I have very mixed feelings when I read Polish history. My
goal is to try to understand the times in which my ancestors lived. I take
pride in the nobles of the 16th and 17th century who
created a semblance of democracy in Poland .
I am embarrassed by the greed and seeming self-absorption of many of the nobles
of the 18th century.
In the 16th century, the ruling classes of the Republic
of Poland Lithuania
conceived a type of democracy that was unique for it’s time.
Nobles had assumed governance, regarding themselves as the
supreme authority of the state.[1] The king gained his throne not by inheritance
but by election. Once a king was elected, he was required to agree to the
stipulations of the nobles before he could be crowned. The king was elected to be a leader, not a
ruler. There was a parliament (Sejm)
consisting of upper and lower houses and populated by the nobles’ envoys, and
representatives from the provinces.
The Republic was thus freed from the whims and prejudices of
an absolute ruler. State policies were shaped by the consensus of the nobles.
This was the age of Golden Liberty. Under that system, all
nobles, regardless of rank or economic status, were considered to have equal
legal status and enjoyed extensive
legal rights and privileges.[2]
But Golden Liberty applied only to the nobility. Peasants
and townfolk were excluded. There was no
legal system to protect the majority of the population from the excesses of nobles
who were greedy and despotic.
Polish serfs were just one step up from slavery. They were
sharecroppers. More than that, their
daily lives could be controlled by the landlord. The Lord of the Manor could forbid serfs from
leaving the village. He could refuse to allow girls to get married off the
estate.[3] Peasants were subject to the attitudes and
whims of the noble whose land they worked.
Fast forward to the early 18th century and the
heirs of the architects of Golden Liberty seem to have become quite complacent
in their rights and privileges.
After the Great Northern War 1700-21[4],
Tsar Peter the Great of Russia had a firm grip on Polish affairs. He emasculated the Republic by forcing severe
reduction in the armed forces and removing financial support. The army was
forced to provide their own funds and supplies by levying local taxes. But the nobility
was not inclined to support the army.
The nobles’ strong resistance to any new taxes insured that the Polish
armed forces remained feeble while both Prussia
and Russia were
rapidly building their armed forces.
Alliances were made and broken; treaties were made and
broken; confederations were made and dissolved.
In its weakened position, Poland
sought the protection of her powerful neighbors.
By 1772, Prussia ,
Russia and Austria
carved up and took control of Polish lands in the First Partition of Poland.
On May 3, 1791
Poland adopted
a new constitution that gave equal rights and protections to all classes of
society. Many nobles fiercely resisted this. It took only another two years for
Poland ’s
powerful neighbors to again redistribute Polish lands among themselves. In
another two years, by 1795, Poland
completely disappeared from the map in the Third Partition of Poland.
This is the source of my embarrassment. How could the noble
class with such a proud heritage act so ignobly!? My
reading of Polish history tells me that the ruling class, by its complacency
and greed effectively gave away their homeland. Poland
vanished for more than a century and came back into existence only after the
end of WWI.
My ancestors were peasants. I’m glad of that.
Please comment if you have a differing view of history. I truly want to understand my heritage. I
want to learn.
