the ,

use o f a technical word did not hide the fact

that the transaction was plain robbery Sigis ,

g
mund nevertheless recognized the new Protes
tant state accepted the new Duke o f Prussia as
,

his vassal and recei v ed his h o mage in April

,

of 1 525 .

The Turkish questi o n was a v ery seriou s o ne

fo r Sigismund and wa s the d e t e rm I m n
, g f actor
 T H E ERA OF G R E AT N ESS 81

in his attitude toward Habsburg aspirations to

the thrones o f Bohemia and Hungary Up t o .

the end o f the fteenth century Hungary and ,

Moldavia and the N O M an s Land o f the

steppe had separated the Polish Empire from

the Turks and the King o f Hungary had been
,

the ruler u po n whom the task fell o f keeping the

barrier intact against Turkish aggression The .

subj ugation o f the Crimean Tartar s by the

Turks in 1 4 7 5 howe ver followed by the s ub
, ,

mission o f Moldav ia to Turkish suzerainty ,

brought Poland for the rst time i n to direct

contact with Turkey How threatening the
.

M oldavian situation wa s i s seen by the events

o f 1 53 1 . In that year without any declara

,

tion o f war an army o f Moldavian s and Turks

,

simply in vaded Polish territory The King was .

quite unprepared the force s he could command

,

few and it wa s very largely the personal valor

,

and s uperior gen eralship o f the Polish co m

mander John Tg n
, o ws ki that defeated them, .

I t is probable that the obj ect of this ex pediti o n

was to test the strength o f Poland a n d if suc , ,

c e s s fu l it wa s t o be followed up by a seri o us
,

attempt to conquer the country The Turks .

were now under Suleiman I I nearing the height

, ,

o f t he n p o wer ; t hey had already crushed Hun

gary and ad vanced to the v ery walls o f Vienna .

82 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D

The King showed his appreciationo f Tar

no ws ki s great services by descending from the

throne t o wel c ome him when he entered the

Sen ate a unique distinction in the rel ation s
betweenPolish kings a nd their subj ect s .

The situat ion o nthe steppe was no t les s dis

quieting The country from Kiev to the Black
.

Sea lying in the arm o f the Dnieper was an

, ,

unprotected wil d e rne s fit wa s known as the

s
m

ii Ukra in e mea ning b o rd ef

,
~ ~
and o ffered
great ad vantages for TH

rt ar ra id s which were ,

all t o o frequent and v ery harmful The Tartars .

kept a Polish army busy all the time but in ,

spite o f its presence the country was in co n

stant disturbance and many capti v es were
carried o ff each year to be sold as slave s in the
markets o f Turkey The Poles felt keenly the .

humiliation o f th is situation a s well as its other ,

incon veniences and the belief that the great

,

House o f Habsburg would be the best guardian

o f both Hun gary a nd Poland against the Turks
was th e chief reason wh y the King consented
to a nd urge d his brother Wl a d is l a us to accept
, , , ,

th e marriage propo sitions o f the Emperor M ax

im il ia n By this arrangement the House o f
.

Habsburg by v irtue o f the marriage between

,

Anne only daughter o f Wl a d is l a u s and Maxi

, ,

m il ia ns grandson F erdinand came into po s

, ,
 84 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P O LA N D

nephews Hieronymus J an a nd Stanislaus all

, , , ,

o f them v ery powerful and v ery able Their .

activities were a rather serious embarrassment

to the King s policy o f Habsburg friendship b u t

,

it surv i v ed to the end and was strengthened by

the marriage o f Sigismund s only so n to the

Austrian Archduchess Elizabeth .

In this re I gn I n1 5 2 6 at the extinction o f the

, ,

1 Pia s t in e line o f M a s o v ia nprinces M a so v ia was

,

united with Poland I ts annexation added a

.

s trong democratic element t o Polish politics

which was o f great importance in the next
reign .

Fo r the defense o f the Ukraine against the

Tartars no t hing was done though the Lo rd
,

M archer Da s z kie wicz had a v ery admirable and

inexpensive scheme fo r the organization o f the
wandering bands of freebooters o f the steppe ,

called Cossacks into companie s f or the de

,

fe n s e o f the border , and Queen Bona in the ,

work that she did for the protection o f her

private estates in the Ukraine s howed ho w ,

easily and h o w e ffecti vely such a plan could

hav e been carried o ut She built two castles
. ,

on e at Bar , another at Krzemieniec At Bar .

she stationed her Steward B ernard Pre t cz

, ,

wh o so successfully repulsed t h e Tartar bands

( he beat them o f
f s eve n ty times ) that thousands
 T HE ERA 0 F G R E AT N E SS 85

colonists ocked thither where alone o nall

.

of

the border was life safe and a li ving secure .

Queen Bona was the second wife o f King

S igismund ; she was an Italian o f the great
Sforza family of Milan B eautiful cultivated
.
, ,

the patron o f the Renaissance she made the ,

Court o f Cracow a literary and artistic center v

o f no mean importan ce She was v ery u npo pu
.

lar in Po land on acco unt o f her greed for both

money and power her ent ire unscrupulousness
, ,

and her v ery mischievous inuence o ver the

King all during his latter years She i s sus .

pe ct e d o f ha v ing poisoned her daughter -in

law Barbara Radziwill that her son might
, ,

marry some o ne more favored by herself .

Sigismund Augustus o r Sigismund I I ( 1 5 4 8

,

came to the throne under the d is a d v a n

tage o f hav ing to appoint almost all new a d
v is e rs. A dozen o r more o f the o l d magnate
families o f Poland Lithuania and M a so v ia b e
, ,

came extinct at this time and the King had

,

to raise members o f the lesser nobles t o p o si

tions that had nev er befo re been given t o their
families The new King did no t however re
.
, ,

gard this as a v ery serious disad van t age He .

was o f a far more yielding dispositi o n than his

father more intere s ted in new things and more
, ,
86 B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OL A N D

ready to welcome new ideas He had much o f .

the suppleness o f his I talian mother s race and

much o f their diplomatic ge nius a s well as a ,

large measure o f the tenacity of purpose of the

J agiellos His subj ects a little contemptuous
.
,

o f a king brought up by a woman the friend

,

o f artists and s peaking three languages besides

his own were surprised to nd in him a rul e r

,

o f rmness intelligence a n
, d rare skill inthe
,

management o f men .

O n his rst public appeara nce after his fa

t h e r s death ( he had been crowned during hi s

father s lifetime) when the Senate o f Lithuania

,

came together to do homage to the new ruler ,

he threw a bomb into their midst by a nno u nc

ing his marriage with B arbara Radziwill mem ,

ber o f a great Lithuanian family which had ,

taken place secretl y s ome years before Bar .

bara was a Cal v inist and the daughter of the

,

leader o f Lithu a nian Cal vinism N icholas Rad

z iwil l , called the B lack As a Lithuanian .

,

she was especially o ffen s i v e to the Polish nobles ,

who wished the King t o marry a foreigner o f

royal blood and as a Cal vinist she was anath
,

ema to the clergy The King s rst Diet

.

,

which met in O ctober 1 5 4 8 at Piotrkow a l

, , ,

most unanimously demanded that he di vorce

B arbara John Tarno w s k i w a s the only Sena
.
88 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

meeting with the King without the presence o f

the Senators The Chancellor obj ected that this
.

was contrary to usage but the King co nsented

,

to it a nd the meeting took place Ev er after

, .

the N uncios considered it a precedent and from

this time o n claim ed the right t o meet s epa
ra t e l y with the King a nd regarded their House
,

as posses s ing po w ers distinct from tho s e o f the

Diet a s a whole The s tory goe s also that in
.

this famous interv iew the N uncio s in despair ,

o f mo v ing the Kin g conce rning his marriage ,

fell upon their kne e s in a bo d y before him .

Greatly a stonished at thi s unprecedented o c

currence the King ros e from his seat a n
, d took
o ff his hat The N u ncio s ins ist e d o ntreating
.

this unconscious act as a precedent and de

m an d e d that the King always recei v e any large
body o f the N u ncio s unco vered I n the end .

the King was obliged t o concede both points .

F rom this time the Senate lost its legislati v e

predominance which pas s ed to the lower House
, .

The more important matter s that came t o the

Diet were considered in j oint session by the two
Houses and their superiority o f number s gav e
,

the House o f N uncio s th e ad v antage in all

these session s With the m ilitary and civil
.

power s thus undermined the King had v ery ,

little to s upport h is authority ex cept tradition

 THE E RA 0 F G R EAT N ESS 89

and religious sentiment and both these were

,

s eriously shaken by the Reformation .

AS has been stated above the Refo rmation ,

had entered Poland during the reign o f Sigis

mund I and had made some progress especially
, ,

in the German parts o f Pol a nd but it i s doubt ,

f ul if it would hav e pro v ed a factor o f great

impor t ance had it not beenfo r the sz l a chta s

j ealou sy of the power of the clergy and their

recognition o f the reform mo v ement as a
w eapon with which to destroy it Protestants .
,

who from con v iction refused to pay tithes q ues ,

t io ne d the j urisdiction o f the Church co urts ,

and obj ected to the payment o f annates and

other papal contributions were supported by
,

the sz l a chta for political reas on s irrespecti ve o f

their o wnreligious con victions and the v ery ,

worldly li ves a nd lax faith o f m a ny of t h e more

conspicuous of the Catholic clergy wo na certain
measure of popular appro v al for the reformers
from those no t especially interested in t h e
political as pect o f the case .

There existed on the statute books a number

o f edicts again s t heresy some o f them dating
,

from the last reign others from the period of

,

the Hussite mo vement Sigismund had no wish

.

t o see the Church w eakened o r the conserv ative

force s in the state destroyed a nd j ust after the
,
90 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
.

session of the s econd Diet in 1 55 0 he issued, ,

the famous edict by which he pledged himself t o

enforc e the law o f the land again s t heresy and
to maintain the privileges o f the clergy The .

B ishops regarding this as permission to pe rs e J

,

cute summoned before th eir courts many per

,

sons s uspected o f heresy as well as those who

,

had refused to pay tithes and other Church

dues The sz la chta were greatly alarmed and the
.

Diet o f Piotrkow (J anuary 1 5 5 2 ) was a s tormy

,

on e. The nobles w ere a unit , Catholic and

P rotestant alike in opposition to the rights
,

o f bishop s t o summon them before their courts ,

an d the opposition was s o strong that the

B i s hops were v ery willing to accept the King s

compromise proposal which was that the j uris

,

diction o f the Church courts be suspended for a

year o ncondition that the gentry continued to
pay their tithes during this period .

This meant that there wa s in Poland entire

liberty to think s peak and wors hip The
, , .

Church could a s always decide upon the ortho

doxy o f a doctrine and excommunicate here
,

tics but there their power ceased They could

, .

neither try nor punish them This freed om .

was s o unprecedented in the sixteenth century

that it drew to Po land reformers o f every sec t
an d o f e v ery s hade o f opinion There were .
92 B R I EF H I ST O RY O F P O LA N D

The result o f th e Prote s tantism o f t h e no b il

ity was that the Diets were overwhelmingly

Prote s tant and from 1 5 5 2 to 1 5 5 9 they m ade
,

a strong effort to set up a N ational Reformed

Church ; The s u s pensiono f the ecclesiastical

court s w a s indenitely prolonged and most

drastic proposal s of reform were made such as ,

the exclusiono f the B ishop s from the Senate ,

and the c a lling o f a s ynod to reform the Church ,

to which not only repres entati ves o f all s ect s

within the kingdom were t o be s ummoned but ,

t o which all the chief re formers o f Europe were

to be in vited Cal vin M elanchthonBeza and
, , ,

The Roman Catholic Church w a s s av ed from

this v ery grave danger by practically o ne m a n ,

Stanislaus Bez dany o r as he i s better known

, , ,

Ho s iu s the Grand Cardinal who roused the

, ,

P apacy to undertake e Counter Reformation

t h -

an d nally introduced into Poland the newly

form ed Society o f J esu s acti vely to combat
,

heresy N owhere did the J esuits achieve a

.

mo re conspicuous s uccess perhaps because the

,

masse s o f the people both I n Pol a nd and in

Lithuania were untouched by the reform mo v e
m ent a n
, d the Jesuits had chiey the uppe r
classes to conquer T h ey e nd e d by wiping o u t
. .

a l l s e ct ari a nism getting pos s ess io no f a l l th e

,
 THE E RA OF G REAT N ESS 93

s chools and becoming the dominating politi

,

cal inuence .

The King was v ery favorable to the reform

ers and some writers believ e that had he li ved
,

longer he would hav e established a N ational

Reformed Church But his chief concern was
.

to keep his kingdom at peace and sav e it from

the horrors o f civil wars of religion such as were
devastating western Europe His attitude and
.

his enlightenment are well expre s sed in the

following words in which he give s his re a sons
fo r granting pe rm is sIo nto the Prot e s tant s to
build a churc h in Cracow :
Considering the great calamitie s to whic h
the larges t a nd most ourishing Christian
countrie s have recently been exposed because ,

their k ings and prin c e s have tried to suppres s

the di ff erent religiou s opinion s which hav e
arisen in o u r o wn time we have resolved to
,

prev ent these dangers from disturbing the

peace and security o f our realms and from caus
,

ing such excitement o f the minds o f people as

would produce a civ il war particularly as we
,

have become convinced by the example o f other

,

countries in which so much Christian blood has

been shed that s uch severities are not only
,

useless but even most inj urious .

To k eep t h e pe ace t o reform abu s e s in

,
94 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF POLA N D
public administratio n and to transform the
,

somewhat unstable personal uni o n o f Poland

and Lithuania into a real legislativ e union strong
enough to withstand the pressure o f dangers
from without , the s e w ere hi s ideals and to
these he devoted his life The union o f the two
.

states was achiev ed only a short three years

,

before his death by the Union o f Lublin in

,

had been
had its own Diet and was go verned quite sepa
ra t e l y from the other The point o f union was
,

that the hereditary Grand Duke o f Lithuania

was always elected King o f Poland ( This wa s .

o f great ad v antage to Polan d as though in , ,

theory an electi v e monarchy in practice she ,

had an hereditary kingship during these im

portant years and there were none o f the co n
,

tested election s that tore Poland to pieces in

later centurie s By the Union o f Lublin the two
.

Diets became o ne though each country kept it s

,

o wns e parat e arm y court law s

, and a d m inis
, ,

t ra t io n In order to meet the obj ections to the

.

union bas e d upon the inequalities o f the two

countries the King resigned his hereditary
,

r ights t o the throne o f Lithuania which b e ,

came thereupon electi v e a s Poland s was and

,

he extended to the m ember s o f the Lith uanian

96 B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
its con v erts the Grand M aster and most o f the
Knights D uring this same period also it lost
.

much o f its military v igor and thus became

politically powerles s at the V ery time that its
commercial importance wa s making its con
quest a nev er greater temptation to the gro wing
powers o nit s bo rders Sweden M usco vy and , , ,

Poland all o f whom were reaching o u t eagerly

,

toward the Baltic The end o f the truce with

.

M usco vy and the refusal o f I van I V to renew

it except o n terms that Li vonia hesitated to
,

accept led to the in va s ion o f the country by

,

I van The Knights appealed to Poland for

.

help and by the Treaties o f Wilna ( I 5 5 9) plac ed

themsel v e s under Polish protection Their t wo .
,

southern pro v ince s S e m iga l l ia and Courland

, ,

were made into an hereditary Grand Duchy for

the last Grand M aster Gothard v o n Ketler , ,

who bec a me a v as sal o f t h e Grand D uke o f

Lithuania Their mo s t northerly pro vince
.
,

Esthonia b e cam e a part o f Swe denat this time

, ,

and John Duke o f F inland the heir to the

, ,

Swedish throne was married in 1 5 6 2 to Cath a

,

rine the fourth sister o f King Sigismund The

, .

treaty which contained these arrangements

was o f gre a t importance By it Sweden and .

Poland were united in commo n oppositionto

M u sco v it e ambition to reach and rule th e
 T H E ERA OF G REAT N ES S 97
'

Baltic and Poland for the rst time in her his

,

tory had the opp o rtunity to make herself a sea

po wer The marriage o f Catharine and J o hn
.

Vasa Duke o f F inland also was to pro v ide a

, ,

new line o f kings for Poland O n the other .

hand it meant war with M uscovy and the

, ,

truce which closed the war in 1 5 6 9 left Polot s k

in the hands o f the M uscov ite j ust as in t h e ,

reign of Sigismund I Smolensk had been left in

,

her hands Thus slowly but ever surely Mus

.

c o v y pressed on .

Under Sigismund Augustus Poland reached ,

the height o f her pro sperity Territorially great

.

and fairly well governed her towns prosperou s

,

and still enjoying the greater part o f their

liberties commerce and industry feeling an
,

enormous impulse from the settlement in the

country o f skilled artisans whom religious per
s e cu t io ns had dri v en thither the depression of
,

the agricultural class e s was not yet observable ,

and there were few signs to show that the b e

ginning o f a sure decline was so near .

The Jagiellon period i s also Poland s great

li t erary age Her language during this peri o d

.

t o ok o nits m o dern literary form and a great ,

natio nal literature gave it permanence and ex

pressed the nation s sense o f it s o wh ex panding

life.
 CHA PTER I I I
THE ELE C TI VE M O NA R CHY
THE E RA OF DE C L I N E , 3 57 2
1 6
7 3
WHEN King Sigismund died in J uly , 1 5 72 ,
without direct heirs the crown always electiv e
, ,

in theory became s o infact and the nation

, ,

had to choose a king .

I t wa s two hundred years since Pol a nd had

had an interregnum there was no authority ,

l egally constituted to act in such a nemergency ,

and j ust at rs t no one seemed to know ex actly

what to d o The general confusion and dis
.

order were so great that the King s mistress was

able to run o ff with the crown j ewels a nd all

the royal treas ure s o that the dead king lay I n
,

state in borrowed J ewels a nd in clothes muc h

wanting in sumptuousnes s F action s among the .

nobility partly religiou s partly personal no t

, , ,

only prev ented a n y c ommo n action in this

crisis but o nthe contrary led the kingless
, , ,

country to the v erge o f civil war as no gro up ,

was willing that any other should take the lead .

F inally however all factions came together in

, ,

the Convocation Diet which met in J anuary ,

This Diet enacted t h at during an inter

1 00 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

There were other foreign Powers beside

F rance who aspired to the Polish throne o nt his
occasion I van IV o f Musco vy the King o f
.
,

Sweden and the Duke o f Prussia were all can

,

d id a t es while the Emperor M aximilianI I put

,

forward his son the Archduke Ernest The .

s entiment in Poland however wa s v ery general
for a P ias t o r nati v e Pole When the Elec

,

.
,

tion Diet came together the Protestants who , ,

were ina maj ority brought forward the name,

o f John Firl e y Gran d M arshal and leader o f the

,

Polish Cal v inists B ut the opposition of two

.

powerf ul Lutheran families the Z b o ro ws kis ,

and the G o rka s so divided the Protestant vote

,

that hi s election was impossible The P apal .

Legate then v ery s killfully intervened and go t

the Z b o ro ws kis to support his Catholic candi
date the Archduke Ernest Percei ving h o w
, .
,

ever that the feeling against the Habsburgs

,

was so strong that the Archduke could not be

elected he threw his in uence to the s upport o f
,

the Duke of Anj ou who was nally chosen , .

A wor se choice could s carcely hav e been

made ; Anj ou had no intere s t in Poland and was
wholly unsuited both a s regards character and
,

political ide a s to reignthere He was simply

, .

the instrument used by the French Go vernment

t o enli s t Poland s s upport in t h e ta s k o f crush

 THE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E

ing the Habsburg Po we rl I t was the z e al a nd: '

ability of the French Ambassador a nd h is tin

,
?

limited use o f both money and promises that ,

secured enough inuence t o carry the election

for France .

Before electing the king the sz l a chta under

Protestant leadership had s afeguarded the
future o f their liberties by preparing a Rag a

c
n
og en ta to which Henry o f Anj ou and succeed

ing kings had to swear and which

,

most o f the attributes o By this the

name his successor neither ,

to marry nor divorce his wife neither to declare

,

war nor send ambassadors to foreign courts nor ,

to levy taxes witmu t the appro val o f the Diet ;

,

he agreed also to govern through a perma

nent council o f fourteen Senators chosen by the
Diet four of whom should always be with him ;
,

to call the Diet fo r a six weeks s ession every

two years ; to ke e p the peace between religiou s

sects and to protect them all equally The pa cta .

included also a provision that if the king failed

to keep his oath in regard to any o f these points ,

the nation after duly warning him was released

, ,

from its obedience and at liberty t o rebel against

him .
I

The new King did no t at all like these con

d itio ns and had no gr e at wish to take up hi s new
 . B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

duti es I t was six months after the election b e

.

fore he reached Poland and when he arri v ed he

,

entered at once into the schemes o f the extreme

Catholics to omit the most obno xious clauses
o f the oath (which he had already swornt o in

Paris ) from the coronation ceremony a n d thu s

leave him a pretext o nwhich to disregard them
,

.

As a matter o f fact the crown was about t o be
placed on his head with n o word Said about re

l igio u s liberty when Firl e y and the Ch a ncel

lor De m b rins ki s tepped forward and refused to
allow the ceremo ny to proceed unless the King
too k the whole oath Firl e y took the crown in
.

his o wnhands and said in loud voice I f you will ,

no t swear you shall not reign Thus coerced .

,

the King took the oath but it i s doubtful if he

,

would hav e kept it very long and the death o f

,

his brother in June 1 57 4 a nd his own succes

, ,

sionto the throne o f France probably sav ed ,

Po land a civ il war As s oon as he h eard o f

.

his brother s death Henry was eager t o get to

,

F rance a nd take up his new honors but he ,

could not leave Poland without the consent o f

the Diet and it took time to get the Diet to .

gether so he runaw ! Late at

, ay
night after a great court entertainment he left
, ,

the castle by a pri vate passage from his o wn

room s found s ome French attendan
, t s who had
1 94 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
The aff ection of the country for the Jagiellon
family had made Stephen s election conditional

upon his marrying the Princess An na sister o f ,

Sigi smund Augustus which he did and s he wa s

, ,

c rown ed with him M ay 1 ,

to the new monarch .

D anzig alone in the whole country obj ected
The P earl o f Poland

favored the Emperor o naccount o f her trade

which the burghers believed the German co n
ne c tio nwould greatly enhance So she shut her .

gates a nd refused t o recognize Stephen who ,

s pent the rst six month s o f hi s reign besieging

the city After its surrender the King imposed
.

a heavy ne but remov ed all rancor by w isely

,

conrming all pri vileges and immunities .

This task accomplished the King was free to

,

gi v e his attention t o foreign a ffairs which were

both critical and delicate Tartars and M us .

c o v it e s were in v ading Polish territory and the

s z l a chta were clamorou s for the restoration o f

peace but were quite unable t o see that the

,

only way to get it wa s to conquer both enemies .

I n all o f Europe the Poles could hav e found no

'

on e better tted th a n King Stephen to deal

with the situ a tion AS Prince o f Transylvania

.
,

he had lled a di fcult and precarious throne

where the continu e d exi s tence o f the ind e pe nd
en c e o f hi s country depended upo nhis exact
 T HE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 10 5

k nowledge of the policies o f Europe a nd his ,

ability to play o ne power against another and

gain fro m all No monarch in Europe wa s more
.

intimately informed a s to the conditions and

poli c ies o f both Turke y and Muscovy a s well
as those o f the Western Powers O f Slav origin
.

himself he spoke the Poli s h language uently ,

and understood perhaps instinctiv ely the Po l

, ,

ish character N ot being known in Poland all

.

factions believed him favorable to them and ,

Stephen skillfully avoided committing himself

o nirritating questions and used his popularity

t o get things don e .

His foreign po licy wa s directly oppgs e d to th e

To
fact that M uscovy and
M
Turkey menaced the future existence o f Poland
as a great state The Turks in alliance with the
. h

Crimean Tartars h a d cut Poland s communi W "

cations with the Black Sea were a con stant OJ "

,

menace t o her southern prov in c es a n

d had a l
,

ready torn away from Polish inuence the prin

c ipa l it ie s o f Wallachia and Moldavia ; while the m .

realization o f Musco vy s claims on all the Rus

sian parts o f Lithuani a and o f her ambitions W

,
W
to reach and control the Baltic coast would re l: !

duce Poland to a land -locked state o f small A W

,

dimen sion s a n d little importan ce He ha d n

. o 6"
E ;
10 6 B R I E F H ISTO R Y OF P O LA N D

idea o f submitting to these conditions O n the .

contrary he . W ha m - m ax im
Empire and drive the Turk from Euro pe As .
,

however the Turkish question was a European

,

matter and nee d ed time to arrange he made a ,

t e mm pea c
.e He contin ued the s ub s idie s
paid to the Tartars by Sigismund I I o ncondi ,

tion th at they keep the peace with Poland and

s erv e her in case o f war He thenturned hi s
.

attention to M uSCo v y .

Under Ivan I I I and his so n Vasily I I I M us

, ,

c o vy h a d thrown o ff the Tartar yoke gathered ,

most o f the Russian lands under her rule a nd ,

under Iv an IV had conquered th e Tartar s trong

holds O f Kazan and Astrakan which had co n ,

t in u a l l y threatened her o nthe southeast With .

their conquest the Volga became a Russian

ri v er a nd all the region of the Caspian a nd b e
,

yond lay open to the expanding might o f the

youthful Russians tate B ut I v an like Peter
.
,

the Great after him saw that Ru ss ia must be

,

in contact with the West if s h e would be great ,

an d he x ed his eyes o nLivonia which would ,

give him a Baltic outlet w ith towns fortresses , ,

and western European trade His failure to .

achieve it a nd it s s ubsequent annexation to PO

land has been considered in a prev ious chapter .

I n the anarchy in Polan d which followed Sigis

 10 8 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLA N D

posterity from certain due s when they enlisted ,

and after thre e campaigns making them e n

t ire l y free The King also made a point o f
.

ennobling those who distingu ished themsel v es ,

with the re s ult that the infa ntry became both

a ne ff ecti v e and popular bran ch o f the service .

The sz la chta w ere more dismayed than

pleased o r grate ful o v er the King s v ictories
.

They a ccused him o f al l sort s o f evil conduct

and ambition s but t h e peasan
, t s re cognized his
greatness When h e returned to Poland after
.

5
his second v ictory o v er Iv an I V he
, was recei v ed
a s a hero by the pea sants all along his j ourney ,

Whole v illages turning o u t to greet him Whe n

f
.

.
o
he reached Warsaw all the bell s were ringing
,

and the people insisted that the great bell o f

Warsaw distinctly pronounced the name o f
King Stephen ! Ev en the Diet which had pre,

v io u s l y resol v ed not to gran t him a penny wa s ,

carried away by the general enthusiasm and

da a d e him quite a decent gra n t
ac
.

b
The death o f Iv an IV shortl y a f ter the sign
,
7
ing o f the Truce o f Z a po l s k (J anuary 1 5 8 2 ) ,

which gave Li vonia and Po l o k to Poland gav e ,

r K ing Stephen hope s o f carrying o u t a great

Europeans cheme o f conquering M usco vy a l
s

together and incorp o rating it with Poland ,

un iting Polan d an d Hungary a n

, d drivm g t he
A
 THE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 169

T urk from Europe The Pope Sixtus V to

.
, ,

whom he opened his scheme had agreed to ,

furn ish the money for the e n terprise and me ,

g o t ia t io ns with Austria , which was to hav e A,

Transyl v ania as the price o f assistance and ,

with Denmark were alrea dy under way when

,

the King fell ill and died v ery suddenly .

The lawlessness o f t h e magnates a nd the

absence o f all responsibility for the public wel o

f are o nthe part o f the sz l a chta in whose hand s

,

all the powers lay con vinced King Stephen a s

,

they had conv inced other king s that some re

form o f the Constitution was e ssential to a ny
f uture dev elopment o f the country and he ,

wa s o n the point o f s ubmitting a programme

o f re form to the Diet as a nece ss ary pre l im i

nary to h i s big foreign adventure when he ,

died.

All during his reign he combat ed lawlessnes s

in high places He insisted o nobedience to the
.

law from all men o f all ranks and stood solidly

,

behind all his o fcials who found it di fcult ,

sometimes even dangerous to enforce it The

, .

famous case o f Samuel Z b o ro ws ki is a typical

instance o f this sort During the reign o f King
.

Henry this representati ve o f o ne o f the great

est and also the most lawless o f Polish magnate
familie s s tabbed and killed a S e nator wit hin the
1 10 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

preci n cts o f the royal cas tle a n,d by the clem

ency o f the King was exiled merely instead, ,

o f hanged as the law pro v ided Under King

.

Stephen he returned to Poland and li ved openly

in Craco w Z a m o ys ki a s Starost o f Cracow
.
, ,

warned him to go o r he would be arrested and

executed according to the law Z b o ro ws ki im.

p u d e nt l y ignored the warning and Z a

, m o ys ki

arrested him and after a trial o f s crupulous

fairness o v er which the King him s elf presided ,

he was condemned and executed His

family at once sought v engeance They c a me .

t o the Diet o f 1 5 8 5 to which they had referr ed

,

their cau s e with a great army o f retainers de

,

t e rm in ed to o v erawe both Diet and King B ut .

the King and Z a m o ys ki also brought troops

and with a de t ermination quite e qual to theirs
, ,

carried o nthe struggle in the Diet and wonfrom

that body no t only conrmation o f the j ustice
o f Samuel s execution but the banishment o f

,

Christopher Z b o ro wski Samuel s companion

,

in lawles sness and treason M uch o f the d is

.

a ff ection o f the Z b o ro ws ki was the re s ult o f

their per sonal antagonism to Z a m o yski their ,

j ealousy o f the power gi ven him and the per ,

s onal favor shown him by King Stephen Thi s .

antagonism wa s increased a hundred fold by -

th e even t s ju s t re corded and was o ne o f t h e

1 12 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

prov ince he had criminal j urisdiction ov er all

Little Poland ; as Grand Hetman of the Crown
he was Commander inChief o f the army while
-
,

a s Chancellor h e wa s the Kee per o f the Great

S eal the g uardi a no f the Constitution

, .

There i s no que s tion o f the v alue o f his serv

ices to Poland but o nthe other hand he was
, , ,

extremely j ealous o f his dignity far from s oru ,

p u l o u s in his methods and all t o o prone to,rega rd

opposition to his policies a s treachery to the
State I t is s mall wonder that he had enemies
.

besides the Z b o ro ws ki a nd of quite a di ff erent ,

s ort and natural enough that all o f them

, , ,

should j oin together after the death o f Ki ng

Stephen in a n attempt to curtail his power .

The Primate Ka rnko ws ki an o l d m a no f sev ,

en ty a n , d completely under the inuence of

the Z b o ro ws ki wrote to Z a m o ys ki who was in
, ,

the Ukraine with the army not to come to the ,

Con vocation Diet and it was hoped that the

,

electiono f the new king could take place with

o u t him Z a m o ys ki h o wever had quite other
.
, ,

intentions a nd when the Election Diet met in

,

J une 1 5 8 7 he was no t only there but he had

, , ,

the whole southern army with him .

There were three important candidates for

the throne o nthis occasion : the C z a r o f M us

q
covy t h e Arc h du k e M ax imilian b ro t hEFSI t h e
, ,
 THE E RA OF DE C L I N E 1 13

Emperor Rudolph I I and Sigismund Vasa son

n
, ,

o f King John of S w dna d o f Catharine J a gI

ello sister of Sigismund I I Z a m o ys ki supported

,
.

the claims of the Swedish prince and his in ,

u e n c e was perhaps the decisive factor in the

, ,

election T h e Z b o ro ws ki and their faction were

.

in favor of M aximilian while the maj ority o f ,

the Lithu a nians supported the C z a r F actional .

had nev er been so bit te r and all the ,

factions came with armies behind them s o that 1

the eld o f election was a great armed camp .

This had indeed been true o f the elections o f

, ,

both Henry o f Valois and of Stephen Bato ry ,

but in neither case were the numbers o r the ani

m o s itie s so great The remark of a foreign .

observer about the election o f Henry o f Valois ,

that it looked far more like an assemblage
come together to conquer a foreign kingdom
than to dispose o f their o wn wa s equally ,

applicable here .

5 The Prim a te K a rn k o ws ki after long delay

) , ,

nally too k the side o f the Swedish prince ,

par t ly because he was the popular candidate

( t h e maj o rity o f the Poles supported him o n
a c co unt o f his Jagiellon blood and because his
electi o n would mean a close alliance o f Sweden
1
T h Zb e w ki h d t nt h
o ro nd f ig nm
s a n ie nt o u sa o re e rc e a r e s se

b y t h A hd ke
e rc we ll t h p i v t e m i e o f t h i Pol i h
u as as e r a ar s e r s

su pp o rt e rs .
1 14 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

and Poland against M uscovy) partly also b e ,

cause he feared that under Austrian rule Poland

would lose her liberties and be drawn into war
against the Turks in the interests o f Austria .

He therefore propo sed Sigism un d in th e Senate .

At this Z b o ro ws ki led o u t his troops Zamoy .

ski did likewise and a battle seemed inevitable

when the Primate o l d and inrm as he was , ,

moun ted a horse and rode alon e between the

lines and
common
by civil war appeal was e ff ecti v e and both
.
,

sides retired to quarters and contented them

sel v es by each side proclaiming its candidat e
'

king ! Z a m o ys ki fg gecLCra co w and s at down

to hold it until the Prince of Sweden should
arrive .

The King o f Sweden had always hoped to

hav e his son King of Poland and had educated ,

him with this idea in V iew but when he heard ,

o f the di fculties o f the election o f the opposi ,

tion o f the Emperor and especially of the co n ,

dition imposed by the Polish Diet of Election

that S weden must renounce her claims o n
Esthonia he refused to allow his son to accept
,

t h e throne I t was o ny whe nhis ambassadors

1
.

1 P l nd l i m d E t h ni
o a c a p t f t h t it y f th
e s o a as ar o e e rr or o e

O d
r er o f t h S w d b t th
e nt y h d b n c pi d by S we
or , u e co u r a ee o cu e

den n ,d Po l n
a d h dnev a bee n bl e t o m a k goo d he r cl aim
a er a e .
1 1 6 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

H is po l iQa l pro gga m m e which he brought ,

with him ready made from Sweden was based

-
,

upon a clear u n d erstanding o f t hg n ee s o f _

_

Poland but unfortunately he had not the

n
,

s tre gth o f Vyil l and he never a c hiey g I the

n
_

personal 0 gla rit x j s

l hich al o ne a Polish .

monarch c o u W nd ica ps o f his

p t
o s h in g T he child . .

hood o f the young King (he was only twenty

on e when he was crowned ) had been e x t ra o rd i

nary a nd h ot without an element o f tragedy .

H e was born in prison where his parents were

conned by the half-mad King Erick o f Sweden ,

wh o feared Sigismund s father would seize the

throne Sigismund s mother was an ardent and

.

devout Roman Catholi c and not only brought ,

up her s o nin her faith but greatly inuenced,

her husband in that direction When after .

Erick s death he became ki ng he admitted the

,

J esuits to Sweden and allowed his so n to be

ed ucated by them The King s religious feeling
.

was no t however v ery deep and after the

, , ,

Queen s d e ath he yielded to the inuence of a

stro ngly Pro testant country expelled the J e su ,

its and began to persecute Roman Catholics

, .

Sigismund was subj ected to what might be

called persecuti o n also in the e ffort to make
h im Prote s tant but the young Prince clung to
,
 THE E RA O F D E C L I N E 1 1 7

his religio nand to his Jesuit friends with all his

might a nd their inuence became the dominat
,

ing o ne of his whole life Grave b eyo n d his .

years cold and self contained ne it t aLking

,
-
,

nor taking ad vice he wa s ne ver liked by the

,

g e niET O pe n-natured Pole s H is religion al s o .

was a great disappointment to the Protestants

o f Poland who were greatly in the maj ority in
,

the gov erning class Instead o f supporting

.

Protestantism a s they had hoped he became ,

its strongest opponent in the north gave his ,

Jesuit friends a free hand and during his reign ,

religious persecution for the rst time e n

Poland s doors I t was however persecution

.
, ,

in its milder forms ; there was no bloodshed no ,

horrors as in Spain o r France but the change ,

that took place can be s een from the fact that

w hen Sigismund came to the throne the v ast
majority o f the S enators were P rotestant and ,

when he died there were only two who still held

to that faith As a Catholic al s o he believed in
.

authority a n d he spent his life in th e struggle to

,

arrest the democratic movement and establish

s trong gov ernment in Poland .

In foreign policy he held the v iews o f Kin

Stephen as to the necessity o f conquering both
Turks and Muscovites and at t empted to form
,

a league o f the Catholic Powers headed by ,

1 1 8 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Austria a nd the Pope in order to carry them

,

o ut . This brought him into direct oppositi o n

t o Z a m o ys ki and to the maj ority o f the sz l a chta ,

who regarded Austria the repre sentative

o f that German peril again s t which their a n

c e s to rs had fought unceasingly as the arch

enemy o f Poland and the only serious menace

r
The I G I Kg s m a rriage to a nAustrian arch

duche ss and the persistent rumor (which was

entirely true ) that he was negotiating with
Austria with the idea o f giv ing up the Polish
throne to the Archduke M aximilian threw the,

whole country into great excitement Zamoy .

s ki ev en got the Diet o f 1 5 90 to pas s an act ex

pressly excluding the Archduke from the suc
cession B ut n
. o sooner had the Diet risen than

the opposing party led by the Primate formed

,

a Confe deration which prot ested against the

,

act s o f the Diet o f 1 5 90 and especially against

,

the power of Z a m o ys ki An extraordinary Diet

.
,

called by the King at the end o f the year re ,

v ersed all the act s o f its predecessor a nd greatly

weakened Z a m o ys ki s inuence by depri v ing

him o f the Grand Hetmanship and the Castel

lanate o f Craco w and replacing many o f hi s
,
1 20 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

stand much higher than your fa t h e f wh o I , ,

am told reigns only over peasants ? Remember

,

w h at our late King S t ephen o f glorious m e m o ry

used t o say I shall s ome day put down those
,

Swedish kingling s and teach them ho w to b e

Before the Diet w as o v er t h e Austrian ,

party led by the young Queen s mother the

,

,

Archduches s Maria a v ery shrewd statesman

, ,

s aw that Z a m g gs ki wa s too powerful to be dis

regarded and must t h erefore be conciliated .

Accordingly through the Palatine o f Cracow

, ,

the King made his peace with his Chancellor

and restored to him the Grand Hetmans hip .

N o wiser move could hav e been made a s it e u ,

abled the King to u s e t o the full during the

next ten years the really great abiliti e s o f the
greatest o f his subj ects .

In 1 6 0 2 howev er all Z a m o ys ki s suspicions

, ,

of Habsburg intrigue s were again aroused

by t h e King s proposal t o marry as a s econd

w ife the sister o f his rst wife who had d ied in

,

1 5 99 and inthe Diet o f 1 6 0 3 Z a m o ys ki wa s

, ,

once a ga I nthe leader o f the party o f opposition

to the King By this time dissati s faction with
.

the King had become v ery general a nd the ,

position o f Z a m o ys ki wa s but the be ginning o f

a s trngle be tween king and sz l a chta that lasted ,
 THE E RA OF D E C L I N E 121

W
3

W W RS H Years .

There were many reasons for this opposition .

I t greatly o ff ended the Poles that since the ,

death of the Dowager Queen Catharine the o l d ,

Polish ways had been gi v en up a nd the court ,

to all outward appearance was German I t wa s .

openly charged that the King intended to make

the monarchy hereditary and greatly to cur
,

tail the liberties o f the sz la chta thu s violat

,

ing bo th the Con stitution and hi s coronation

oath and that the Germans at his Court were
,

to help him do it Rel iggi isg rseg g ional so

.

, ,

which depri v ed Protestants a nd O rthodo x o f a l l

places o f trust and po wer and made it v ery dif
c u l t for them to o wn and maintain public
places o f worship o r other property was deepl y ,

regg ed as wa s al s o the establishment o f t h e

,

Uniate Church inPoland Poland had never.

accepted the Uniono f F lorence and when it wa s

,

practically forced upon her by the King and his

J esuit ad v isers in 1 5 94 the O rthodox people o f
,

the southwestern prov inces were o nthe verge

o f re v olt The Diet also obj ected to the King s
.

foreign policy and to the fact that the troops

,

were not paid and charged him with using the

,

money voted for the latter purpose fo r his own

priv ate expenses All these matters and m a ny
.

others were discu ss ed with v ehemence a nd

1 22 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

great dramatic e ff ect in the Diet s o f 1 6 0 3 and

1 6 0 5 but nothing was done and the only result
, ,

was increased irritation of all parties Zamoy .

s i i shortly after the clos e o f the

,

Diet and his leadership was assumed by Z e

,

b rz yd o ws ki under whom the quarrel s oon as

,

s umed the form o f C iv il war Z a m py s ki in his

.
,

last public speech in the Diet o f 16 9 5 had _ _ ,

t h re a t e W t he Kin g if he did not

m e nd his ways Z e b rz yd o ws ki led the mo v e
.

ment toj o in
As in many other medi aeval parliaments the

d ecisions of the Polish Diet were considered as
expressing the sens e o f the !whol e!meeting ,

as the Quakers who have always maintained

,

this usage put it and not as in modern legis

, , ,

lati v e assemblies the will of a dominant ma

,

j y
o rit . A determined minority could alway s
prevent action to which they obj ected but ,

u nles s the minority was large o r v ery deter

m ined little attention was paid to it and it was

, ,

no t until the late sixteenth century that the

practice o f unanimity invoting led to serious
inconv eniences .I n Sigismund s reign however
, ,

u nanimity was obviously impossible and as ,

long as it remained the rule no legislati v e a c

tion could take place I n 1 6 0 6 the King called
.

the Diet for the expre ss purpos e o f changi n g

1 24 B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

with the intention of serv i n g the public weal ,

and I promise my allegiance in the rm hope

that Y our M aj esty will satisfy the wishes o f
the nation Radziwill n e xt in insurgent com


.
,

mand the ns poke and ended thus : Whatev er

,

I did was done no t from any want o f respect

,

for Your Royal M aj esty but following the ex

a mple o f o u r ancestors I stood up fo r o u r lib, _

e rt ies : and these a s a true noble I shall ev er ,

d e fend at the risk o f my life .

A delegation from the a rmy o f the insurgent s

also s ought an audience with the King ; their
s pok e sman made the following address : We
a re freemen and born in a free country We .

we re taught by o u r parent s that whenever it

c once rned the pre serv ation of o u r liberties and

rights we should be re a dy to sacrice o u r li ves

,

and property B eliev ing these liberties to b e

.

indanger we thre w ours elve s a s it were i n

, to
the midst o f a general co na gra tio nin order to
extinguish it Hav ing now learned that Your
.

M aj esty never had any in tention against these

liberties we are grateful for it and come to re
, ,

quest Your Maj esty s p a rdon fo r the actions

we hav e done they hav ing been done with

,

good intention .

B ut all thi s eloquen ce and these pledges

a m ounted to nothing T h e trouble bro ke o u t
.

W
 THE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 1 25

a fresh the next year and a second Rokosz was

,

formed which renounced its allegiance to King

,

Sigismund and proclaimed the Prince o f Tran

sylvania King o f Poland O nce again the King .

defeated the rebels in the eld but it wa s no t ,

until 1 6 99 that quiet was nally restored by a

g e ne ra l amn est y This meant
. that the Kin g s

attem pt to introduce a system o f voting which

should m a m g is l a tio n fea s ible
had failed and in discoura gement he gave up
,

all further attempts at constitutional r

But here again the Diet s jealousy o f it s

8 W 1 and h po ular fear f h

0 t e p o t e

designs o f Austria pre vent ed the sei z ure of a ..

moment o f uni q ue o ppo rtun itL t g d eau at al

blows to B l u d s natural and in e v it a b le e n

W
e a

W
_

es and to
,

secure her pg s it io nont he Ba ltic seaboard I n .

o nthe death o f his father Sigism un , dba d

become King o f Swed en but his Catholicism ,

made him unpopular with his intensely Prot

e st a n t subj ects and in 1 5 98 they dethroned
,

him and put his uncle Prince Charles of Suder

,

mania who had acted as V iceroy fo r Sigismund

, ,

o nthe thro ne Whe

. i mund refus c

M OW
W
the throne the Swede s in
VW iS o wnclaims t
vaded Li vonia But .
,
1 26 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Z a m o ys ki,with his t wo great s ubordinates Zol ,

kie ws ki and C h o d kie wicz reconquered much

,

o f the country and were well o ntheir way to

take the whole o f it when the troops mutinied

because they were n o t paid F or two years
.

Z a m o ys ki tried in vain to get ei t her money

o r reinforcements from the Diet ; nally Chod

kie wic z o u t o f his own pocket paid for mer

cen a rie s with whom he managed t o wring a

sensational V ictory from the Swedes at Kirk

in September 1 6 0 5 and sav ed Li vonia
, ,

for Poland .

Fo r a war with Turkey the time was very

propitious as dynastic dissensions had made her
weak and Tartar raids into Po lish territory
, ,

as well as Turkish interference in the b o rder

states o f Wallachia and Moldavia o ffered con ,

stant occasion fo r war Moldavia it will be re

.
,

called ; had been under the protection of Poland

since the early fteenth century and though ,

the Turks had since then o verrun the coun

try and recei ved the homage of its rulers the ,

Polish claim had never been aband o ned and ,

could always be revi ved fro m time t o time as

occasion offered B ut it was in the Cri m ean
.

Tartars that Turkey had her best weap o n

against Poland Bold and cunning swift ruth
.
, ,

les s and always eager t o ght they were id e a l

, ,
1 28 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

I n the reign o f Sigismund I the Cos s acks (the

name was gi ven to the whole border po pu l a
tion at thi s time ) rst organized themselves for
the defense o f the border The organization .

was entirely v oluntary and unpaid ; it elected

its o wno fficers including t h e commander in
,
-

chief o r a ta m a n and decided in general as

, ,

s e m b l y the policy t o be pursued King Stephen .

s aw the great importance o f the Cossacks and

m ade them a part o f the regular army giving ,

them a xed pay the use o f certain pieces o f

,

land and e stablishing a regular method o f re

,

c ru it in
g
registered
H eh ce
. fo rt h they were known
Cossacks They continued to

.
as the

elect their o wna ta m a n s but the election was

,

s ubj ect to the King s approv al They alway s

.

s teadily refused to pay taxes o r to d o servi c e fo r

their land and during the years when all the
,

other Slav peasantry both Russian and Polish

, ,

was bound in serfdom they remained really ,

free and practically independent for even after ,

they were taken into Polish pay they never

could be induced to ght fo r causes they did
no t like They never failed to defend the lower
.

classes o f both Russia and Poland against

the nobles and they never could be k ept from
ghting the Tartars whenever an opportuni t y
o ff e red When Pol a nd wa s at peac e with t he
.
 T H E E RA OF D E C L I N E 1 29

Sultan she was often seriously embarrassed by

this pro pensity

.

The Z a po ro gh ia nCossacks were a body quite

distinct from the registered and bore some

what t h e relation to them that a standing army

does to the militia The name Z a po ro gh ia ns

.

means behind the cataracts or falls and re ,

,

fers to their settlements o n the islands o f the

Dnieper below the cataracts The early history .

o f this group i s obscure but it undoubtedly,

originated in the necessity o f keeping an a d

van c e d guard against the Tartars o n these

lonely islands I n the course o f time this guard

.

became a permanent settlement living a life of ,

hunting shing and ghting The settlement

, , .

was known as the S etch and was entirely self

,

governing and republican A general assembly .

o f the whole community elected all the officer s

including the chief a ta m a n who was absolute ,

in time of war but in peace was merely chief

,

o f his staff .The disciplin e was strict the

murder o f a comrade bringing a woman int o
,

the c amp and a number o f other o ff enses were

,

punished wi t h death while thieves were t ied t o

,

posts in the midst o f the camp so t hat every

body could hit them as they passed by Th o ugh .

no wo men were allowed in the settlement ,

many Cossacks kept their wiv es and families

l 3 o B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLA N D
near by and many of them brought their sons
,

to be brought up a s Cossacks .

F ighting was their profession and chief o cc u

patio u They a c knowledged the sovereignty of
.

the King of Poland and regarded themsel ves as

his army but as has been sa i d abo v e in com
, , ,

mon with all the Cossacks they used their j udg

m e nt as to when to ght for him Though the .

maj ority of the Cossacks were Ukra nia ns many ,

people of other nations especially Russians

,

and Poles j oined them, young men o f good

family who wanted adventure ; exiles o r o u t
laws ; peasants who found their l o t too hard ;
and all those who wished to lose themselves
and forget their past Like all the Ukra nia ns
.

most o f the C o ssacks were O rthodox and under ,

Sigismund I I I and his successors O rthodox

peasants in large numbers ed to their ranks to
escape religious persecution Thither likewise .

ed many from both Russia and Poland to

escape the chains o f serfdom and the tyranny
o f the overlord s .

T he sz l a chta d ee ply r e sent e d t h e e xist e nc e

o f this refuge for their serfs and feared a body

s o entirely independent o f their control as the

C o ssacks were They were never willing t o

.

v ote m oney fo r a great C o ssack expedition

again s t the Turk s and Tartars but instead ,
1 32 B RI EF H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
T urks were defeated and forced to a truce
( 1 that
6 1 9) kept peace between the two states
fo r nearly forty years .

M eanwhile events o dramatic and far reach

f -

ing importance had drawn Poland into a war

with M usco vy Shortly after the death o f I van
.

IV Musco vy fell into a state o f anarchy that

,

bade fair t o destroy her The successor o f Ivan .

I V o nthe Russian thro ne was his s o nT h e o do re

g"

a weakling both physically and mentally under ,

whom the government was carried on by the

Czar s brother nlaw Boris Goduno v who

i - -
, ,

ruled so well that after Theodore s death a

national assembly elected him czar The way .

had been paved fo r this by B o ris himself who ,

during the life o f Theodore had had the Czar s

half brother Dmitri the last o f the direct heirs

-
,

to the throne murdered Boris had hoped to

, .

found a dynasty but the great nobles o r boya rs

, , ,

never liked him and some time befo re his death

,

in 1 6 0 5 were already planning to supplant

,

him To prepare the way they spread the news

.

that the Czarevi t ch Dmitri had no t died that ,

it was an o ther child who had been killed in his

place and that the Czarevitch himself was in
,

Lithuania and abo ut to return to claim the

thro ne o f his fathers After B o ris s dea t h th is
.

P retender s ucceeded to the throne amid great

 T HE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 1 33

popular rej oicing I t has never been discovered

.

wh o he was That he was a Great Russian and

.

sincerely believed himself t o be the Czarevi t c h

Dmitri and that he was a wise able and inde
, , ,

pendent ruler there is no doubt a t all B ut the

, .

boya rs who had hoped for a facile tool were

, ,

greatly disappointed and began at once to plot

to overthrow him also I n less than a year he .

was murdered and Prince Vassily S h u is ki put

in his place B ut S h u is ki was not the choice
.

o f all the boya rs His lack o f any title to the

.

throne made him unpopular in the country at

large and rival boya rs saw their opportunity
,

to produce a new Pretender who claimed that

he also was Dmitri once more miraculously e s
caped from death ! There was little belief in his
claims he was an adventurer pure and sim
,

ple, but he was proclaimed czar and set up his

camp at Tushino from which he was popularly
known as The Thief o f Tushino There were


.

no w two czars S h u is ki at Moscow and The

,

Thief at Tushino

.

In the whole Russian domestic di fculty t h e

P oles had taken a large though not at rst an ,

o f c ial part I t was in Poland at the court

, .

o f Prince Adam Wis n io wie c ki that the F alse

Dmitri had rs t laid public claim to his title and ,

here and elsewhere in Poland his claims were

I 34 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
recognized and kingly honors were accorded
him He was converted to Roman Cath o licism
.

by the Franciscans and betrothed t o Maria t h e ,

eldest daughter o f the Palatine o f Sandomir ,

during the year 1 6 0 3 and early in 1 6 0 4 was

,

presented to King Sigismund at Cracow Sig .

is m u n d did not see his way to recognize him

publicly but acknowledged him privately and
,

paid him a small pension His future father-in

.

law then took up his cause collected an arm y ,

o f Poles a nd Cossacks and started o u t t o place

,

him on the throne o f M usco vy The Diet o f .

1 6 0 5 protested v ehemently against this expedi

tion and recalled the Palatine and his troops

, .

B ut the Cossacks who formed more than half

,

his force refused to return and with them the

, ,

P retender proceeded o n h is way winning

many to his side as he went The Thief .

,

at Tushino also had many Poles in his army ,

and many Cossacks were drawn to his S upp o rt

by the fact that all the lower classes in M us
c o vy were suppor ting him and that under him a
great peasant and Slav rising was taking pla c e

.

The horrors inicted on the country by The

Thief and his Cossack allies were ind e s c rib

able and S h u is ki called in the Swedes t o hel p

,

him restore order ceding Carelia to them and

,

ren o uncing all M usco vy s claims o nLivonia in

1 3 6 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
I t was only when the opportunity was g o ne
that the Diet was willing to ght ! They voted
money fo r a year s campaign and sent Chod

kie wicz and the young Prince o ff to conquer

M uscovy B ut the Polish troops were badly
.

equipped t o stand a Russian winter and the

M uscovites were too exhausted to carry o na
long campaign so after a few months o f gh t
,

ing the Truce of Deulino ( 1 6 1 8 ) wa s arranged

by which the Poles recognized M ichael as czar ,

an d M u s co vy ceded Smolensk and the great

prov ince o f N ovgorod S e v e rs ki to Poland
- .

J ust at this time the Swedes under Sigis

mund s great cousin King Gustav us Adolphus

, ,

were in v ading and laying wa s te Li vonia Gus .

tavus realized that Sigismund s real interest in

both Sweden and Li vonia was to bring them

under the inuence o f the Counter-Reform a
tion and he regarded the conquest o f Livo nia
,

and the mainte nance o f his dynasty in Sweden

as an integral part o f the great struggle for
Protestantism as whose champion a few years
,

later he entered the Thirty Y ears War Suc

.

cess in Li vonia led to the in v asion of both East

and West Prussia and Gustavus soon had pra o
,

tically the who le country with the exception ,

o f Danzig in his hands , Here again it was the

.

fatal blindnes s o f the Polish Diet that permitted

 T HE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 1 37

this to happen I n Stanislaus K o nie c po l s ki the

.

P o les had a general worthy o f Po land s best

military traditions ; in spite o f heavy odds he

wo n some brilliant V ictories in the Swedish
war and had the Diet supported him the task
, ,

o f the Swedes would hav e been much more

di fcult and the outcome might hav e been

,

very di ff erent B ut the Diet nev er gras ped the

.

s ignicance o f the war and in 1 6 2 9 made the

,

Truce o f Altmark which left not only Liv o nI a

, ,

but most o f the Prussian co ast as well with it s ,

important trading towns of Elbing Braun s ,

berg and M emel in Swedish hands

, , .

During the last years o f his reign the King

took little part in public a ffairs He died in
.

1 632 , disillusioned and disappointed seeing ,

only too plainly the abyss toward which the

country was headed and the powerlessness o f
her monarchs to sav e her .

Sigismund was succeeded by his s on Wl a

d is l a u s IV ( 1 6 3 2 who united m a ny o f
the great qualities o f the Vasa race with a
thoroughly Polish temperament I t was the .

dream o f his life to win the M us c ov ite crown :

t hat in his early youth had been alm o st withi n

his grasp He was an able and experienced gen

.

eral a great favorite with the Cossacks as well

,

a s w ith the regular army and the breaking o f

,
1 3 8 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D

the Truce o f Deulino by the Muscov ites as soo n

as they heard o f his father s death see m ed to

o ff er him his opportunity But the Diet re .

fused absolutely to vote money fo r the war ,

and it wa s only by pawning his father s crown

and selling to the Elector o f Brandenburg (who

had succeeded to the Duchy o f Prussia and
was therefore his v assal ) exemption from doing
homage in person for his duchy that the King ,

was able to raise enough money t o go to the

relief o f Smolensk which the M uscovites were
,

besieging Alth o ugh he won a brilliant victory

.

before Smolensk news that the T urks were a t

,

tacking in the south con v inced the King that

he could not take the offensiv e against Moscow
at this time and he agreed to a peace ( March
, ,

1 6 3 4 ) by which territorial arrangements were

left as they had been before the war Mu s covy ,

paid a large indemnity and Wl a d is l a u s recog

,

niz ed Michael as czar .

The Turks proved less troublesome than the

K ing had feared and in O ctober 1 6 3 4 a fairly
, , ,

advantageous peace was made with them .

Meanwhile the death o f Gustavus Adolphus

and the entrance o f France into the Thirty
Y ears War had led both sides to negotiate with
C

King Wl a d is l a u s Though the Diet refused to

.

c onsider Poland s going to war with them the

,
l 4 o B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

secret alliance with Venice to aid him in such

a war The Turks however carefully avoided
.
, ,

war and Venice spoiled the whole plan by b e

,

traying the existence o f the secret treaty The .

Diet o f 1 64 6 declaring that a Turkish war
,

w ould be the grav e o f the national liberties ,

reduced the army and forbade the King to

make war without their consent B ut the King .

did no t gi v e up He kept his army read y for

.

action a n d continued his negotiations with the

Co ssacks in the hope that his chance might
,

s till come The C o ss ack s however go t tired

.
, ,

o f waiting and in 1 64 8 their Hetman Bogdan

, , ,

C h m ie l nicki made an alliance with the Tartars

and in v aded Poland I t is possible that the .

K ing might have been able to use this rev olt

f or his o wnpurposes but he had no time to ,

try He died v ery suddenly just as it broke

.

o ut , and his successor was left to deal with

w hat pro ved to be a v ery terrible situation .

The Cossacks had m a ny grievance s against

the Poles N ot only had the Government fo r
.

bidden them to attack their constant and tradi

t io na l enemy the Tartars unless P oland was at

w ar with the Turks but the J esuits had tried,

to con vert the m to Catholicism and the Polish ,

noble s who had gone in great numbers into the

,

Ukra in e durin g t he s i xt e enth century a nd t a k en

 THE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 1 41

up v as t estates there were making a deter

,

mined effort inwhich they were ably seconded

,

by their Jewish stewards to take away the ,

freedom which was the basis of the corporate

existence of t h e Cos s acks and force them into
,

serfd o m The Poli s h Go vernment also had not

.

k ept faith with the Co ss acks I t had made .

promises and treatie s only to break them and ,

when the Cossacks resented this treatment had

no better remedy to apply than suppression .

The re was thus laid and the match was a p

plied by B o gdan C h m ie l nieki a small Polish ,

noble whom the tyranny of the Governor o f the

Ukraine had driven into the Cossack ranks and
wh o m the Cossacks had elected their Hetman .

John Casimir brother and successor o f Wl a

,

d is l a u s IV as soon as he was elected realizing

, ,

the j ustice of the Cossack cause and s eeing the ,

necessity o f putting an end to the horror o f

Cossack warfare made a treaty with them rec
,

o gn iz ing C h m ie l nic ki as their leader and c o n

rming their privileges But it w as only a truce
.

and o f short duration I ts terms were no t kept

.

because neither nobles nor J esuits wanted to

keep t he m and for six long years the war with
,

the Cossacks went o n I t was a war o f inde

.

scribable barbari t y T o C o ssa c k fury was added

.

the horrors o f serv ile war a s the pe a s an, t s and

1 42 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P O LA N D

serfs of the Ukraine joined the Cossacks in this

war fo r freed o m O ld men women and chil
.
, ,

dren the noncombatants in the v illages were

, ,

subj ected to a thousand tortures befo re they

were nally killed and their villages pillaged
and burned to the ground Whichever side was.

victorious ruin and massacre followed the v ic

tory F inally in 1 6 5 4 despairing of any perma
.
, ,

nent arrangement with the Po les C h m ie l nic ki ,

turned to M usco vy and made a treaty with the

Czar by which the C o ssacks transferred their
allegiance to him in return fo r his promise to
maintain all their privileges This promise was .

no t kept Little by little the Czar took away

,
.

the Cossacks privileges and curtailed their

freedom until only a few pitiful remnants were

left o f the o rganization that had been their
pride and bulwark That however belongs to
.
, ,

the history o f Russia no t Poland Fo r Poland

, .

the immediate result o f their defection was t h e

invasion o f the country by M uscovites and
Swedes ; the ultimate result was the permanent
loss o f the great DnI e pe r Valley ( the Ukraine )
to Russia and o f the Duchy of Prussia t o Bran
d enb u ig '
.

Like a ashlight suddenly turned upon her ,

the defecti o n o f the C o ssacks revealed t o her e n

e mies the intern al div isions in Poland and her
1 44 B R I EF H I ST O R Y O F P O LA N D
re n der his fortress though his garrison within
,

an d his countrymen without all urged him to

do s o and the little band began the apparently
,

hopeless task o f defending their bit o f rock

the only spot in all Poland that remained
free
against the Swedish army trained and ,

seasoned by the Thirty Y ears War and the

,

traitor nobility of their o wnland B ut before .

they were obliged to s urrender the example o f ,

their courage and constancy had aroused the

s hame the patriotism and the religious e nt h u
, ,

s ia s m o f t h e Poles M any Polish soldiers de

.

s e rt ed the Swedish cause the nobles held a

Confederation and withdrew their allegiance
,

from the Swedish King J o hn Casimir came ,

back to Poland and taking command o f the

,

troops relieved the little garrison o f C z e ns t o

chowa He then set up his headquarters in the
.

Convent o f St Paul held there the rst meet

.
,

ing o f the Se nate from there issued the pro c l a

,

mation announcing his return and calling the ,

people to return to their allegiance and arm

themsel v es t o drive out the foreign invaders .

I n responding to this call the Poles showed

themsel ves fo r once a united people .

B ut Poland needed allies and the King de ,

v o ted his atten t i o n t o nding them An alliance .

w ith Denmark was of the greatest v alue b e

 T HE E RA OF D ECL I N E 1 45

cause it to o k the brunt o f the Swedish war o ff

the Po les The Emperor also as King o f Hun
.

gary sent assistance to Poland and F rederick

William o f Brandenburg the Great Electo r ,
l
,

in 1 6 5 7 by the Treaty o f Wehlau made an

, ,

o ff ensive and defensive alliance with Poland .

But Poland was ruined by the price she had

t o pay for these alliances Unable to meet her .

obligation to Austria she was o bliged to gi v e

,

Austria temporary possession o f the salt mines

o f Wieliczka one o f the greatest sources o f
,

revenue of the Crown while to satisfy Bran

,

d en b u rg she had to renounce her suzerainty

over East Prussia .

I n 1 6 1 8 by the extinction o f the line o f

,

Albert of Hohenzollern the Hohenzollern Elec,

tors o i B randenburg had become Dukes in

Prussia and the v assals of Poland F rederick
, .

William the Great Elector

, who became ,

Duke of Prussia in 1 64 0 resolved to free h im ,

self from this vassalage and by the conquest o f

West Prussia from Poland a nd of Pomerania
fro m the Swedes (who had co nquered it in t h e
Thirty Y ears War) to unite his electo ral with

his ducal territo ries and become t h e dominating

power o nthe Bal t i c N o ruler o f his age few o f
. ,

any age surpassed him in his sinis t er ability to

,

use the misfortun es of hi s neighbor s in a ch ie v

1 4 6 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D

ing his o wnends T he Treaty o f Wehlau wa s

.

only the rst o f many successful arrangements

by which this prince raised his electorate from
a nobscure little German State to a Power o f

European importance a nd pav ed the way for

Empire .

The war begun by P oland s m l s fo rt u ne s had

thus a ss umed European proportions and s igni

cance and in 1 6 5 9 bade fair to ruin the com
,

merce o f the B altic The M aritime Powers .

,

England and Holland then intervened and ne ,

go t ia t e d the peace nally signed at O liva in

M ay 1 66 0 by Sweden Brandenburg and Po
, , , ,

land by which John Casimir renounced all

,

claims o nthe crown of Sweden and ceded Li

v onia ( except one small portion ) t o Charles X .

T he war with M usco vy begun in 1 6 5 4 had , ,

been abandoned in 1 6 5 6 and Russians and ,

P oles united to ght against their common

enemy Sweden War between them was re
, .

sumed in 1 66 0 however and Poland inicted

, ,

upon M usco vy two serious defeats which re ,

s u l t e d in her withdrawal from White Russia

and Lithuania and from nearly all the western

Ukraine The exhaustion o f M uscov y Lub o
.
,

m irs ki s rebellion in Great Poland and the e n

,

trance o f the Coss acks o f the western Ukraine

into a nallianc e with T urkey w hich rai s ed up ,
1 48 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

this innovation belongs I t was not at all liked

.

at rst by the other deputies though they ,

recognized that it was legally implied in their

system o f unanimity v oting I ts advantages .

were soon re cognized howev er and it wa s used

, ,

v ery frequently in the years that followed I t .

bec a me in fact a means o f putting an end to all

legislation and hence to all go v ernment I n the .

course o f the next o ne hundred and twel v e

ears no
less than forty -eight Diets were
y
broken up o r explod ed as it was technically
,

expressed seven under John Casimir four ,

under M ichael seven under John Sobieski and

, ,

thirty under Augustus I I and Augustus I I I .

I t meant that Poland was without the l aws

necessary to progress that j ustice was not a d
,

ministered and that the country was pra c t i

,

cally without an army s ince no t a xes were

v oted to pay it .

A year after the Peace o f Andrusovo John ,

Casimir abdicated and left the country H is

, .

reign o twenty one years had been a reign full

f -

o f d i i c u l t ie s dangers and disasters and the

, , ,

King had borne a leading part in all of them .

B ut after the death o f the Queen he lost in

t e re s t in trying to rule a country which would
not be ruled and whose internal dissensions
(which h ad led to t h e open and seriou s re b el
 T HE E RA O F D ECL I N E 1 49

lion o f Great Poland under Lu b o m irs ki Grand ,

M arshal and Vice Hetman o f the Crown ) were

-
,

as he plainly saw leading straight to ruin

, .

J o hn Casimir had been a Jesuit and a cardi

nal before he became king and after his abdi ,

cation he returned to the religious life which he

had abandoned for the kingship and spent the ,

rest o f his life in France as Abbot o f the M o n

a s t ery o f St Germain des Pr es
. .

Fo r a number of years before hi s abdication

the King had tried to get the Diet to accept the
F rench Prince of Cond known as The Great
,

Cond as his successor As n a ming his suc

,

.

cessor was contrary to the King s pa cta con

ven ta this attempt roused a storm o f p rotest

,

from both h o uses o f the Diet but many o f the ,

most inuential magnates believed as he did

that in the choice o f an outsider like Cond ,

personally able and supported by a strong state

like France lay the best hope for the refo rm o f
,

the Polish Constitution and the King abdi c ated

,

largely in the hope that his abdicati o n wo uld be

f o ll o wed by the election o f Cond That many .

o f the magnates had received F rench bribes and

that this had undoubtedly had a go o d deal t o do

with forming their convicti o ns is unfo rtunately ,

true B ut the most carefully laid plans and

.

the abl e st diplomatic skill were o f no ava il in

1 56 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

the Diet ofElection where the maj ority o f the

,

s z l a chta still held the medi aeval belief that the

election o f a king was a religious act and that

the depu t ies simply pro claimed ki ng him
whose name G o d put it into their hearts to
proclaim When therefore after violent and

n
.
, ,

protracted discussio s the Castellan of San,

d o m ir propo s ed the name o f M i c hael Wis n io

wie ki (whose only qualications were that he
was a Piast and the so nof the Polish gene

ral J eremiah Wis nio wie Gki who had made his
, ,

name a terror to the Cossacks ) and said in ex ,

planation that he had simply followed the voice

o f G o d who had put in his heart the word s

Long live King M ichael the matter was de ,

cided fo r the maj o rity o f the sz l a chta Previou s .

sessi o ns had also convinced the supporters o f

Cond that he could not be elected and nally ,

they also went over to M ichael who was elected ,

and cro wned in 1 6 6 9 .

O pposition t o Cond had indeed gone s o f ar

that in o ne sessi o n a n o bleman had risen and

cried I f any one votes for the Prince o f Cond
,

I will sh o o t him and to a Senator wh o re

,

b u ke d him somewhat sharply he replied by

si m ply ring his pistol at him ! The session then
resolved itself into a free ght during which the
B ishops and Senators ran to cov er and co uld
1 5 2 B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
blamed the King for making it though it i s ,

di fcult to see that they had left him any a l

t e rn a t iv e They raised a large army and sent
.

it south under John Sobieski who fought th e ,

Turks with skill and vigor for four long year s

and in the end was able to mak e only a compro
mise peac e Kamieniec and p a rt of the Ukraine
,

being left by it in the hands o f the Turks .

In the midst o f this war King M ichael died ,

and the Poles elected John Sobieski in his place .

There were other strong candidates but S o ,

b ie s ki overcame all opposition to h imsel f by

appearing suddenly in the Diet with sev eral
thousands o f his southern troop s .

The new King John I I I though a really

, ,

great general was a m a nof very minor talents

,

in other directions and his personal character

,

was far from lofty His great personal ambi

.

tion and his entire unscrupulousn e ss h a d led

him to spen d the rst forty years o f his life in
secret intrigues o r open rebellion against hi s
King I t was the ev ents o f these years that con
.

tributed in large measure to creat e a situati o n

in Poland that frustrated his plans fo r reform
after he himself became king He was also .
, ,

very much inuenced by the Queen in politi

cal matters and the inuence was entirely bad
, .

Duri n g his reign Pol a nd d e clined s teadily dis ,

 T HE E RA O F DECL I N E 1 53

order increased and government almost ceased

,

t o exist while in both town and country eco

,

n o mic ruin was advancing upon the unhappy

co untry by leaps and bounds The o ne really
.

great event o f J o hn So b ies ki s re l gnwa s his

famous re scue o f Vienna from the Turks and ,

even this achievement was o f more va lue to

Aus t ria than to Po la nd .

Although the Turkish power had already e n

t e re d the period of slow but sure decline that
was to enable Austria and Russia during the
next century to push her back beyond the
Danube and the Blac k Sea where she was no
,

longer a menace to Christi a n Europe yet in the

,

lat e seventeenth century no one knew this and ,

the vict o ries o f Turkey under the latest o f her

great Grand Viziers Kara Mustafa K iu prili
, ,

were in any case a terrible danger to south

e a stern Euro pe The Emperor who as King
.
,

o f Hungary and o v erlord o f Tran syl v ania was

the natural leader in this movement against the

Turks was engaged at this time in a great
,

struggle with Louis XIV o f F rance for the d o m

in a t io n o f western Europe a n d had no fo rces
at lib e rty to use against the Turks Hungary
.
,

moreover entirely disaffected as the result o f

,

Jesuit persecuti o ns and much resented changes

-

in her traditiona l sy s te m o f governm e nt join ed

,
1 54 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
the Turks as did also the Prince o f T ra nsyl
,

vania and wherever the Emperor turned fo r

,

allies he found that the diplomacy o f Fran c e had

arr a nged to thwart him Everywhere except in
.

Poland Here the presence o f the Turks at their

.

v ery doors a n d the energy decision and tact , ,

o f the King pre v ailed o v er F rench gold and

even over the traditional s uspicion and fear

o f Austria and in 1 6 8 3 P oland allied herself
,

with the Emperor and agreed to put forty

thousand men I n the eld against the Turk .

B ut as usual it took time t o get either money o r

soldiers in Poland and it was six months b e
,

fore Sobieski could start s outh M eanwhile .

the Turkish forces had o v errun Hungary and

advanced up the Danube to the v ery walls of
Vienna outside which their v ast armies lay e n
,

camped for miles around Turkish engineers .

had already undermined t h e walls and the cap ,

ture o f the hungry and disease stricken city was

-

only a question o f a v ery short time when the

Poles arrived Shouting Sobieski forever
.
,

they threw themselve s upon the Turks and the

terror o f S o b ie ski s name as well as his skill

,

and the ghting qualities o f his tro ops wo n ,

the day All Europe rej oiced that Vienna was

.

saved and Christendom preserv ed fro m the

invasion o f the indel Ve nice and the Em
.
 1 5 6 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

proclaimed Stanislaus Leszczynski king and ,

the rst act of Augustus was t o dri v e him out

and to win o v er his chie f adherents by bribes , ,

to the Saxo n side .

The chief event in the re ign o f Augustus I I

was the participation o f P oland in the Great
N orthern War When Charles XI o f Sweden
.

died in 1 6 97 leav ing a minor son as his heir

W
, ,

Denmark Rus , ,

s i a Brandenburg and P oland

, , thinking her ,

moment o f weakness had arrived jo ine d ina ,

league t o despoil her o f the territories they all

coveted N ever was a band o f robbers more
.

entirely mistaken in their estimate o f a char

J

acter and a situation Though young the new .

,

King Charles XI I was a born soldier and a

, ,

general o f genius ; and his army though small

was well trained and o f ne material Striking .

rst at o ne enemy then at another j umping

, ,

with am a z ing speed from o ne part o f the coun

try t o another he was ev erywhere successful
, ,

and in 1 7 0 6 1 7 0 7 his camp was the center o f

European diplomacy where both sides in the

great war then waging in western Europe the ,

War o f the Spanish Succession competed fo r ,

his alliance .

Though it was the King as Elector o f Saxony

w ho had mad e this war it was his Poli s h king
,
 THE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E 1 57

dom that su ffered from it After Charles had .

defeated Augustus he de po s ed him from the

Polish throne and put in hi s place that same
Stanislaus Leszczynski whom Augustus had
driven out a few years before B ut the re o rga n .

iz a t io no f Russia under Peter the Great led to

, ,

the defeat of Charles at Poltava in 1 7 0 9 the ,

wi t hdrawal o f the Swedes from Poland and the ,

ight o f the King whom they had made .

But whether her king was Pole o r Saxon ,

whether she was victorious o r defeated made ,

little real di ff erence to Poland during these

years Friend and fo e alike treated her as if she
.

had no political existence which was indeed

V ery near to the truth Swedes S a xons and
.
, ,

Russians marched back and forth across the

country plundering and destroying wherever
,

they went and the Polish magnates took sides

,

in the conict quite a s it pleased them per

so n a ll y,supporting Augustus Stanislaus o r , ,

Charles XI I with equal ease and without any

,

apparent sense o f the national interests When .

the war ended in 1 7 2 0 the ruin that J o hn

,

Sobieski had foretold for Poland had already

overtaken her .

But though ruined Poland was still o f impor

tance in the eld o f Euro pean diplomacy Aus .

tria Russia and France all regarded her with

, ,
1 5 8 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D

interest and wov e about her a tangled web o f

diplomatic intrigue in which she was caught
,

and held like a helpless y in the web o f a spider .

With the accession o f Michael Romano ff to

the czardom a new era dawned in the history o f
M uscovy and in the succeeding o ne hundred
,

and twenty years she dev eloped in t o o ne o f the

great Powers of Europe Under M ichael and his
.

successor Alexis order and some measure o f

,

prosperity were restored to Russia a nd the way

,

was prepared for the s o nand successor o f Alexis ,

P eter the Great who undertook the great task

,

o f bringing Russia once more into contact with

western Europe from which she had been cut

o ff for four hundred years by her long s u b je c

tion to Tartar rule and its consequences To

, .

restore her contact with western Europe it

was necessary to reach the Baltic where the
King o f Sweden was at this time supreme ( he
ruled Western Pomerania and all the East B al
tic Coast north o f Courland beside s Sweden
proper) and from which M uscovy was com
,

p l e t e l y shut o
. f
f The best e f
f orts of the early
years o f the reign o f Peter the Great were spent
in preparing the country fo r this task and the
,

Great N orthern War which brought about the

ruin o f Poland gave Peter his opportunity and
wa s the beginning o f M uscovy s greatne s s

.
l 6o B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
this as in most of her other policies but carried
, ,

o u t his far reaching and far -seeing pl a ns

-
.

I n western Europe also the Treaties o f West

phalia which closed the Thirty Y ears War had

opened a new political era The great ques .

tions which agitated Europe after 1 64 8 were no

longer the religious questions that for one hun
d red and fty years had determined her policies
an d dictated her alli a nces but questions of terri
,

t o ria l aggrandizement O n the ruins o f feudal

.

ism to which as a system o f government the

,

wars o f religi o n had given the nal irre t rie v ,

able blow the bases o f the modern Europe a n

,

state system were being laid down Territori .

ally great and strongly centralized monarchies

were being created by conquest and maintained
by force and questions of defensible boundaries
,

became o f paramount importance O f the two .

greatest o f these boundary questions the ri ,

v alry o f F rance a nd Austria for the Rhine and ,

o f Austria and Russia fo r the Danube that o f ,

the Rhine was already in existence before 1 6 4 8 ,

and France s interest in the election of the ki ngs

o f Poland all during the seventeenth century

was the result o f her policy already well de- ,

1

ned o f keeping a barrier o f states friendly to

,

F rance in the Emperor s re a r ready to strike

him in t h e back i f he attacked Fra nce o nthe

 THE E RA OF DE C L I N E 1 61

Rhine Turkey Pol and and Sweden formed

.
, ,

such a barrier for several generations and ,

'
F rance s alliance with Russia in the nineteenth
century the Dual Alli a nce is but the lat
est form o f this same idea .

Under Louis XIV Polish friendship wa s care

fully cultivated Polish kings married French
,

princesses ( the queens o f Wl a d is l a u s IV Joh n ,

Casimir and John Sobieski were all French )

, ,

and the French party at the court o f Warsaw

was able and inuential B ut under the Re
.

gen

c y and Louis XV this policy

others o f the Great Monarch was less e ffe c

like most
,

,

t iv e l y carried o u t and F rance sustained some

serious dipl o matic defeats B ut the policy was
.

kept up and on the death o f Augustus I I in

, ,

1 733, France made a v igorous e ffort to re

v ive her waning prestige in Poland by bringing
about the election o f a king who would rep
resent and serv e her interests The candidate.

whom she chose to support on this occasi o n was

the ex King Stanislaus Leszczynski who was
-
,

also the father l nlaw o f the King o f Fran c e

- -
,

his daughter Marie having married Louis XV

in 1 7 2 5 Stanislaus was also suppo r t ed by the
.

best elemen t among the Po lish magna t es and
as a Piast was favored by the maj ority o f

the population .
1 62 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Encouraged by the statement o f the French

Government that France intended to defend
against every enemy the liberties of Po land a ,

power to whom F rance was bound by all the
ties o f honor and friendship and backed up
,

by the power o f French gold which owed very

freely through the ngers of the French Ambas
sador Monti the Polish Primate and Interrex
, , ,

Theodore Potocki and his party rallied the

,

country to the support o f Stanislaus and in ,

September 1 7 3 3 he was elected King o f P0

, ,

land .

But his election was only the beginning o f his

di fculties The opposition o f Austria to any
.

candidate supported by France was ine v it a

ble as was also that o f Russia to the friend o f
,

Sweden and her age long enemy Turkey and

-
,

these two Powers issued a j oint protest against

the candidature o f Stanislaus Leszczynski .

They had no candidate in mind to propose in

his place but they speedily adopted the Elec t or
,

o f Saxony the son of Augustus I I

, and under ,

took to put him o nthe Polish throne I t could .

be done only by force of arms so twenty th o u ,

sand Russians and ten thousand Cossacks were

sent into Poland King Stanislaus having no
.

army was obliged to take refuge inDanzig and

there await French as sistance Without d if .
1 64 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D

There were now as always in Poland a few

people who realized the evils and dangers of her
Constitution and o f the public opinion which
supported it These men did their best to
.

change the situation both by introducing an

,

entirely new system o f education which they

hoped would lead to sounder political t h eo rl e s
and ideals as well as by attempting once more
, , ,

to bring about an immediate constitutional re

form I n these endeavors the great educational
.

reformer Stanislaus K o na rs ky worked hand in

hand with the C z artoryski a Lithuanian mag
,

nate family o f enormous wealth and great po

l it ic a l importance They were related to the
.

J agiellos and were distinguished abov e all other

Poles o f the period for their civic V irtues a nd
their intelligent interest in public aff airs Their .

family connections and o fcial position com ,

b in e d with their great wealth and public spirit ,

gave them such preeminence that they were

generally referred to simply as The F amily

by their contemporaries .

Prince M ichael Czartoryski C h ancellor o f

,

Lithuania and the head o f the family a nd his ,

brother Prince Augustus Palati n

, e o f Red Rus
,

sia were the leaders of a small political gro up

,

that desired to ov erthrow the republic and

make P oland an absolute monarchy as the only
 THE E RA O F D ECL I N E 1 65

means o f saving her They were the intimate

.

and trusted friends of Count B riih l and during ,

the rst twenty years o f the reign o f Augustus

I I I B riihl left Polish aff airs very largely in the n
hands When however all their plans of re
.
, ,

form failed because their opponents exploded

every Diet and annulled every Confedera

tion by a Counter-Confederation and thus

,

prev ented them from ever getting their pro

p o s a l s before the country they urged B riihl to
,

provide the force for a cou pd eta t When he re

.

fused fearing to l o se Poland entirely the Czar

, ,

t o rys ki turned against both him and the King

and tried to get the aid o f Russia to dethrone
Augustus and put in hi s place a king o f their
o wnchoosing a nati v e Pole pledged to carry
,

o u t their ideas .

N othing could h ave shown more cle a rly than

this proposal their utter ignorance o f the mo
t iv e s and forces at work in the p o litics o f Eu

rope o r the hopelessness of Po land s case in their

hands The years o f Poland s stagnation had

.

been years of struggle and momentous achieve

ment am o ng her neighbors I n Russia the suc
.

c e s s o rs o f Peter the Great had consolidated his

conquests and maintained and strengthened

the position he had wo nfo r Russia in Euro pe ,

and the country was almost ready to t a k e

1 66 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D
another l o ng stride along the path marked o u t
fo r her by Peter This path led direct ly over a
.

c o nquered and dependent Pol a nd and nothing

,

was further from the m i nd of the Ru s sian Em

press than the strengthening o f Poland s king

ship I n Brandenburg Prussia also Frederick

.
-
,

the Great had succeeded to the throne in 1 7 4 0

and was already embarked on the career o f c o n
quest that was to make his little state a Eu
ro pe a nPower He too had designs on Poland
.

and was already astutely hinting t o Russia that

they might combine .

I n 1 7 6 3 Augustus I I I died and in that v ery

,

year the close o f the Sev en Y ears War left

Prussia and Ru ss ia free to turn their attention

t o Poland .
 I 6S B R I EF H I STO RY O F P O LA N D

lightened oligarchy might have given her good

government but her best chance o f succe s s lay
,

probably in a strong king She was in much

.

the position of England under the Lancastrian

kings when Parliament had powers that it wa s
,

not su fciently disciplined o r developed o r ex

p e rie nc e d t o use The
. English Parliament lent
those powers t o the Tudors and submitted to
discipline The Poles would not resign the use
.

o f their powers an d destruction followed I n .

England it was popular condence in the m o n

archy that made the Tudor despotism possi
ble I n Poland hereditary right might possibly
.

have given a really able king the opportunity

to win the condence o f the most suspicious
o f peoples a n d induce them to submit to a
government that would hav e preserved order
at home and have kept Poland respected and
wholesomely feared by her neighbors B ut a ny .

s uch chance and it was a slim o ne was lost

wh en the Jagiellon dynasty came to an end
with Sigismund I I and the theory o f the elec
\
tive kingship became a disastrous reality
The fact that they were the makers o f .

kings a nd could unmake them at will e n

hanced enormously the s elf esteem and self

-

con d e n c e o f the s z l a chta already dangerously

,

great There is no ev iden

. c e that any eventhe
,
,
THE E I GHTEE N TH CE N T URY 1 69

faintest suspicion
, their o wncompetence o r
of

the fallibility o f their j udgment ever assailed the

Polish nobili t y M any o f Poland s kings saw
.

her desperate needs and tried to meet them ,

but the sz l a chta blind to the interes t s o f the

,

country as a whole regarded every attempt,

at e ffective government a s a nattack o ntheir

o wnprivileges their ,

liberty a nd oppo sed it
,

.

But though strenuous in opposition the sz la chta ,

took no initiativ e themselves for the promotion

of the public welfare They seemed t o feel ih
. .
,

deed t h at if they prevented any infringement

,

o f the liberty o f the individual noble t h e gen ,

eral wel fare would look out fo r itself As they .

wo u ld n o t govern and the king cou ld n o t the ,

qui t e natural and inevitable result was that

Poland h a d no government and anarchy and ,

its resulting weakne ss led her straight to her

fall .

The responsibili t y fo r Poland s fall thus rest s

with her nobility They formed only about

.

eight per cent o f the populat ion no t more

than a million o u t o f a total o f between twelve
and thirteen milli o n souls and c o mprised
people o f a very di fferent sort from the nobili
ties o f other European countries In Poland .

any o ne was noble who p o ssessed a freehold

estate o r could prov e descent from ance s tor s
l 7 o B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLA N D

who posse ss ed o ne who was not engaged in

,

either trade o r commerce and who was legally ,

free to live where he cho s e All nobles were .

equal by birth and titles o r honors gave no

,

right o f precedence or other advantage Each .

noble was a lawmaker an elector o f kings a nd

, ,

eligible himself to election to the kingship But .

though theoretically powerful the sz l a chta as a ,

whole were really v ery weak The development .

o f the liberty o f the individual had bee npushed

s o far that by the eighteenth c e ntury it had

defeated its o wnends The Diets met only to
.

be exploded a nd the s z l a chta were quite as

,

powerless to m a ke new laws a s the kings were

to c arry o u t the o l d ones Society had returned
.

to that primitive state where the power o f the

individual was the only decisive force .

As a matter o f fact a few great magnate fami

lies were so strong that they practically ruled
the country There were perhaps eight o r ten
.

such families in Poland and as many more in

Lithuania and their names such as Czar
, ,

t o rys ki Potocki Radziwill Lu b o m irs ki occur

, , , ,

o n nearly ev ery page o f seventeenth and

eightee nth century Polish history Land was .

the only source o f wealth open to their class ,

and the estates which they owned and ruled

were of enormou s size far larger than m a ny
1 7 2 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
kept up direct correspondence with fo reig n
monarchs and began their communications
We by the Grace o f G o d quite in ,

,

the kingly fas hion About the only attribute

.

o f royalty which they did not posses s was the

pri vilege o f coining money which wa s re s erv ed

,

to the king .

Extrav agance and a s omewhat barbaric lo v e

o f display which characterized their class gav e
, ,

their courts a sumptuousness and a pic t u r

e s q u ene ss that was quite strange to western

Europe The Polish national dress which in

.
,

the eighteenth centu ry was still very generally

worn and consisted o f a robe o f cloth with
,

hanging sleeves belted in with a sash and worn

over a vest O f silk high boots meeting the robe
,

at the knee and a cap bo rdered with fur made

, ,

the Polish gentleman far more O riental than

Western in appearance Beside s the house .

militia the courts o f the magnates were full o f

retainers o f a more plebeian sort peasants , ,

Cossacks Tartars and others who acted as

, , ,

messengers and lackeys at home and swelled

the number o f the magnate s following when

he went abroad They wore gorgeous and bar

.

baric liveries which gave a marked O riental

C ha racter t o the appearance o f the court .

Although a few o f the magnates had recei ved

 T HE E I G H TEE N TH CE N T UR Y 1 73

e verything that western Europe had to offer

in the way of education a nd were as widely
, _

informed as highly cultivated and as cosmo

, ,

politan people as there were in Europe the ma ,

j y
o rit of upper -cl a s s Poles the o l d -fashioned
,

country magnates had little education them

,

selves and provided little fo r their children .

M ost o f them could write but so illegibly that

,

when an old -fashioned gentleman wrote a letter

it was customary to send a copy made by hi s
s ecretary along with the original in the interests
o f clarity Hunting big game which abounded
.

in their forests riding a nd looking after their

,

estates where they acted as j udges and meted

,

o u t what went by the name o f j ustice to their

peas ants were their chief occupation s when at

,

home Many of them however spent most o f

.
, ,

their time playing the game of politics which

kept them away from home a great part of the
time and their stewards who were mostly
, ,

Jews m a naged their estates

, .

B ut the maj ority o f the nobility were not

magnates Many o f them formed what in other
.

countries would be called the well to do m I dd l e

- -

c lass . They owned enough l a nd to support

themselves and their fam ilies in comfort if they
stayed quietly at home looked after their
,

estate s themselves and le ft the expen s i ve a n

, d
1 74 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
absorbing game o f politics t o their ri c her
brethren They were ignorant prej udiced and
.
, ,

v ery conservative but in spite o f these faults

,

were probably the best of Poland s citizens

.

An o ther and perhaps the largest section o f

the s z l a chta were by no means well -to -do Un .
~

able to go into trade without losing their rank ;

unable to serv e in the national army because ,

practically there no longer wa s o ne ; possessing

,

very little land too little to give them a decent

,

living ; o r more often hav ing lost the little that

, ,

had made their families n o ble these nobles were ,

quite as poor as the peasants upon whom they

looked d o wn as from a great height They were .

very humbly grateful for the opportunity to

attach themsel ves to the courts and enter the
s ervice o f their magnate relatives o r neighbors ,

which o ffered them indeed almost their only

, ,

means o f livelihood I t was this class that

.

s upplied the magnates with their house militia

and most o f their other retainers They were .

fed housed and clothed by the magnate and

, , ,

in return fought his battles with his neighbors

an d accompanied him to the meetings o f the
local Dietine where their votes as well as their
,

arms were completely at his serv ice and pre

served for him that complete ascendancy over
t h e wh ole c ountry s i de t h at the liberty o f a
1 7 6 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D

orgies where vast sums were wasted which all ,

too often were urgently needed to improv e the

conditions o f the peasantry .

All contempo rary observers seem to agree

that in the eighteenth century Polish peasant
conditions were the worst in all Europe By a .

s eries o f laws passed chiey during the sixteenth

,

century the free Polish peasants o r km etens

,

lost all their freedom and became practically

the chattels o f the nobility Forbidden to o wn
.

land o r to move from o ne estate to another ,

they became serfs o nthe lands o f the Crown ,

the Church and the lay nobility and were with

, ,

o u t legal rights The lord o f the l a nd held the

.

only courts of j ustice to which they had access ,

and from his decisions there was no appeal He .

e ven determined the religion o f his peasants ,

an d if he killed o n e o f them his only punishment

was the payment o f a ne King Stanislaus

.

Leszczynski said that Poland was the only

country where the common people were de
p riv e d o f e v e nt h e rights o f humanity .

N or did physical well being at all mitigate

-

the misery o f their legal position O n the .

c o ntrary there were no more wretched beings

,

in the world than the Po lish peasants Their .

houses were merely shelters without beds ,

chairs tabl e s o r a n
, , y o th e r o f the mo s t ne c e s
 THE E I G H T E EN TH CE N T UR Y 1 77

sary furniture They slept o nstraw often o n

.
,

the same straw as their cattle and were re ,

garded as little more than beasts by their

mas t ers who treated them with a cruelty that
i s almost incredible Living in lth without
.

proper clothes food o r care only about half o f

, , ,

the children lived to grow up and those who did,

had indeed small incentive to do so Forced

, , .

labor on the lord s lan d xed quite arbitrarily

by the lord o nSundays as well as week days if

it suited his pleasure o r convenience o ften re ,

d u ce d the time at the disposal o f the peasant

fo r the cultivation o f his o wn little plot to a
minimum too small to yield him a living ; but
in spite o f that he was obliged to pay a part o f
that small harvest to the lord and in the forest ,

regions half o f all he trapped o r shot likewise

belonged to the lord Living ( if indeed exist
.

ence under such circumstances can be called

living !) o n the edge o f starv ation in normal
times in a bad harvest year the peasants died
,

like ies I t is small wonder that they felt

.

tha t any change in their conditio n must be fo r

the bet t er and that they made from time to
,

ti m e the most savage insurrections against the

l o rds o f which that led by the Cossack B o gdan
,

C h m ie l nic ki is a notable and terrible example .

When o ne remembers that the peasantry form ed

1 7 8 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
over seventy per cent o f the population th at ,

here as elsewhere their welfare was a necess a ry

condition o f the welfare o f the whole country ,

and that they were a laborious and naturally

intelligent people with a history o f happy and
prosperous years be hind them it is indeed a ,

heavy lo a d of responsibility that rests upon the

s z l a chta who quite arbitrarily reduced them ,

and with them their common country to such ,

utter misery .

O nly less sad than the condition o f the peas

ants and quite as signicant is th e co nditionof
P oland s towns I n the early fteenth cen

.

tury the towns were numerous large and pros , ,

p e r o u s ; they were represented in the Diet an d

were o f political as well as economic importance .

The Turkish conquest o f Constantinople which ,

cut o ff the Black Sea trade struck them their

,

rst heavy blow a nd the sz l a chta followed up

,

this economic crisis by legislati o n against their

political po s ition a nd by articial trade re s t ric
tion s which mad e th e ir recovery o f lost ground
di ffi cult if n o t impossible The dev astation of
.

t h e country by Swed e s Turks and Muscovites

, ,

during the sev enteenth century swept away all

their attempts at rehabilitation and left them
eco no m ically ruined even when they escaped
physical de s truction I n the eighteenth century
.
1 80 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

initiative o f the Polish burgher and had blinded

him even to the p o ssibilities that were open to
him With a grain country seco nd to none in
.

Europe with only a section o f it under cultiva

,

ti o n and only the very inadequate local market

,

fo r what was raised the Poles n ever took the

,

pains even t o investigate the rich po ssibilities

o f opening up once more their o l d Black Sea

trade by sending their grain down the Dniester

through Turkish M o ldavia The same thing .

was true in regard to trade with Silesia by way

o f the river N otez a tributary o f the O der which
, ,

an entirely unfounded report decl a red was

no t navigable Frederick the Great found o u t
.

that it was navigable even before he in v aded

Silesia and as so o n as the region came under
,

his co ntro l the N otez became the channel fo r a

large and very lucrative trade .

N o account o f the Polish towns would be

complete without some mention o f the Jews .

Th o ugh they formed only a small part o f the

populati o n they were an element to whose im
,

p o rtance in the life o f the eighteenth century all

t ravelers bear witness The English traveler
.

C o xe says that in Lithuania if yo u ask fo r an

,

interpreter they bring yo u a Jew ; if yo u come

,

t o an inn the landlord is a Jew ; if you want

,

post horses a J ew procure s t hem and a J ew

-
,
 THE E I G H TE EN T H C E N T U RY 1 81

drives them ; if you wish to purchase a Jew i s ,

yo ur agent : this perhaps is the only country in

Europe where Jews cultivate the ground ; and
we frequently saw them engaged in sowing ,

reaping mowing and other works o f hus

, ,

bandry They also acted as stewards fo r the

.

n o bility a nd the management o f nearly all the

,

noble estates in the country wa s in their hands .

They were practically the only tradesmen a nd

artisans and general business cl a ss that the
country had They picked up and ca rri e d o n
.

the tasks that the Poles let drop b eca use they
were too hard o r t o o unremunerativ e o r t o o
degradi ng to continue and it i s di fcult to see
,

h o w the country could have go t o nwithout

them .

But if they were useful to Poland Poland was

,

a haven o f refuge to them Though t hey were

.

disliked and persecuted by the Polish nobility ,

the Jews yet found in Poland during the Mid

dle Ages a measure of protection and toleration
that was denied them everywhere else in Euro pe .

B o l e s l a u s the Pious in 1 2 6 4 issued a c har t er

o f liberties to the Jews in Great Poland which

was conrmed by Casi m ir the Great a few years

lat er and extended to the whole kingdom This .

fo rm ed the foundation o f the leg a l position o f

the Jews for nearly ve hundred years and was
1 82 B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P OL A N D

co nrmed by all the kings o f Poland I t grant ed .

the Jew express trading privileges protected ,

him against persecution and allowed him to

,

organize his o wnlife under his own law j ust as

the Germans were allowed to organize under
the Teutonic or Magdeburg Law The charter .

expressly permitted the Jews to receiv e all kinds

o f pledges including mortgages o nthe estates
,

o f the nobility and gav e them entire freedom

,

o f transit of trade and o f nanci al operations

, , .

They were exempted from the j urisdiction o f

b o th municipal and ecclesiastical courts and
were placed under the u ris d ic t io nof a personal
representative o f the king who was known

though a Christian as the Jewish j udge He
,
,

.

,

was no t permitted to conv ict a J ew o nexclu

s iv e l y Christian testimony and was obliged to
,

punish an inj ury done to a J ew j ust as severely

as though it had been done to a sz l a chcic His .

v erdicts al so had to be approved by the J ewish

Elders who could themsel ves try certain minor
,

cases Particular emphasis was laid in the

.

C harter o nguarding the Jew against the charges

o f ritual murder and v iolation o f the Host .

Although these provisions show that the

kings who issued them wished as the charter
quaintly states that they may realize during
,
,

o u r happy reignthat they hav e found comfort

 1 84 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

the worst forms of persecution but no t a l ,

ways Toward the end o f the reign o f Sigismund

.

I I three Jews were burned at the stake and

, ,

during the succeeding century J esuits burghers , ,

an d sz la chta united to rob them of most o f their

privileges and to reduce them to a condition as
miserable and as uncertain as that o f their race
an ywhere in Europe 1
.

Wo rst o f all was the fact that this bitter

struggle and its resultant misery was only one
instance o f the disunion and the antagonisms
o f race class and religion which were tearing
, ,

Poland to pieces With only fty pe r cent o f .

her population Polish and the rest a medley

o f Russians Lithuan ians Jews Germans and
, , , ,

T art a rs the problem o f amalgamation was

,

necessarily a di fcul t o ne and religious differ

en c e s added enormously to race an tagonism .

I t was a fateful moment when the Poles who ,

during t h e period when religious wars were

practically universal had set an example o f
unity and tolerance to all Europe began them ,

selves inthe late seventeenth century a perio d of

religious persecution F irst the Protestants and .

then the O rthodox were subj ected to the steady

E c l e i t i l Sy nod o f 1 5 4 2 do pt e d t he fo l l o wi ng

1
Th e c s as ca a

re so l t i o n
u Wh e r t h e C h u r h t l r t e t he J w fo r t h e
: ea s c o e a s e s

so l e p u p o f r m i ndi ng u f t h e t m nt s o f t he S vi o ur
r se o e s o or e a ,

t heir n u m b e s m ust n c re a se u n
ot i n der a ny c i c u m st a n
"
r c es r .
 T HE E I GHTEE N TH CE N T URY 1 85

pressure o f Jesuit intolerance which reached a ,

c limax in t h e Act s o f 1 7 1 7 1 7 3 3 and 1 7 3 6 by

, ,

which the Dissidents were depriv ed o f all poli t i

cal a nd civil rights These acts threw the whole
.

country into a ferment and drov e the O rthodo x

populations especially those o f the s outheast
, ,

to the very edge o f rebellion .

In the long struggle of class against class ,

religion against religion race against race o f

, ,

which Poland was the theater during the closing

century o f her existence as a state the l a st ,

vestige o f national unity disappeared The .

time had come that more than a hundred years

,

before the J esuit S ka rga had foretold when the ,

enemy o f the Poles wo uld come in and destroy
them seeing that since their he a rts were no
,

longer in accord they were already lost

, .

S ka rg a who was the friend and confes s or o f

,

Sigismund I I I and perhaps the greatest o f the

,

P olish Jesuits had seen with wonderful clear

,

ness where internal disunion and weakness were

leading his country and with a truly prophetic
v ision had foretold her fall

.

yo u r d is s e ns io ns h e

Cl nh fo o ts te ps
o se o t e of ,

sa id will
, co m e t h e d e s po t i s m o f a fo re ign e r wh o

will d e s t ro y a l l yo u r l ib e rt ie s : t h o se lib e rtie s o f wh i c h

y o u a re s o p r o u d w i ll b e c o m e m e re l y a t a l e t o t e ll
yo u r c hild re na nd a m o c k e ry fo r a l l th e wo rl d Yo u r .

c hil d re na n d t heir fa m ili e s will d ie inm i s e ry int he

I 86 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
h a nds o f an e ne m y who h a te s th e m . Yo u will se e
yo u r l a ngua ge d e s tro ye d a nd yo u r ra ce d e ge ne ra te
, ,

an d s c a t t e re d c o nd e m n
, e d to ad o pt t h e m a n
ne rs a nd c u s to m s o f a pe o pl e wh o h a t e yo u a nd
wh o m yo u d e s pis e Yo u will ha ve ne i th e r k i ng no r
.

t h e ri gh t t o c h o o s e o ne n
, e i th e r k i ngd o m no r fa the r
l a nd Exil e d po o r m is e ra bl e a nd wi tho u t a c o u n
.
, , ,

t ry yo u will b e s pu rn
, e d b y t h o se ve ry k ingdo m s

wh o n o w see k yo ur a lli a nce

.
1 88 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Austria and Spain The last years o f the war

, .

also had seen the clo se alliance o f these new

P owers as a result o f the accession to the Rus
.

s ian throne o f Peter I I I a great personal a d

,

mirer o f Frederick the Great o f P russia This .

alliance dictated by the person a l whim o f a

,

s emi idiotic despot rather than by the real in

-

t e re s t s o f the country was retained in modied

,

form by Catharine when six months after his ,

accession she usurped her husband s throne

,

.

She saw in the P russian alliance the neces s ary

condition o f the success o f her plans She could .

no t hope to carry them o u t unles s Frederick the

Great wa s willing to co Ope ra t e Frederick o n .

h is part was V ery fav orable to an alliance ,

though he by no means sympathized with all o f

Catharine s proj ects He s aw in friendship with

.

Russia the best guaranty o f the peac e which

wa s essential t o his exhausted country and he ,

wa s not at all av erse to the conquest o f Sweden

and Poland always provided it was made o f
,

advantage to him and he trusted himself to

see that it was !M ost important o f all perhaps , ,

at thi s moment he feared the youthful might o f

Russ ia and thought it far s afer to be friend
,

than fo e to so dangerous a neighbor .

Accordingly when in O ctober 1 7 6 3 the death

, ,

o f Augu s tu s I I I o f S a x ony a nd P oland mad e

 T HE E RA 0 F P A RT I T I O N 1 89

immediate action in Poland necessary Ru s s I a ,

and Prussia had already come to an under

standing and were ready to sign a treaty
( March 1 7 64 ) by which they agreed ( I ) to
,

place Prince Stanislaus Poniatowski o n the

throne o f Poland and keep him there by armed
assistance if necessary ; (2 ) to maintain the
existing Constitution in Poland ; and ( 3 ) to
oblige the Polish Diet to grant complete politi
cal equality to the Polish D issidents .

Maintaining the Polish Constitution meant ,

in plain language preventing the abolition of the

,

vic ious liberu m veto and the elective kingship .

I t meant that Poland was no t to be allowed to

reform her government which alone could re
,

store her strength and secure her independence .

I t was thus the rst step toward her d e s t ru c

tion as an independent state .

The question o f political eq uality for the

D issidents was a matter of a very di fferent sort ,

but quite as signicant The D issidents were

.

dissenters o r no n-conformists people who

Wo uld no t accept the state religion which in
,

P o land wa s as has already been said Roman

, ,

Cath o lic The maj ority o f the D issidents a nd

. ,

the only ones in wh o m Catharine was inter

e s ted
, were Greek O rthodox o r members o f
-
,

the Russian Church In taking up their cause

.
1 96 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D

Catharine hoped to do two things : rst to make ,

herself popular in Russia and make the Rus

sians fo rget that she was a foreigner and a
usurper by making herself the championo f the
cause dearest t o all Russian hearts the cause of ,

the O rthodox religion ; and second she hoped ,

t o build up in Poland out of these enfranchised

D issidents a Russian party devoted to her

interests N othing could have shown more
.
,

plainly th a n these arrangements that Catha ,

rine s plan was to make Poland hers in fact if

no t I nname and to govern the country in the

,

interests o f Russia The choice o f the king also

.

was made with this end especially in view .

S t anislaus Augustus Poniatowski was a young

Polish noble c o nnected through his mother
,

with the great Czartoryski family His father .

was Count Stanislaus Poniatowski Castellan ,

o f Cracow friend and comp a n ion I narms o f the

,

Swedish hero Charles XI I , .

An excellent education o ncosmopolitan lines ,

by tutors at home and study abroad especially ,

in France had dev eloped the natural parts o f

,

the young prince and had made him a keenly

,

intelligent highly cultivated and charming

, ,

gentleman Unfo rtunately neither nature no r

. ,

education had given him the de c ision o f char

acter tenacity o f purpose and high courag e
, ,
1 92 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

their plans t o o openly in 1 7 5 8 when the Em ,

press was ill it was thought fatally When .

she recovered Poniatowski was told to leave

,

Russia in thirty-si x hours and the Grand ,

Duchess was in disgrace and s trictly excluded

from any further opportunity to play the game
o f politics .

B ut the wheel o f fortune turned quickly fo r

her In four short years she was o nthe Rus
.

sian throne and in a position to play a part big

,

enough to satisfy even her vaulting ambition .

During these years her infatuation for Prince

Stanislaus had gone but an intimate knowl ,

edge o f his character and capacities remained .

Cath a rine believed she had in him a tool with

which she could govern Poland in her o wn
interests .

Meanwhile the Polish Reform Party wholly ,

ignorant o f the Russo Prussian treaty whose

-
,

terms were secret were preparing to use the

,

opportunity presented by the election of a new

king to introduce a new constitution Their
, .

plan wa s briey to strengthen the po wers o f

the king at the expense o f the Diet t o make the ,

kingship hereditary and to abolish the thor,

oughly vicious and anarchic l iberu m veto The .

two bro thers Prince Michael and Prince Au

,

gustus C z artorys ki were as has been s aid the

, , ,
 T HE E RA 0 F P A RT I T I O N 1 93

leaders o f this party and had worked fo r

,

twenty years preparing fo r this opportunity ,

o rganizing their little group into a party o f

reform educating public opinion to support

,

reforms and training a new order o f states

,

men capable o f managing a new go vernment

when they should get it .

Upon the death o f Augustus I I I this party at

once submitted its Constitution to the Diet ,

but before any action could be taken the Diet
wa s exploded O ther attempts met wi th a
.

similar fate The reformers then succeeded in

.

forming a C o nfederation but their oppo

,

ne nt s held Counter Confederations which

-

nullied all their actions and they realized that

,

it would be impossible either to reform the

Constitution o r elect a king without the aid o f a
foreign Power Thereupon the Prince Chancel
.

lor in February 1 7 64 played right into Cath

, ,

arine s hand by begging her support in the

approaching election in the interests o f order

and go od go vernment This gave Catharine.

the very o pportunity she wanted to send a

Russian arm y into Po land and made her mis ,

tress o f the situati o n .

Although the Reform Party had ch o sen

Prince Adam Czartoryski s o n o f the Prince ,

Palatine as their candidate for the kingshi p

, ,
1 94 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
they very readily transferred their support to
Prince St anislau s P o niatowski when they found
that the Empress wo u lm ppo rt no one else .

Their inuence combined with that o f the

,

Russian Ambassador who had used Russian ,

troops to impri son o r t o drive o u t o f the coun

try all who refused to be inuenced in favor o f
Stanislaus resulted in his unanimous election
, .

Stanislaus onhis part had solemnly promised

his uncles to use hi s kingly inuence to a d
v ance their caus e which wa s indeed the cause
,

o f all patriotic P oles .

B ut as the price o f her support the Empres s

had imposed upon him conditions which made
the keeping o f that promise an utter im po s s i
b il it y He promised
. always to regard the
intere s ts o f Russia as his o wn to maintain a


,

con s tant unfeigned devotion to the Em

,

pre ss and nev e r to refuse to s upport her j ust

,

intentions 1
.

I n addition to this he was throughout his

reign under con s tant nancial obligatio n s to
the Empress Her ambassadors paid his debts
.

and ad v anced him the money by which alone

he was able to avo id the open b a nkruptcy to
which his extrav agance had reduced him .

N o r was this all Throughout the length

.

1 Lord , The S econd P a rtitionof P oland, p .

48 .
1 96 B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OL A N D
of the Treaty o f 1 7 64 and warned her o f the,

dangers o f a Poland stro ng enough to oppose

her control B ut after all Frederick regarded
.
,

Pol a nd as primarily Russia s aff air a nd if the

,

King of Poland had stood strongly by his party

an d hi s principles urged reform u n , co m pro

m is in g y and let all Europe know what he was

l ,

doing the Empress might have yielded She

, .

Would certainly have found it somewhat d if

cult to refuse That h o wever was j ust what
.
, ,

K ing Stanislaus did no t do Uncompromising .

devotion to principle was something o f which

he was constitutionally incapable Prince .

Re pnin had only to threaten him with the

withdrawal o f the Empress s favor ( and battal

ions !) to make him g ive way on any and all

points at issue The King began his reignwith
.

appeal to the Empress to assist in the a b o

l it io no f the libern m veto When she refused .
,

the Reform Party tried to put their me a s ure

through the Diet in spite o f Russian opposition .

When the Russian and Prussian Ambassadors

protested the Prin c e Chan c ellor deed them
, ,

and said he would rather see Poland conquered

by force o f arms than subj ect to such dictati o n 1
.

B ut the King gave way before their threats ,

withdrew his support from the bill thus desert ,

B a i n La st K in
1
g f P ol a n
, d 9 79 o .
 T HE E RA 0 F P A R T I T I O N 1 97

ing his uncles and their cause and allowed the ,

measure t o fail And although the King burst

.

into tears when the Ambassador thanked him

for his serv ices t o Ru ss ia in this matter his
.
,

tears did no t prevent his taking an exactly

similar position the foll o wing year
when at the instigation o f Russian and Prus
,

s ian gold the worst elements in Poland formed

,

the Confederation at Radom and requested the

,

Empress to guarantee the perpetuity of the

existi ng Polish Constitution which mea nt
that no Diet could ever change it without her
consent Though the King protested feebly at
.

rst he nally yielded unconditionally So well

, .

did the Russians appre ciate the v alue of his

subservience that in the i m portant matter of
the Dissidents Prince Re pninhimself suggested
that the King ought to be rewarded for his
services to Russia .

This matter o f the D issidents was o ne that

stirred Pol a nd to the depths F ew matters o f
.

public concern could rouse the interest o f t h e

Polish peasant and the lesser nobles but an ,

attack o nt heir religion was o ne o f these few ,

and in the pro positio n to put the O r t hod o x o n

terms o f equali t y with Roman Ca th o lics they
saw a bl o w at the Very V itals o f their religi o u s
life Every o ne inPolan
. d whatev er hi s cl a ss
,
1 98 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D

or party saw that the proposition was an 1 m

,

possible one and not only King Stanislaus and

,

other Poles o f position but eve n her own a m ,

b a s s a d o r advised Catharine to let the matter

drop Perhaps the worst feature o f the situa
.

tion was that the D issidents themselves in ,

whose behalf this s o -called reform was being

demanded did no t want equality and peti
, ,

t io n e d t h e E m press to let them alone ! They

had had since 1 68 6 entire freedom o f religion ,

and the only point of inequality with Roman

Catholic Poles was their ineligibility to hold
o ffice And they did not want to hold o fce
. .

Almost without exception as Prince Re pnin ,

repor t ed t o Cat harine they were simple pe a s

,
'

ants quite ignorant o f public a ffairs and

, ,

wholly u n t t e d as well as unwilling to take

, ,

part in public life Catharine s plan of making

.

a party o f them to represent her interests at

Court was quite impossible I t would have .

been ridicul o us indeed if it had no t been so

, ,

s erious a blunder .

In the face o f full knowledge o f the situation ,

however Catharine persisted in her plan and

, ,

by means o f bribery and intimidation the im ,

priso n m ent o f leaders and the enlistment in her

,

interests o f all the factors in Poland o pposed to

t h e C z artoryski a n d the party o f reform s uc ,
20 0 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P OLAN D
the Turks acted promptly and co operated
wisely with the Poles the situation might hav e
been a di fficult o ne fo r her B ut the Turks .

were not ready and that gave her time t o

,

attack the Poles separately The Confederates

.

themsel v es were no mean ghters though they ,

had no organization and little discipline They .

never succeeded in getting a real army into the

eld but for four long years they kept the
,

Russians busy and dev a s tated the country by

a savage guerrilla warfare
,

While the Poles

massacred in the name o f the Catholic religion ,

the Russi a ns m a s s acred in the name o f toler

ance .

Meanwhile also Catharine had called upon

F rederick the Great to carry o u t the Treaty o f
1 7 6 4 by coming to her aid Frederick h o w
.
,

ever on his part had no desire o r intention o f

, ,

going to war He knew that Austria also was

.

v ery desirous o f maintaining pe a ce and he ,

hoped by an u n ders tanding with her to prevent

the Russo Turkish Wa r altogether and limit the
-

conict to Poland By the beginning o f 1 7 6 9 he

.

saw that this could not be done His task then .

bec a me that o f limiting t h e war to Russia and

Turkey a nd thus preventing a European con
,

a gra t io n but Frederick s plan did not end

there He h ad lon
. g co veted Polish Prussia ,
 T H E E RA OF P A R T IT I O N 20 1

which formed a great wedge o f territory e ffe c

t iv e l y separating his province o f East Prussia
from his central Ge rman territo ries He .

th o ught he saw in the existing situation an

opportunity to acquire that territory .

The chief danger o f the war becoming general

lay in Russian in t erference with Austri a n in
t e re s t s in southeas tern Europe Austria re
.

garded the region of the D a nube as her pre

serve and Frederick knew that she would never
,

consent to Russia s annexation o f the D a nubian

principalities Wallachi a and Moldavi a ( the

,

modern Kingdom o f Rou m a nia) which Russia ,

would inevitably claim among other terri

,

tories as reward fo r the brilliant v ictories she

,

was winning against the Turks I nsuch a situa

.

tion Austria would almost inevitably be drawn

into the war and o naccount o f the system o f
, ,

international alli a nces the entrance o f Austria

,

wo uld mean that the wa r became European .

As Austria could do little in a wa r against both

Turkey and Russia without his help and he ,

was resolved no t to ght he suggested that

,

Aus t ria o ffer her serv ices as mediato r between

the warring countries and pro pose that Russia
,

indemnify herself by the annexation o f Polish

rat her than Turkish territory ; and to o ffset that
increas e o f territory o nthe p a rt o f Ru ssia th a t
,

20 2 B RI EF H IST O RY OF P OLAN D

Au s fiia '
and Pru s s I a each be allowed a slice o f
the same hel pless country .

Although this was not her rst a n d preferred

plan Catharine was not averse to it as she
, ,

could use the opportunity to take possession o f

certain Polish territories which would giv e her
a defensible frontier o n the west which she ,

had long desired and had probably intended to

take when the chance o ffered as it did now I t, .

was from the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa

that the chief opposition to the plan came but ,

she nally yielded and it was agreed that each

,

p a rt ic ipa nt s h o u l d hav e territory o f the same

value as the others and it as tacitly under
, w
stood that each should hav e the particular terri
tories he most desired .

By the treaty signed July 2 5 1 7 7 2 Russia , ,

s ecured White Russia ( Polotsk Vitebsk and , ,

M o h il ev ) and Polish Li vonia which gav e her ,

the rivers Dwina D nieper and Drusch as her

, ,

frontier Austria had Red Russia and Galicia

.
,

with a little piece o f Podolia while Prussia s ,

share included Erm e l a nd West o r Polish Prus

,

sia exclusive o f Danzig the N etze district

, ,

K u l m e rl a nd exclusiv e o f Thorn and part o f ,

C uja v ia .

The next step was to make King Stanislaus

c onvoke the Diet and force that body to go
 THE ERA OF P ARTITI ON 20 3

through the form o f ratifying the partition

treaty As a preliminary all three powers took
.
,

the precaution to occupy the territories they

claimed with their respective troops and to ,

issue proclamations o f annexation to the in

habitants The elections to the Diet also were
.

so carefully guided by the bribes and threats o f

the occupying Power s that the Diet (which the
King though loudly protesting had yet been
, ,

obliged to convoke ) was largely composed of

their creatures Under su c h circumstances
.

immediate ratication s eemed a foregone con

c l u s io n but it was not until September
, 1 7 73 , ,

after nearly fourteen months o f delay that the ,

Diet could be induced to take the nal step by

which Poland signed away nearly a third of her
territory and something more than a third o f
h er population .

2 . THE N ATI O NAL RE VI VAL AN D THE

S E C OND PA RTITI O N

The years following the rst partition were

years o f momentous import in Polish history .

In spi t e o f the losses and humiliations o f the

partiti o n t hey were years o f reviving prosper
,

it y and hope .

Russia it is true governed the country a b

, ,

so l u t e l y and in her o wninterests through the

, ,
20 4 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Russian Ambassador who wa s the adviser , ,

mentor and close friend o f King Stanislaus

, .

But the Empress had come to realize that her

interests would be better served by good gov
e rnm en t than by anarchy in Poland So after .
,

the rst partition had been ratied Russia put ,

through the Diet o f 1 77 3 the so called Con st i ~

Under this Constitution the

t i0 1

Permanent Committee o r Executive Coun ,

cil governed the country I t consisted o f

, .

thirty s ix members eighteen Senators and

-
,

eighteen Deputies elected by the Diet every

two years and was divided into ve depart
,

ments War F inance Foreign Affairs Jus

, , ,

tice and Police I t was hated indeed as a

, .
, ,

Russian institution but it gave to Poland a ,

unity order and economy o f administration

, ,

unknown to her before .

Also as long as Poland remained politically

'

quiet and subservient Russia made no o b je c ,

tion to activities along other lines and there ,

were started during these years economi c and

social rgmm ls o- l a s t in
f- g x a l u e reforms which
in fty years would have transformed Poland
from a medi aeval to a modern state and which , ,

even in the brief doz en ye a rs allowed to them ,

gave t he coun try a good s t a rt ont h e u pward ~

path .
 ~

26 6 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
them a general land tax imposed for the rs t
,

time in 1 7 74 still further diminished the prots

,

o f the nobles As a matter of sheer necessity

.
,

therefore even the conservative element among

,

the nobility seconded the efforts o f the reform

ers to deve l op new industries in Poland a n d by ,

the application o f modern scientic methods to

increase the productiveness of the old .

As a result m anufactures s pran g up Q! d r

,

th e country there were few magnate families

who did not start at least o ne ; the roads were
improved so that communication was not only
possible but travel was stimulated ; rivers were
,

dredged and widened and a system of canals

,

planned and partly built by which the many ,

rivers o f Poland were connected with the Black

Sea thus opening new markets All this meant
, .

new whose existence had

been stagnant fo r two centurie s Warsaw for .
,

example increased in size from

, to
inhabitants Trade increased in spite
.

o f Prussia s exactions ; Polish manufactured

goods appeared in foreign markets for the rst

time in her history ; and a middle class pros ,

p e ro u,s educated and enterprising

, came I nto ,

existence and supplied an element in the

,

national life whic h Poland had long needed .

As a re s ult o f t he rev iving pro sp e rity o f th e

 T HE E RA O F P A RT I T I O N 26 7

country and the scal reforms of the Perm anent

Council the government revenues were twice
,

as great in 1 7 8 8 as in the ea rly years o f the

reign o f King Stanislaus The army also .
,

which by 1 7 8 8 had been increased frm l m o s t

nothing to eighteen thousand men wa s trained ,

according to the Prussian model o f c e re d fro m

t he n
,

e w cadet school and regularly paid

, .

At the same time the Education Commission ,

established in 1 77 4 had begun an entire re

,

organization o f education a reform most

um ich yielded large re
s u l t s in a comparatively S hort time .

Until 1 7 7 3 when they were expelled from

,

Poland the J esuits had had entire control of

,

the education of the country and their meth ,

o d s were those o f the sixteenth century and

earlier The con s cation of the property of

.

the Order gave the Commiss ion something to

work with and they introduced an entirely new
,

system from the elementary school t o the uni

,

versi t y based on the same prin c iples as the

,

system which the Revolution was introducing

into France A very real int el lectual revival
.

both dictated and followed these measures .

O nce more after two centuries o f isolati o n

, ,

Poland came into contact with current Eu

ro pe a n ideas

The enlightenment o f t h e
.

20 8 B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D

eighteenth century and the culture o f re v o l u

t io na ry F rance , adopted with enthusi a sm in
P oland broke up the o l d provincialism o f
,

thought and the o l d ignorance o f the modern

world which had proved so fatal to her growth .

The way the country rose to the s e opportuni

ties and turned all its energies into reform
s hows that at bottom the nation was sound and
capable o f regeneration .

In all these enterprises King Stanislaus and

the Patriot Party worked hand in hand ,

though their ideas a s to the political future o f

P oland were very di ff erent .

The di s astrous experiences which ended in

partition had co n v in ce d t he Kingx ha td e p d
e n
ence on Russia was the ne c e s s a gy cg n dit io nof

W
I v
-
o I '

id e a was by good behavior to

merit rewards from his protector and by serv ,

ices intime o f need to win compensation whic h

should take the form o f enlarging both his pre
ro ga t iv e s and the Polish army to the exten t of

making him really independent o f Russia .

The Patriots o nthe contrary had learned

, ,

quite a di ff erent lesson from the partition They .

saw that the fatal mistake had been to trust

Russia and they realized that the rst and in
,

dispensable step toward any real freedom was

to cas t o ff R u ss ian inuence altoge th e r .
210 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

return for the use of Poland s army which King

,

Stanislaus would command himself Catharine ,

Wa s to permit an increase in the size o f the

Polish army a considerable extension o f the
,

prerogatives o f the King a nimmediate s ubsidy

,

for war expense s and after the war was over

, , ,

the cession to Poland o f Be s sarabia and part

o f Moldavia including the port o f Akkerman
, .

All these territories he expected their com

b in e d e fforts would conquer f rom Turkey .

Catharine was very favorably inclined to

ward a closer alliance with Poland at this time ,

chiey to prevent the possibility of a Pru s so

Polish alliance but she attached very little
,

value to the services which the Polish army

could render and had no idea o f allowing the
,

King to use the occasion to strengthen his

position Accordingly while accepting an alli
.
,

ance in principle she made a counter-propo

,

s it io nas to terms in which none o f the King s

reques t s were granted and from which Poland

,

wou ld have gained no advantage whatever .

N ev e rtheles s the King accepted it perhaps ,

he himself would have fo und it di fcult to say

why ! and convoked a Diet to ratify it J ust .

at t his p o int however Prussia received info r

, ,

mation o f the proposed allian c e and at o nce

,

in formed Russia that Pru s sia would regard it s

 T H E ERA OF P ART IT I ON 21 1

ratication as a cause for w a r The Polish .

alliance wa s no t wo rth a new war to Russia so ,

the Empress gave up the plan but as she ,

openly S aid that she might take it up again

when a more favorable occasion o ffered the ,

Prussians remained suspicious and far fro m

reassured .

The leaders of the Patriots meanwhile rec

, ,

o gniz ing the necessity o f outside aid if they were

to throw o ff the yoke o f Russia had made over
,

tures to Prussia and were anxiously waiting to

,

see what she would do fo r them .

This was the s 6 ,

8 F our Y ears Diet o r as the

1 788, ,

Poles call it the Great Diet came together

, ,

amid a country -wide excitement and e nt h u s i

asm such as perhaps Poland had never known .

The members o f the Diet were divided among

Russian in its sympathies and in favor o f a

Russian alliance ; the Patriots o r party o f
m
,

thoroughgoing re fo r nt i-Russian and in

favor o f the Prussian alliance ; and t h e Repu b l i _ _

can Party consisting o f the ul t ra c o nserva

-
-
,

!NB SW ho desired to retain the o l d C o nstitution

in

tact who saw despo t ism in any orderly
,

go vernment and extolled the sacred freedom

,

o f the o l d anarchy and the l ibern m veto .

1 12 B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

prov ince he had criminal j urisdiction ov er all

Little Poland ; as Grand Hetman o f the Crown
he was Commander nChief o f the army while
-l -
,

as Chancellor h e wa s the Kee per o f the Great

Seal the guardian o f the Constitution
, .

There i s no question o f the v alue o f his s erv

ice s t o P oland but o nthe other hand he was
, , ,

e xtremely j ealous o f his dignity far from s c ru ,

p u l o u s in his methods and all too prone to regard

,

opposition to his policie s as treachery to the

State I t i s small wonder that he had enemies
.

besides the Z b o ro ws ki a nd o f quite a di ff erent ,

s ort and natural enough that all o f them

, , ,

should j oin together after the death o f Ki ng

Stephen in a n attempt to curtail hi s power .

T he P rimate K a rnko ws ki an o l d m a no f sev ,

en t y and completely under the inuence o f

,

t h e Z b o ro ws ki wrote to Z a m o ys ki who was in

, ,

the Ukraine with the army not to come to the ,

Con vocation Diet and it was hoped that the

,

electiono f the new king could take place with

o u t him Z a m o ys ki however had quite other
.
, ,

intention s a nd when the Election Diet met in

,

J une 1 5 8 7 he was no t only there but he had

, , ,

the whole southernarmy with him .

There were three I mportant candidates for

the throne o nthis occasion : the Cm -o f M us
co vy t h e Arc h du k e M ax imili a n brothE
, i Of the
r
,
21 4 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
iz e d that Poland m ust expect to pay for an
alliance and that her territory was about all
,

she had to pay wi t h and they were prepared to

,

accept the arrangement B ut the Diet and the .

country would not consider it for a moment .

All their o l d distrust o f Prussia ared up and ,

for a time it s eemed as though there would

be n o treaty The King of Prussia however
.
, ,

w a nted the alliance o f Poland at this time for

another reason ( he wa s trying to form a league
against Austria) so the commercial treaty and
,

the question o f territory were waived fo r the

time being and a purely political alli a nce was
,

signed by which the contracting parties guar

,

anteed each other s territories and the King

,

o f Prussia promised that in case any foreign

P ower should seek to a s sert the right to
interfere in the internal aff airs of the Republic
o f Poland the King o f Prussia will rst e n
,

d e a v o r by his good o fces to prevent hostilities

but if these should not prove effective
His M aj esty the King o f Prussia will then assist
that Republic according to Article IV

render military assistance) 1

.

The question whether the Prussian alliance

was a wise move fo r Po land is o ne o nwhich
there was then and still is great diff erence o f
Lord p 1 2 6
1
, . .
 T HE E RA 0 F PA R T I T I O N 215

opinion There is no reason to suppose that the

.

men who made the treaty were ignorant o f the

very grave dangers for Poland that lay in this
course They knew that Prussia wanted Polish
.

territory that self interest was pre tty certain

,
-

to be the only motive in a Pru ss ian alliance and ,

that as S oon as that interest was served they

could hope fo r nothing from Prussian friend
ship B ut on the other hand was an alliance o n
.
,

better terms at all likely to be O ffered to Poland ?

Was it no t after all inevitable that a coun
, ,

try inPoland s desperate situation must take

desperate chances in order to save herself ?

There is no secure safe cours e fo r a s tate to o
,

weak to protect her o wn independence She .

must get what she can o u t o f the chance co

incidence o f her interests with tho s e o f more
powerful states The Prussian alliance at any
.
,

rate o ff ered the opportunity to Poland to free

,

herself from Russia who the Poles believed

, , ,

and probably rightly was unalterably opposed,

to any improvement in their condition .

The European situation was moreover j ust , ,

at this time peculiarly favorable to t heir inter

ests All the Powers were alarmed by the
.

spectacular successes o f Russia in her war

against the Turks and by the danger to Europe
,

in vol ved in Russia s annexation o f the v as t

216 B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

territories conquered by h er T h e English .

M inister Pitt had formed the Triple Alliance

, ,

o f England Holland and Prus s ia in the in t er

, ,

ests of European peace and he no w planned to ,

expand the alliance by the a dm I S S I o no f Sweden

, ,

Denmark and Poland into a great federation

, ,

pledged to maintain the territorial integri t y o f

its members In a word the F ederative System
.
,

was to protect weak state s against the policy o f

conquest and annexation by which Cat h arine I I
and F rederick the Great had built up their
empires I t wa s really directed against the a m
.

bitions o f Russia and its immediate purpose, ,

was to force Russia to relinquish all her Turk

ish conquests .

The Prussian alliance then was to b e for , ,

P oland only the door through which she was to

enter the Triple Alliance and Pitt s great Feder

ative System where she would nd powerful

,

al l ies in her inevitable struggle against Russia .

But Pit t s plan for Poland did not stop here

.

Her trade with Russia was very important to

England and before breaking with Russia it
,

was necessary to provide other sources of sup

ply for the grain tim b er and o ther i mportant
, ,

articles that England go t there Pitt saw that .

P oland could s upply them and his idea was to ,

s trengthen Poland s independ e nce and to estab

21 8 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

cally her own terms with t h e Turks (Tre a ty o f

J assy J anuary
, and Prussia completely
, ,

disgus t ed with England re solved to get out o f ,

the Triple Alliance as soo n as she could She .

resolved also to throw over her treaty with the

P oles and to opennegotiations with Russia for
,

a new partition of Poland as the only means ,

left o f acquiring Danzig and Thorn .

As for Poland her doom wa s sealed She had

, .

s taked her all and lost Her refusal to pay with .

her provinces for the Prussian alliance and the ,

failure of the Federative System destroyed her ,

last chance o f outside aid in her inevitable

struggle with Russia She had now to ght it .

o u t alone and lose .

B ut for the moment this was not recognized

at Warsaw Prus s ia s pe rd y was not yet
.

known to the Polish Government nor indeed to ,

any o ne but Russia and meanwhile the success

,

o f the Patriot Part in making a n e ga tion g it

y u

tion for Poland and the rallying o f the country

,

to its support had lled the whole nation with

,

hope and faith in their future .

I n September 1 7 8 9 a committe e was

, ,

appointed by the Diet t o draw up a co ns t it u

tion but it was not until 1 7 91 that much more
,

than the adoption o f a statement of principle s

wa s accompli shed The delay was due n
. o t only
 T HE E RA 0 F P A RT I T I O N 219

to the preoccupation o f the As sembly with

other matters , nance the army a n
, d the
,

Prussian treaty especially, but also to the

fact that it was only after nearly t wo years o f
debate that the nation was s u ic ie nt l y educated
in political ideas and pos s ibilities to know what
it really wanted By the end o f 1 7 90 however
.
, ,

the country had pronounced quite denitely in

f avor o f the hereditary kingship vested in the
Elector o f S ax ony and his line and the great
,

maj ority in the Diet recognized the necessity of

a strong government able to hold the country
,

together and protect it against attack s from

without In December the King who up to this
.
,

time had he ld persistently a l o of nally a c ,

c e pt e d the Prussian treaty and the Patriot

programme And now the Patriots t o o k a

.

desperate resolve C onvinced that their well

.

being depended upon having a constitution in

actual operation before the end o f t he Rus so
Turkish War freed the hands o f Rus s ia and ,

realizing that it could never be done by the

slow method o f Diet procedure the leaders ,

resolved to present a constitution ready made ,

and force its ad o ption enbl oc at a single session

o f the Diet . T h e King was p a rti c ularly inter
e s t e d in thi s plan He himself drew up t h e
.

proj e ct o f a Constit u tion modeled o nEngl ish

2 2o B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

l ines Which being approved by his associate s

, , ,

he resolved to present to the Diet The time .

chosen wa s immediately after the Easter re

cess when the attendance would be small and
, ,

the con s pirators having sent secret word to

,

their o wnsupporters t o be present could eas ,

il y command a maj ority .

Accordingly the 3 d o f M ay the Deputatio n

, ,

o nF oreign Intere s ts repo rted alarming rumor s

o f a new partition o f Polan d said to be under

,

consideration by Russia and Prussia The King .

then produced the new Constitution and urged

its immediate acceptance in the face o f this new
,

d a nger After some very heated debate in

.
,

which the majority were however distinctly

, ,

o nthe sid e o f the King he took the oath to

,

s upport the new Constitution the maj ority o f

,

the N uncios o r Deputies taking part in it by

holding up their right hands Then calling .
,

upo n all who loved their country to follow

him he went to th e church where they all
, ,

renewed their oaths upon the altar .

All Warsaw then gave itself up to rej oicings

unalloyed by a single act o r wo rd that might
d isgrace the auspicious occasion the only
,

accident wort hy o f note being that the King

l ost his hat but even thi s was regarded b y
m a ny a s o f happy omen!
2 22 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

new Government and Constitution a n d wanted ,

nothing more than the chance to replace it with

the o ld anarchy The leaders of this party were
.

F el ix Potocki Seweryn Rzewuski and Ksawery ,

B ra n icki They assured the Empress t h at H

. ie

whole country was with them and would rise ,

as o ne man against the existing regim e as soon

as the chance wa s O ff ered (They wanted how
.
,

ever , Russian troop s to aid them in

their enterprise !) They fell in very readily with
the Empress s pl a n t o form a Confederation

whi c h should overthrow the Royal Govern

ment put in a Constitution approved by the
,

E m press a nd c onclude with Russia a treaty of

,

eternal allian c e .

The Empress meanwhile wrote to Prussia

and Austria t hat she had determined to destroy
the innovations in Poland so de t rimental to ,

the common interests o f the Powers and sug ,

gested that Prussia and Austria j oin in this

regulation o f Polish affairs The King o f

.

Pru s sia saw h is chan ce a n d at once decided to

,

throw over the Polis h treaty and make a ne w

partition o f Poland whi c h sh o uld give him
Danzig and Thorn and part o f Great Poland as
the condition o f h is alliance with Russia I n .

M arch 1 7 92 Potocki Rzewuski B ra nicki and

, , , , ,

a do z en o f their creature s came to Petersburg ,

 THE E RA OF P ARTITI ON 2 23

where they were entertained and feted by the

Empress These traitors c laimed to be the
.

representatives o f the whole Polish pe o ple ,

longing to return to a republican system o f

government They drew up an Act o f Con
.

federation which purported to have originated

in Poland among the Poles and was falsely

dated Targowica M a y though it wa s
,
,

really signed in P etersburg o nApril 2 7 .

The signers o f this document declared their

purpose to b e the defense o f the Roman
Catholic religion the li b erty and equality o f
,

the nobility the territori a l integrity o f the

,

state and the ancient republican form o f

,

government The statement that the control

.

o f the army by the usurpers at Warsaw had

O bliged them to appeal for protection to the
great Catharine who s e grandeur o f character
,

gave well grounded hope o f her disinterested

-

ness was followed by a formal reque s t for aid

,

a ddres s ed in the name o f the Confederated

Polish N ation to Cath arin e as that immortal
sov ereignwho wa s th e refuge o f peoples and
,

kings and the tutelary divinity o f Poland
1
.

The ction o f legal right being thus creat ed ,

the Empress o n M ay 1 8 1 7 92 gave warning , ,

at Warsaw that she intended to take action in

1 Lo rd , p . 2 7 6.
2 24 B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF POL A N D

behal f o f violated treaties and on the same

,

night sent her troops across the frontier .

The Poles were wholly unprepared They .

had refused to believe that there was d anger ,

trusting in the P russian treaty and the very

friendl y attitude o f Austria who really wished
,

to befriend them and had tried t o form an alli

ance against Russia in their behalf The Poles .

believed in this alliance long a ft e r it had

proved an impossibility .

O n May 2 1 the Diet met to hear the Ru s sian

note I t was recei ved in s ilence except where
.
,

the Empress said she w as sending her troops to

restore the liberties o f the Polish nation when ,

the Assembly burst into laughter and groans .

The King made a manly and spirited speech

concerning defense but hoped that when better
,

informed the Empress would stay h er hand !

The Diet voted a war tax appointed the
-
,

King Commander -in-Chief o f all the forces o f

the Republic an unparalleled thing in Pol
,

ish history , and gave him power to make

a l evee enm a sse if it should prove necessary .

Having taken these measures all it could do

,

to provide fo r Poland s fatal hour the Four

adj ourned M ay 2 9 1 7 92
n
, .

The K ing then made a f to the

K ing o c a rry Q tIL t heir t re a t y It

.
2 26 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Con s titution o f the 3 d o f May in a modied

form coupled with an eternal alliance b e
,

tween Pol a nd and Russia When the Empres s .

absolutely refused and ordered him to accept ,

the Confederation the King though he pro , ,

~

fessed himself overwhelmed with grief called ,

the Council and laid the letter before them and ,

professing to believ e that the military defense

o f the country wa s hopeless advi s ed the a c ,

c e pt a nc e o f the Empre s s s term s

.

Though the K ing had taken pain s to have

present in the Council a maj ority o f pro
Russian members yet there were not wanting ,

a few patriots to protest against this betrayal

o f the country O strowski urged the K ing to
.

emulate the courage and const a ncy of John

Casimir under whom Poland had faced and
,

conquered worse conditions even than the

pre s ent ones while Ignacy Potocki begged the
,

King to abdicate rather than submit to

Ru ss ia The King listened but wa s u nco n
. ,

v in Ce d a n
, d n a lly a nno unce d h is d e ci sion to
a cce d e t o th e C on f ederation .

Grief rage and despair followed th e a n

, ,

no u nce m e nt o f h g e a c h e w to the country

.

Kos ciuszko indeed wish ed !O a bduct theKing

i

, ,

and hold him prisoner while they continued the

war in hi s name but Prince J oseph had not the
,
 T HE E RA 0 F PA RT I T I O N 227

courage for this In the end Prince Joseph

.
,

Kosciuszko and a sco re O f other officers re

,

signed their commissions and left the country ,

as did many o f the Patriot leaders in civil

positions choosing exile rather than com
,

promi se with Ru ss ia .

Meanwhile after long negotiations Prussia

, ,

and Russia had agreed upo n the terms of a

s econd partition of the count and in an
uary 1 793 a treaty was signed by which Prus
, ,

rn s o o n
'

a was to have Danzi g de ,

sired all that wa s left o f Great Poland and

, ,

parts of C u ja v ia and M a so v ia b rie y the

vast region known to -day as South Prussia .

The treaty gave Russia those parts of Podolia

and the Ukraine not already hers together with ,

parts o f both Vo l h ynia and Po dl e s ia By the .

two partitions she h a d now acquire d a ll o f

Little Russia all o f White Ru s s im part of
W
,

Lit
To force Poland to ratify the se arrangements
wa s the nal s tep and o n e o f the Empress s

,

rst o fcial acts after her return t o power in

Poland was to convene the Polish Diet fo r this
purpose .

The Diet met at Grodno June 1 7 1 7 93 but its

, , ,

coercion proved an unexpe c tedly di fcult task .

The Ru s sian represe ntative B aron v o nSievers

, ,
228 B RI EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

had spent large sums of money on this election ,

with the result that the great maj ority o f the

deputies were ready to vote fo r Russia There .

were however some honest patriotic men in

, ,

this melancholy assembly the s o called Zeal

-
,
,

o ts
,

who opposed themselves uncompromis
in to a partition or even to a discussion

l of
g y
indemnity with Russia and Prussia I f we


.

perish they said let us perish with honor

,

, ,

not with shame ; and they fought despe rately

eloquently and passionately over every inch o f

,

ground They knew they could not save them

.

selves but they fought for time in the forlorn

, ,

hope that some foreign power o r some fo rt u

nate accident might save them The King at .

rst took a brave position o ntheir side In his .

opening s peech he said he had acceded to the

Confederation o f Targowica because in so d o ,

ing he thought to assure the integrity and l n

dependence o f Poland and declared that he

had re solved under no conditions to sign any
,

treaty depriv ing the Republic o f even the

smallest part o f its posses s ions ! There is

re a son to believe however that in spite o f all

, ,

this the King had decided beforehand t o yield

in the end Certain it is that as soon as Russia
.

withheld the payment o f his revenues his

.

opposition broke down completely and he ,

2 3o B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D

threats and blusterings o f the Russian general .

At last near fo ur in the morning at the insist

, ,

ence of the impatient Russians the M arshal o f

the Diet put the question I t was twice re .

p t e d without response whereupon the M ar

e a ,

shal declared that since silence was a sign o f

,

consent and no one had spoken the motion

, ,

was un a nimously carried ! The session was then

declared closed and s till in s ilence the mem
, , ,

bers left the hall .

There were yet other humiliations in s tore fo r

the defeated Poles Although Poland was now
.

reduced to a very s mall state only about ,

sixteen thousand square miles contained in the

three small province s o f M a so v ia Po d l a chia , ,

and S a m o git ia the Empre s s wished to t a ke

,

no chances regarding it s s ubmissiveness and ,

before the Diet o f Grodno was dissolved she

forced it t o ratify a treaty with Russia putting ,

practically the entire control of the army and

the foreign relation s o f the country in the hands
o f Russia This treaty as o ne o f the deputie s
.
,

o f the Diet remarked made Poland a Russian ,

province .

This same Diet also was O bliged to annul all

o f the acts o f the F our Y ears Diet and to re

enact all the evil features o f the o l d c o ns t it u

the electiv e kingship ,
 TH E ERA OF P ART IT I ON 23 1

the privileges o f the s z l a chta and the serfdom ,

o f the peasantry Truly t h e vengeance o f

.

Catharine was complete !

3 THE RE VOL U TI O N
. OF 1 7 94 AND THE

THI RD PARTITI O N
At rst the Pole s were s tunned by the enor
mity o f this latest calamity which h ad befallen
them This feeling however s oon gave place
.
, ,

to an indignation and hatred fo r Russia which

was s till further e nhanced by the increasing
hars hne ss o f the Russian rule Baron von Sie .

v ers kindly and desirous O f mitigating P oland s

,

misfortunes wherever he conscientiou sly could ,

was succeeded by General I ge l s t rOm an insolent ,

and arbitrary despot The Poles would surely

.

have been as unworthy o f independence as their

worst critics make them out had they submitted
w ithout protest to this last ignominy But .

they had no thought o f submitting As all open .

means o f prote s t were denied them they re ,

sorted t o conspiracy Secret societies were

.

formed plots for an in surrection hatched under

,

the very nose o f General I ge l s t rOm and the ,

plotters at home were in constant correspond

ence with exiles abroad particularly a group in
,

Saxony which included Kosciuszko and the

l eader s o f the F our Years Diet The s e patriots

.
232 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
did their best to nd support for a Polish in
s urrection among the s tates o f Europe but in ,

v ain .

M eanwhile General I ge l s t rOm knowing that ,

there were plots but unable to discover them

, ,

resolved t o disband t h e greater part o f the

Polish army U pon which the P oles must chiey
,

rely in any insurrection Despair at this move .

l ed a brigade commanded by General Mada

li u ski to refu s e when ordered t o disband In .

stead t h ey marched toward Cracow where the

, ,

citizens encouraged by this news rose enm a s s e

, ,

and expelled the Ru s sian garrison K o sciuszko .

,

who had hurried into Poland upon receiving

news of the rising w as proclaimed Commander
,

inChie f by the nobles in Cracow and issued

-
,

a manifesto calling o nall patriots to rally to his

standard and to send him arms and provisions

F urnish m encapable o f bearing arms

he
,

s ays . Do not refuse the necessary provisions

o f bread biscuit etc
, Send horse s shirt s boots
, .
, , ,

cloth and canvas for tents

, The last mo .

m ent is arrived in which de s pair in the midst

, ,

o f shame and reproach put s arms in o u r hands

,
.

O ur hope i s in the contem pt of dea th which can

alone enable us to ameliorate o u r fate and that
o f o u r posterity

.

The condition s implied in this manifesto were

2 34 B R I EF H I STO R Y O F P OLA N D

rine o f Russia was collecting for the s a me des

,

t ina t io n eve ry soldier that could

, be spared
from the south where preparatio n
, s were o n
foot for a great Turkish war Catharine was .

determined this time to be done wit h Poland

.

The time has come she s aid not only to

,

,

extinguish t o the l a st sp a rk the re that has

been kindled in o u r neighborhood but to pre ,

vent any possible rekindling o f the ashes .

Against such antagonists K o s ciuszko s posi

tion was hopele ss from the rst but he made ,

a splendid ght His army was small badly

.
,

equipped a n , d badly di s ciplined T hat unanim

.

ity in the cause o f freedom which t he nation

had s hown in the rst weeks o f the ri s ing had
give n way to the o l d suspicions and dissensions
s o characteristic o f the Poles and so fat a l to
their cause The democratic party in the towns
.
,

disciple s o f the French J acobins who wanted to,

s et up a Reign o f Terror in Poland the peas ,

ants who wanted to be fre e d from s erfdom and ,

the noble s conservative to the core who felt

, ,

they had already gone t oo far in agreeing to the

prov isions o f the Constitution o f the 3 d o f M ay ,

all suspected o ne another and agreed only in

,

their suspicions o f Kosciuszko The King had .

f rom the beginning been a negligible factor .

T hough k ept under con s tant s urveillance fo r

 T HE E RA 0 F P A RT I T I O N 235

fear he would try to escape to Russia he , wa s

otherwise treated with respect but o nthe u n ,

d e rs t a nd ing that he should take no part in pub

lic affairs Ko s ciusz ko wa s the re al ruler o f the
.

country .

The arrival o f t he Ru ssian troop s from t h e

south meant a speedy end t o his power and to
all hi s hopes Swiftly s urely and ruthlessly
.
, ,

the Russian general S uv aro ff cut to pieces the, ,

Polish forces who opposed hi s march to Wa rsaw .

Arrived there he demanded the surrender o f

,

the city and being refused the Russian s c a p

, ,

t u re d Praga a suburb on the right bank o f the

,

river massacred practically all the inhabitants

, ,

and burned the town O n N ovember 8 they .

entered Wars aw and P oland s f reedom wa s

,

ended .

The capitulation o f the capit a l without re

s is t a nce had be en accomplished however only , ,

o ncondition that the s oldiers O f the garrison ,

who refused to lay down their arms should be ,

allowed to march o u t The Russian general .

,

in giving the permission added that all those ,

who chose this alternative might be sure o f not

escaping elsewhere and that when overtaken , , ,

no quarter would be given them In spite o f .

this threat the whole garrison to a man

, , ,

m a rch ed o u t accom panied by civ ili a n

, s in such
2 36 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

numbers that altogether their company counted

thirty thousand souls .

Kosciuszko had be en wounded and taken

pri soner in a last vain attempt at M a c ie go wice ,

O ctober 1 0 t o check the advancing Russian s

, .

After hi s wound w a s heal ed h e w a s s ent to St .

Petersburg where he was kept a prisoner until

,

the death o f the Empress in 1 7 96 .

The political leaders o f the revolution ih ,

cluding Count I gnacy Potocki Z a krez e wsky , ,

the president o f the Rev olutionary Council ,

an d three other o f its members shared a like ,

fate The troops still in the eld however

.
, ,

were allowed to capitulate o nhonorable terms .

K ing Stanislaus by Catharine s orders went

,

to Grodno where he lived until her death

, ,

w hen the Emperor Paul invited him to St .

P etersburg gave him an ample pension and

, ,

the M arble Palace for a residence where he ,

lived in com fort i f no t happine ss until hi s

, ,

death in 1 7 98 T h e Emperor Paul also freed

.

K osciuszko and his fellow prisoners in 1 7 96 .

K osciusz ko after vi s its to England and Amer

,

ica where he was received with almost u npa r

,

a l l e l e d enthusiasm made his home in F rance

,

until h is death in 1 8 1 7 .

Meanwhile Ru s sia Prussia and Austria di

, ,

ided t h e remain ing t e rritorie s o f Polan

r
d be
238 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

thing which may recall the memory o f the

existence of the Kingdom of Poland pledged
,

themselves never to use the name o f Poland in

reference to any o f the territorie s acquired by
them /
 CHA PTER V I
THE G RAN D D U C HY OF WARSAW

THE years following the third partition were

bitter ones fo r Poland M ost o f the nobles wh o
.

had taken an active interest in public aff airs

and had escaped imprisonment were in exile ,

chiey in Ve nl c e and Paris engaged in the vain

,

endeavor to enlist the interest o f some of the

powers o f Europe in the cause o f Poland .

F rance and Turkey were the only powers that

were favorably inclined t o ward Poland and ,

neither o ne was in a position to take up her

cause actively .

The years 1 7 96 and 1 7 97 however altered , ,

the situation materially in France N apoleo n .

Bonaparte sent into Italy by the Directory in

,
'

1 7 96 to ght the Austrian s in a campaign o f ,

s urp a s s ing brilli a nce had no t only conquered

them b u t t he King o f Sardinia and the Pope
,
1

as well and taken possession o f all n o rthern

,

Italy fo r France N apoleon had thus m ade

.

himself the military hero o f Europe and wa s ,

1 T h D k e o f S vo y w
e u Ki ng inSa rdi nia a nd ruler f
a as o

Pied m o n
t .
2 4o B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D

already well started o nthe road to empire In .

him the Poles saw a bright ray o f hope fo r the n

future a nd as early as 1 7 96 through Count
,

O ginski the Polish Confederacy at Paris
,
,

o pened negotiations Though telling them that

.

the Pole s must a rm th emselves and not depend

o nforeign help Bonaparte certainly led them
,

to think that he would aid their cause ; with the

result that the Polish general Dombrowski , ,

early in 1 7 97 sought and received permission

from the improvised government set up in Italy
by the Fren c h to raise a Polish legion to enter
the French service ; and soon eight thousand
P oles forming two legions were in arms eager
, , ,

to enter the fray against their o l d enemy Aus ,

tria and in so doing as they fondly hoped

, , ,

strike a blow for Polish independence During .

the next few years the Polish legions bore their

part and bore it gloriously in the French cam
, ,

p a ig ns in Italy .

The F irst Legion under D o mbrowski

, ,

marc hed into Rome with the F rench when they

turned o u t the Po pe in 1 7 98 and Dombro wski ,

was allowed to take from Loreto the tro phies ,

the Turkish ag and saber which the Po lish ,

King John Sobieski had captured fro m the

, ,

Turks after the siege o f Vienna in 1 6 8 3 The .

a g wa s henc e forth alway s with the F irst

2 42 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D

however in 1 8 0 6 In that year N apoleon co n

, .

quered Prussia and took away from her all the

Polish territories acquired by her at the second
an d third parti t ions together with K u l m e r
,

land C u ja v ia and the N etze district acquired

, ,

by the rst partition leaving her o f all her , ,

Polish lands only West Prussia north of the

,

N e tz e These territories with the exception o f

.
,

the district o f Bialystok ceded to Russia and , ,

Danzig which was made a free city under the

,

protection o f Russia and Saxony were j oined ,

by N apoleon into the Duchy of Warsaw an ,

autonomous state with a Constitution modeled

o nthat o f the Empire in F rance .

I n 1 8 0 9 N apoleon made a new treaty wit h

ria the Treaty of Vienna by which Aus
, ,

ish territories a c
ired by the third partition ; namely western ,

o r N ew G alicia including C racow and the

, ,

s outh e a s t c orn er of O ld Galicia The latter .

,

N apoleon gave to his friend and ally the Em ,

p e ro r o f Russia while West

, Galicia was added
to the Duchy o f Warsaw which was then ,

raised to the rank o f a Grand Duchy The King .

o f Saxony was made Grand Duke and nomi ,

nally rul ed the country with the co operati o n o f

,

a Diet o f t wo houses the lower House elected

,

b y the n o bl e s a nd to wnspe ople The powe r o f .

2 44 B R I EF H I S TO RY OF P OLA N D
great amelioration in Poland and has remained ,

in force ever since .

The real interests o f the French in Poland

were military The Poles we re excellent so l
.

diers and N apoleon gave j ust sufcient e n

,

c o u ra g e m e n t to their national hopes t o get

their loyal and devoted service .

F rom the rst however there were many

, ,

who had no faith in him and held persistently

,

al o of Kosciuszko wa s o ne o f these N apoleon

. .
,

knowing that a m a nifesto in his name would

call the whole o f Po land to the F rench colors ,

had done his best to win the Polish leader to his

side But K osciuszko refused to come until
.

N apoleon should actually annex the Russian

provinces and decl a re the old kingdom re
established whi c h he never did .

M any P o lish landowners also resented bit

t e rl y N apoleon s conscation o f their estates

for the benet o f his marshals and generals .

N o less than twenty seven o f them were e s

-

t a b l is h e d in Poland some o f them o nestates

,

o f enormous size .

N apoleon s military demands upon the coun

try also were a heavy burden and created a

, , ,

c ertain amount o f disaffection He made the .

country a vast recruiting ground from which ,

he had taken by 1 8 1 2 something lik e ninety

 G RA N D D U C H Y OF WA RS AW 2 45

thousand men Ravaged by war its t rade with

.
,

England greatly reduced when not en t irely ou t

o ff by the Continental blockade and Eng ,

land wa s the chief market for the grain and

timber that were Poland s great exports the

country was in no condition to bear the burden

o f raising and supporting so many troops By .

1 8 1 1 the decit wa s twenty-one million francs ,

and M de Pra d t N apoleon s Amb a s s ador at

.
,

Warsaw reported a condition o f general

,

wretchedness N othing he says could exceed

.
, ,

the misery o f all cl as se s The army was no t .

paid the o ice rs were in rags the be s t houses

, ,

were in ruin s ; the greatest lords were com

p e d to leave Warsaw from want o f money
e l l
to provide their table s But in spite o f doubts .

and disillusion when N apoleon nally broke

,

with Russia and in the early s ummer o f 1 8 1 2

,

invaded the country the great maj ority o f the

,

Poles still believed in him The very existence .

o f the Duchy o f Wars aw made this faith in

evitable Prince Czartoryski said o f it : It is
.

a sort o f phantom o f ancient Poland whi c h pro

duces an infallible effect o nall who regard that
country as their real fatherland I t is as if aft er .
,

you had lost a dear friend his shade should ,

come to assure you that he will soon b e restored

t o yo u in per son

.
24 6 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
Seventy thousand Po les under Prince J oseph
,

Poniatowski formed the F ifth Corps o f t h e

,

Grande Arme when it marched into Russia .

They believed that they were about t o conquer

Lithuania add it to Warsaw and thus create
, ,

a reunited Poland An extraordinary session

.

o f the Diet o f the Gra nd Duchy called j ust b e ,

fore the Russian invasion gave o fcial san c ,

tion to thi s view by declaring the Kingdom o f

Poland reconstituted recalling all Poles fro m
,

the Russian service and declaring them a b

,

solved from their a l l e gI a nc e to t h e Ru s sI a n

Em peror .

The defeat and retreat o f N apoleon dashed

all these hopes By F ebruary 1 8 1 3 the Russian
.
, ,

army had driven the F rench from Lithuania ,

w a s invading the Grand Duchy itself and once ,

again Poland s capital city was in the hands

o f her o l d enemy and her people awaiting the

,

vengeance o f the Russian ruler .

2 48 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
heroism in the Revolution o f 1 7 94 and by the ,

impression made upon his youthful imagina

ti o n by Kosciuszko whom his father the Em
, ,

p e ro r Paul had visited

, in prison and o n
, o ne

occasion had taken his son with him He was .

thus already s trongly inclined to the Polish

c ause before the chief inuence in that d ire c
,

tion came into his life in the person o f young

Prince Adam Czartory s ki son o f Prince Adam
,

Casimir and grandson o f the o l d Prince Pala

,

tine This young man c a me to Petersburg in

.

1 7 95 to beg th e restoration o f their estates to

his family and was made aide de camp to the

,
- -

young Grand Duke Alexander by the Empress .

The two boys at once became the closest friends ,

and the outcome o f that friendship was that

Alexander resolved to restore t o the Poles their
lost territories and their lost liberties and to ,

rule them himself as a constitutional king .

When Alexander succeeded to the throne in

1 8 0 1 he n
, o t only took meas ures to ameliorate

the condition s o f his o wnpeople but he called

,

P rince Adam Czartoryski to Russia a nd made

him Curator o f the new University o f Wilna ,

which he made the center o f Polish inuence

and Polish political propaganda I n 1 8 0 4 he
.

made Czartoryski Russian M inister o f Foreign

Affairs an d allowed him t o work denitely
,
 T H E RE VOL U T I O N OF 1 830 2 49

( though indirectly o n account o f,the opposi

tion o f Aus t ria and Prussia to any such me a s
ure ) toward the restoration o f Pol and to her
fro ntiers of 1 7 7 2 Czartoryski did this very
.

largely by his ch a mpionship o f the principle o f

nationality in order to accustom Euro pe to the
,

idea as a basis for European reconstruction

after the defeat of N apoleon He tried also in .
,

1 8 0 6 to draw Russia into a wa r with Pruss ia

, ,

by which Alexander might get possession o f

Prussia s Polish provinces and i n

corporate
them in his Po lish kingdom The Emperor .
,

however was not willing to go so far Some

, .

years o f experience and t h e councils o f other

,

ministers to whom the Polish question was

,

only one and not the chief one o f many con

, ,

siderations which should form the policy of the

Czar o f all the Russias had somewhat cooled ,

his ardor fo r the Poles o r had at least convinced

,

him that fo r the time being he could do nothing

for them .

Instead he made an alli a nce with their wors t

,

enemy Prussia against N apoleon whereupo n

, , ,

the Poles (even including Prince Adam Czar

t o rys ki) lost all faith in him and were thus the ,

more ready t o turn to N apoleon when aft er ,

the defeat o f the Prussians at J ena in1 8 0 6 he ,

established th e Duchy o f Wars aw .

2 56 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
Alexander however had not lost interest in
, ,

P oland a nd when the events o f 1 8 1 2 made

,

him master o f the Duc hy thus giving him c o n ,

trol o f nearly nine tenths o f the a ncient Repub

lic o f Pol a nd he began at onc e to plan for t h e
,

reunion o f all the Pole s in an autonomou s free

s tate Knowing however that Au s tria and
.
, ,

Prussia would hate h is plan a nd that the Rus ,

s ian people would oppose it violently h e said ,

nothing publicly about Poland until t h e War o f

Liberation had overthro wn N apoleon and the ,

Congress o f Vienna had come together in 1 8 1 4

to reorganize Europe By that time his agents
.

in Warsaw had already established a provisional

government in the Grand Duchy under Prince
Adam Czartory ski and a committee o f Poles
, ,

under the Grand Duke Constantine was a l ,

ready at work on the reorganization o f the PO 1

ish army At Vienna the Emperor announced
.

his plan of keeping the Grand Duchy and mak

ing it into a constitutional kingdom ruled ,

under a s eparate title by himself and his suc

c e ss o rs o nthe Russian throne He had gained .

the consent o f the King o f Prussia to this plan

by pro mising h im all o f S axony I ncompensa
tion Saxony was to be taken away from its o wn
.

k ing to punis h h im for h i s fait hful fri endship to

Napoleon .
2 52 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D ,

ately when he could see hi s way to d o so

,

u t too great O ff ense to his Russian sub

who would resent liberties granted to the

and not to them The belief that this
.

be done was the re a son for the rej oicing

o f the Pole s over t h e formation of the Congress

Kingdom small a s it was The disappointment

, .

o f their hopes was the chief reason for the Rev

o l u t io no f 1 8 3 0 As a result o f the arrangement s

.

f the Congress o f Vienna the territories o f the

,

ancient Republic o f Poland were in 1 8 1 5 under

ve distinct administration s ; namely ( 1 ) Aus ,

trian Poland (2 ) Prussian Poland ( 3) the

, ,

Lithuanian territories incorporated in the Rus

S l an Empire , (4) the autonomous Congress
Kingdom ru led by the Emperor a s King and
, ,

( 5 ) the Republic of Cracow .

The F inal Act o f the Congres s o f Vienna

s tipulated that the Poles in the territories ,

ceded to Prussia and Austria should receive

a repre s entation and national institutions
,

I t guaranteed also the freedom o f trade o f ,

navigation and o f intercommunication across

,

the frontiers within the boundaries o f the

P oland of 1 77 2 .

These provisions S h o w that t h e Congress o f

Vienna had in mind not merely t h e divisi o n o f
,

P olish territory among the P owers but made ,

2 54 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P O LA N D

pursuing his o wnautocratic way as though it

did not exist The Russian Imperial Commis
.

s io n er ,N icholas No v o s il t so ff appointed to
,

Watch o ver Russian interests wa s also wholly ,

opposed to the Constitution and constantly ,

usurped authority himself as well as e nco u r

,

aged and incited the Grand Duke in his course .

N o v o s il tso ff indeed was the evil genius o f the

, ,

Poles hated by them as perhap s few men have

,

been Clever astute and thoroughly informed

.
, , ,

he concealed under an Outward profession o f

the most liberal opinions and enlightened aims
the characteristics o f the most arbitrary and
evil of Russian bureaucrats As o ne o f the early
.

friends o f Alexander I a condant and sup

, ,

p o s e d l y a , S harer o f hi s liberal view s N ovo ,

s il t s o ff had great inuence wit h him and wa s ,

probably o ne o f tho s e largely responsible for the

f act that after 1 8 1 8 the Emperor began gradu
ally but surely to abandon his liberal ideas .

Though ideally interested in liberal ism ,

Alexander was temperamentally an autocrat ,

and never really understood o r liked co ns t it u

t io n a l go v ernment He regarded parliamentary
.

opposition to his wishes a s ingratitude and was ,

profoundly disple a sed when government bills

designed to destroy the liberty of t h e press and
th e re s po n s ibility O f m in i s te rs were de feated .
 T HE R EVO L U T I O N O F 1 8 36 255

He was also much concerned over the bad

nancial conditions o f the Kingdom There .

was a large and incre a sing decit at the same

,

time that the taxes were levied with extreme

vigor and were deeply resented by the people .

N o v o s il t so ff was continually urging the na n

c ia l situation as evidence of the incapacity o f

the Poles for s elf government O n the other

- .

hand the Poles s aw and pointed o u t that it was

,

the army which wa s eating up the incom e) and

the Grand Duke Constantine was constantly in
cre a sing both the equipment a n d the size of the
army without any regard to expense and quite ,

independently o f the constitutional budget .

Added to this was also the fact that the origi

nal army before the Grand Duke s additions
,

,

had been rather larger than the Kingdom could

well support but had been accepted o nthe
,

supposition that the Emperor was going ve ry

shortly to add t h e Western Prov inces to the
Kingdom .

I n 1 8 2 1 Prince Xavier Lu b e cki was appointed

F inance Minister and quite revolutionized the
,

n ances o f the Kingd o m putting them in a

,

very prosperou s conditi o n in a very sh o r t ti m e .

B ut in order to do this he had to use u nc o ns t i

t u t io na l means. Lu b e cki was a Pole a co s t i
,
_
n
t u t io na l is t and a patriot
, and regretted the
2 56 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D

means he had to employ but he thought he saw ,

the very existence o f the Kingdom threatened

by her ins and overrode th itu
ti
w e it .

I he Polish people however were profoundly

, ,

disillusioned by this disregard of the C o ns t it u

tion by both friend and foe as well as by the ,

Emperor s long delay in creating a Greater

P oland M any o f them believed that he was

.

going to do away with the Constitution alto

gether and they began their traditional secret
,

revolutionary agitation secret society the.

,

N ational Patriotic As s o g;
on the initiative of the Poles in the P S

O
W
lodges as centers
a s in
d n
n h
a i g
1 t eem a s ons

In 1 8 2 2 No v o s il t s o ff ferreted
.
'

o u t its existence and got the leaders im pris

,

on e d or exiled but it w as s oon reorganized in

,

di fferent form and ourished as the Grand

, ,

Duke Const a ntine who in his o wnautocratic

,

and barbaric way loved the Poles ( he gave up

his claim to the Russian throne in order to
marry in 1 8 2 0 a Polish lady J eannette Grud ,

z in s ka
, afterwards Countess Lo v icz ) refused ,

absolutely to believe in their treachery and the ,

Emperor accepted his brother s faith in thi s

matter .
258 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

o ne ) to use in the struggle against Russia .

Their only hope lay in striking at once strik ,

ing hard and winning thereby assistance from

,

F rance for only through outside aid was ulti

,

mate s uccess against Russia possible .

B ut as always in Poland divided co unsel s ,

made united and prompt action impossibl e .

There were two partie s in Poland at this time .

The members o f the

secret o c ia t io nmentioned above ,

were strongly democratic a n d radical in their

ideas o f government a s well as strongly nation,

alist All the le sser noble s o r s z l a chta as well

.
, ,

as the townspeople belonged to this party and

, ,

they commanded a maj ority in the Council of

State This maj ority had accepted the over
.

throw o f the Constitution o f 1 8 1 5 had con ,

stituted themselves a provisional revolutionary

government and were in favor o f ghting
, .

They had with them the maj ority of the Diet ,

and probably o f the country The historian .

Le l ewe l and Count Wl a d is l a u s O strow s ki were

the leaders o f this party
The Whites o nthe other hand though as
,

.

strongly nt iOIfl is t as the Red s were conserva

' ' '

tive and aristocratic in their ideas and though ,

they represented the minority had yet among ,

their number all the leading personalities in ,

 THE RE VO L U T I ON OF 1 830 2 59

cluding Prince Adam Czartorysk i the head o f ,

the Council and General Joseph C h l o pic ki the

W
, ,

head of the army T h . ro

mise with Russia realizing the hopelessness of

,

a struggle against her o nthe o ne hand and , ,

seeing no future for Poland except through the

Russian connection They overthrew the pro
.

visional government o f the Reds and set up ,

General C hl o pic ki as Dictator who at once ,

opened negotiations with Russia for a com

promise As a matter o f fact however no com
.
, ,

promise was possible since Whites as well as ,

Reds stood rmly by their demands O f com

p l e t e amnesty maintenan
,
c e Of the C o ns t itu
tion and the reunion o f Podolia Vo l hynia and
, , ,

the Ukraine with the Kingdom And the Em .

p e r o r o n his side would accept nothing but

unconditional surrender Upon learning this .
,

the Pole s declared war in J anuary 1 8 3 1 They ,

were j oined by the Poles in Russia s Western

Province s and though they were no match fo r

,

the might of Russia yet their skill bravery

, , ,

and enthusiasm kept the Russians busy fo r

eight months and convinced the Emperor that
,

the Poles were a dangerou s people .

By September 1 8 3 1 the Kingdom was u

, ,

conditionally in the Emperor s hands and

,
2 60 B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

o n the n
go ypr mgnt Poland to replace the
of ,

CO Stit u t io n By this Poland was declared

.
,

an I ne gra l part o f the Rus s ian Empire and ,

was to be governed by a Council o f State a p

pointed by the Emperor .

sands o f Polis h s oldiers e scaped to

France Prussia and Au s tria and became cen
, , ,

ters o f agitation for Polish liberty As a con .

cession to F rance and England w h ose gov ern ,

ments were s upporting the cause o f the Pole s

very vigorously by all peaceful means the ,

Emperor allowed Poland to keep it s separate

administration its o wnj udiciary it s guaranty
, ,

o f freedom from arbitrary arrest and a some ,

wh at limited freedom o f opinion and of religion ,

a s well as it s o l d system o f local government .

The Emperor howev er managed to make all

, ,

these concessions nugatory in fact by estab

l is h ing at Petersburg the new Dep a rtment of
o f the Czardom o f Poland with Pas ,

as its head The real government of

.

Poland was in the hands of this department .

F ive of its members were Poles Prince Lu b e cki ,

among them but it s inuential members were

,

Rus s ian s a n , d hostile to Poland as for exam

, ,

ple Nov o s il t s o ff
, and the Polish members
,

regarded a s traitors by their countrymen .

In 1 8 33 ri s ing s in v ariou s part s o f Pol a nd led

 CHAPTER V I I I
THE R E VOL UT I ON O F 1 86 3

S I NC E 1 the Congres s Kingdom has been

83 1
an integral part O f the Russian Empire I ts .

territories form the ten governments of the Vis

tula and are ruled as are the rest of the Rus
, ,

sian government s o r province s by a governor ,

appointed by the Emperor and the policy o f ,

Russia toward them has depended rst on , ,

the general policy o f the ruling Emperor to

ward all his peoples and secondly o nthe de
, ,

gree o f revolutionary activity going o n o r ,

known to be go I ng on in Poland , .

Russian emperors in modern times have been

o f two general types the followers of Peter
the Great who wished to westernize Russia
, ,

to bring her in contact with the life thought , ,

and institutions o f western Europe and to ,

obliterate as far a s possible the differences ,

social and economic as well as political that ,

have kept her since the thirteent h century a

nation apart The other party the O ld
.
,

Russian P a rty ha s taken the position that

,

Russia is by her geographical position and

,

her inherent characteristic s not a We s tern

,
 THE RE VOL U TI ON OF 1 8 63 2 63

but an Eastern Power ; that s he is essentially

different from and in many ways superior t o
western Euro pe and that her true lines of
,

development lie in quite other directions .

Russia should look within herself and nd ,

there in her o wn traditions and in her own

,

characteristic institution s the ideals and prin

,

C ipl e s o f her development All else i s imitation

.

and supercial and can never result in a whole

,

s o me national life By the early nineteenth

.

century the O ld Russian idea had taken a

s lightly di fferent form The O ld Russians had
.

discovered that all the essentially Russian

characteristics were Slav ch a racteristics and ,

differentiated all Slavs equally with Russians

from Western European and non Slav peo-

The O ld Russian idea then became the S I

phil o r Pan Slav idea
- the preservation and
development of a Slav civilization which they ,

conceived could practically be carried o u t only

by bringing a ll the Slav peoples together in a
strongly centralized autocratic O rthodox Em
, ,

pire ruled by the Russ 1 an Emperor A Slavo

, .

phil became thu s practically a Russophil

policy .

Liberals o f the type o f the Emperor Alex m

ander I who had believed in d e ce nt ra l iz a
,

tion and who se idea o f th e Ru ss ianEmpire

,
2 64 B R I E F H IST O RY OF P O LA N D

was a federation o f autonomous states organ

iz e d along national lines could encourage
,

nationalist aspirations in Poland with im pu

nit y But the Emperor N icholas I was a Slavo
.

phil and between 1 8 3 0 and 1 8 40 the greater

,

number o f Ru s sian intellectual s sympathized

with thi s view The Slavophil s could welcome
.

the Poles to a P an Slav state only after they

-

had renounced their nationalism and regarded ,

the Polish nationalist Revolution o f 1 8 3 1 a s

treachery o the Pan Slav cause
t - .

By 1 8 40 however the rigidly repressive

, ,

government o f the Emperor N icholas had alien

ated every ty pe o f liberal from hi s govern
ment and had produced a new type of Pan
,

Slavist who s aw that t h e Pan Slav ideal was

,
-

not at all incompatible in it s essentials with

liberty a nd national autonomy and from this ,

time o n the Russian liberals were generally

,

sympathetic and de s irou s o f friendship with

P oland .

Under the Emperor N icholas however there

, ,

was no opportunity to carry o u t the s e friendly

ideas He pursued undeviatingly and u n
.

in c h in l
gy the impossible task of destroying the
very memory o f Poland and o f making good
Russians o u t o f the Poles He closed the great
.

P oli sh universiti e s o f Wilna and Warsaw so ,

2 66 B RI E F H IST O RY OF P O LA N D

These intrigues were carried on not only in ,

the Kingdom but also in Posen and especially ,

in the Western Province s where the landed ,

proprietors forming only about ten per cent o f

,

the population were Polish and the re st of the

, ,

population Russians Lett s o r Jews These

, , .

landed proprietor s made it advantageous for

the ir peasants t o l e arn the Polish language ,

taught them Poli s h history inuenced them ,

against Ru ss ia a nd nally taught them to

,

regard themselves as Pole s a n d in many cases

,

to accept the Roman Cathol i c religion of

P oland The Polish clergy were very active in
.

both political and religiou s propaganda with ,

the result that in 1 8 55 when the Emperor

,

N ichol a s died the We s tern Provinces were far

,

more Polish than they had been in 1 8 3 0 .

The death o f the Emperor N icholas was a

relief t o al l his oppressed subj ects ,

especially to the Pole s His s uccessor the

.
,

Emperor Ale xander I I was a liberal and in

, ,

t ro d u c e d liberal methods at once into the gov

o f all parts o f his empire He visited .

P ol a nd shortly after h is accession and o nthis ,

o ccasion too k the rst steps toward establishing

cordi a l relations between himself and his Polish

s ubj ects The suspension o f recruiting the
.
,

pardon o f prisoner s held for political off ense s ,

 THE RE VO L U TI O N OF 1 863 2 67 .

an amnesty granted with very few exceptions

, ,

t o a l l political exiles by which all emigrant

,

Po les o f the Western Provinces as well as of the

Kingdom were allowed to return and were
restored to their civil right s and the re s t o ra
,

ti o n o f the ecclesias tical j urisdiction o f the

Church were the reform s that brought the
,

greatest relief to the Poles F ully as important

.
,

however was the appointment o f a commission

,

to make recommendations as to the best way of

dealing with the question o f the peasants and
the land and the formation with government
,

permission by certain landed proprietors o f an

, ,

Agricultural Society for the Kingdom .

The relaxation o f the oppressive tari ff and

passport system s opened the way for a revival
o f trade and industry , which was almost im
mediately taken advantage o f and in a very ,

short time poverty and despair w ere giving way

to prosperi ty and hope .

Al though the Em peror had explic itly said

that fo r the good o f Poland and for the goo d
o f the Poles themselves it is necessary that
,

your country S hould remain ever united to that

o f the great family o f the Emperor o f Russia

,

and alth o ugh he had made no changes in gov

e rn m en t looking at all denitely toward aut o n

o m y yet many thoughtful and intelligent m e n

,
2 68 B RI EF H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

believed that by the development o f her eco

,

nomic resources and by the education o f her

people Poland in a few years might become
,

so powerful and so important to Russia that

political concessions might be wo n from the
Emperor o f far more permanence and v alue
,

than could be expected from a revolution .

Unfortunately they formed but a small

minority in the Kingdom The maj ority were .

s till in favor o f a revolution fo r independence ,

but were divided as in 1 8 3 0 as to the methods

, ,

O f revolution and the character o f the co n s t it u

tion which was t o follow succe ss .

I n 1 8 60 a s in 1 8 3 0 the Wh ite s desired

,

more careful prep a ration and the as surance o f

European assistance before they revolted and ,

favored an aristocratic constitution with pow ,

ers practically conned t o the great landed

proprietors while the Red s s tood for imme
,

diate action and an e xtremely democratic form

o f go v ernment T h e revolutionary element in
.

e ach group was greatly strengthened by t h e

political exiles who ocked back to Warsaw as

'

a result o f the amn e sty The maj ority o f these

.

e xile s were Whites though some of them the

, ,

younger men chiey by contact in Paris o r

,

other places of their exile with the great demo

c ratic mov ement going o nall over Europe h a d ,
2 7o B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

o ne place where all parties c a me together in a

common interest and the Party o f Action re
,

solved to use it fo r its o wnend s .

The maj ority o f the original th ree o r four

h undred members were conservatives most of ,

them Wh ites but many o f them like the Presi

, ,

dent Count Andrew Z a m o yski were opposed

, ,

to political opposition t o Russia and relied on ,

economic and s ocial progre ss to regenerate

their country and few o f them probably fa
, , ,

v o re d the transformation o f their society into

a political organ I n spite o f this fact however

.
, ,

the Society by 1 8 6 1 had a membership o f four

thousand drawn from Galicia Posen and the , ,

Western Provinces a s well as from the Kingdom

and wa s so identied with dis a ff ection that the
Government at Petersburg ordered its diss o lu
tion Just before this took place however t h e
.
, ,

Soci ety knowing that its days were numbered

, ,

resolved to mark its passing by issuing a plan

fo r the settlement o f the land question ex
t re m e l y liberal t o the pe a sants As h a s been
.

shown in previou s chapters t h e condition o f

,

the peasants and their relations with the landed

proprietors was o ne o f the great evils in O ld
Poland and condition s had altered little by
,

1 8 60 .

N apoleon by t h e law
,
of 1 80 7 , had indeed
 THE RE VO L U T I ON OF 1 86 3 271

made the ser fs personally free but they had ,

received no land along with their freedom and ,

were therefore still in an economic bondage to

their o l d m a s ters in some respects worse than
,

the O ld S lavery The Polis h peasant therefore

.
, ,

had no love for hi s proprietor and no interest ,

in j oining a revolution to give him more power .

O n the contrary he saw in Russian rule his sole

,

ray o f hope Alexander I I had already freed the

.

Russian serfs and his Government was at that

,

very moment at work o n a similar plan for

Poland which the peasant s knew full well .

Yet the fact remained that the s uccess of the

proj ected revolution depended upon peasant
support and the great question for the upper
,

class was how to get it They knew it could be

.

won only through concessions regarding the

land and they resolved t o o ff er through the
,

Agricultural Society a plan for peasant owner

ship far more liberal than anything to be ex
,

pe ct e d from the Russian Go vernment and to ,

o ffer it rst In a word they meant to outbid

.
,

the Government for peasant allegiance .

The plan did not succeed The peasants u n

d e rs t o o d the motives o f the refo rmers
.

dis ,

trusted their good faith and remained loyal

,

the Russian Government .

The policy o f the Emperor Alexander towa rd

2 72 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLAN D

the Poles during these years was lenient and

considerate in the extreme He continued his .

policy o f gradually liberalizing the Polish

Government in s pite o f the hostile attitude
,

s hown in the unarmed agitation In March o f .

1 8 6 1 the Council o f State fo r Poland abolished ,

by the Emperor N icholas in 1 8 4 1 was re es ,

t a b l is h e d ; all the remnants o f military rule in

Poland were aboli s hed and the whole country
,

came under civil administration The most .

important branche s of the Polish administra

tion were made quite distinct from the Rus
s ian ,
a s o instance the Post O ice Public
f r ,
-
,

Works and H ighways

, , and with v ery few
exceptions all civil o fcials were Pole s By 1 8 6 3 .

there were s carcely a dozen Russian s in o fcial

position s in the whole Kingdom Local self .

g o vernment also was introduced and a nati o nal ,

system of education started the development Of

,

which together with all educational matters

, ,

was put into the hands o f the revived Polish

Commis s ion o nEducation and Religion abol ,

is h e d in 1 8 3 9 The se concessions were not only

.

very important in themselves but full of hope ,

for the future as showing the direction in which

,

t h e Emperor s policy was moving

.

P erhaps it was natural however that these

, ,

m ea s ure s should s eem o f little importance to

2 74 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
count ry and save her from a fatal mistake by
, ,

uniting all the moderates in a party of opposi

tion to immediate revolution Unfortunately
.
,

however he was not only unable but unwilling

,

to form a party o r to co Ope ra t e with any one .

Haughty and self s u f cie nt he stood alone dis

-
, ,

liked and distrusted by all Keenly intelligent

.

as well as deeply patriotic he had come to b e

,

lieve that an independent Poland was an im

possibility and he saw in union with Russia
, ,

the other great Slav state o f the N orth her best

,

c h ance of s trength and freedom in the future .

But he was no statesman ; he understood ideas

better than men He failed to see that his policy
.

needed friends and could not succeed by being

forced upon the Poles arbitrarily ; and in 1 8 6 3 ,

in attempting to prevent immediate revolution ,

he himself committed the very act which pre

C ipit a t e d it.

The law in force in Poland from 1 8 1 5 to 1 8 5 9

put the selection o f military recruits I n the
hands o f the police with the result that re
,

c ru it in g h a d been the method by which the

Government got rid of politically inconvenient

subj ects I n 1 8 5 9 a new law had been passed
.
,

ab o lishing this method o f c hoice and substitut

ing the fairer and more usual choice by lot Since .

the passage o f the law however no c o ns c rip

, ,
 THE R EVOL U T I O N OF 1 86 3 2 75

tion had been necessa ry and the new law had

,

thus never been used In 1 8 6 2 the army needed

.

renewal and a conscripti o n was ordered The

,
.

Marquis Wie l po l ski resolved to ignore the new

law and use the old system which by draft
, ,

ing into the Russian army all the youth o f the

Revolutionary party would destroy its power
, .

To prevent agitation the lists were kept secret ,

and the con s cripts were seized by the police at

dead o f night and hurried away to the frontiers
,

without warning Three days later the whole

.

country was in revolution .

But the Poles had no independent organiza

tion as in 1 8 3 0 no army and no money They
, , .

could carry o nguerrilla warfare only and were ,

bound in time to be crushed by Russia s s u

perior numbers and organization Their early .

successes were due to the fact that Russia had

not expe cted the revolt Wie l po l s ki had as
s ured the Emperor that nothing would happen
and the Russi a n troops were scattered Their .

only real hope was in outside aid which did not ,

come France and England protested indeed

.
, ,

but were unwilling actively to intervene Rus .

sia seeing that they did not mean t o act and

, ,

supported by Prussia who regarded the crush

,

ing o f the Po les as a matter o f V i t al i m portan c e

to her put down the rebellion with a strong
,
2 76 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

hand I n this policy the Emperor had the sup

.

port o f a unanimous public O pinion Russi a ns

,

o f all parties being deeply stirred by e vents in

Poland especially by the rej ection on the part

,

o f the Re v olutionary Central Committee of the

Emperor s o ffer of amnesty ( March 3 1

,

when the Polish cause was clearly hopeless and ,

by a manifesto from this s ame Re volutionary

Government in which they declared that they
,

would be satised with nothing less th a n the

conquest o f the Western Prov inces from Russia
and the cession to them o f Galicia and Posen
ria and Prussia .

is no doubt at all that the Revolution

1 8 6 3 was a colossal mistake and that its
,

failure was followed by the most unfortunate

consequences for the Poles B ut deplorable as
.

failure was success might have been more de

,

p l o ra b l e still N
. othing but anarchy could hav e
resulted from the success o f a people funda
mentally divided Reds and White s were hope
.

lessly at odds in their ideas o f a government

for Poland The Reds would never have a c
.

c e pt e d a Czartoryski , fo r example as king

, ,

while the magnates and great proprietors would

never have consented to be governed by a con
s t it u t io n dictated by the Reds and based o n

democratic principles ; and the peasants held

2 78 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

I n the Grand Duchy o f Posen between 1 8 1 5

,

and 1 8 3 0 a sincere attempt was made to con

,

ciliate the Poles The Grand Duchy was in

.
,

deed incorporated inthe Kingdom o f Prus sia

, ,

but the Polish nationality and the Polish lan

guage were gi ven o fcial recognition and the ,

administrati ve o fcials were either Poles o r

were chosen fo r their Polish sympathies A .

Diet was established in 1 8 2 2 with the pri vilege

,

o f laying grie v ance s before the king . F rom the

economic poin t of V iew the administration b e
tween 1 8 1 5 and 1 8 40 resulted in nothing but
The serfs were freed and made into
t proprietors ; roads were built be tter ,

o f a grl c u l t u re encouraged
, industries
introduced and all with true Prussian thor
,

o u gh n e s s and e fciency. The peasant s among

,

whom there was almo s t no Polish national feel

ing accepted these reforms gladly and were
, ,

fairly contented with their Prussian rulers ; but

the Polish nobles and the Roman Catholic :

clergy were irreconcilable from the rst They .

were in co ns t a ntfa nd close communication with

the revolutionists in Austrian and Ru ssian
P oland a nd twel ve thousand o f them cros sed
,

the border I nto the Congress Kingdom a nd took

part in the Revolution o f 1 8 3 0 I t was this
.

f act that d e cided the Pru ssian Gove rnm ent to

 T HE R E VOL U T I O N O F 1 863 2 79

change its policy to on e o f severe repression and

Germanization which continued for ten years

, .

Under Frederick William IV who came to the ,

throne in 1 8 4 0 it was somewhat relaxed with

, ,

the result that political agitation at once began ,

and prepared the country to take part in the

Revolution o f 1 8 4 5 I n that year under the
.
,

leadership o f M ie ro sl a ws ki the head o f the

,

Polish revolutionaries in Paris a N ational Gov ,

e rnm en t was s et up in Cracow which called ,

upon all Poles e verywhere to rise The arrest .

and imprisonment o f M ie ro sl a wski in Posen pre

vented the participation o f the Grand Duchy in
the rising and kept the country quiet until
,

1 84 8
. That year wa s marked by s uccessful
popular risings all over Europe .

I n Berlin the liberal populace rose demand ,

ing the constitution promised them in 1 8 1 5 but ,

never granted The King alarmed at the pros

.
,

pe ot o f civ il war and believing apparently that

,

the insurgents were far stronger than they re a lly

were granted everything asked o f him in
, ,

cluding a general amnesty for all political pri s

oners .

I n Posen a national committee headed by ,

M ie ro sl a ws ki who was relea sed from prison by

,

the amnesty set up a Polish provisional go v

,

e rn m en t for the Grand Duchy and demanded ,

2 80 B RI EF H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

from the King an autonomous administration .

Here al so the King yielded but t h e Prussian

,

troops in Po sen and the German inhabitants

refused to accept the King s conce s sions and in

,

an orgy o f crue lty that off ended e ven t he Ger

man O ffl c ia l s they q u ickly reduced the country
,

to submission .

F rom 1 8 4 8 to 1 8 63 the Go vernment in Posen

was conservative and arbitrary but n o t pa rt ic
,

u l a rl y severe .T he sympathie s o f the Prussian

liberals were with the Poles and the Poles were
,

represented in the Prussian parliamen t where ,

they aired their griev ances and through pub

lic it y maint a ined a measure of goo d gov ern
ment fo r their country The revolutionary
.

propaganda was constantly carried on in Posen

as in the Co ngre ss Kingdom and along v ery ,

much the same lines There was con s tant com

.

m un ic a t io nbe tween the revolutionists of both

countries and Posen made all her pre pa ra t l o ns
,

to take part in the Revolution o f 1 8 6 3 But .

Bismarck now at the head o f the Prussian

,

Government had no intention o f allowing this

,

to take place and a wall o f troops along the

,

frontier kept Posen out o f it while Russia a n

, d
Prussia reduced the Congress K ingdom to sub
miss ion .

I n Galicia be twe e n 1 8 1 6 a nd 1 8 60 condition s

, ,
2 82 B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OLA N D
imminent Austria was forced to recognize the
.

possibility of her defeat in thi s s truggle and to ,

meet t h e new situ ation she inaugurated a new

policy in her empire ; namely the neutraliza ,

tion o f German inuence by the development

o f the Slav s Germanization stopped and each
.
,

Slav nation wa s allowed a certain measure of

se lf-government and wa s left free to develop
,

along its own lines within the limit s o f imperial

,

u nity

As trouble with Russia o ver the B a lkan

s ituation loomed large o nthe Austrian horizon ,

the support o f the P oles o f Galicia was of spe

c ia l importance and accordingly a constitution
,

was granted to the Kingdom of Galicia and

Lo do m e ria in F ebru a ry 1 8 6 1 which contained
, ,

m ore liberal conce ss ions th a n were granted t o

any other people .

With the tacit consent o f the Austrian Gov

e rn m ent Galicia became the headquarters o f
,

the Polish rev ol t against Russia in 1 86 3 i I n .

1 8 64 the Re v olutionary N ational Gov ern ment

at Warsaw tried most foolishly and with total

,

misunderstanding o f the situation to s tir up a ,

revolt in Galicia A s a result the Constitution

.
,

was withdrawn fo r a year and the country put ,

under marti a l law with it s attend ant severi

,

tie s ; but e ve n so Galicia s u ffered fa r le ss than

,
 TH E R E VOL U TI ON OF 1 863 2 83

the other Polish territories from the re v o l u

tion and was in a much better position b o th
, ,

e co no m l ca l l y and a s re gards it s political rela

tions than either o f the other s when peace was

, ,

restored .
 CHA PTER I X
POL A ND S I N C E 1 8 63
I . PRU S SI AN P OLAND

FO R eight hundred year s the German s have

been ghting the Slav s on their eastern bo rder
and colonizing their conquered lands ; the M ark
o f Brandenburg came into existence fo r this

purpose the Knight s o f the Sword and the

,

Teutonic O rder c arried o n the s truggle for

'

nearly v e hundred ye a rs and when the Bran

,

d en b u rg Hohenzollern s s ucceeded to the Duchy

o f Prussia they simply inherited the age O ld -

task o f maintaining and extending German in

u e n ce o nthe Vistula The method o f carrying
.

o u t this task ha s been the same throughout the

centuries The peace ful penetration o f Ger

.

man traders a nd o f subsidized German settlers

has prepared the way for conquest and after
conquest the steady pressure o f a Germana d
mini stration and continued colonization hav e
made the Slav territories one after another com
p l e t e l y G e rman The
. Kingdom o f Prussia ,

which grew o u t o f the union of the Duchy with

the Brandenburg Electorate became great and
,

powerful by the Prussiani z ation o f conquered

2 86 B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

er nm e nt has been the steady and consistent

opponent of Polish freedom both in Russia and
,

at home In Russia she has used all her dip

.

l o m a t ic skill to keep up bad feeling between

Russians and Poles and at home she has
,

adopted a policy o f ruthless and systematic

Germanization The necessity for this policy
.

is found in the fa Et that the Germans as a race

are not very tenacious o f their nationalism .

They succumb rather easily to alien civiliza

tions with which they come in contact and
among the Pole s were gradually becoming
Polonized ; o r if not they were boycotte d and
ostracized by their Polish neighbors until they
were forced to leave and were replaced by
,

Poles The result o f this proces s was that the

.

Poles were gradually bringing under Polish

inuence not only the land o f their o ld King
,

dom but al s o regions hitherto wholly Germ a n

, ,

and th e purpose o f the Government was to

counteract thi s development and re store G e r
man control .

F or the rst few years after 1 8 6 3 the a b so rp

tion of Prussia in the events leading to empire
in 1 8 7 0 necessitated leaving the Poles much to
themselves but shortly after 1 8 7 1 the Polish
,

policy began to sti ffen under Bismarck who

,

b eliev ed that Poli s h nationali s m was s ucce s s

 P O LA N D S I N C E 1 8 63 287

fully undermining the foundations o f the Prus

sian state The use of the Polish language wa s
.

forbidden ; towns and streets received German

names ; letters and telegrams addressed in ,

Polish to Polish place s were not delivered ; ,

v ery few Poles were retained in public o fce ,

and those few were O bliged to Germanize their

names ; o fficers and employs o f the state were
forbidden to live in houses owned by Poles and ,

in the school s even religion was taught in the

German language .

But though it was enforced with much rigor

fo r fteen years thi s policy did not achieve
,

its purpo s e The great economic and espe

.

c ia ll y the great industrial forces which had trans

formed Russian Pol a nd had also been at work

1

here but the transformation had been more

,

rapid as a result of e ffective and intelligent

government assistance Here a s there by 1 8 8 5 .

a new Polish middle class and an industrial

proletariat had come into existence and had
become enthusiastic supporters o f Polish na
t io n a l is m
, which thus reinforced had beco me
, ,

a far more serious d anger than the o l d nati o n

a l is m o f the P o lish nobility Everywhere the .

Germans continued to lose to the increasing

numbers wealth and intelligence o f the Poles
, , .

1
Se e pp . 2 3 , 24 .
 2 88 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF PO LA N D

The best ev idence of this is that in 1 8 8 5 and

1 8 8 6 it was thought neces s ary to introduce

more drastic measures .

I n 1 8 8 5 thirty thousand Slav immigrants

were expelled from the P olish prov inces and ,

in 1 8 8 6 the famous Colonization Commission

( A n s eide l nngs K o m m is s io n) was founded The .

Commission bought o u t with funds supplied,

by the Government the Polish nobles who were

,

willing to sell their land and the land thus a c

,
~

quired was sold only to Germans and only o n ,

condition that it was not to be resold to Poles .

At rst the Poles were very ready to sell but ,

after they saw the result s and realized the pur

pose o f the law they not only kept what land
,

they had but formed societies to buy up all the

,

land o nthe market and sell it to Poles and ,

thus prevent the Commission from getting hold

o f it . Poles also who sold to the Commission
, ,

were regarded as traitors to their nation with ,

the result that the Commission found it dif

c u l t to get lan d while competition forced the

price up to a prohibitive gure .

The failure o f its policy only drove the G o v

e rn m en t to s till more drastic methods I n 1 90 4.

a law was p a s sed forbidding the erection o f

buildings in Poland without the permission
o f the Commission . O nly when the Polish pro
2 90 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D

established a prosperous German peasantry

which pre sents a sharp contrast to the estates
o f the poor Polish peasant with no go v ernment ,

behind him But these poor Polish peasants

.

are holding their o wn and learning all the time

,

from their Germanenemies N ot only are they .

more prolic than the Germans but they never ,

lose their nationality ; whereas as has been s aid ,

above the German is rather easily d e na t io na l

,

iz e d I n S pite o f the e ff orts o f the Government

.

to keep them apart he often marries a Polish

,

wife and comes under the powerful inuence o f

the Catholic priesthood I f he does not c o m .

p l e t e l y s uccumb to the inuences surrounding

him at any rate his children d o They are
, .

Catholics and Poles from birth I n self defense - .

they Polonize their name and make a point ,

o f forgetting that they hav e any German bl o od .

Prince v o nB iil o w Imperial Chancellor fro m

,

1 90 0 to 1 90 8 in his recent book claims that

1
,

the Go vernment s policy i s only incidentally

and negatively anti -Polish The aim o f P rus.

sian policy in the Eastern M arches has always

been to reconcile subj ect s o f Polish nationality
to the Prussian s tate and the German nati o n .

N othing is further from the aims o f o u r policy

th a na ght again s t the Poles ; its obj ect is
1
Pri nce B nh a d o nB il l ow I m p ri l G m ny p 3 0 6
er r v , e a er a , . .
 P O LA N D S I N C E 1 8 63 2 91

to protect maintain and strengthen the Ger

, ,

man nationality among the Po les Consequently .

it is a ght for German nationalism What .

ever the moti ve the re s ult is pretty clearly a

,

war o f extermination a s the Prince a dmits ,

when he says : I n the struggle between na

t io n a l it ie s o ne nation i s the hammer and the

other the anvil O ne i s the v ictor and the other

.

the v anquished . He admits also that up to

date ( 1 91 4 ) the policy has failed but he believe s ,

that s teady pressure u ninch ingl y applied for

many years will ultimately attain their end .

And after ultimate succe s s what ? The Poles

in Posen as well a s in the Kingdom have long
believed that the obj ect of Germany s pro
tectorate inTurkey and her close and domi

nating alliance with Austria i s expansion into

the east o f Europe where in the empires o f
, ,

Turkey and Rus sia v ast stretches o f unde

,

v e l o pe d country s par s ely populated by back

,

ward peoples o ffer a great eld for economic

,

enterprise as well as for the spread of that Ger
man culture which Germany regards it as

her mission to carry to the uttermost parts o f

the earth Dm o wski s tates the situation very
.

well when he s ays Just as it was the fall o f

,

Poland that gave Prussia special importance

in Europe and made po ssible her leadership in
2 92 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
modern Germany so the renascence o f Poland ,

as a political factor would mean an end to

the domination of Prussia in the German Em
pire .

1
Prussia understands this perfectly and
it makes any compromise betwee n hers elf
and her Poles impossible .

The s ignicance o f the stru ggle is also per v

fe c t l y understood by the Pole s They are the .

outposts planted right in the enemy s country

,

o f the great army o f all Slav dom lined up to

battle for its existence against the advancing

might o f Germanism But by the very fact of .

their position they can o n ly retard no t def ,

in it e l y check the G e rman ad vance That

, .

must be the task o f the lines farther back in

Russian Poland where the real strength o f the
,

Slav cau s e if strength it has must be found

, , .

2 . RU S SI AN P OLAND

I m m ediately the Revolution of 1 8 63 was

crushed the Russian Go vernment put into
,

o peration in Poland the plan o f agrarian reform

which it had been about to introduce when the
revolution broke o u t The new law gave the .

peasant s entire pers onal freedom nearly half ,

o f the arable land of the nobility in freehold and ,

the right to continue to use the forests and the

1 Ra m o nDm owski, La u estionPol o n
Q a is
f} .
2 94 B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
being led and deprived o f his traditional leaders
, ,

the nobles and the clergy he turned almost

,

ine vitably to the representatives of the central

government in his district and very soon in
, ,

spite of a law expressly forbidding it the se rep

,

re s e n t a t iv e s were in full control of the peasant

communes o r v illages and with the tacit con
,

sent o f the cen t ral authorities were carrying

o u t a drastic and oppressi v e policy o f Ru ssi

c a t io n .

The Polish revolution had marked a crisis in

the policy o f the Empe ror Alexander I I He .

had been fo r some time under strong reaction

ary inuences and d iSco u ra ge d by the failure
, ,

o f many o f his liberal plans he was e v en befo re

, ,

1 8 63 , quite undecided about carrying them

further The revolution precipitated his deci
.

sion and a reactionary policy S lowly but surely

made itself felt throughout his Empire In .

P oland it meant that the policy o f Ru s s ic a

tion proceeded apace The use of the Polish
.

language in any public place wa s absolutely

forbidden ; in business church and school only
, ,

Russian was permitted ; newspapers could be

printed religiou s instruction could b e gi ven
, ,

only in Russian ; and only those persons e s

p e c ia l l y authorized by the Russian central
a uthoritie s could te ach in the schools .
 P OLA N D S I N C E 1 8 63 2 95

Alexander I I was assassinated in1 8 8 1 and . ,

his s o nAlexander I I I wh o succeeded him wa s

a far more throughgoing reactionary than his

father He was in fact a Slavophi l o f the old

.

extreme Russophil type His ideal wa s the re

.

duction o f every o ne in the Empire t o one

pattern Russian in nationality O rthodox in
, ,

religion and in politics wholly and humbly sub

,

missi ve and obedient to an autocratic emperor .

The alien and the O rthodox were especially the

objects o f his severity and in Poland the church
,

and the school were made the instruments o f a

Russifying policy so persistent so unbending, ,

and so ru t hless that it defeated its o wnends .

O n the surface the policy was a success but ,

underneath was an intense though silent hatred

o f Russia and all her works which was easily
,

made the basis for a Polish national revival .

The sympathies o f intelligent Russians were

wholly with the Poles during this period ; the
better class of Russian bureaucrat refused to
serve inPoland and the governors -general
,

themsel ves saw the ev il and fo lly of such ex

treme measure s and ad vi sed a milder policy but ,

without avail Contrary to liberal hope s the

.

accession o f N icholas I I in 1 8 94 made no change

in policy I t was not until the Rev olution o f
.

1 90 4 which followed the defeats of Russia in

,
2 96 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLA N D
the Japanese war wrung reluctant concession s
,

everywhere from a powerless Go vernme nt that

the situation in Poland improv ed .

I n the Western Provinces where only the ,

u pper cla s s and a small proportion o f the peas

ants were Polish and the mass o f the po pu l a

tion either Lithuanian White Russian o r Little
, ,

Rus sian the attempt wa s made not only to

, ,

s tamp o u t all traces of revolution but to stamp ,

o u t the Polish people themselves Whole Pol .

ish villages were burned and the inhabitants

sent to Siberia ; l ands and fortunes o f Polish
nobles were conscated Catholic churches were
,

closed a s were also all Polish theaters and the

, ,

Polish language either written o r spoken wa s

, ,

forbidden in all public places th e obj ect

.

also of replacing ans as rapidly

as possible the Government in 1 8 6 5 limited
v ery strictly the amount o f land that could be
purchased in this region by persons o f Polish
origin The local authorities in carrying out the
.

law mad e religion the test of nationality and ,

Catholic peasants whatever their parentage

, ,

found it extremely di fcult when it was not ,

impossible to get the land they needed and we re

,

n a ncially well able to buy .

As the Western P rov inces were fu nd a m e n

tally Ru ss ian and had been merely supercially
2 98 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
But in spite o f repression and pers e cution a
new and better Poland came in t o existen c e in
the fty years following the Revolution o f
1 8 63 . Such progress was made in e c onomic and
social directions that the o l d P oland of 1 8 6 3 ,

then as in 1 77 2 a backward unde veloped ,

country of noble s priests and serfs gave place

, , ,

to a thickly populated industrially prospe rous

, ,

thoroughly modern and democratic country .

The land legislation o f 1 8 64 which broke up ,

the great estates wa s the beginning o f peasant

,

prosperity and the measures of Alexander I I I

, ,

who did much in all part s of his Empire to

encourage and make possible progress in
agriculture and industry helped them further
, .

The pe as ant s made money saved it and were , ,

able to buy more land e ven at the high prices

at which the n obles held it so that when the ,

present war broke o u t in 1 91 4 considerably

more than half the land was held by small
pe a s ant o r sz l a chta proprietors The po pu l a .

tion of the Kingdom more than doubled between

1 8 6 3 and 1 91 4 and a large proportion o f the

incre a se went to the towns where it formed , ,

with the Jews a great industrial proletariat

,
.

Y oung Poles o f the upper class al so barred ,

fro m public life after 1 8 6 3 turned to business,

with all their energie s and hav e played a lead

,
 P OL A N D S I N C E 1 863 2 99

ing part in the great commercial and industrial

development t hat has gone o n all over the
Ru ss ian Empire during the last half century
- .

There was thus fo rmed in Po land a native

middle class prosperou s intelligent and pro
, , ,

g re ss iv,e destined to be a factor o f enormous

importance in the Poland of the future .

These two classes feel very di fferently about

Russia from the older generation of Poles o n ,

account o f the fact that industrial Poland nds

her chief market in Russia and i s therefore
economically dependent upon her T he indus .

trial classes inPoland have therefore long since

ceased to favor an independent Polish state as ,

independence would inev itably mean a hostile

high tari ff in Russian markets which would be
their ruin .

There are other reasons also why the o l d , ,

ideal o f their fathers o f an independent Polish

,

s tate as the only adequate expression o f Polish

nationalism has failed to commend itself to
,

great numbers o f modern Poles F irst of all is .

its utter impracticability The Poles o f 1 8 3 0

.

and 1 8 6 3 were theorists and dreamers Di .

v id e d
, undisciplined and unprepared they
, ,

ung their feeble armies against the might

o f Russia wi t h sublime patri o tism and self

sacrice it is true but with a blind disregard

, ,
3 6 6 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

of f act s and possibilities The P o les o f the

.

twentieth century are modern business men

accustomed to direct dealing with hard fac ts
and priding themselves on clear thinking They .

have come to see that not only is rev olution

against Russia practically impossible but that ,

it i s also inad visable They are no les s patri

.

otic than their fathers and no le s s tenacious of

,

their nationalism but they recognize that under

,

twentieth -century conditions the only way to

pre serve their nationalism i s to rest it
again s t the great Slav Empire o f Russia ; in

other words to create a free autonomou s

, ,

P oland within the Russian Empire and s up

ported by Russian friendship .

This idea is not a new one in P oland As has .

been shown in prev ious chapters there has been

ever since 1 8 1 5 a small group o f practical
politician s whose idea was to co Ope ra t e with
Russia as the only possible way o f securing
that minimum o f loc a l autonomy essential to
any national devel o pment Francis Lu b e cki .

and the M arquis Wie l po l ski were notable rep

re s e nt a t iv e s of this type o f thought but like ,

others o f the same type they were always u n

popular partly perhaps because in a nation of
, , ,

theorists and dreamers they were hard headed -

workers f or practical results and were willing ,

3 0 2 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
which their fathers had gloried and idealized ,

and they found in her own insti tutions and

,

traditions the cause of that bitter class hatred

,
-

and disunion which had caused her fa ll They .

s aw that it wa s serfdom Jesuit intolerance and

, ,

aristocratic pri v ilege that had ruined Poland ,

and they s et themsel ves the task o f b u ilding up

a new united Poland o nthe solid foundations
,

o f civil equality free thought and democratic

, ,

principles o f government I n 1 8 86 the Polish

.

League (known after 1 8 95 as the N ational

League ) was formed to teach this new demo

cratic nationalism to the pea s ants since the ,

rst and most necessary part of the new task

was to win over the peasants whom the habits
o f centuries of s erfdom had kept entirely aloof

from public life By teaching them their own

.

history and literature the League tried to

awaken their national feeling to make them
,

realize that they too were Poles that Poland s

,

interests were their interests and thus make

,

them inte lligent and patriotic supporters of

the new nationalism From 1 8 86 to 1 8 96 the
.

League worked from necessity as a secret

, ,

society and under many di fculties but it had ,

t h e s upport and cooperation o f many of the

country nobility and the policy o f the Russian
Go vernment had predisposed the peasants to
 P O LA N D S I N C E 1 86 3 30 3

any anti Russian propaganda By 1 8 97 it wa s

- .

so well supported that it abandoned its secrecy

and came o u t publicly as the N ational Demo
cratic Polish Party under the lea dership of
,

M Ramon Dm o ws ki who almost S ince its

.
,

foundation had directed its work .

F rom 1 8 97 to 1 90 4 the party waged an u n

resting campaign against the repressi ve policy
o f the Government .The peasant commune s
were the centers the peasants the most active
,

supporters o f the party and during these years

,

it became abundantly clear that the a ge o l d -

gulf between nobles and peasants was be ing

bridged By the end o f 1 90 3 the party had in
.

its ranks most o f the gentry and middle class ,

practically all the peasant s and a large se ction

,

o f the working men and when in the elections

,

t o the rst Russian Duma the party captured

all the seats assigned to both the Kingdom a nd

the Annexed Provinces it could j ustly claim
,

to represent the v iews o f the maj ority o f P o les .

During the se critical years o f Poland s in

ternal regeneration a great change in t h e

European situation o f both Poland and Russia
had come about as a result o f the establishment
o f the German Empire in 1 8 7 0 Before 1 8 7 0
.

the Poles like other Europeans had regarded

, ,

the menace of Russian aggression on the wes t

3 4
0 B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

as the greatest danger to western Europe An .

independent Poland would hav e a very real

Europe a n importance a s a barrier against such
aggression and it was o n this fact that the
,

Poles bas ed their hopes o f European assistance

in their revolutions After 1 8 7 0 however the
.
, ,

danger o f German pressure toward the e ast

became a far greater danger than Russian
pressure toward the west and one which Poland
shared with Ru ss i a and t he whole Slav world .

By the e nd of the nineteenth century Russia

was the only Slav s tate which wa S no t keenly

alive to the danger for Slavdom in the growth

o f the German inuence in the east of Europe .

The Slavs s aw in the close union o f Austria and

Germany a far more dangerous enemy to their
cause than their o l d traditional enemy Turkey ,

becau se o f the far greater intelligence and

e fciency o f the new foe The union of all Slavs
.

against advancing Germanism they felt t o be

their rst and greatest duty I n this battle
.

against Germanism the Poles form the rst line

o f defen se
. N ot only is their country the most
western o f all Slav lands and thu s geo gra ph i
cally directly in contact with Germany making ,

their conquest the rst step in German advance ,

but their civ ilization also is the only o ne t hat

, ,

h a s withstood the eas t ward march of Ger

3 6 6 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
the Empire seemed to the N ational Demo
c ra t s the course dictated by the most practical

s tatesmanship a s well as by the highest patriot

ism and since 1 90 2 it is for this re con
, ciliation
that they hav e worked .

Up to 1 91 4 their effort s t o get th e Russian

Government to see their point o f V iew had been
wholly unavailing Berlin had se en to that
. .

German diplomacy has worked unceasingly to

keep up the enmity between Russia and her
P oles and thus prevent their combination
against her ; and as Russia h a s never had either
a constructiv e Polish policy or even any clear
thought o n Polish affairs Germany has been
,

successful Russian Liberals indeed favored

.
, ,

the autonomy o f Poland realizing that Ger

,

many alone beneted by th e poli c y o f Ru s s i

cation but they were them s el ves in oppos iti o n
,

to the Government and could exert no inu

ence Another group o f Russian s who warmly
.

approved the obj ects o f the N ational Demo

cratic Party were the N eo Slavs who were
-
,

Pan -Slavists o f a new type Their idea was

.

decentralization in gov ernment local auton ,

o m y for all the various nationalities in the

Empire and their federation o n the same

,

general lines as the British Empire But they .

also had no government inuence and it was ,

 P O LA N D S I N C E 1 86 3 3 0 7

no t until the defeats Russia in the J apanese

of

War led to revolts at home which resulted in

the calling of the rst Russian Duma that these ,

partie s o f oppo sition had a chance to e xpress

themselve s .

With the opening o f the rs t Dum a the

P o lish que stion entered a new phas e The .

Ukrainian question had by that time reached

a somewhat critical st a ge and was a potent
inuence perhap s the decisive inuence in
, ,

drawing together into close co operation the
Po lish group o r Club in the Duma and

the Russian N ation a l Democrats or Cadet

Party .

The Ukrainian question as a ques
tion o f European importance originated in
Austria a nd its understanding necessitates a
consideration o f the history o f Au s tri a n Po
l a nd since 1 86 3 .

3 . AU S T RIA N P OLAND

While Prussia and Russia were carrying o u t a

policy which meant practic a lly a constant state
o f war between the govern m ents and their

Polish s ubj ects the Austrian Po les were no t

,

only o n terms o f peace and friendship with

the Austrian Government but for many years ,

acted as the very pillars of the monarchy .

After 1 8 6 3 the Poles in Galicia like those in ,

30 8 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Po sen and the Kingdom denitely gave up the

,

idea o f independence as their national pro

gramme accepted the hard fact o f political
,

division and alien rule and turned their ener

,

gies to preserv ing and strengthening their unity

as a nation and their national culture under the
three monarchies The Polish nation a l move
.

m ent thus became a cultural s ocial and eco , ,

nomic movement not a political one F reed

, .

thus from fear o f a Polish insurrection and ,

having n o nation a lism to maintain at all costs

as had Germany and Russia the Austrian ,

Government could aff ord to make friends WI t h

its Poles and there were a number of re a s on s
,

why their friendship was advantageous .

In 1 8 6 6 Austria was defeated in the wa r

brought about by Prussia to decide the que s
tio n long contested between them o f the
, ,

leadership o f Germany Prussia s victory mean t

.

Austria s exclusion from the new Germ a ny of

1 8 7 0 and the end for the time being anyway

, ,

o f her distinctively German policy She was .

obliged to consider the possibility o f maki n g

her Slav subj ects the prop of her Empire B II t .

Austria s Slav peoples were with the single

,

exception o f the Poles all more o r less under

,

the inuen c e o f the Pan -Slav idea with Russia

as their leader They were also agitating for a
.
3 10 B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D
centralized system in opposition to a form o f
government which under happier circum
,

stances and di fferent leadership they would ,

have delighted to champion But they a sked .

large rewards for their support When in 1 8 6 7 .

the new constitution o r Au sgl eich es tablishing

the s o called Du a l Monarchy o f Austria
-

Hungary came into existence the Poles con ,

sented to support it only in return fo r very

important concessions ; a special minister for
Galicia in the new Government a separate ,

board o f education for Galicia a greatly ex ,

tended use o f Polish in the s chools and its

exclusive use in all branches of the administra
tion .

In the Reichsrath the lower legislative house

,

o f the new Government the Poles had 5 7

,

votes which made them often the control

,

ling factor in giving the Government a maj ority ,

and like the Irish under similar conditions ,

they bought their freedom with their vo tes ,

supporting the Government only in return for

concessions which in the course o f a few years
, , ,

amounted t o practically complete administra

tive autonomy By 1 8 7 3 this process was about
.

complete and since that date the Poles have

,

had the administration o f Galicia in their

h ands and hav e bee n able to gov ernit in their
 P OLA N D S I N C E 1 86 3 31 1

ow ninterests It has meant a great increase in

.

Polish national feeling a reviva l o f Polish cul

,

ture and a considerable economic advance

, ,

especially in West Galicia .

All this has been however almost exclu

, ,

s iv e l y fo r the upper governing class though the ,

Polish peasantry in West Galicia have shared

slightly in its benets I n E a st Galicia the .

condition o f the peasantry has remained de

p l o ra b l,e and even in West Galicia there ha s
been no s uch economic reform as has trans
formed peas ant conditions in Prussian and
Rus s ian Poland The peasant s were indeed
.

emancipated from se rfdom and given their land

after the Revolution of 1 8 4 8 but they remained ,

uneducated and economically backward their ,

trade was hampered by articial restrictions ,

their towns were s mall and poor and the Jews , ,

j ust as in O ld Poland formed the middle class

, .

The chief reason for the di fference between the

two parts o f the country and for the poverty
and backwardness o f East Galicia was the dif
ference in race between the peasants and the
governing class East Galicia the o l d principal
.
,

ity o f Ha l isc h b e l o ngs racially with the Russian

,

Ukraine I ts people are Ruthenians o r Little

.

Russians o r as they prefer t o be called Ukra in

, , ,

ians and are a part o f that great people wh o

,
3 12 B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
with Kiev a s their capital were Russia from the
tenth to the fourteenth century M ost of them .

are Uniate by religion ( a minority are O rtho

d o ) and hav e a distinct race consciousness
x -

w hich during the past seventy v e years has

-

expre s sed itself in a strong national movement

for the preserv ation o f their language and the
development o f their national culture The .

Poles who form only twenty four per cent o f

,
-

the population are the large landowners and

,

the governing class and with the Roman

, ,

Catholic clergy hav e systematically oppressed

,

the Ukrainian s forcing upon them the use of

,

the Polish language the Polish culture and the

, ,

Roman Catholic religion O f this aristocratic

.

minority the Little Russian nobles form an

indistinguishable part They were completely
.

Polonized soon after the Polish conquest o f

Galicia and hav e been almost entirely u n e

a ff ected by the modern Ukrainian national

movement which is thus of necessity es sentially
,

a peasant and working man s movement I t

.

h a s identied i t self with Socialism and other

forms o f radicalism but has nev er lost its dis
,

t in c t iv e l y national characteristics That the .

Polish nobles hated and opposed the se radical

ideas as much as she did herself was o ne o f the
chief reason s why Au stria wa s willing to turn
3 14 B R I EF H I STO RY OF P OLA N D
change her policy and to take me a s ures to con
ciliate her Ukrainian subj ects A Ukrainian .

University at Lemberg Ukrainian s chools in

,

East Galicia where the Ukrainian language wa s

used and Ukraini a n nationalism openly culti
v a t e d a s well as increasing toleration for the
,

Ukrainian ( Uniate ) Church were Austria s ,

s omewhat half hearted concessions to this new

-

policy while politically she was holding out

,

hopes of an autonomous Ukrainian state within

the Austrian Empire after the defeat of Russia
by Austria and Germany should have made
possible the inclusion o f the Russian Ukraine
in such a state Austria thus tried to use
.

Ukrainian na t io na l l s m in her o wninterests j ust

a s she had so successfully used Polish nation

a l is m . Her s ucces s was su fficient distinctly to

alarm the Poles By 1 8 91 there was a Ukra in
.

ian group in the Reichsrath and in the elec,

tions o f 1 8 95 to the Galician Diet Ukra ino phil

deputies only were elected in all the electoral
districts (cnria ) where Rutheni a ns pre d o m i

nated This meant that many o f the so called

.
-

O ld Ruthene s who were O rthodox in reli

,

gion and inclined t o cherish the Russi a n con

ne c t io n formed by their racial and religious
unity with her were won over to the national
,

movement M ean . whil e in s out he rn Russia

,
 P O LA N D S I N C E 1 8 63 3 5
1

Germany was secretly but effectively helping

o n the Ukrainian mov ement and during the
,

early years o f the twentieth century as the ,

Austro -German union grew closer and closer ,

Austro German encouragement o f Ukrainian

-

aspiration s became inc reasingly alarming not ,

only to the Poles but to many Russians as

,

well and disposed them to consider reconcilia

,

tion with the Poles more s eriously than ever

This was the s ituation when the rst Ru s sian

Duma came together in 1 90 6 and explains why
the Russian Cadet Party was ready to meet
the Polish N ational Democrat s halfway par ,

t ic u l a rl y a s the latter were ready to abandon

the policy o f Po l o nl z m g the Ukrainians o f
Galicia and to let Russia absorb them regard ,

ing this a s preferable to the establishment of

a Ukrainians tate under Austro German pro
-

t e c t io n which seemed to be the alternati v e

, .

The Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the ,

Austrian throne was generally regarded as a

,

strong supporter o f Ukrainian autonomy and ,

it was believed by the Pole s that the German

Emperor had promi sed the crown o f the pro
je c t e d Ukrainian state to the children of the
Archduke s morganatic marriage with the

Duch e ss o f Hohenberg .
 3 1 6 B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
T he Poles o f Galicia quite naturally regarded
these developments with extreme concern In .

s pit e o f her eff orts to reassure them a profound

,
l

7 s uspicion o f Austria

s good faith in the U kra in
I an matter open e d a breach between them that
widened rapidly as the Au s tro Germanalliance
-

tightened and Au s tria s s ubservience to Ger

,

many awakened the gravest fear s in regard to

her future policy towa rd the Pole s themselve s .

The result wa s that some ye a rs before the

pre sent wa r broke o u t the alliance o f half a
century between Au stria a n d he r P ol ish S u b
j ec t s wa s at an end
. A large number o f them
had denitely turned again st her When the .

a s sas sination o f the Archduke occurred in

J une 1 91 4 they as well as other Poles regarded

, ,

it with rej oicing as removing o n e o f the most

determined enemie s o f their nationalism and ,

when war followed the assassination they were

ready t o throw in their lot with Russia seeing ,

inher their only hope e v e n i f n

, o t a v e ry bright

h ope o f Slav fre edom

, .
3 1 8 B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OLA N D

common intere s ts but never identifying them

,

selves with any and acting always in the inter

est s o f Polish autonomy and nationalism In .

the Fir st Duma aside from putting in a claim

,

to autonomy when they rs t took their s eats ,

the Poles did not aggressively champion their

cause In the Second Duma the Government
.
,

having go t control o f the revolution was ready

,

to resume its reactionary policy and put itself

o nrecord as opposed to the recognition o f alien

nationalities This obliged the Pole s to come

.

forward with their programme o f an entirely

national regim e They also demanded the im
.

mediate introduction of the Polish language

into all the Polish schools J ust at this time the
.

Prime Minister Stolypin had a government

programme before the Duma which the Duma
either had to pass in its essentials or be dis
s olved They knew it and were divided o nthe
.

matter into two nearly equal part s so nearly ,

equal that the votes of the Polish group would

decide the question Th e most important parts
.

o f the government programme were an increase

in the army and the approval o f the budget .

The Poles voted for the Government in regard

to the army to S how as they said that they
, , ,

were ready to do their duty by the Government ,

but they expected national recognition in re

 THE P O LES A N D THE WAR 3 9
1

turn They also u sed the occasion to say that

.

they wi s hed to see Russia with an a rmy strong

enough to enable h e r to play an independent
part in foreign aff airs which meant that the
,

Poles were opposed to Russia s acceptance o f

Germ a n dictation in regard to Russian pol

icies .

O n the que s tion the budget the Pole s

of

declared that they regarded the budget as the

expres sion o f a system O f government opposed
to their national interest s But recognizing that
.

it could not be immediately changed they ,

agreed t o vote the budget on condition that the

Gov ernment would S how its good intention s
by making a public statement in the Duma
in favor o f the use o f Polish in the schools .

Stolypin however refused to compromise with

, ,

the Poles even inorder to get his bills through ,

but instead dissolved the Duma and ordered a

new election In the new the Third Duma the
.
, , ,

Polish representation wa s reduced to a third o f

its former size and thus made t o o sm a ll to play
a decisive part This blow heavy as it was was
.
, ,

no t without its advantages for the Polish ca use .

It brought the logic intelligen c e and practical

, ,

e c ie ncy o f the Polish programme into sharp

contrast with the entire absence o f any con

s tructi v e Polish policy o n the p a rt o f the
3 o
2 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

Russian Government and considerably in ,

creased the respect felt for Polish aims and

methods among Russian Liberals .

By this time al s o the Pan Slavists were

-

k eenly alive to the dangers for the Slav cause

resulting from the close union between Austria
an d Germany and also to the great service a
,

Russo Polish understanding would do to that

-

cau se and a series o f Pa nSlav Congresses held

,
-

during 1 90 8 had for their obj ect the creation of

s uch a union At the Congress held at Peters
.

burg early inthe year M Charles K ra m a rz the

.
,

Bohemian leader o f the Pan Slav movement

-
,

s tated that the most important question o f the

moment was the reconciliation of Russia and

P oland that they might unite in the All Slav -

struggle against Germanism The Polish re pre .

s en t a t iv e s replied t o this by the statement that

they con s idered themselves at a turning point in
-

their history After many centuries o f struggle

.

against peoples to the east of them Tartars ,

Turks and Russians

, they now saw Poland s

destiny to be to return to the earliest o f all her

tasks the struggle against Germanism In this
, .

s truggle the Poles regarded all Slavs as their

allies and placed themsel ves at the serv ice o f
the great Slav cause 1
.

1
Ra m o nDm owski La , Q
uestio nP ol on
a is e .
3 2 2 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
Po l e s !T h e h o u r h a s s t ru c k in whi ch t h e sa c re d
dre a m o f yo u r fa the rs a nd fo re fa the rs m a y nd fu l
ll m e n t. A cen t u ry a n d a h a lf a go t h e livi n g e s h o f
Po l a n d wa s t o rn a s u n d e r , b u t h e r s o u l d id n o t d ie .

S h e lived inho pe t ha t th e re wo u l d co m e a nh o u r fo r
t h e res u rre c t io no f t h e Po li s h N a t i o n a n d fo r s i s t e rly
re co nc ili a t io n wi th Ru s s ia T h e Ru s s ia n Arm y now
.

b ri n s
g y o u t h e j o yf u l t i d i ngs o f t hi s r e co n c ili a tion .

M a y t he b o u n d a ri e s b e a n nu l
Po li sh N a t i o nt o pie ce s ! M a y
i nto o ne b o dy u nd e r th e s ce pte r
p e ro r . U nd e r this s ce pte r Po l a nd pha ll b e reb o rn ,
fre e in fa i th , inl a ngu a ge , in s e lf-go ve rnm e nt O ne .

t hi n g o n ly R u s s i a e x p e c t s o f yo u e q u a l c o ns id e ra t i o n

fo r t h e ri gh t s o f th o s e n a tio n a li t i e s t o whi c h hi s t o ry

h a s li n k ed yo u Wi th o pe n he a rt , wi th h a nd fra
-
.

t e rn a l l y o u t s t re t ch e d , Ru ss i a s t e ps fo rwa rd t o m e e t

yo u . S h e b e lie ve s tha t t h e Swo rd h a s n o t ru s t e d

whi ch , a t G r ne wa l d , s tru c k d own t h e e ne m y Fro m .

t h e s h o re s o f t h e Pa c i c t o t h e N o r th S e a s t h e Ru s ,

s i a n a rm i e s a re o nt h e m a rch . T h e d a wno f a n ew

life is bre a k i ng fo r yo u M a y th e re s h ine , re s pl e n

.

, t h e S i gn
den t a b o ve th a t d a wn o f t h e C ro s s , s ym b o l

o f t h e Pa s s i o n a n d Re s u rre c t i o n o f N a t i o n s!

S i n d
( g e ) C o m m an d e r -l n-chi e f G e ne ra l Ad ju ta n t ,

N I CHO LA S .

In Russian Poland the proclamation met with

an immediate and enthusiastic response The .

Polish Club in the Duma had already at the

outbreak of the war taken part in that most
remarkable demonstrati o n o f loyalty unique ,

in Ru ss ian history when all partie s hitherto

,
.
 THE P O LES A N D T H E WAR 2
3 3

irr e concilable pledged their suppo rt to the

.

Government The Club used the o c casion of

.

the proclamation however again to attest its

, ,

loyalty and to express it s condence in the

Government s good faith O n the day following

.

the proclamation also the representatives of the

four most important political partie s met in
Warsaw and issued the following s tatement :
Th e re pre s e nta t ive s o f th e u nd e rs igne d po li tica l
p a r t i e s a ss e m b l e d in W a rs a w o n 1 6 A u g t 1 91 4
u s , ,

we l co m e t he pro cl a m a t io n i ss u e d t o t h e Po l e s b y
H is I m pe ri a l H i gh ne ss t h e C o m m a n d e r-in -C h ie f o f

t h e Ru s s i a nFo rc e s a s a na c t o f t h e fo re m o s t his
t o rica l i m po rt a n ce a n
, d im pl ic i tl y b e li e ve t h a t u po n
t h e t e rm i n a t io no f t h e wa r t h e pro m i s e s u tt e re d in

t h a t pro cl a m a t i o nwill b e fo rm a l l y fu l ll e d a n , d tha t

t h e d re a m s o f t h e ir fa t h e rs a n d fo re fa th e rs will b e
rea lized tha t Po l a nd s e s h t o rn a s u nd e r a ce n
,

t u ry a n d a h a lf a go will o n
, c e a ga i nb e m a d e wh o l e ,

th a t t h e fro n t i e rs seve ri n g t h e P o li s h N a t io nwill

va nis h .

T h e bl o o d o f Po l a n d s so n s s he d inu ni te d co m ba t

a ga i n s t t h e G e rm a n s will s e rve e q u a lly a s a s a c ri ce

o ff e re d u po nt h e a l ta r o f h e r Re s u rre c t i o n .

( g
S i n e d ) T H E D E M O C RA T I C N ATI O NAL PA RT Y .

T HE P OLI S H PR O G RE S SI VE PA R TY .

T HE RE ALI S T PA R T Y .

T HE P O LI S H PR O G RE S S I VE UN I O N .

But there were many P oles who took no part

in thi s rallying to Russia a nd wh o o nthe con ,

t ra ry oppo sed it bitterly

,
I t i s not an eas y.
 2
3 4 B R I EF H I STO RY O F P OLA N D

m atter fo r a people to forget a long h istory o f

tyranny oppre ssion and humiliation such as
, ,

the Poles have s uffered at the hands o f Russia ,

and it is not remarkable that there were many

in the Kingdom and many more in Galicia who
c ould n o t bring themselves to s upport her .

Almost all the Socialists and the members o f

other radical political organizations not c o u nt e
na nc ed by the Russian Government who had ,

s u ff ered under the heavy hand o f the Russian

police belonged t o this group as did also many
, ,

J ews A large number o f the Jews o f Poland

.

were unwilling to call themselve s Poles but ,

desired the recognition o f their existence as a

separate national as well as religious group .

The N ational Democrats had opposed such

recognition j u s t as strenuously as t hey had
opposed Ukrainian nationalism and their anti
,

Semitic attitude as well as the traditional

,

anti Semitic attitude o f the Russian Govern

-

ment had inclined the Jew s to support Austria

, .

M any Pol e s al so s till clung to the idea o f a n

im m ed iate independent Polish state and b e
l ie v e d that their only chance o f getting it lay
in supporting Austria the only power who
,

s ince 1 8 3 0 had given any o fcial re c ognition to

P olish nati o nalism .

During the B alkanwa r s the I ndepen d e nce

3 2 6 B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
where in the interval between the strategic
,

retreat of the Russian armies to their rst

prepared lines and the arrival of the armies of
A ustria -Hungary the
, independence o f Poland
was proclaimed and publicly celebrated The .

P olish v o l IInt e e rs who had escaped Russian

mobilization were organized into a Polish
Legion which j oined the armies o f the Central

P owers and took p a rt in their rs t advance o n

In Galicia where all the political parties were
,

in touch with the Secret N ational Govern

ment in Warsaw the inuence o f these events
, ,

together with the proclamation of the Austrian

Government promising with German co Op
e ra t io n to restore
,
,

Liberty and I nd e pe nd
ence t o Poland seemed to have destroyed al l

,

the Russophil tendencies so obvious before the

war Germany made no official promises but it
.
,

was freely stated and generally believed in

,

Galicia that the Kaiser had uno fcially prom

ised a restored Poland under a Habsburg
prince pos s ibly the Archduke Charle s Stephen
, ,

w hose two daughters are both m a rried to Poles

c onnected with the O ld Polish royal house o f

J agiello one to Prince Jerome Radziwill and

the other to Prince Alexander O l gie rd C z a rto

rys ki . Fo r a time these inuences seemed
 THE P OLES AN D THE WAR 3 7
2

decisive and it looked as if the Galici a n Poles

would S ide solidly with Austria On August 1 6.
,

the day following the Grand Duke s pro cl a

mation all the Polish groups in the Galician

,

Diet and in the Austri a n Reichsrath held a

conference where they p a s sed a unanimous
,

resoluti o n to support Austria and appointed a

Supreme N ational Committee to ra ise l e

gions to succeed the Secret N ational Govern

,

ment o f Warsaw as the representative o f the

cause o f Polish independence and to form a fter

the war the nucleus o f the Polish State
,

In spite of this unanimity the East Galici a n

section o f the committee was from the rst
suspected o f treachery by the Ukrainians b e
cause o f the presence among its members o f
s everal men who before the war had been dis
in
t ct y l and conspicuously pro -Russian Their .

suspicions were j usti e d when a fter the Russian

occupation o f Lemberg the East Galici a n legion
disbanded and was found never to have taken
the oath o f allegiance to Austria and East ,

Galicia proclaimed itself through its Pan

,

Polish newspapers in full sympathy with the

,

Russi a n occupation Perhaps its treachery

.

was the only method by which any Polish o r

g a niz a t io n could get into existence to ght
anywhere .
3 2 8 B RI EF H I STO R Y O F P O LA N D

Having thus t hrown intheir l o t with Russia ,

t he vital question then was w h ether Russia

would keep faith and gran t the liberty she had
promised Fo r a time it looked very doubtful
. .

There was no change in the o l d autocratic

method s o f government in Russian Poland a nd
the new Ru s sian governor o f Galicia ina u gu
rated a Rus s ifying policy which cause d intense
disappointment and led to vigorous protes t
bo th in the press and in the Duma To Russ ia s
.

credit be it said the situation improved ve ry

much in a short time The bureaucrat s in
.

control o f the administrative machinery were

entirely oppo s ed to t h e new policy a nd with ,

powerful inuences behind them refused to

m ake any change until they were s ure o f both
the determin a tion o f the Government and the
good faith o f the Pole s But they were obliged
.

nally to give way and even tho se who

,

had criticized most freely admitted later that

Russia wa s doing all that could be expected
under v e ry di fcult circumstances .

O n the other side Austria h ad rewarded the

s e rvices o f her Poli s h legions by officially rec
o gn iz ing them as comb a tants in a note to
the neutral Power s in O ctober 1 91 4 But the
, .

terrible su ffering s o f the Poles during the

German invas ion and occupation s u ff erings
3 3o B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D

j ust what territories will go to form t h e ne w

f

state the congress alone can decide I t is quite

.

improbable however that much more than

, ,

the Kingdom o f 1 8 1 5 will be included Un .

doubtedly there are Poles no t a few who dream

o f a revival o f the o l d Polish Empire including

Lithuania Little Russia White Russia and

, , ,

West if not East Prussia but no such revi v al i s

,

within the realm o f practical possibilities nor ,

indeed would it be anything but a disadvantage

to the Poles themselves The argument o f
.

nationalism which gIv e s Poland herself her

chief claim t o freedom is entirely against it and ,

the argument from history is a weak o ne The .

un ion between the O ld Kingdom of Poland and

the Grand Duchy o f Lithuania with its Russian
provinces was never so close o r so whole
hearted as its creator s desired o r it s o fcial

terms made it appe a r and its du ration was too

,

brief to make any change in the national senti

ments o f the great mas ses o f the population .

From the practical point o f V iew also the , ,

revival of a Polish Empire even if it excluded

,

East and West Prussia would yet even b e

, ,

fore the war have meant the inclusion o f a

,

n
dangerously large no Polish population with
-

all its attendant religious complications Since .

the war has decimated the Polish population ,

 THE P O LES A N D THE WAR 33 1

the ch a nce s o f Polish nationalism holding it s

o wnin the midst of s o large an alien population ,

even granting the latter s inevitable depletion

by the war would be slight and the chances

,

o f ultimate German control greatly enhanced .

N either the Pole s nor t h e Allies ca nafford to

take the risk .

The creation o f an independent Polis h s tate

s eem s also at present a somewhat remote possi
b il ity Ev en if such a state were limited to the
.

boundaries o f the Kingdom o f 1 8 1 5 where the ,

Pole s formed before the war the vast maj ority

o f the population it is doubtful if it would be
,

a succe s s The division o f the Pole s between

.

Russia and Au stria in the present war i s the

re sult not o f the accident o f government
,

merely o r chiey but o f radical differences o f

,

feeling and of policy among the Polish people .

I t shows that the internal division s so charac

t e ris t ic of O ld Poland in a me a s ure still exist and

will exist fo r s ome time in the future Splendid .

as her progress has been Poland is not yet,

su fciently regenerated t o be an independent

s tate Her best chance o f a safe future lies
.

within the Russian Empire That the Russian .

bureaucracy German in origin in tradition

, , ,

and containing a large German element in its

per sonnel the las t stronghold o f Germ a nism in
,
33 2 B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
Russia will no t outlas t the present war is the
, ,

O pinion o f all well informed observers o f Rus

-

s ian condition s A liberal middle cl a ss inu

.
,
-

e nce is almost certain to follow the wa r and ,

un der such a rgime Poland will be secure in

her autonomy and able t o educate and prepare
h er se lf fo r a po ssible independence in a br ight er
f u ture
.

THE EN D
 B I B LI O G RA P H Y
T HERE is no d e ta il e d ge ne ra l his to ry o f Po l a nd in
En gli sh .

M O RF I LL, W R , Pola n . d (S t o ri e s o f t h e N a ti o n
. s

S e ri e s , is a go o d b ri e f a c c o u n t thro u gh 1 8 6 3 .

B AI N , R N , S l a von
. .ic E u rope is s o m ewh a t
m o re d e t a il e d a n d is e s pe c ia lly va l u a b l e inre ga rd t o
Po l a n d s re l a t i o ns wi t h Ru s s ia ; b u t e n d s wi th 1 7 96

.

LE LE WEL , J OA CHI M , H is toire d e Pol ogn e ( 1 8 44 ,

Pa ri s ) , is s t ill th e b e s t ge n e ra l a c c o u n t a c c e ss i b l e t o

t h o s e wh o d o n o t re a d Po li s h .

R O PE L , R , a n d C A R o , J , Ges chichte P ol en
. . s , is a l

m o s t in d i s pe nsab l e fo r t h e pe ri o d c o ve red ( t o

Us e fu l b ib li o gra ph i e s a re a ppe nd e d to M o r l l s

P ol a n d; t o t h e V e ry e xc e ll e n t a r t i c le o nPo l a n d in
t h e e l e ve nt h e d it i o no f t h e E ncycl op ce dia B rita nnica ;
t o t h e va l u a b l e c h a pt e rs o nPo l is h h i s to ry in t h e
se ve ra l vo l u m e s of t h e Ca m brid ge M od e rnHis tory;
a nd to
P HILLI PS , W
ALI S O N Pol a n
. d ( 1 91 5 N e w Y o rk )
, , ,

whi ch is t he b e s t a c c o u n t o f t h e Po li s h q u e s t io nu p
to d a t e His a c c o u n
. t o f re c e n t d ev e l o pm e n ts in
Po l a nd is e s pe c i a lly va l ua b l e a nd d is cri m i n a ti ng .

T h e fo ll o w in g a re u s e fu l b o o k s , re ce n t l ypu b li s h e d
and n o t in c l u d e d int h e l is t s re fe rre d t o a b o ve :

LO RD , RO B ERT H OWA RD , Th e S eco n d Pa rtitio nof

Pol a nd ( H a rv a rd H i s t o ri c a l S t u d ie s , is t h e
onl y a u th o ri ta t ive b o o k o nt h e S e c o nd Pa rt it io n .

ALM A T ADEM A , LAU RENC E , Pola n d , Ru s sia , a n d

3 36 B I B L I O G RA P H Y
the Wa r ( Lo nd on , n ta i ns t he t ex t o f t h e
co

G ra n d D u k e N ic ho l a s s Pro c l a m a t io n t o t h e Po l e s

an d o th e r o ri gi na l m a t e ri a l . .

DM OW S K I RA M O N La Q
, , u es tio nP o l ona is e ( Pa ri s ,

is a n a n a lys i s o f t h e Po li s h q ue s t i o n s i nce

1 8 6 3 b y t h e l ea d e r o f t h e Po li s h N a t io n a l De m o

c ra ts .

S T EE D , W W , PHILLI PS ,
. . WA , an . d HANN AY , D ,
. .

A S ho rt H is tory of A u s tria -H u n g y
a r a n d P o l a n
d .

( Lo nd o n,
FRI E DLAE N DE R, I S RAE L , The J ews of Ru ssia a n d
Pol a n d ( N e w Yo rk ,
.

G A RD NER , M O N I C A , P o l a n d : A S tu dy inN a tion al

I d ea l is m ( Lo nd o n ,
. Ana tt e m pt t o ill u s t ra t e
t h e s o u l o f t h e na t i o n by a s t ud y o f it s li tera t ure .
33 8 I N D EX
A u st r a n i
i nt igu e s o f S igi s r a mo ng his four so ns , 1 8, 20 ,

m un d III 1 1 8 25 22
I V Ki n
. .
,

A u st ri a nPo l a nd 3 0 7- 1 6 , . B o l esl a u s g o f Po l a nd
, ,

Ava rs t h e 2 , , . 2 4 1 34
B o l e sl a u s V Ki ng , of Po l a nd ,

B a r, c a st e a t , l 84 ; Confe de ra 37
t i o no f , B o n Q ee n 8 4 8 5
1 99 . a , u , , .

Ba on 3 1
r s, B n J hn 74
. o e r, o , .

B t y S t e ph ne l ect e d Ki ng B o i G o d no v 1 3 2
a or , e ,
r s u , .

o f Po l n d 1 0 3 S e Ste p h e n B o ni a nd H go v i na 3 1 3
a , . e . s a e rz e , .

B t 30
a u, . B r nd nb g 1 5 6 ; h e r d e ig n a e ur , s s
B ee K p a r 7 4
r, as o nP o l a n
, d 1 66 ; t he M k o f
.
, ar ,

B li n 2 7 9
er , . 2 84 .

B tt m a n t he 74 7 5
e s, B ra n i ki K a we ry 2 2 2
, , . c , s , .

B ez a da n y St n il 92 , B nb g 1 3 7a s a us, . ra u s er , .

B i ly t o k 2 4 2
a s , B e l u t h S o f free d f o m
. r s a , e ee , r
B i h p 90
s o s, d e pe nde nce o nM a g d e b u rg
. .

B i m a k 2 8 0 2 86 3 1 3
s rc , 9 , , . .

Boh m i e w wi t h P o l nd B iihl C o u nt 1 6 3 1 6 5
a , a rs a , r , , , .

7 8 1 4 1 7 42 ; n d C im i B il l w P i n n o n t hea as r o r ce vo
G m n p li cy in Po l nd
, , , , , ,

I I I 4 6 6 4 ; b c m e p es
, , e o s o ss er a o a ,

s i o n f t h H se o f H b
o 2 90 e ou a s .

b g 82 83
ur , B
, n co i t utor o f J oh n
. uo a rs ,

B l l u I Ki n
o es a g o f P o l nd Alb rt 6 9 7 o
s a e
d p i v d o f igh t t o
.
, , ,

(992 di p o hi B u g s s se s se s s r e sse s , e r e r
b thro 7 ; i m t o f e Po
e rs , h ld l nd o t id e t h i t y
a s re o a u s e c
l nd f m t h E m pi a nd w ll 6 8 ; g d lly d e
a ro e re a s, ra ua
u ni t e P l nd nd B o h m i a o a p e d t o l e ve l o f p a sa nt
a e , re s s e

7 8 ; how f
, e f l 8 ; ry 6 9 a r s u cc ss u , , .

f il t o t S i t o p l kt o
a s re s o re v a o
th ne o f Ki v 8 ; t k t i t l e C a d e t P rt y 3 0 7 3 1 5
of
ro
Ki ng 9; d i i nd C a l v i ni t 91 ,

e ,

e s re s
a es
e s s,
a ,

.
, .

pe n d e ne o f P o li h h ch C li 1 3 4 1 5 9 s c u rc , a re a , , .

9; n d t h e S e f G n n 9; C l wi t
a eT t y of o e se , ar o z , re a

a g a t r l 9; h i i nt n l
re I 55
u e r, s er a
p li y 9 1 0 ; b l v d by h i Ca p t hi n b o nd a ry o f Po
.

o c , , e o e s r a a s, u
p o pl 1 0 ; p li t i l g ni
e e, l nd t t h th 2
o 5 ca or a a o e sou , , .

z a ti n f P l no d nd 1 1 C i m i
o o a no f M i y w I I u e r, as r, s o ecz s a
1 3 ; h d d n i t p li c y o f
a nd Ki ng f P l nd 1 3 1 5
e e o a o o a

Sl v n
.

n f Wl d i l
,

a i n 19 u C im i
o , . as r, so o a s a us
B ole l 1 1 ( ll d t h e D
s a us nt nd Ki ng f P l nd 2 3 2 5 ;
ca e au a o o a ,

l ) Ki ng o f P l nd 1 5
e ss , li n f 2 5 ; ll y n d f o a , e o , ca s s o o
17 . bi h o p nd t d i s s a c re a es a v s
B l l s I I I Ki n
o es a u g o f P l nd o y o n il
, 3 2 33 ; nd o a , r c u c , ,
a

w f wi t h h i ne ighb r
a r a re D ke o f Po m ni 34 ;
s o s, u s e ra a ,

17; ni t S il i
re u an d r l
P o m e ni a t o P l nd 1 7 ; C a i m i r I I I ( t h e
ra
es

t h o u gh g v n 34
o a
es a

, s
u es r o e r o rs , .

t ier t o re -C h i t i n
s i t he Ki ng o f Po l a nd 4 5 4 9 5 8
r s a ze -

p e o p l e 1 7 ; di v id s Po l a nd
, , ,

, 1 81 e .
 I N D EX 3 39
Ca s i m i r I V Ki ng o f P o l a nd Ch o d kie wicz 1 2 6 1 3 1 1 3 6
x Chri s tianity entrance into
, , , , .

( 44 7
1 ii ; c h a ra c t e r , ,

59 ; a c p t t h ocen e o f P o l sn d Poland r 5 6 1 5 1 7 ; adopted a

i c Ord e r by L ithuanian s 4 4 5
, , , , ,

6 0 ; d e f e a t s Te u t o n
wit h h e lp o f t h e P ru i a n C rc h Poli s h an B o l e l u s
, , .

t9
ss , , s a

Le g e 60 6 1 ; hi t ru ggl e
a u s s
wi t h t h e no bl e s 6 1 6 3 ; a lli Church R oman Catholic
.
, ,
-

c o m e s for the r s t time into

, , ,

an c e wi t h Ki n g o f B o he m ia ,

6 4 ; jo i n l e g u e a ga l
s political importance in P
a 0
T k a nd T rt a s 6 5
ur s land 1 6 ; reform s o f H ilde
a r
brand in 2 5 2 6 ; become s
.
, ,

C a i m i r J o h n p ro ph e c y o f
s , , , , ,

a s re g a rd s t h e f a l l o f P o l a n d free from kingly and princely

gov ernment 2 8 ; di v i s ion o f
,

x iv
into We stern and E a stern
.
, ,

C a t e ll a n
s s t he 1 3 , , .
,

C a t le
s
Ca t ha i n
13
e
s,

r
.

m ot h e r o f S i g i s
5 3 ; union with Greek
i n the Union o f F lorence
church

5 7 ; put o n the s ide of the

, ,

m n u d Va sa 1 1 3 1 1 6
wife o f J o h n priv ileged under John Al
.
, ,

C a t h a ri n e ,

Va a 96 97
s bert 6 9
e I I o f R u s i a pl a n Church court s 8 9 90 92
. , .
, ,

Ca t h i n
ar s s

g P l nd u nd e r Ru Churche s endowment o f 2 8
.
, , , ,

t o b ri n o a s

ss s
.
,

i
s a n c o n t o l 1 59 1 8 7 1
r 8 8 ; Cla e in Poland 1 1 6 6
7 9
S ee N oble s Pea s
, , , , , ,

i nt ig e wi t h P o ni t o w ki
r u s 1 68 7 8 a s -

ant s S l a chta
.
, ,

1 91 1 92 ; b c o m e E m p re
,
e s ss , , z .

1 92 ; e n d a rm y i nt o Po l nd Clergy inuence of increa sed

s s a
in h v i n g 1 8 2 5 ; H ildebrand s re
, , , ,

s cc e d

1 93 ; u e s a ,

P o ni a t o w ki e l ec t e d Ki ng s form o f 2 6 ; married 2 7 ;
immunitie s granted to 2 8
, , ,

1 94 ; h e r h o ld o nt h e Ki n g
h e s bill e nfra n 2 9 3 2 ; coloni st s in Poland
, , ,

1 94 97 ; p
- us
2 9; under S igi s mund I I 8 7
, ,

c hi in s g D i id e n t s 1 98 1 99; ss , , , ,

an d t h e T u ki h W r 2 0 1 8 9 90
r s a , , .

2 0 2 ; i m po s s c o n di t io n o n Colonization German in P0
e s .

land 2 9 3 o
, ,

a lli n ace wi t h P o l a nd 2 1 0
2 1 1 m a ke s t e rm s wi t h T u k s Colonization C o mmi ss ion 2 8 8
.
, , , ,

y 2 1 7 2 1 8 ; i nv d
, ,

at a ss , 2 89 , a es .

Po a n d 22 3 224 ; a n , d t h e Comme ce 1 7 9
, r , .

se c o n d p a t i t i o n2 2 5 3 1 de Compact o f Wilna ( I 40 1 ) 5 5
r .

, .

c id e s t o c ru s h P o l n d 2 3 4 ; Cond Prince o f 1 4 9 1 5 0 a
Confederacy Poli sh 2 4 0
.
, , , ,

d th 236
ea , . ,

, .

C h le
ar f S u d e rm a n
s o ia 1 2 5 C onfederation of 1 5 90 1 1 8 ; , . , ,

Ch l a r es X o f S we d e n 1 4 3 of 1 5 92 1 1 9; o f 1 60 6 1 2 3 ;
under John Ca s imir 1 44 ;
, . , ,

C h rl
a X I o f S we d e n 1 5 6
es , . ,

C h l e s X I I o f S we d e n 1 5 6
ar and Counter Confederation -

1 6 5 ; o f R eform Party after

, , ,

1 57
death o f A ugu stu s I I I 1 93 ;
.

C h e l m Pa l a t i n a te of 2 3 7
at R adom 1 97 ; o f B ar 1 99 ;
. ,
, ,

C he n c in y D ie t o f , 40 .
, ,

C h l o pic ki G e n e l J o ph 2 59 f Targowica 2 2 3 2 2 5 2 2 8
ra se o
Congre ss Kingdom 2 5 1 2 5 2
. .
, , , , ,

C h m ie l n ic ki B o gd a n 4 42 1 0
, , , , , ,

1 77 . 2 62 .
3 4o I N D EX
Congre ss nna of Vie 1 67 ; e l ect i v e kingship 1 6 8
2 3 0 ; upheld by R u ss i a
, ,
-
2 5 53 0 1 70
C ongre s se s f P a n S la vi s m
.
,

o - and P ss ia int re a t y o f I 7 64
ru
1 8 9; effort s of Poli s h R efor m
, ,

n d D uke o f M Party t o in t roduce

o

35
ra , i a so v a ,

1 92 97 ;
the Confedera
ne w ,

Con s tant i ne Grand D uke tion at R adom 1 97 ; the

.

stit ution of
, , ,

2 5 0 55 57 73 2 - 2 ' Con 20 4 ;
the Four Year s D iet
9 !

C on stant i nople 3 ; the church "

at 5 3 5 4 ; be s ieged by T urk s 2 1 1 ; e ff orts of the Patrio t

, ,

5 9; captured by the T urk s

, , ,

Party to make a new 2 1 8

2 1 ; e v il feature s o f the old
, ,

65 ; Catharine I I s dream of
,

ruling at 1 8 7 reenacted 2 30 2 3 1 ; o f
C o n stitution of Poland the D uchy o f War saw 2 2
.
, , ,

d i s trict the unit of local 2 4 3 ; granted by A le x an e r

, , ,

government 1 2 foundation s I 2 5 3 ; under A lexander 1 1

o f ari s tocratic go v ernmen t f R epublic o f Crac o w
, , ,

2 72 ; o
laid 3 2 ; permanent ad vi so ry 2 7 7 ; o f Grand D uchy
,

of
Po sen 2 7 8 ; granted t o
,

c ouncil created 3 3 ; the

r st D iet 4 0 ; all noble s d Galicia 2 8 2 S ee N ob l e s
, ,

m itt e d to s hare in King s

.
, , ,

S z l a chta V eto

coun sel s 4 0 ; ari s tocratic

.
,

Conti Prince o f 1 5 5
c on s titution come s into e x Con v ocation D ie t ( I 5 7 3 ) 98
.
, , ,

i te n
s c 5 0 5 1 ; the

e, Pri v i C o rv in us M atthia s King o f
, .

l ege of Ka schau
, , ,

6 2 ; the H ungary 6 5

S tat ute s of N ie s zawa 6 2 ; C o ssack s mean i n g of t h e

.
, ,
"

D ietine s 6 2 6 4 ; the name 8 4 1 2 7 ; u sed for de

, ,

t he

, , ,

M odel Parliament 6 7 ; the fe n se o f border b y S igis

~ ~

A rticle s of M ielnica 7 1 ; mund I 8 4 1 2 8 ; brough t

,
"

power s limited by
, , ,

royal into the army by S tephen

1 2 8 ; regi stered 1 2 8 ; Z a po ro
,

D iet in 1 5 0 4 7 1 7 2 ; D iet
gi v en permanent organiza g hian 1 2 9; rank s joined by
, , ,

tion 7 2 ; the l a chta cur sz many 1 3 0 ; not utilized by

tail right s o f burghers t he Pole s I 3O 1 3 1 ; allie s
, ,

and pea sant s 7 5 7 6 ; pri v i

, ,

of T he T hief 1 3 4 ; a nd
H

lege s secured by H ou se o f Wl a d is l a s IV I 39 1 4 0 ;
, , ,

N uncio s 8 7 8 8 ; the D iet their grie vance s again s t the

, ,

by the Union of L ublin
, ,

Pole s 1 4 0 1 4 1 ; war with
94 ; pro v i s ion for in Poland 1 4 1 ; join R u ss ia and
, , ,

t e rre g
lo s e their power 1 4 2 ; put
,

num 98 99; the King and

the D iet according to the
, , ,

under joint dominion o f

pa cta nenid with H enry
co v M u sco vy and Poland 1 4 7 ;
defeated by S obie s ki 1 5 1
,

o f A njou 1 0 1 ; reform in
C ounter -Confederation s 1 6 5
.
, , ,

planned by S tephen 1 0 9 ;
unanimity o f v oting in D iet
, , ,

1 93
1 2 2 1 2 3 ; v eto p we r inD iet C ounter -Refor ma t i o n i n
.
,

o P0
1 4 7 1 4 8 ; eff ort s to change
, ,

land 92
1 6 4 1 6 5 de s cription of 1 6 7 County magnate s 1 7 3
.
, , ,

7 8 ; unable to meet the te s t Courland 3 7 96 2 3 7

.
, , ,

.
, , , ,
34 2 I N D EX
Grea t ( Fo ur Year s D iet )
D uke s of P o mera n i a
D uma the 3 0 7 3 1 5 3 1 72 0
, ,

2 1 I 2 2 4 ; of Grodno 2 2 7 3 1 ;

the D umb S e ss ion 2 2 9; o f D umb S e ssion the 2 2 9

, , , , , , .

D uchy o f War saw 2 4 2 ; of D yna st s 1 70 -7 3

, , .
,

Grand D uchy of Po sen 2 7 8

.
, ,

E a st Galicia 3 1 1
,

Galician 3 1 4
D ietine s local a ss emblie s 6 2 E a st Pru ss ia 6 1 1 3 6
. .
, ,

1 45
6 3 ; deputie s of s ent to the
, , , , , ,

N ew 2 3 7
N ational D iet 6 7 ; curtail Ec cle s ia st ica l S yn od o f
.
, ,

1 5 42 ,
right s of citizen s 7 5 7 6 ;
,

1 84 n
v ote s o f the poor noble s at
.
, ,

E dict Nihil N ovi 7 2

service of magnate s in 1 7 4 ; E ducati o n o f Poli s h mag
.
,

nate s 1 7 3 ; reorgan i za t i on
, ,

of S a m o git ia , 20 9
iet s of Poland and o f L it h
.
,

D of 20 7
e x E lbe t he 2
.
, , ,

ua n ia union of 94 ;
, , , , .

ploded 1 4 8 1 6 3 1 6 5 1 7 0 E lbing 1 3 7

E lection D iet o f 1 5 7 3 99
.
, , , , , ,

1 93
D i spo ss e ss ion Act Poli s h 2 8 9
.
, , ,

1 0 0 ; of 1 575 1 0 3 ; of 1 5 8 7
D i ss ident s depri v ed o f politi
.
, , , ,

1 1 2 ; of 1 6 6 9 1 5 0
cal and ci v il right s 1 8 5 ; Electi v e kings hi p in Poland
.
, ,

cau se taken up by Catharine

, ,

I I 1 8 9 1 90 ; did not wan t E ngland 1 4 6 1 6 8 2 1 6 1 8

, , , , , .

equality 1 97 1 98 ; Catharine E rick King of S weden 1 1 6

pu s he s bill enf ranchi s ing E m e l a nd 2 0 2
.
, , , ,

r
E rne s t A rchduke 1 0 0
.
, ,

D i s tri ct the i n e a rly Po l and E sthonia 96 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 5 9

.
, ,

E xploded D iet s 1 4 8 1 63
.
, , , , , , ,
H H
12 .
, , ,

D mitri Czar 1 3 2 1 3 3 ; the

F al se 1 3 3 1 3 4 Ex pro p ria t io n Act Po l i sh
, , ,

Dm o ws ki R amon quo t ed on
, , .
, ,

2 89
the Poli s h que s t i on 2 91
, .
,
'

leader of N ational D em o Fami l y T he 1 64

,
U ,l

cratic Poli s h Pa rt y 3 0 3 Fe d e a t i e S y st em t he 2 1 6
.
, ,

r v
D nie p er the 2 3 Fe d ina nd o f H ab sbur g 8 2
. .
, , ,

g3
.
, , , , ,

Do b a wa Prince ss 6
r
F euda l sy st em ne v er i nt r o
. .
, ,

D o b ry n 4 6 5 5
z
D ombrow s ki Pol i s h g e n e ra l d uc e d in t o Poland 1 2 ; i n
. ,
, ,

, , ,

2 40 L ithuania 5 4 5 6
D oro s h enk o C o ss ack l eader Firl e y John 1 0 0 1 0 2
.
.
, ,

F l orence Uni o n o f
.
, , , , ,

151 57 , ,

Dra ng na ch Os ten, 2 85 121

t he Pol es F ore st s
.

re ss na t i o nal
.

D , of 79
1
i et
, , ,

1 72 . F our Year s D , 21 1 , 212,

D ual A lliance t h e 1 6 1 224
ual M onarchy e st ab l i sh F rance h er int ere st i n the
. .
, ,

D
ment o f 3 1 0 election of the King s o f P0
, ,

D uchy o f Pru ss ia 8 0 land 1 60 ; ri v alry with Au s

.
,

D uchy o f W a r sa w 2 4 4 6 tria for the R hine I 6O ; l

. ,
,

2 a

ce o f wi t h R u ss i a
, , ,

25 1 . lia n 1 61 ; , ,
 I N D EX
i n u e nc e o f a t t h e Polish 1 colo ni zat i on of i n P
3; 0
land 9 3 ; not tenaciou s
, ,

Court 1 6 1 2 0
F ranz F erdina n d Arc hduke f t heir nationali s m
.
, , ,

, o 86 , 2 ,

3 1 5. 316 29 0
st u s King Germany her pre sent att i tude
.

F rederick Augu
t oward the Pole s xv iii x i x ;
, ,

of Poland election 1 5 5 S ee
A ugu stu s I I abiding danger to S lav ic in
.
, , , ,

F rederick B arbaro ssa 2 3 dependence 8 ; fail s to n

.

co
F rederick the Great ha s de ; in v ade s
.
, ,

10 1 1 quer Poland
sign s on Poland 1 6 6 ; and Poland under B l l I I I
, , ,

o e a us s
the N otez R i ver 1 8 0 ; atti 7 ; her s truggle again s t the
, ,

1
tude toward R u ss ian alli Papacy 9; conquers to the
,

1
ance 1 8 8 ; urge s a weak O der 3 4 ; aim o f her d ipl o
,

o
, ,

Poland 1 95 1 96 ; attitude macy to create enmity be v

toward R u sso -T urki s h War t wee n R u ssia and Poland

, ,

2 0 0 -0 2 ; co v et s Poli s h Pru s 3 0 6 ; and the Ukranian que s

, ,

s ia 2 0 0 ; s ugge st s partition tion 3 1 3 - 1 6 S e Pru ss ia

, , . e .

o f Poland 20 1 20 2 S ee G l ins ky H elena 7 9

Pru ss ia Prince M i c h ael 7 8
. .
, , , ,

G lin s ky
Frederick William of B ran den
.
, , ,

79
b urg ( the Great G ne sen Germa n Bi sh op o f
6 ; made a grea t s hrine b
, ,

F rederick William IV o f Pr u s B o l e l a u s I 9; the S ee 0 s

s ia 2 7 9 rai sed t o metro p oli t an ra n k
,

.
, ,

F re e m e n S ee K m e t e n 9
uchy of P o sen 2 7 8
. . .

G rand D
G alicia di v i s ion o f betwee n Grand H etman 7 3
, .

Poland and L ithuania 4 7 ; G reat D iet t he 2 1 1 2 1 2

, , , .

oe s to R u ss ia 2 0 2 ; at 2 2 4
, , , , ,

gre a ty o f V ienna 2 4 2 ; con Great N ort h er n War 1 5 6 1 5 8

, .

d it io n in s ince 1 8 1 5 2 8 0
, , , ,

s 1 59
after 1 8 6 3 3 0 7 1 1 ; Great Po l and 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 7
, , .

83 ;
difference between E as t G reek O rthodo x Church hi s
, .
, , ,

and We st 3 1 1 ; the Pole s t ory o f 5 3 5 4 ; unio n with

,

in a t the beginning of the R oman Church in the

, , ,

Great War 3 2 6 3 2 7 Union of F lorence 5 7 ;

G e d ym in of L i t huania 43 cau se taken up by Catha
.
, , ,

rine I I 1 90 ; Uniate s forced

, ,

44
G erman E mp i re t h e i nu
,

into 2 97
ence o f a danger for S la v G regory V I I Pope S ee H ilde
.
, ,

.
.
, ,

d o m 30 3 3 0 4 brand
G erman sy stem of c h urc h im G rodno D iet o f
. . .

227 ,

munity 2 8 2 9 31
G erman s pre ss ure o f t o t h e G ro sswardein Peace of
. .
, ,

E a s t in tenth century 5 6 ; 8 3
, , ,

.
, ,

inuence in Poland in tenth G r d inska Jeannette 2 5 6 u z

century 6 ; and D uke M ie G iine w l d battle o f
.
, ,

, r a ,

czy la w 6s 7 ; inuence in x 1 55 1,

Poland u nder Quee n R ixa G u st av u s Adolp h u s 1 3 6 1 3 8

.
, ,

.
, , ,
3 44 I N D EX
He b sb u rg E m pe r ors 7 9 8 2 Jagiel lo C at h ari ne m ot h er o f
g4 S igi s mund Va sa 1 1 3 1 1 6
, , , ,

Jagiello Grand D uke o f Lit h

. .
, ,

H al i cz 4 7 v

H an seatic L eague 4 2
.
, ,

nania and King o f Poland

marrie s H edwig x i 4 9; and
.
, ,

H edwig Queen x i . . . 4 9. 5 7 . , ,

58 Wit o wt of L ithuania 5 1 5 2
5 5 5 6 ; religiou s tole ance of
.

enry fourt h o no f Wl a dis

, , ,

H s r
lau s 2 2 5 8 ; hi s rule o f Poland 5 8
, , ,

H enry I I E mperor 8
.
, , ,

59
H enry I V E mperor 1 9 Jagiellon dynas ty chara cter
. e
, ,

of 5 0 ; in po sse ss ion o f fou r

.
, , ,

H enry V E mperor 1 7
throne s 6 5 ; champion s of
.
, , ,

H enry D uke of A njou S ee

the town s 75
.
, ,

A njou
H ere sy 8 9 90
. .
,

, , . ano wiec battle o f ,

H ildebrand reform o f 2 5 2 6 . 1 23
H ohenberg D uche ss of 3 1 5 Ja s na Gora Con vent of 1 4 3
.
, , ,

H ohenzollern E lec t or s 0 f Ja ss y T reaty o f

, , . , , .

218
B randenburg 1 4 5
, .

, . Jena battle of
, 2 49 .

H olland 1 4 6 2 1 6 J end rz o w 1 19
J e s uit s in Poland 92 ; int o l e r
. .
, , ,

H orodlo Union of 56
ance o f 1 8 5 ; and educat ion
. ,
,

Ho s iu s 92
H o s pital f S t M ary 3 6
.
, , ,

o 2 0 7 ; intolerance partly re
s pon s ible for ruin of Poland
. .
,

H ou e militia I 7 1 1 74
s
H ungary settlement o f M ag
.
, , ,

30 2
yar s in 2 ; and Wl d i l u Jewi s h Judge t h e 1 8 2
.
,

a s a s
I I I 5 9; Wl d i l Jew s in Poland 1 8 0 - 8 4 3 2 4
.
, , ,

, of B 0 a s a us , , .

h m ia elected King of 6 5 ;
e John King of S weden 1 1 3 1 6
cru s hed by the T urk s 8 1 ; Joh n I I I ( S obie s ki ) King o f
, , , .

become s po sse ss ion of H ou se Poland ght s the Co ss ack s

, ,

o f H ab s burg 8 2 8 3 ; join s and the T urk s 1 5 1 1 5 2 ;

,

t he T urks 1 5 3 elected King 1 5 2 ; charac te r

, , , ,

H u ss ite s the 5 8 6 4
.
, ,

of 1 5 2 ; decline o f Polan d
under 1 5 2 1 5 3 ; hi s re scue
, , .
, ,

o f V ienna from the T urk s

, ,

I ge l s t rom , G eneral , 2 3 1 -33 .

,

I mmaculate Conception Or 1 5 3 5 5 ; death 1 5 5

h nA lbe rt King o f Pola nd

.
, ,

der o f 1 3 9
I mmunity Churc h 2 8 2 9
.
, ,

( 49
1 2 6 4 6 6 0
7
I ng ria 1 5 9 John Ca s imir King of Poland
.
, , , , .

I nnocent I I I Po pe 2 7
.
, , ,

1 4 1 49

nqui s ition D iet John Va sa D uke o f Fi nla n d

. .
, ,

I 1 19
I n s urrection of 1 60 6 1 2 3
.
, ,

96 97
I n t e rr egnum p ro vi sio n fo r Jordan Germ an B i sh o p o f
,
.
. .

, , ,

98 99 Gne sen 6
I sabella Queen o f H u ng a ry
.
, o
,

, ,

83 Kamieniec 1 5 1 1 5 2 1 5 5
I van I I I Czar 64 Kara M u s tafa K i p ili 1 53
. .
, , ,

u r
I van I V Czar 96 1 0 0 1 0 6 Ka nk w ki Primate 1 1 2 1 4
. .
, , ,

r o
s
Ka scha u P ri vi leg e of
.
, , , , , ,

0 8 1 32
1 3 60 H ou se o f N unc i os 1 0 3
.
, ,

, 62 , . .
34 6 I N D EX
a nd S te phe n for 10 6, 10 7; M aria T he e sa E m p re ss r 20 2
invaded by S wede s M ary s i ster of Grand Prince
, , , .

1 25 ;
sa v ed for Poland at battle of Kiev
, ,

1
1 2 6 ; M u sco
,

o f Kirkholm l
a s av o f i 14 a so v a
vy s claim s on renounced i mar s he s in 5 ; M a
, , .

a so v a
t o Sweden by Sh u iski I 3 4 ; slav f 4 ; left to B l l
, , ,

o 1 o es a us
invaded by Gu stav u s A dol I V ; inherited by L e szek
, ,

22

ph u 1 3 6 ; in Swedi s h hand s 4 ; obtained by Ca s imir

, ,

s, 2
I 3 7 ; reco v ered by Poland 2 5 ; T eutonic Knight s s ettle
, ,

1 39; ceded to Charle s X in 3 3 ; Pru ss ian s in vade 3 5 ;

,

1 4 6 ; in po sse ss ion o f Peter ruled by it s wnduke 39;

, , ,

o
the Great 1 5 9; Poli s h g oes accept s s uzerainty f P
,

o 0
t o R u ss ia 2 0 2
, ,

land 4 8 ; united with P 0 .

Lo ca l go v ernment the di strict land 8 4 ; pa rt of fall s t

.
, ,

o
Pru ss ia by second partition
, , ,

the unit o f 1 2
7 ; remainder fall s to Pr s
.
, ,

Lo d o m e ria , 2 82 22 u
Lo ui s son of Wl s ia by third partition 3 7
.

a d is l a u s , 83 2
L oui s X I V of France 1 6 1
. .
, ,

im il i n Archduke 1 12 ax a
Lo ui s X V of F rance 1 6 1
.
, , , ,

L oui s o f A njou King of P0 M a x imilian I I E m p e ro r 1 0 0

.
,

, , , ,

land 4 9 6 2
Lo ic z Counte ss (Je a n nett e M emel 1 3 7
.
, ,

v , , .

G d ink ) 2 5 6
ru z M ns d g o f L ithuania 43
a e ov
L b e c ki F ranci s 3 0 0 M ichael Romanoff 1 3 5 1 3 6
. .
, ,

u
L b ki Prince X a v ier 2 5 5
.
, , , , ,

u ec
M ichael Wi ni wie ki Ki ng
, , ,

2 60 s o c
L ublin Union o f
.
,

x ii o f Poland 1 5 0 - 5 2

94 ; a t third p artition fall s M i h l w 4 6

, .
, ,

c e o
to A u stria 2 3 7 M ieczyslaw I D uke rst non
.
,

.
, , ,

L b o m i ki rebellion of 1 4 6
u rs legendary ruler of Poland
4 ; become s Chri st ia n
, , , ,

1 49 nd a
L unev ille Pea c e of marries Chri stian prince ss
.

24 1
L u t heran s 91 6 ; oppo ed by German s 6 ;
, . ,

s
make s friend s wi t h Ger
.
, ,

M c ie g o wi e 2 3 6
a man s 6 ; receiv e s Germa n
c
M adalin s ki Genera l 2 3 2 help again st B ohemian s 7 ;
.
, ,

M agnate s (pa ns ) o f Pol a nd legend concerning hi s blind

.
, , ,

ne ss 7 ; hi s son s 7
,
-
1 2 1 70 73
M agyars i nv a s ion of int o E u M ieczys law I I 1 3
.
, , .
,

rope 2 ; permanent s ettle M ieczy slaw I I I 2 2 2 4 3 2

.
, , ,

ment o f o np lain s o f H u n
, , , , ,

3 3 ; line of 2 5
M ielnica A rticle s of 7 1
.
, ,

gary 2
M ajority a nd mi no ri t y vo t ing M i o l w ki Loui s 2 69 2 79
.
. . , ,

er s a s
M ine s I 7 9
.
, , , ,

M a nt ua batt l e f M oldav ia Poli s h s uzerainty

.
,

24 1 o
M anu f acture s 1 7 9 2 0 6 o ver 6 5 ; ra vage s Poland
.
, ,

M aria Archduche ss 1 2 0 7 0 ; ho s tility of to Poland

, , .
, ,

M aria daughter of Pa l at i n e under S igi s mund I 8 1 ; s ub

.
, , ,

miss i on of t o T u rki sh s uze

,

domi r 1 3 4
,

o f S an , . ,
 I N D EX 3 47
t a i nt y 8 1 ; P oli sh claim t o N a t io na l P oli s h Churc h m ov e
1 2 6 ; a pa rt o f modern R ou
, , ,

ment for in Poland 91 93

N ationali s m
, , .

mania 2 0 1 democratic
M ona s terie s foundation o f t eaching of the N ational
.
, , ,

2 8 ; a ss i s t German col o niza

, ,

Lea e 3 0 2 u
e o -S a vs 3 0 6 3 2 1
.
,

tion in Poland 2 9
M ongol s 3 0
. .
, , ,

N etze the boundary o f P0

M onti F renc h A mb assa dor land to the north 4 5 ; di s
.
, , ,

triet o f g oe s to R u ss ia 2 0 2 ;
, , , ,

1 62
di st rict of take n from Pru s
.
,

M ontluc 99
M ora v ia annex ed t o Pol a nd s ia 2 42
.
,

N ew E a s t Pruss ia 2 3 7
.
, ,

8 I

M u sco vy under I v a n I I I 6 4 ; N ew S ile s ia 2 3 7

. .
,

p re ss ure of upon Lit h u N ich o la s 1 E m peror 2 5 7 2 64

.
, , ,

, , , , ,

ania 7 0 ; and Poland per

manent ho stility between N ichola s I I E mperor 2 95
, ,

7 7 7 8 ; S igi s mund I s rela N ichola s Grand D uke x v n

, .
, ,
'

tion s with 7 8 7 9; obtains

, , , ,

P olot s k in 1 5 69 97 ; in time N ie sz a wa St a t u t e s o f
, ,

, ,

o f S tephen 1 0 4 0 6 ; defeated 62

by S tephen 1 0 6 1 0 7 ; n Nihil N ovi E dic t 7 2

.
,

a
a rc h y of following reign o f N oble s Poli s h 1 1 1 2 ; inc rea se
, , , , .

I van IV 1 3 2 ; electio n
, , , ,

in power of under M iec ys z

M ichael a s Czar o f 1 3 5 ; law I I 1 3 1 8 ; immunities
, ,

recognition of M ichael a s acquired by 3 1 3 2 ; increa se

, , ,

Czar o f I 3 6 1 3 8 ; invade s i n power o f under Wl a dis

, ,

L ithuania I 4 3 ; defeated by l au s Lokietek 4 0 ; g reater

, , ,

Poland in the T hirt een and le s ser 4 1 ; form mai n

, ,

Year s War 1 4 6 ; ad v ance

,

a rmy 4 1 ; in L ithuania 5 6 ;
under M ichael A l e xi s and Ca s imir I V 60 6 2 ; s ub
, , ,

o f -

and Peter the Grea t 1 5 8 je c t io n of other cla sse s to

, , , ,

1 59 S ee R u ss ia 6 7 7 1 ; and military serv ice

, , ,

. .
,

7 4 ; election of King by 99;

N apoleon B onapa rt e t akes power wholly in hand s o f
,

p o sse ssion of N orther n I t aly 1 6 7 ; weakne ss o f

2 39; lead s Pole s to think
, ,
1 6 8 70 ;
re s pon s ible for Poland s fall
, ,
'

he will a ss i s t their c au s e
,

1 69 ; number o f 1 69 ; whom
2 4 o ; conquer s Pru ss ia 2 4 2 ;
, ,

they included 1 7 0 ; the mag

form s D uchy of War saw nate familie s 1 7 0 7 3 ; othe r
, ,

2 4 2 ; and T reaty o f V ienna grade s o f 1 7 3 7 5 ; their

, ,

Pole s chief v irtue and their chief

, ,

2 42 ; feeling of the
toward 2 44 2 4 5 ; defea t in v ice s 1 7 5 ; rich land s i n
R u ss ia 2 4 6 hand s o f 2 0 5 ; re d uced prof
, , ,

N ationa l D emocratic Poli s h it s of after r s t partition

, .
,

2 0 6 ; a ss i s t reformer s
, ,

Party 3 0 1 3 0 3 3 0 6 3 1 5
. 20 5 . . . . , ,

20 6 S ee S zlachta
N or semen in R u ss ia 3 ; i n P0
. .

N ational League the 30 2

N ational Patri ot i c A ssoc i a t i on
, , .
, ,

land 4
ot ez Ri ver t h e 1 80
.
, ,

.
, ,
34 8 I N D EX
N ovgo r od-Sev e rski province J o se p h 3 2 5 Pil s u d z ki,
Piotrkow D iet o f 1 493 a t 6 7
, , .

of 1 36
N o v i battle of D iet o f 1 5 4 8 at 8 6 ; D iet of
.
, , ,

, 24 1 .
,

N o o il t s o ff N ichola s 2 5 4
x s 1 5 5 2 at 90
Pitt and the T rip l e A lliance
.
, , ,

5g
N uncio s i n the Poli s h Parlia 2 1 6 ; hi s p lan for Poland
, ,

ment 6 7 ; pri v ilege s claimed

, ,

Pl a t t b u g Wa l ter vo n 95
,

by 8 7 8 8 r
N yst ad t Peace o f
. .
, , , ,

, 1 59 Po d ie b od s ki Ge orge 6 4 . r , , .

Po dl a c h ia , 2 3 0 , 2 3 7
gin s ki Coun t 2 40
.

O Po d l e s ia , 2 2 7 , 2 3 7
R uthene s 3 1 4 3 2 1 Podolia 5 5 ; take n b y Prince
. .
, ,

O ld , , .
,

O l gie rd o fL ithuania 4 5 4 7 of T a n s l yv a nia 1 4 3 ; in r

l va Peace o f v aded by T urks 1 5 1 rec ov
, .
, ,

O i 1 46
rgani c t at ute of 1 8 3 2 2 5 9
.
, ,

O S ered by Poland by T reaty

1 5 5 ; A u s tria
, ,

26 1 o f Carlowitz
O rt hodo x Churc h S ee G r eek obtain s a p iece of b y r st
.
,

O rthodo x Church
.
,

partition 2 0 2 ; Ru ssl a o b
O s trow s ki Coun t Wl a d isl a u s t ain s p art o f b y secon d p ar
.
,

t i t ion 2 2 7
, ,

O tt o I I I E m p eror 9 P ola king s e l ect ed o ne l d of

.
,

.
, , , ,

95
Poland s ummary o f h i st o ry
.

Pa cta Convento , x iii 71 , 10 1

Pan Germani s m x xv i o f x xv ; he r pre sen t relation
.
, ,
- -

P anin Count 1 95 t o R u ssia Germany and

, . ,
,

A u stria xvx i x ; real his

.
, , , ,

Pa n s the 1 2 1 7 0 7 3
P an S la v i s m 2 ; under B ol e s t ory begin s with t enth cen
.
, , , ,
-

l au s I 8 ; in modern R u ssia t ury 1 ; the founding of a

,

2 6 3 ; a defen se again s t Ger state 4 6 ; limit s o f 4 5 ;

, , ,

s hifting of ea st er n a nd
, , , ,

man inuence 3 0 4 ; Co n
we stern fr o nt ier s of 5 ; b e
,

g e se s of 3 2 0 3 2 1
r s

P arliament Poli s h 6 7 come s Chri stian state 6

.
, , ,

Pa rt itiona l Peri od t h e 1 8 a recognized pa rt of We st

.
, , ,

ern Chri stian world a t

, , ,

63
Conciliat i o n
.

P arty of M ie cz ys l a w s death 7 ; u n

30 1
der B o l e sl u s I 7 ; the
, . ,

Pa s kie v ic h , 2 60 a

P atriarchate s 5 3 unconquered kernel of We s t

.
,

ern S lav dom 1 0 I 1 ; politi

.
,

P aul E mperor 2 3 6 2 48 .
H

Peaceful p enetration 2 8 4 cal org anization o f under

, , , , ,

P ea sant s Poli sh 1 7 67 8 2 70
.
, ,

B o le l a u s I
s 1 1 1 3 ; feudal
sy stem introd uced into 1 2 ;
, , , , ,

P ermanen t t he under M iec zy slaw I I and

,

om m it t e e ,
Queen R i x a 1 3 1 4 ; unde r
,

20 4
P eter the Grea t Ca simir s o n of M ieczys law
. ,
,

1 55 , 1 5 7 5 9;
t ake s t i t le of E m p eror I I 1 4 1 5 ; under B o l e sl u s
, ,

of a

all R u ssia 5 9 I I 1 5 1 7 ; Church for rst

, ,
"
-
1
P eter I I I f R u ss ia 8 8 time come s int o politica l
. ,
,

o 1
Pia st legendary f ound e r importance in 1 6 ; u nde r
.
,

of
P ol i sh sta t e 4 Wl a d isl a us H erma n 1 7 ;
, ,

.
, ,
35 0 I N D EX
t erri t ory nd Li v onia 1 39 18 ; t h e fall o f, fo re t o l d 85 ,
g
a , .
, 1
Struggle o f King with 18
D iet 1 3 9 1 40 ; under John M ade the t ool of foreig n
Ca s imir 1 4 1 4 9; war wit h p owers 8 7 ; R u ss ia of pre
, ,
1
t he Co ssacks 1 4 1 1 4 2 ; los e s
, ,

dominant inuence in 8 7 1
treaty of R u ss ia and Pru s
, , ,

the Ukraine 1 4 2 ; attacked

by M u s co v ite s and S wede s s ia aimed at 89; not l

,

1 a
1 4 3 ; Charle s X o f S weden lowed to reform her go vern
, ,

s et up a s King of 1 4 3 ; de ment 8 9; D i ss ident s s up

1
ported by Catharine I I 8 9
, ,

fe nse Cz en s t o c h o wa , 1 4 3 ,
of 1
buy s allie s 9 ; e ffort s f R eform Party
, ,

1 44 ; 1 44 1 45 ; 1 0 o
in the T hirteen ear s War to change t he Con s titution
, ,

ef ect v eto power 93 ; Catharine s end s

, ,

1 46 , 1 47 f of 1 9 2, 1
in D iet of 1 47 , 1 4 8 ;war army into 93 ; Poniatow 1
with T urk s at ti e M i s ki elected King 94 ; the
, ,

m of 1
que stion f a s trong
,

chael 1 5 1 , 1 52 ; decline o f, ao or
u nder obie s ki weak 95 96 ; weakne ss f
,

S , 1 52 in
1 53 ; 1 1 o
t he Great N orthern War the King 96 ; further eff ort s
, , ,

1
1 5 6 ; the ruin o f 1 5 7 ; R u s f the R eform Party
, ,

o 96 ; 1
s ian inuence e stabl i s hed in g yield s to the E m
, ,

t h K in
e '

1 5 9; Peter the Great s p lan s pre ss 96 97 ; attitude f

,

1 1 o
D i ss ident s toward que stio n
, ,

with reference to 1 5 9; in
f equality 97 98 ; in ci v il
,

en
u c e o f F rance at court o 1 1
1 6 1 ; period o f s tagna war o v er the religiou s que s
, ,

of
tion 99; and the R u ss o
,

tion during the reign o f 1

A ugu s tu s I I 1 6 3 6 6 T urki s h War ; r s t par
,
- 20 0
L acked s trong go v ern 3 ; go v erned
.
, ,

tition f
o 20 1 0
men t 1 6 7 ; electi v e king s hip by R u ss ia 3 4 ; u n de r
,

20 20
in a mi s fortune 1 6 8 ; weak the Con s titution f 7 7 3
, , ,

o 1
ne s s o f the nobility o f 1 6 8 4 ; economic and so cial
, , ,

20

7 0 ; nobility re s pon s ible for reform s in 4 6 ; re s ult s 20 20

f partition on re v enue s and
, ,

her fall 1 6 9; ruled by a few o

great familie s 1 7 0 ; the income s 5 7 ;
,

g ni 20 20 re o r a
court s of the dyna st s and
, , ,

za t i n f education in
o o 7; 20
t heir hou se militia 1 7 1 1 7 2 di v ergent v iew s f the Kin g
,

o
1 7 4 ; the national dre ss 1 7 2 ; and the Patriot Party a s
, , ,

retainer s o f the magnate s

,

to political future of 8; 20
aim s to free her s elf from
, ,

1 72 1 74 I 7 S ; education of
ma gnate s 1 7 3 ; the no n R u ssian control 9
, ,

; 20 2 10
magnate cla ss e s o f the no the Great D iet
, , ,

21 1 212,

4 ; and Pru ss ian alliance

, ,

b ilit y 1 73 7 5 ; the chief - 22

virtue and the chief v ice s 3 ; Pru ss ia co v et s ter
, ,

21 1 1
o f the nobility 1 7 5 ; the pea s r it y
or f 3 ; nature o f 21 o
ant s 1 7 7 8 ; the town s o f Pru ssian alliance 4 ; a s
, ,

6 - 21 re
1 7 9; natural riche s o f gard s the wi s dom of the
, , ,

1 78
t he c o untry unworked 1 7 9 Pru ss ian alliance
,
-1
4 6; 21
1 8 0 ; the Jew s in
, , ,

1 80 84 ;
and the T riple A lliance o f
t orn by antagoni s m s 1 8 4 Pitt 6 ; E ngland promote s
,

21
8 6 ; religi o u s per s e c uti on in commercial treaty betwee n
, ,

,
 I N D EX 35 1

P ru ssi a and ado p ti o n int o 2 8 4 2 8 5 ; Pru ss ian

21 7;
Go v ernmen t opponent o f
,

o f new Con s titution

, ,

218
2 1 ; intrigue s o f R u ss ia for freedom o f 2 8 5 2 8 6 ; Pru s
,

reconque s t o f 2 2 1 2 4 ; the s ian policy toward s ti ff ened

, ,

King acquie sce s in R u ss ia s s ince 1 8 7 1 2 8 6 2 8 7 ; increase

, ,

term s 2 2 5 2 2 6 ; s econd par nationali s m 2 8 7 ; pro

, ,

of
tition o f 2 2 7 ; re s i s tance to ce e d ings o f Colonizatio n
, , ,

R u ssian demand s 2 2 8 ; Commi ss ion in 2 8 8 2 8 9;

,

forced to accept Pru ss ian s ucce ssful oppo s ition to Ger

, , ,

treaty 2 2 9; v irtually made m a niz t io nin 2 8 9 2 90 ; aim s a

a R u ss ian pro v ince 2 3 0 o f Pru ss ia in her s truggle

, , ,

indignation in o ver with 2 91 2 92

, ,

23 1 ;
s econd partition 2 3 1 ; re vo R u ss ian 2 92 3 0 7 ; agra
.
, , ,

rian reform s of R u ss ia in
, ,

l u t io n of 1 7 94 in 2 3 1 3 6 ;

2 93 ; s y s tem o f local
, ,

third partition o 3 3 8 f 2 6- 2 92
E s tabli s hment of D uchy admini stration of R u ss ia in
.
, ,

o f War s aw
,

2 42 ; C o n s t it u 2 93 2 94 ; R i c a t io n of uss

2 94 97 ; recent progre ss o f
, , ,

tion of 2 4 2 2 4 3 ; int o d c r u -

nati ve middle cla ss

, , ,

tion o f Code N apol on into 2 98 ;

2 4 3 ; hop e s o f a new 2 4 4 4 6 ; formed in 2 99; indu s trial
,

again taken by R u ss ia 2 4 6 ; cla sse s in no t in f a v or o f in

, ,

A lex ander I determine s to dependent s tate 2 99 ; m o d

, ,

re s tore 2 4 7 4 9; di s po s ition ern Pole s belie v e in u t o no

,
a

o f territorie s o f a s re s ult of mou s s tate within R u ss ia n

,

Congre ss o f V ienna 2 5 0
,

E mpire 3 0 0 3 0 1 3 0 5 3 0 6 ;
5 2 ; Con s titution of granted
, , , , ,

work o f the N ational L eague

by A le x ander I 2 5 3 ; under in 3 0 2 3 0 3 ; the N ationa l
,

the new Con stitution 2 5 3 D emocratic Poli s h Party

, , ,

5 6 ; R e v olution f 1 8 3 0 2 5 7 3 0 3 ; t he r s t line of defen se

, ,

9; declared integral p a rt o f again st Germani s m 3 0 4

,

A u strian 3 0 7 1 6 ; and t h e
.
,

u s ia n E mpire 2 5 9 2 60 ; -
s
u nder the O rganic S tatute D ual M onarchy 3 1 0 ; E a st
, , ,

2 5 9 6 1 ; policy o f and We st Galicia 3 1 1

,

of 1 832

R u ssia toward since 1 8 3 1 Pole s anc e stor s o f 1 ; pa rt o f

.
, ,

policy o f E m p eror We stern S lav ic group 2 ;

, , , ,

2 62 ;
N ichola s toward 2 6 4 2 6 5 ; s ignication o f name 4 ;
,

di s po s ition o f A lex ande r I I claim to be pure s t o f S la vs

, , ,

t oward 2 6 6 2 6 7 2 7 1 2 7 2 ; 4 ; united into s ingle state

,

revolutionary s pirit acti v e in tenth century t oppo s e

, , , ,

in 2 6 8 7 1 ; complete inde
- German s 6 ; join N apoleon s

de s ired 2 7 3 ; forces 2 3 9 2 4 0 ; in battle s

, ,

pe n den ce o f
re vo lution o f 1 8 6 3 in 2 7 4 o f 1 7 99 2 4 1 ; at S t D omin
, , , ,

7 6 ; co nd ition s in R epublic
.
, ,

go 2 4 1 ; feeling o f toward
o f Cracow s ince 1 8 1 5
, ,

277 ; N apoleon 2 44 2 4 5 ; join the

condition s i n Po s en s ince Grande A rm e on march
, , ,

1 81 2 7 8 8 0 ; condition s in
into R u ss ia 2 4 6 ; fa v orable
5
Gal i cia s ince 1 8 1 5 2 8 0 8 3 di s po s ition o f A lexander I
, ,

Pru ss ian 2 8 492 ; c o n toward 2 4 5 6 ; s pirit o f

.
,
~

st ant ex pan s ion o f Pru ss ia from Re v o ut io n o f 1 8 3 0

, , ,

,
$ 9 I N D EX
2 6 5 , 2 66 ;and t h e Ukr a nian Po t emkin 2 2 1
Po t ocki F elix 2 2 2
, .

attitude o f Germany and

A u s tria 3 0 7 3 1 5 3 1 6 ; in Potocki I gnacy 2 2 6 2 3 6
.
, ,

E a s t Galicia 3 1 2 ; a p
, , , , , , .

r Potocki T heodore 1 62
t between R u ss ia Pra d t M de 2 4 5
, , , .

p ochem e n
r
and 3 1 7 2 0 ; in the D uma
. .
, ,
- Praga 2 3 5
3 1 7 2 0 ; R u ss ian pr o clama Pre t c z B er n ard 8 4
.
, , ,

Prince s Poli s h 3 0 -3 2
, , .

tion concerning at the b e

Pri v ilege o f Ka s chau
, , .
,

ginning o f the Great War

3 2 1 3 2 2 ; their rece p tion o f
,

62
the R u ss ian p roclamation Pru ss ia D uchy of 8 0 ; c oa st
.
,

3 2 2 2 4 ; s upport gi v en A u s town s in S wedi s h hand s 1 3 7 ;

, , ,

Poland reco ver s part s con

,

tria by 3 2 4 2 6 ; in Galicia -

que red by Gu s ta v u s A dol

, ,

at the beginning of the War

1 39; her de s ign s on
,

3 2 6 3 2 7 ; their treatment in ph u s,
the War 3 2 8 3 2 9; pro s pect s Poland 1 6 6 ; become s a
,

, , ,

for after the War 3 2 9 3 2

great power 1 8 7 ; alliance
P oli s h Church and B ole s with R u ss ia 1 8 8 1 8 9; and
.
, , ,

lau s I 9 the r s t partition o f Poland

, ,

Poli s h E x propriation or D i s 2 0 2 ; and the propo s ed Pol

.
, ,
o

po ss e s ion A ct 2 8 9
s i s h -R u ss ian alliance 2 1 0
P oli s h L eague the 3 0 2
, . . ,

2 1 1 ; alliance with Poland

P oli s h Pru ss ia 6 1 2 1 1 1 3 ; co v et s Poli s h t erri
, , .
,

P oli s h que s tion the i x

.
,

tory 2 1 3 ; nature o f the a l

Poli t ic s game o f in Po l a n d a s regard s t he
.
, , ,

li n
a ce 21
wi s dom o t he alliance o n
, , , ,

Po l o c k 7 10 Poland s part 2 1 4 1 6 ; in

Pitt s T riple A lliance 2 1 6 ;

. ,

olot s k
,

P , 97 ,
1 43

E ngland promote s c o m
.
,

the 2 2
Po l o v s t u i
P olta v a battle of
.
, ,

1 57 m e ia l treaty between Po
rc
land and 2 1 7 ; re s ol ve s to
.
,

Pomerania reunited to P0
l and 1 7 ; become s inde lea v e t he T riple A lliance
, ,

pendent duchy 3 3 ; D uke s 2 1 8 ; aim s at s econd parti

, ,

of 3 4 ; in po ss e ss ion of T eu tion o f Poland 2 1 8 ; refu s e s

,

tonic Knight s 39 4 6 ; F red

, ,

to carry out treaty with P0

erick William aim s t o c on land 2 2 4 2 2 5 ; and R u ss ia
, ,

agree o n second partition

, , ,

quer 1 4 5 , .
,

Po m e re l ia , 6 0 , 6 1 . 2 2 7 ; acceptance f treaty o

Po m e re l l e n, 3 7 with forced on Poland 2 2 9;

P oniatows ki Prince Jo s e p h her acqui s ition s at the third
.
, ,

, ,

225 partition 2 3 6 2 3 7 ; become s

Poniatow s ki Cou n t S t a n i s ri a l o f A u s tria 2 8 1 ;
, ,

v peace
lau s 1 90
, ,

ful penetration and D r ng

a

P oniatow s ki S t ani slau s Au nch Osten settled policie s

.
,

a
gu stu s King o f Poland
,

of 2 8 4 2 8 5 ; Kingdom o f
( A ugu s tu s how formed 2 8 4 ; s teady
, .
, , ,

S ee S t a nl u s s a

Poniatow s ki ) and con s i s tent O pponent o f

,

P o sen pro v ince 2 5 1 ; G ra n d P oli s h free dom 2 8 6 ; Poli s h

.

D uchy of 2 7 8 poli c y s tiffened s ince 1 8 7 1

, , ,

, . ,
3 54 I N D EX
Poland acquie s ce s i n t erm s S andomir 2 2 2 3 2 3 7
o f 2 2 6 ; and Pru ss ia
.
, , ,

agree Sardinia King O f 2 39

o n s econd partition 2 2 7 ; S ax ony 2 5 0 2 5 1
.
, , , ,

force s Pru ss ian treaty o n S candinav ian s the 3

.
, , ,

Poland 2 2 9; Poland v ir S chool s foundation O f 2 8

.
, ,

t u l l y pro v ince O f 2 3 0 ; put s S ecret N ational Go v ernmen t

, .
, ,

down revolution of 1 7 94
, ,

$2 5 2 7
2 3 2 3 6 ; her acqui s ition s at S ect s rel i g i ou s i nPola n d 90
,

, , , ,

the third partition 2 3 6 3 8 91

again take s Poland after de S ejm iki 6 2 6 3

.
,

.
, ,

feat of Grande A rm e 2 4 6 ; S e m iga l l ia 96

Poland declared integral S enate S ee D iet
.
, ,

p art o f E mpire 2 5 9 2 60 ; S eniority a s b a s of s ucce s

.

Si
policy o f t oward Poland s ion according t o S lav cu s
, ,

2 6 2 ; two general type s o f

, ,

tom 2 0 2 2
em p eror s of 2 6 2 2 6 3 ; Pan S erfdom o f Poli s h pea s ant s
.
,

S la v ic idea in 2 6 3 ; her agra 1 7 6 ; aboli s hed 2 2 1 ; re s tore d

, , , ,

rian reform s in Poland 2 92 2 3 1 ; aboli s hed in theory in

, , ,

2 93 ; her s y s tem o f local D uchy o f War saw 2 4 3

, ,

d a
mini stration in Poland 2 93 aboli s hed in R u ss ia
, ,

271 ;
2 94 ; her ruthle ss policy in 2 7 1 aboli s hed in Po s en 2 7 7 ;
, , ,

Poland 2 9497 ; the D uma aboli s hed in A u stria 2 8 1 ;

,

partly re s pon s ible for rui n

, , ,

3 0 7 ; attitude o f toward the ,

Uk a n i nsr 3 1 3 ; ra pproche
a o f Poland 3 0 2
Pole s and S etch the 1 2 9
.
, ,

m en t between
3 1 7 2 0 ; Poli s h proclama S e v en Y ear s War 1 6 6 1 8 7
.
, , ,

-

tion o f at the beginning o f S hu is ki V a ss ily 1 3 3 3 5

, , .

the Great War 3 2 1 3 2 2 ; S icin s ki I 4 7

.
, , ,

her attitude toward the S ie v er s B aron v on 2 2 7 2 2 9

.
, , ,

Pole s s ince t he beginning 2 3 1

, , , ,

xv ii 3 2 8 S ee S igi s mund I Kin g o f Poland

.

o f the War
M u sco vy Gov er
, , .
, ,

( 1 50 6 72 ;
R u ss ian Poland 2 92 3 0 7 nor o f S ile s ia 7 2 ; and the
.

R u ss ian s s ettle in v alley s o f

.
,

7 3 7 4 ; nancia l
,

s l ch ta z a

the D nieper and it s tribu impro v ement s o f 7 4 7 5

, , ,

t arie s 2 ; trade with Scandi a champion of the town s

, ,

nav ia and Con s tantinople 7 5 ; religiou s tolerance of

, ,

3 ; in v ade Poland under 7 7 ; a lo v er o f peace 7 7 ;

, ,

Queen R i xa I 4 ho s tilitie s o f with M u s co v y

,

R uthenian s 3 1 1 3 1 4 7 7 7 9; recognize s D uchy o f

. ,
, ,

R zewu s ki S eweryn 2 2 2 Pru ss ia 8 0 ; hi s attitude

.
, ,

t o ward the H ou se O f H ab s
.
, , ,

S t A dalber t B i s h o p of Pra gu e b urg a nd B ohemia and H un .

gary 8 1 8 a s tanch s up
.
, ,

6 9

S t D omingo 2 4 1 7 porter O f t e righ t s O f the

.
, ,

S t Peter sburg 1 91
. .
,

Church 8 7
S alt mine s 2 0 5 S igi s mund ( I I ) A ugu st u s
.
, . , .

, .
,

S m o g it i 3 7 5 2 55 91 2 0 9
a a King o f Poland ( 1 5 4 8
P ol a nd and L ith
. . . . . .
 I N D EX 355
na n i a b ecame a danger f or 3 0 4 S ee Pa n s ingle st ate
under x ii ; acce ss ion 8 5 ; S la v i s m
.
,

character 8 5 8 6 ; hi s mar S molen s k 8 0 1 3 6 1 3 8 1 4 3

.
, ,

ria g e and the D iet

, , , , , , ,

86 8 7 ; 1 47
and the N uncio s 8 7 8 8 ; S obie s ki John King o f Poland
.
, ,

and the clergy 90 ; fa vorable ght s the Co ssack s and the

, , , , ,

to the reformer s 93 ; a man T urk s x i v I 5 1 1 5 2 ; elected

,

o f peace 93 ; hi s rea s on s fo r king 1 5 2 S e John I I I

, , , ,

allowing Prote stant Church Society of Je s u s in Poland 92

. .
,

t o be built in Cracow 93 ; S ocinian s 91

, .

effect s real union o f Poland South Pru ss ia 2 2 7

.
, ,

and L ithuania 94 ; death S pani s h S ucce ss ion Wa r o f

.
,

98 ; forbade further s ettle

, , ,

the 1 5 6
ment o f Jew s in Poland 1 8 3 S tani s lau s B i s hop o f Cracow
.
,

S igi s mund ( I I I ) V a s a R u s
.
, , ,

16
s ian ad venture o f x i v ; elect S tan i slau s (A ugu stu s Ponia
,

ed King O f Poland 1 1 3 1 5 ; t o w ki) put forward b y Ru

s s
s ia and Pru ss ia a s King of
, ,

character and internal pol

icy o f 1 1 5 1 7 ; foreign pol Poland 1 8 9; education and

icy o f 1 1 7 ; A u s trian in character 1 90 ; at the Court

, ,

t rig e and ci v il war o f I 1 8 of S t Peter s burg 1 91 ; lo v er

, ,

u s
2 5 ; part taken by in R u s Poli s h
.
, ,

o f Catharine 1 91 ;
s ian dome stic aff air s I 3 4 A mba ss ador at S t Peter s
, ,

burg 1 91 ; in R u ss ian c o n
.
, ,

1 3 5 ; death 1 3 7
S ile ia anne x ed to Poland
.
, ,

s s pi a c y 1 91 1 92 ; elected r
King 1 94 ; po s ition o f a s
, , , ,

8 ; reunited to Poland 1 7 ;
gi v en to Wl a d i l u 2 4 ; King 1 94 I 9S ; weakne ss
, , ,

s a s,
become s known a s German o f 1 96 ; twice yield s to the
, ,

Prov ince 2 4 ; recent re v i val E mpre ss 1 96 1 97 con voke s

,

O f Poli s h nationali s m in 2 4 ; D iet that agree s to r s t par

, , ,

held by B ohemia 3 9 4 6 ; tition o f Poland 2 0 3 ; work s

,

S igi s mund made G ov ernor for reform s 2 0 8 ; s upport s

, , ,

dependence on R u ss ia 2 0 8 ;
,

o f 7 2 ; N ew 2 3 7
foretell s t he fal l o f appro v e s alliance with R u s
.
, , ,

Sk g
ar a

s ia 2 1 0 ; s upport s the new

,

Poland 1 8 5
S la v ophil s 2 6 3 2 6 4 Con stitution 2 2 0 ; appointed
.
, ,

S la vs in second centu ry 1 ;
.
, , ,

Commander -inChief 2 2 4 ; -

ee before A var s in s e v enth ad v i se s acceptance of Cath

, ,

century 2 ; We s tern and arine s term s 2 2 6 ; hi s ex

E a stern 2 3 s ee Pole s R u s cu se f r acceding to Con

, ,

o
s ian s ; O f north and south federation o f Targowica
, , , ,

s eparated 2 ; Germany the 2 2 8 ; in the in s urrection O f

,

abiding dange r to inde

,

I 7 94 2 33 2 34 ; 0 6 5 to
8 ; in s titution
: ,

pe n den ce Of Gro dno and then to S t

f the di s tr ict among 1 2 ; Peter sburg 2 3 6 ; abdicate s
. .
,

g n h O t nat the e x
, , ,

D nra 237
ac s e
pen s e f 2 8 5 ; e x pelled from Stani slau s L e s zczyn s ki King
.

o
Pru ss ian Poland 2 8 8 ; inu
, ,

O f Poland 1 5 6 1 62 , , , ,

ence of the German E mpire 1 7 6 .

35 6 I N D EX

S t t u t es of N i e sz aw a men t b ut not el ig i b l e t o
z S enate 4 0 4 1 and the S t a t
,

2
t ephen word s ute s of N ie s zawa 6 2 and the
. , ,

S ( 1 575
o f quoted x i v ; elected King D ietine s 6 3 ; John A lbert
,

and 6 6 69; s ince D iet of

, , ,

O f Poland 1 0 3 ; q u a l i c a

ti o n s o f 1 0 4 1 0 5 ; defeat s y had theore t ica l

, ,

Che n c in
M u s co v i t e s 1 0 6 1 0 7 ; hi s righ t t o s i t with S enat e 6 7
, ,

army 1 0 1 0 8 ; triumpha l bec o me a c l a ss apa rt hold

, , ,

return 0 1 0 8 ; h i s great ing the other cla s se s in s ub

, ,

E uro p ea n s c h eme 1 0 8 1 0 9; je c t io n6 7 6 8 ; forc e A rticle s

O f M ielnica on Kin g A le x an
, , , ,

death 1 0 9; a nd the Z borow

s ki family 1 0 9 1 1 0 ; a grea t de r 7 1 ; v ict ory o f o ve r
,

ruler 1 1 1 ; t olerant in t e S igi s mund I 7 3 7 4 ; try to

, , , ,

l igio u s ma t ter s 1 1 1 b r ough t e xclude dep utie s o f town s

, , ,

t h e Co s s ack s into t he army

,

from D iet 7 5 ; army ine i

; cien t o wing t o control of 7 9;
, ,

12
C h arl e s try t o bring clergy under
,

S t e pl e n Arc h duke
their cont rol 8 7 8 9 90 ;
, ,

32g
t he King to be elected b 99;
, , ,

S t e pe , 8 1 , 82 , 84
Prime M i n i st er p ea cefu l sentiment O 1 0
.
,

S t o ypin , , 31 8,
319 1 0 5 1 0 8 ; lack O f re s po n s ib i
tr o ng place s 1 3 ity of 1 0 9; s uppor t Z amoy
.
,

t uhm s d o rf T ruce s ki 1 1 8 1 1 9; st ruggle b e

.
, ,

S of
twee n Ki n g S tephe n and
, , ,

1 39
u cce ss i on seniori t y a s b a s i s 1 2 1 ; their dangerou s
.
,

S 1 20
f according to S l a v cu s p olicy toward the Co ssack s
, ,

o
I V plan s
, ,

t m o 2 0 2 2 l 3 o ; Wl a d i l a u s s
S uleiman I I 8 blow at 1 3 9; s ecure elect ion
.
,

1
ff R u ss ian ge n er a l 3 5 o f M ichael 1 5 0 ; would no t
.
, ,

S uv ro 2
p ay foreign amba ssadors
.
, , ,

S n vet p l k 34 3 5 o o
s o n in-l aw 1 6 3 ; blind to the in t ere s t s
.
, , ,

S i t p lk
v a o o f - o
o f the count ry
,

B l l I 8
o es a u s 1 68 1 6 9;
S weden i n 5 5 9 ( T reatie s f really v ery weak 1 7 0 ; a sec
.
, , ,

1 O .

Wilna ) 96 ; and t he throne t ion o f not well -t o -do 1 7 4

, ,

rank O f alway s recognized

, , ,

of Poland 1 14 1 15 ;
1 7 5 ; legi s late again s t t he
, , ,

defeated at Kirkholm 1 2 6 ;
and S h u is ki 1 3 4 ; invade s t own s 1 7 8 ; O ppo sed to t he
,

L i v onia u nder Gu stav u s Jew s 1 8 3 1 8 4 ; pri v ilege s of

, ,

Adolphu s 1 3 6 ; return s L i reenacted af t er s econd

, , ,

par
v onia to Poland 1 39; in t ition 2 3 1 ; O f t he R ed
,

v ade s Poland under Charle s party 2 5 8 ; much land i n

, ,

X 1 4 3 ; in t he T hirteen hand s o f i n 1 91 4 2 98 S ee
,

Y ear s W ar 1 4 6 1 4 7 ; in
.
, , ,

N oble s

t he Great N orther n Wa r
.
, ,

Tannenberg b att le of
,

( lan ded nobi l ity)

,

S z l a cht a x ii 5 5
and km t n I I ; s er ved on T argowica C onfederatio n O f
, .
,

e e
h o r seback 1 1 depre ss ion o f
, ,

223 225 228

o n go n p o n
.
, , , ,

3 2 ; h a d v i ce i v er T a rn a po l r v i ce of 2 5 1 , , .
35 8 I N D EX
Union o f L u b l i n 94 . Wieliczka salt m ines of

1 45 .
Wie l po l s ki M arqui s 2 7 3
,

Unitarian s 91
,

, .
, , , 2 75,

Va ra ng ia ns b ui lt u p rst R u s William of H ab sburg 5 7 a

s ian sta t e 3 William s S i Charle s H a n

, , .

, .
, r
V arna 5 9 bury 9 1 1
Va s a John D uke f F i n l a n d Wilna Compac t of
.
, ,

55 ; o

96 ; t ake n
, , , ,

96 T reatie s f o
Va s a S i g i s mu nd 1 3 b y the M u s co v ite s
.

S 43 ; 1 ee 1
S igi s mund Va sa
.

ex pel s R u ss ian garri son

, , ,

V a s ily I I I Czar 7 9 33 Uni v er s ity o f 4 8 ; U n i

.
,

. 2 2
v er s ity f clo sed 6 4
, , ,

V enice 4 5 4 I O, 1 o 2
V eto power in Poli s h D iet Wi ni wi ki A dam 33
. .
, , ,

s o ec 1
x iii 4 7 8 9 1 92 96 Wi ni wi ki Jeremiah 5
, .
, ,

1 1 1 s o ec 1 0
Wi ni wi ki M ichael Kin g
, , , , , , , .

s o ec
V ienn 8 ; re s cued from t h e
, ,

a 1f Poland 1 5 -5 o 0 2.
T urk s 5 3 55 ; T reaty f Wit wt of Li t huania 5 5
, ,

, 1 O o , 1 , 2,

4 ; C ongre ss f 55 56 2 2 O

( cal l d L ok i etek
.

Wl d
,
.

53 l - a is a u s e
V i k i ng s on B alt i c coa st 4
.

or L ong King of
V i s tula t he 8 4 8 5
.
,

Poland ( 3 9 2 ; 2 1 1 22
V ladimir t he Grea t 8 b ecome s king 3 8 3 9;
.
, , ,

re
unite s P o la n d into s ingle
.
, , ,

V l h yn
o i 55 7 37 a , , 22 , 2 .

so v erei g nty 3 9; internal

regeneratio n f Poland n
,

Waclaw 3 8 39 o u
Walden s ian s 9 der 39 4 ; c ll s r st Poli s h
.
, ,

1 0 a
D ie t 4 ; defea ts Teutonic
.
, , ,

Wallachia 6 12 20 1 0
W ar saw in the fou rt eent h Knight s ; death 4 5 4 6
.
, , ,

2
I Kin g f Poland
.

century 4 ; made capital Wl d i l

, , , ,

, 2 a s a us o .

o f united L ithuanian Pol S Jagiello - ee

i s h st at e 95 ; in the eight Wl d i l
.

, I I I King f P0 a s a us , o
ee nt h century 7 9; in land ( 4 3 4 59 1 1
crea s e f s ize of after r s t Wl d l I V K i ng f P
.
,

O a is a u s O 0
partition 6 ; u pri s ing in attemp t
, ,

land ( 6 3 20 1 2
after s econd part i tion 3 3 ; to seat him on t he M u sco
, ,

2
entered by R u ss ian s 3 5 ; v ite throne 3 5 3 7 ; war
,

2 1 1
fall s to Pru ss ia at third par with M u s co vy 3 8 ;
, , ,

f o 1
t ition 3 7 ; D uchy of 4 make s peace wi t h T urk s
, ,

2 2 2
Uni v er s ity f 3 8 ; attem p t s to de s troy
, , ,

46 5 ; 2 1 o 1
clo sed 6 4 power of the D iet 3 9 4 0 ;
, ,

2 1 1
W artha t he 4
.
, , ,

death 4 1 0
Wehlau T re a ty f s on o f B l l
. .

Wl d i l
, , ,

O a s a us, o e s a us
I I I King O f Poland 1 8
,

22
W e st Galicia 3
, , ,

4 ; line f 4 5 1 1 2 o 2 2
We s t Pru ss ia 3 6 4 5 n f Ca simir I I I
. .

Wl d i l
, , ,

1 1 20 2 a s a u s , so o
W e stphalia Treatie s of 6
.
, , ,

and King f B ohemia 6 4 1 0 o

R ss t
.

, , ,

White u ia 7 elec ed King of H ungary

White s nd Red s 2 5 8
20 2 , 22
6 5 ; daughter f married t o
.
, ,
a o
F erdi n and f H ab sburg 8
, , ,

O , 2.
 I N D EX 3 59
Wl a d is l a u s H erm a n r u l e r of Jo h n
Z a po l ya , , 83

Co ss ack s
.
,

Poland 1 7 Z a po ro gh ia n 1 29
Chri stopher
, . , .

Z b o ro ws ki, , 1 10 .

Z a kre z e ws ky, 2 3 6 amuel

Z b o ro ws ki, S , 1 0 9, 1 1 0

oun t nd rew
. .

Z a m o ys ki, C A the
Z b o ro ws kis , 1 0 0 1 0 1
9 4
ealo ts the
, , .
,

2 7o . Z , , 228, 229 .

Z a m o ys ki, , Jo h n
99, 1 1 0 -1
5, Z e b rz yd o ws ki, 1 2 2 , 1 2 3 .

1 1 8 Z o l kie ws ki, 1 2 6 , 1 3 1 , 1 3 5 .

Z a po l s k, Truce O f 10 8 .
 the min Dress
ersib e !

C AM B R I D G E M A S S AC H U S E T T S

U S A
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1 98 M a inS ta c ks

ALL B O O KS M AY B E REC ALLED AFTER 7 DAYS .

Re ne wals a n d Re c ha rge s m a y b e m a de 4 days prio rto the d ue date .

Boo ks m a y b e re n
e we d b y c a ll in
g 6 42-3 4 05.

DUE AS S TAM PED B ELOW .

FO RM NO DDS UN IVERS ITY O F CALIFO RN IA BERKELEY,

S OM 1 05
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,
ia 94 7 20 6 0 0 0