A Brief History of Poland

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
RVI S
FT
S
I
O
W
I
A
U
L
J
.
CO N TE N TS
I N TR ODUCT IO N
O RIGI N
AND
EARLY HI S TORY : THE E RA OF B EGI N
1 86
6
2
9
3
NI N G S ,
II
1x
THE J A GIELL O N
1
KI N G S : TH E E RA
0F
G RE ATN Es s ,
1
8
6
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
I V POL I S H S OC IETY I N THE E IGHTEE N TH C E N T U RY

.
V THE
.
T IO N ,
The
VI I
Fi rst
Pa rt i t i o n
Th e Na t i o n
a l Re v i va l a n
d Pa r
d t he Se c o n
t it i o n
Th e Re vo l ut i o no f I 7 94 a n
d t h e T hi rd Pa r
t it io n
D UC H Y OF
WA R SAW
THE C O N GRE SS K I N GD O
AND
IX
2.
T HE
S I NC E
8 63
23 1
2 39
2 62
8 63
Pru ss i a nPo l a nd
R u ss ia nPo l a nd
A u st ri a nP o l a n
d
PO L E S
20
24 7
RE VOL U TIO N OF
P OLAND
1 87
T HE RE VOL U TI O N
O F T8 3 O
.
67
1
6
7 3 7 95
THE G RAND
V I I I THE
LA S T KI N G OF POLAND : T HE ERA OF P A RT I
2.
VI
98
AND
THE
2 84
2 92
30 7
WAR
G E NE AL OGI CAL TA B L E :
POLAND
THE
317
J A GI E LL O N K I N G S OF
333
B I B L IOGRA PH Y
335
I ND E X
3 37
34637 1
L I ST
P OLAND
AND
L I TH UAN I A
OF M APS
B EFORE
THE UN IO N OF LU B L I N
1 563
POLAND :
50
THE
THE G RAND
P OLA ND
PA RTITIO N S OF
D UC H Y
IN 1 8 1 5
0F
7 72 ,
WA R S AW
7 93 ,
AND
8 0 6-1 8 1 3
7 95
20 2
2 42
2 52
I N TR O D U C TI ON
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
it io n and autonomous government in the
o gn
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
O N CE
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
n
i
n
f
c
might
Pan
Germanism
o
va
g
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
.
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
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
Under Sigismund I I
eo u s political unit
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
the ridiculous and impossible
l iberu m veto
right o f each individual to kill legislation by
ven
to a humiliating
his veto and the Pa cta con
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
.
'
I N TRO D U C TI O N
xiv
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
Poles yo u o we your preservation
1 5 8 6 said :
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
that
unless
you
t
a
k
e
steps
to
heal
the
dis
o
u
y
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
And yet for something more than
o f to day
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
.
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
,
I N T RO D U C TI ON
x vi
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
r
h
i
n
f
o
a
c
struggle
o
the
Slav
people
s
against
p
g
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
but o f Germany
a conviction
o f Ru ss ia
,
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
,
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
a l it ie s
Yet th e most numerous o f Slav
t io n
nations and the only o ne toward whom she has
entire freedom o f action the Poles have re
If
c e iv e d nothing but repression at her hands
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 ,
I
6
2
9
1 1
6
2
9
1 3 86
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 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
,
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
s The Pole s
th e Baltic an
d the Carpathian
were part o f thi s group while the Russian s
r
Eastern
Sla
vs
their
age
long foe s formed a
o
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
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
n
s
a
b
nd
i
a
a
g
who under the leadership o f
o f N or s emen
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
,
OF P OL A N D
B R I E F H IS TO R Y
German s o nthe west obliged them to combine

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
o
Mgu k
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
Though at di fferent times
o f the N e t z e River
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
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
ce of Poland the Duke made friends with
den
pe n
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
s ides
B EG I NN I N G S
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
.
'
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
m
te pt a t Pan Slavism s how s that even in the
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
g
so ninl a wr
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
l
i
s
it
however
as
the
country
was
against
h
p
S v ia t o po l k Shortly be fore hi s death Boles
,
THE E RA O F
BEG I N N I N G S
f King
laus took the title o

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
Shortly
a mong them t o preach the Gospel
the Emperor O tto I I I
a fter I n the year 1 0 0 0
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
n
f
o
t
him
o
this
occasion
to
raise
the
See
o
g
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
B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
Io
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
r
e
p o u s colonists The King also protect ed the
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
remained
for
d
centurie s what B o l e sl a u s had made her the
,
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
a
there wa s a d is t inc t iOn between the t
and the km eteno r s imple
o r landed nobility
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
B R I EF H IST O R Y
12
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
e man from another in even the
en
t ia t e s o n
most democratic s ociety Ability to lead in
war was probably the basis of most early s u
r
r
i
r
i
as
was
their
chief
occupation
e
o
w
a
t
p
y
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
s of later centurie s
called magnates o r pa n
The d is t ric tj wh ich was the unit o f local go v
m en
t in early Poland and which through it s
e rn
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
.
'
B R I EF H I STO R Y
x4
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
the young Casimir was re
o f this anarchy
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
ebuilding towns and churches and insuring

peace with Russia by marrying M ary the sister
He was able
o f t he Grand Prince o f Kie v
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
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
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
e
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
it y o f the contested succession to in v ade
t un
his borders B o l e s l a u s conquered them all and
f
reunited Silesia and Pomerania to Poland
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
iz in
his
people
who
during
the
preced
t ia n
g
ing reigns had shown so plainly ho w slight an
,
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
l
l
B
o
e
s
u
s
But
though
I
I
I
had
been
able
to
a
X
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
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
1
0
1
0
when Germany was weakened by
( 5
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
eriod
and
nothing
was
d
ne
o
when
a
o
S
p
century later the Germ ans had settled their
s it a t e d
B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D
20
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
,
3 20
1 1 39
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
divisions were merely temporal ar
rit o ria l
rangemen t s lasting only during the lifetime of
a single prince and were not hereditary in the
,
22
H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
B R IE F
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
To Mieczyslaw Great Poland
an
d C uja v ia
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
.
B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
24
exped ition did no t accomplish its purpose

o m e years after B o l e s l a u s IV who had taken
S
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
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
o
f
e
the
succession
with
the
descendants
u
t
d
p
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
.
B R I EF H IST O R Y O F P OL A N D
26
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
T
o
make
this
theory
a
real
o f their subj ects
.
ity he saw it was necessary rst t o reform the
to
make
them
able
eager
and
devoted
clergy
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
and with the power of
ce s o f rev enue
s o uT
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
7
s
princes W
the beginning of many a docu
a
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
The election o f bishops and
o n their estates
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
.
B R I EF H I STO R Y OF P OLA N D
o
3
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
s h e d that colonists were a n
u l a t io nso d im in
e
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
1
3
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
baro ns o r more
U pon their nobles and the
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
,
2
3
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
law
I
I
I
and
the
party
that
supported
Ca
s
i
7
mir that the foundations of aristocratic gov
m en
t were laid As soon as he was on the
e rn
th rone Casimir called a synod o r general assem
,
TH E E RA OF B E G I NN I NG S
bly
33
the bishops o f the kingdom and this as

e hand
s e m b l y pro mulgated decrees o nthe o n
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
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
ia be c ame an independent du c hy and the?
e ra n
Teutonic Knights settled in M a so v ia the latter
of
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
t o po l k who dro v e
o r a Pomeranian
Sv e n
e rn
Leszek con
o u t the Danes and took Danzig
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
.
6
3
and Conrad at his wits end nally sought help

fro m the Teutonic Knights
The
O
rder
o f the Teutonic Knights came into
V
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
B R I EF
8
3
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
,
1 3 20
3 86
Wl a d isl a u s Lokietek Duke
and
Leszek the Black had been recog
,
brother
of
of
C u ja v ia
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
,
B R I EF H I S TO RY OF P OLA N D
0
4
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
Chan cellors from each duchy members o f the
local magistracies and the nobles At the Diet
f
o
r
the
King
the
rst
time
a
d
c in
o f Chen
y
no t merely as hereto
m it t e d all the nobles
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
1
4
s
km ete n
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
The German burghers made
c u rit y increased
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
,
2
4
also lay midway on the great road that led

d the South Russian
from the Black Sea a n
ports to Breslau Prague and the western
European capitals Both Cracow a nd Danzig
f
o
now
in
the
hands
the
Teutonic
K
ights
n
(
)
were members o f the Hanseatic League and had
thus every facility for using their trading o p
The
rich
merchants
of
Cracow
i
t
i
e
s
n
o
r
t
u
b
e
p
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
s tant and menacing pressure o nhis frontiers
A v ictory ov er them which the King won in
however kept them from further e n
1 33 2
t o n Polish lan
d and showed the
c ro a c h m e n
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
ia n
uan
s
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 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
OF P OLA N D
the Grand Duchy o f Lithuania extended from

Courland
to
the
Carpathians
from
the
Bug
an
d
J
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
s
were thus brought into close contact
b a ria n
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
,
6
4
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
c t was undoubtedly right in opposing the
s t in
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
I n 1 3 4 0 the princely
o f Russian principalities
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
f
i
n
King o Hungary brother
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
.
B R I EF H I ST O R Y
8
4
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
it ie s under German law He also tried
m un
by legislation to impro v e the condition of the
s and to protect them against the e v er
km eten
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
m en
e rn
t In spite o f the fact that he was called
inderision by nobles the peasant king
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
in return for which Louis
v ia and M a s o v ia
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
J
able ruler but too occupied with other in
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
THE J A G I E LLO N KI N G S
E RA OF G R E AT N E SS 1 3 8 6 1 522
,
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
They were o f the patient tactful
o f real ability
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
THE
2
5
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
)
r
r
Sigismund
but
al
o
probably
by
the
e
o
s
p
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
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
a result o f the barbarian i vasions t h e two
branche s O f the Church developed very dif
fe re n
a s very
t l y The Church o f the West W
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
.
'
B RI EF
54
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
t ia ll y Roman and Teutonic in origin
T his
s en
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
ia was feudally organ
u an
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

ia narms had conquered and were jealous
ua n
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
Jagiello s urrendered all his
o f Wilna in 1 4 0 1
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
o r T nnenber g (J uly
G riin
e wa l d
a
J
a
i
ll
e
o was unable to follow up his v ictory how
g
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
was in fact little
13
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
,
6
5
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
and
o nterm s o f exact equality
n
d
i e
S ep arate
tical admini s tration s we re pro vided for the two
co u n
trie s r
all 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
h
f
e
Roman
Catholic
noble
s
Lithuania
T
his
o
f
y
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

Greek a n
d Roman churches to o k place at a
known
as
the
Union
CO II Y
B
L
L
Q
C
L
D
I
L
J
E
L
Q
which resulted in e s t a b l iSt g
ce
oLEl o re n
what is known as the Uw
The
ch
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
was
a
Q
Q
B
very real loss to the kingdom O bliged when
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
,
8
5
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
l
freely in Cracow This was a u niq u e a nd re
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
f
Durin
a ie ll o s long reign o fort e i ht
,
He e s tablished a gov
6o
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
o f the Vistula )
in t he possession o f the Teu
a
tonic Knights s iII ce the thirteenth century was
r
as
the
result
o f the long war
f
e
i
which
Casimir
waged
against
them
inallian
ce
6
w ith the townspeople and gentry o f Po m e re lia
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
a
p ce o f ev ery subsidy constitutional conces
s ion s o f the great e st importanc e T he delay s
0'
if
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
a rie s the best soldiers o f that day by whose
ce n
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
re
f used to go to war until the King had granted
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
riv il e e o f Kas
by the
g
t o secure the s uccession o f hi s
in
order
g
h
a
S
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
f hich
S e iki and later in the central D ig
they developed to meet their requirements
To understand this development we must
,
W
,
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
At rst
o f all the sz l a chta o f the pro v inces
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
,
'
B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P O LA N D
64
d
the Dietine s directly and found it a s low a n
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
f
I
o
that
papal
oppo
s
ition
policy
a l iz in
o
h
s
t
g
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
on
inthis fruitless a n
e
d mistaken attempt
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
had thrown
V ery able and astute Czar v
o ff the T artar yoke and had s et to work to
expand toward the west and particularly to
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

b
i
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
d the Dniester Poland had
o f the Danube a n
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
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
in
pos
s
on
f
f
r thr nes
nasty
o
si 9 ou
se
u rI n
the
reign
f
Casimir
and
under
his
o
g
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
R m nP i n f H li w
l f M ld v i in1 393
wh n t hi o wnwi h h b ec m e v ssa l of t h e Ki ng of
Po la n
d
a
.
ce o
cz
a s ru e r o
66
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
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
ia in 1 4 4 3 by considering the Uniates as
ua n
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
d Alexander ( 1 5 0 1
o h nAlbert ( 1 4 92 1 5 0 1 ) a n
,
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

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
f
v
ery
s
eriously
the
sources
wealth for
o
g
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
re S
This
T
fi
E
t
e d area o f the city walls
t h e ve
ry
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
im p
t
dut
es
put
the
burgesses
at
such
a
dis
r
o
i
ad vantage commercially that they soon ceas ed
.
s z l a chta
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
o w pushed down into a condition
d o m was n
e hand
o f serfdom by statutes which o nthe o n
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
1
those whose parents were both noble put the
Church on the side o f the privileged and de
r
o
i
e
d
f
the
lower
classes
their
best
champi
n
o
v
p
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
t
n ni
t whi h d
E x pt i nw m d f t h
n nl w me di i n n
of
d t h e l o gy o f pl ebeia nongm we re
e e l i g ib l
a l on
,
'
ca
ce
as
e.
e o
e, a
ree c a
r es ,
oc o rs
B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
o
7
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
1
0
1
Alexander
who
in
open
dea
ce
(
( 5
\
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
1
7
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
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
by which the King was depriv ed
o f Mielni ca
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
z
2
7
should be constantly attended by a permanent

f
council o twenty four Senators (the Senators
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
by the Edict NM
the
IJ I
D
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
Alexander s brother was a man
( 1 50 6
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
l
Hetman to levy troops t h e Lord Trea s u re r
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
-
B R I EF H I STO RY
74
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
The v ictory o f the sz l a chta is seen
c lass apart
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
f
f
the
magnates
o
the
Senate
through
i
i
o
n
o
c
p
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
in
the
way
o f nancial regeneration is
h
li
s
d
e
p
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
d the two
d the German s Kaspar Beer a n
an
,
'
6
7
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
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 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
The Lutheran party
o f the ruling oligarchy
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
close t h e monasteries a nd de c lare all
c is m
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
v
dangerou s inno vations he was not bigoted and !A
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
He wa s equally tolerant
son
a l l y o r o fcially
toward the Greek Church and his favor and
friendship toward their religion did much to
o
l
keep the d Russian provinces faithful to the
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
.
8
7
OF P OLA N D
kha n
s
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
d made ex tremely di fcult by the treachery
an
s ky
A Lithuanian o f
o f P rince M ichael G l in
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
P rince had used his position to enrich himself
t that at Alex
an
d hi s fa mily to s uch an exten
.
80
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
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
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
f
actor
g
,
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
In that year without any declara
o f 1 53 1
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
.
B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
82
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
ii Ukra in
e
mea ning b o rd ef
an
d 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
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
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
Polish politics
s trong democratic element t o
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
and Queen Bona in the
fe n
s e o f the border
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
another at Krzemieniec At Bar
e at Bar
she stationed her Steward B ernard Pre t cz
wh o so successfully repulsed t h e Tartar bands
t
e
v
e
n
he
beat
them
times
that
thousands
o
f
f
s
)
y
(
,
T HE
ERA
0 F G R E AT N E SS
85
colonists ocked thither where alone o nall

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
ce She was v ery u npo pu
o f no mean importan
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
f
o
ha
v
ing
poisoned
her
daughter
in
pe ct e d
law Barbara Radziwill that her son might
marry some o ne more favored by herself
.
of
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
A dozen o r more o f the o l d magnate
v is e rs
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
,
B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OL A N D
86
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
brought up by a woman the friend
o f a king
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
called the B lack
As a Lithuanian
z iwil l
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
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 n
d 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
g conce rning his marriage
o f mo v ing the Kin
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
The N u ncio s ins ist e d o ntreating
o ff his hat
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 n
e 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
,
B RI E F H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
0
9
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
The nobles w ere a unit , Catholic and
e
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
,
2
9
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 n

o 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
h
t
P apacy to undertake e Counter Reformation
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 n
ism 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 tan
t 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
and a d m inis
o wns e parat e arm y court law s
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
.
B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
6
9
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 n
s 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
THE E RA
OF
M O NA R CHY
DE C L I N E ,
2
57
6
7 3
WHEN King Sigismund died in J uly
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
c
i
only prev ented a n
ommo
action
n
n this
y
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 in
ter
,
1 00
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
to
which
Henry
o f Anj ou and succeed
n
c
t
a
e
og
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
The new King did no t at all like these con
s and had no gr e at wish to take up hi s n
ew
d itio n
'
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
d thu s
Paris ) from the coronation ceremony a n
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
runaw
!
gether so he
Late
at
ay
night after a great court entertainment he left
the castle by a pri vate passage from his o wn
t s who had
room s found s ome French attendan
.
1 94
The aff ection
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
ed with him M ay 1
c rown
D anzig alone in the whole country obj ected
to the new monarch
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
of
'
T HE E RA 0 F D ECL I N E
10
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
h
as a great state The Turks in alliance with the
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
W
sian parts o f Lithuani a and o f her ambitions W
to reach and control the Baltic coast would re l:
duce Poland to a land -locked state o f small A W
E
"
6
o
dimen sion s a n
ce He ha d n
d little importan
k nowledge
of
"
10
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

m ax im
contrary he
ha m 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
n
e
He
conti
ued
the
s
ub
s
idie
s
t e mm
e
a
c
p
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
u a l l y threatened her o nthe southeast
With
t in
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
d he x ed his eyes o nLivonia which would
an
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
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
his
second
v
ictory
o
v
er
Iv
a
I
V
he
was
recei
v
ed
n
5
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
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
t him a penny wa s
v io u s l y resol v ed not to gran
carried away by the general enthusiasm and
n
him
quite
a
decent
gra
t
a
d
e
a
d
b
ac
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
together and incorp o rating it with Poland
s
iting Polan
d an
un
d Hungary a n
d drivm g t he
A
,
T urk
169
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
with
Austria
which
was
to
ha
v
e
i
n
s
i
t
o
o
t
a
g
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
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
preci n
cts o f the royal cas tle a n
d by the clem
ency o f the King was exiled merely instead
Under King
o f hanged as the law pro v ided
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
l
n
t
m
n
u
d
e
ig
ored
the
warning
and
Z
a
o ys ki
y
p
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
B ut
t e rm in
ed to o v erawe both Diet and King
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
t s ju s t re corded and was o ne o f t h e
th e even
,
1 12
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
l
s
in
his
methods
and
all
prone
to
rega
d
u
o
u
t
o
o
r
p
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
d completely under the inuence of
ty a n
en
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
Z a m o ys ki h o wever had quite other
o u t him
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
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

dna d o f Catharine J a gI
o f King John of S w
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
1
factions came with armies behind them s o that
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
k
5 The Prim a te K a rn
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
n i
nt
w ki h d t nt h
nd f ig nm
T h Zb
b y t h A hd ke
we ll t h p i v t e m i e o f t h i Pol i h
,
su
pp
o ro
rc
o rt e rs .
as
o u sa
as
e rc e
o re
ar
a r e s se
e r
1 14
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
1
t h e throne I t was o ny whe nhis ambassadors
P l nd l i m d E t h ni
p t f t h t it y f th
nt y h d b n c pi d by S we
O d
f t h S w d b t th
bee n bl e t o m a k goo d he r cl aim
ev
d h dn
den n
d Po l n
,
'
c a
o a
r er o
,
or
e co u
er
ar
as
ee
e rr
o cu
or
1 1
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
s tre gth o f Vyil l and he never a c hiey g I the
c
h
a
l
o
personal 0 gla rit
ne a Polish
s
l
hi
j
x
nd ica ps o f his
monarch c o u
h
i
s
n
T
he
child
o
g
p t
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
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
H
e
n
natured
Pole
s
i
s
religion
al
s
o
n
i
O
E
e
T
p
g
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
headed by
a league o f the Catholic Powers
,
1 1
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

This brought him into direct oppositi o n
o ut
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
as the arch
c e s to rs had fought unceasingly
enemy o f Poland and the only serious menace
,
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
o sooner had the Diet risen than
cession B ut n
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
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
Habsburg intrigue s were again aroused
of
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
There were many reasons for this opposition
3
RS
H Years
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
The Diet also obj ected to the King s
o f re v olt
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
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 K
if
he
did
not
in
g
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
i
A
determined
minority
could
alway
s
r
o
t
j y
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
and as
u nanimity was obviously impossible
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
,
B R I E F H I ST O RY
1 24
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
I shall ev er
e rt ies : and these a s a true noble
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
We
a re freemen and born in a free country
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
to
indanger we thre w ours elve s a s it were i n
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
T h e trouble bro ke o u t
a m ounted to nothing
W
,
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
l
This
meant
that
the
Kin
s
e
n
r
e
amn
t
y
s
a
e
g
g
attem pt to introduce a system o f voting which
i
l
i
s
a
o
n
should m a m
fea
s
ible
t
g
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

1
h
0
o
f
t
and
po
ular
fear
h
e
t
e
8 W
p
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
u d s natural and in
e v it a b le e n
blows
to
l
e
B
a
W
and to
es
W
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
c
Whe
i mund refus
M OW
iS o wnclaims t
VW
the throne the Swede s in
vaded Li vonia But
..
1 26
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
Z a m o ys ki,
1 28
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
King Stephen
s e m b l y the policy t o be pursued
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
H
h
f
r
h
c ru it in
e
ce
o
t
they
were
known
as
the
g
registered
Cossacks They continued to
elect their o wna ta m a n
but the election was
s
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
When Pol a nd wa s at peac e with t he
o ff e red
.
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
.
o
3
OF P OLA N D
B R I E F H I ST O R Y
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
,
B RI EF H I ST O R Y
32
OF P O LA N D
T urks were defeated and forced to a truce
that
kept
peace
between
the
two
states
(
fo r nearly forty years
f
M eanwhile events o dramatic and far reach
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
i
Czar s brother nlaw Boris Goduno v who
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
1
6 1 9)
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
His lack o f any title to the
o f all the boya rs
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
.
34
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 n
d 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
ting him and that under him a
c o vy were suppor
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
.
B RI E F H I ST O R Y
6
3
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
d M u s co vy ceded Smolensk and the great
an
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
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
disillusioned and disappointed seeing
1 632
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
.
B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
8
3
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
King Wl a d is l a u s Though the Diet refused to
c onsider Poland s going to war with them the
B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
o
4
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
The C o ss ack s however go t tired
s till come
o f waiting and in 1 64 8 their Hetman Bogdan
icki made an alliance with the Tartars
C h m ie l n
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 n
a 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
.
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 in
ic ki as their leader and c o n
g C h m ie l 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
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
b u ig
d en
Like a ashlight suddenly turned upon her
the defecti o n o f the C o ssacks revealed t o her e n
al div isions in Poland and her
e mies the intern
.
'
1 44
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
M any Polish soldiers de
s ia s m o f t h e Poles
the nobles held a
s e rt ed the Swedish cause
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
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
on
e 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
.
B RI E F H I ST O R Y OF P OL A N D
6
4
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
in
g
1 48
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
-eight
ears
no
less
than
forty
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
f
reign o twenty one years had been a reign full
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
ta this attempt roused a storm o f p rotest
ven
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
,
56
the Diet
O F P OLA N D
Election 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
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
of
B R I EF
2
5
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
They raised a large army and sent
t e rn
a t iv e
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
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 n
t join ed
,
54
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
d the energy decision and tact
v ery doors a n
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
,
6
5
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
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
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
,
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
.
8
5
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
l
f
f
l
shut
f
f
The
best
e
orts
of
the
early
e
t
e
o
y
p
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
,
B R I EF
6o
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
d dictated her alli a nces but questions of terri
an
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 dened 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
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
c y and Louis XV this policy
like most
gen
others o f the Great Monarch was less e ffe c
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
.
62
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
and under
o f Saxony the son of Augustus I I
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
B R I EF H I STO RY
64
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
e d with their great wealth and public spirit
b in
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
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
l
s
o
s before the country they urged B riihl to
a
p
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
.
B R I E F H IST O R Y OF P OLA N D
66
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
.
B R I EF H I STO RY
6S
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
r
i
c
e
e
n
t
o
use
The
English
Parliament
lent
e
d
p
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
d e n
c e o f the s z l a chta already dangerously
con
great There is no ev iden
c e that any eventhe
,
THE
E I GHTEE N TH CE N T URY
1 69
their o wncompetence o r
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
faintest suspicion
,
of
o
7
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
ev ery page o f seventeenth and
o n nearly
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
,
B R I EF H I ST O RY OF P OLA N D
2
7
kept up direct correspondence with fo reig

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 ss that was quite strange to western
e s q u en
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
E I G H TEE N TH CE N T UR Y
73
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
r
i
of
upper
cl
a
s
s
Poles
the
o
l
fashioned
o
t
d
j y
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
,
74
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
liberty o f a
t h e wh ole c ountry s i de t h at the
.
6
7
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
r
i
f
t
h
f
e
v
e
rights
humanity
e
d
o
n
e
o
v
p
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
o
f
c
e
s
chairs tabl e s o r a n
th
r
the
mo
s
t
e
n
e
o
y
,
THE
E I G H T E EN TH CE N T UR Y
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
ic ki is a notable and terrible example
C h m ie l n
When o ne remembers that the peasantry form ed
.
8
7
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
r
u
s
they
were
represented
in
the
Diet
an
e
o
d
;
p
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
The dev astation of
o t impossible
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
,
80
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
ever took the
fo r what was raised the Poles n
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
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
,
B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P OL A N D
82
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
.
84
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
1
an ywhere in Europe
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
c e s added enormously to race an
en
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
re so l t i o n
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
so l
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
c es
t heir n
c re a se u n
der a n
u m b e s m ust n
ot i n
y c i c u m st a n
1
Th e
u
s as
ca
ea s
se o
r
s o
o e a
or
"
T HE
E I GHTEE N TH CE N T URY
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
,
nh
Cl
id will
yo u r d is s e ns io ns h e
e r wh o
sa
co m e t h e d e s po t i s m o f a fo re ign
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
t
o
t
e
a
e
t
a
r
s
r
w
ll
m
e
r
e
l
l
ll
o
u
a
e
o
o
i
m
e
o
u
e
c
d
b
y
p
y
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
o se o
t e
fo o ts te ps
of
86
Yo u will se e
h a nds o f an e ne m y who h a te s th e m
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
e d to
an
ad o pt t h e m a n
d s c a t t e re d c o nd e m 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
e n
e i th e r k i n
m
r
fa the r
t h e ri gh t t o c h o o s e o n
d
o
n
o
g
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
e d b y t h o se ve ry k ingdo m s
t ry yo u will b e s pu rn
wh o n
o w see k yo ur a lli a nce
.
88
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 n
d mad e
d P olan
.
T HE E RA 0 F P A RT I T I O N
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
were Greek O rthodox o r members o f
e s ted
the Russian Church In taking up their cause
,
B R I EF H I ST O RY
1 96
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
,
2
9
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
,
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
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
always to regard the
b il it y He promised
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
1
intentions
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
.
d P a rtitionof P olan
d,
Lord , The S econ
48
B RI E F H IST O RY OF P OL A N D
6
9
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
l
m is in
g y and let all Europe know what he was
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
When she refused
m veto
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
1
by force o f arms than subj ect to such dictati o n
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
d 9 79
g f P ol a n
,
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
,
8
9
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
d the party o f reform s uc
t h e C z artoryski a n
or
'
OF P OLAN D
B RI E F H IST O R Y
20 0
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
By the beginning o f 1 7 6 9 he
conict to Poland
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
Austria re
t e re s t s in southeas tern Europe
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
.
B RI EF H IST O RY OF P OLAN D
20 2
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
i
i
a
r
h
t
c
a
n
t
o
l
o
f
s
ha
v
e
territory
the same
u
d
p
p
value as the others and it as tacitly under
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 n
d 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
,
THE N ATI O NAL RE VI VAL AN D

S E C OND PA RTITI O N
THE
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
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 rn
m 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
i0
1
t
Under this Constitution the
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
l
u
e
x
a
social rgmm ls ofreforms which
l a s t in
g
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
ne
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
r
educated
and
enterprising
came
I
nto
e
o
u
s
p
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
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
u
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
The enlightenment o f t h e
ro pe a n ideas
,
20
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

adopted with enthusi a sm in
a ry F rance
t io n
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
h
v in
partition had co n
x
a
t
e
n
d
e
ce d t he Kin
g
p d
ence on Russia was the ne c e s s a gy cg n
dit io n
of
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
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
e d e fforts would conquer f rom Turkey
b in
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
f
the
necessity
o
outside
aid
if
they
were
iz in
o gn
g
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
6
This was the s
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
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
ho desired to retain the o l d C o nstitution
SW
!NB
in
tact who saw despo t ism in any orderly
go vernment and extolled the sacred freedom
m veto
o f the o l d anarchy and the l ibern
B R I E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
1 12
prov ince he had criminal j urisdiction ov er all

Little Poland ; as Grand Hetman o f the Crown
l
he was Commander nChief o f the army while
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
l
s
in
his
methods
and
all
too
prone
to
regard
u
o
u
p
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
t y and completely under the inuence o f
en
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
Z a m o ys ki however had quite other
o u t him
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
r
i Of the
co vy t h e Arc h du k e M ax imili a n brothE
,
21
B R I EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N 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
any foreign
o f Prussia promised that in case
P ower
should seek to a s sert the right to
interfere in the internal aff airs of the Republic
the King o f Prussia will rst e n
o f Poland
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
1
render military assistance)
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
iz e d
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
H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
B RI E F
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
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
n
e ga tion
in
making
a
i
t
u
o f the Patriot Part
g
y
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
o t only
wa s accompli shed The delay was due 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
T h e King was p a rti c ularly inter
o f the Diet
He himself drew up t h e
e s t e d in thi s plan
proj e ct o f a Constit u tion modeled o nEngl ish
,
2 2o
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
d said to be under
o f a new partition o f Polan
consideration by Russia and Prussia The King
then produced the new Constitution and urged
its immediate acceptance in the face o f this new
After some very heated debate in
d a nger
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
the only
d isgrace the auspicious occasion
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
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
icki They assured the Empress t h at H
B ra n
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
d at once decided to
Pru s sia saw h is chan
ce a n
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
usurpers at Warsaw had
o f the army by the
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
Confederated
a ddres s ed in the name o f the
Polish N ation to Cath arin e as that immortal
sov ereignwho wa s th e refuge o f peoples and
1
kings and the tutelary divinity o f Poland
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
.
Lo rd ,
2 7 6.
B R I EF H I ST O R Y OF POL A N D
2 24
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
i
n
King Commander
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
The K ing then made a f
to the
a rry Q
K ing o c
It
tIL t heir t re a t y
,
n
,
2 26
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 o f the Empre s s s term s
c e pt a n
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 strowski urged the K ing to
o f the country
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
no unce d h is d e ci sion to
v in
d n
a lly a n
Ce d a n
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
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
de
a was to have Danzi
g
sired all that wa s left o f Great Poland and
b rie y the
parts of C u ja v ia and M a so v ia
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
.
'
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 n
tative B aron v o nSievers
B RI EF H IST O R Y OF P O LA N D
228
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
who opposed themselves uncompromis
o ts
in
l
to
a
partition
or
even
to
a
discussion
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
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
a
e
p t e d without response whereupon the M ar
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
This treaty as o ne o f the deputie s
o f Russia
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

Truly t h e vengeance o f
o f the peasantry
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
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
Send horse s shirt s boots
o f bread biscuit etc
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
O F P OLA N D
rine o f Russia was collecting for the s a me des

t in
a 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
,
235
fear he would try to escape to Russia he

,
wa s
otherwise treated with respect but o nthe u n

that
he
should
take
no
part
in
pub
d in
d e rs t a n
g
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
ce had be en accomplished however only
s is t a n
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
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
d be
ided t h e remain ing t e rritorie s o f Polan
.
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
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 in
g brilli a nce had no t only conquered
1
them b u t t he King o f Sardinia and the Pope
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
T h D k e o f S vo y w
Ki ng inSa rdi nia a nd ruler f
THE
'
t
Pied m o n
as
2 4o
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
Though telling them that
o pened negotiations
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
i
n
in
Italy
s
a
g
p
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
.
B R I EF H I STO RY
2 42
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
including C racow and the
o r N ew G alicia
er of O ld Galicia The latter
s outh e a s t c orn
N apoleon gave to his friend and ally the Em
Russia
while
West
Galicia
was
added
r
r
f
e
o
o
p
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
spe ople The powe r o f
b y the n
o bl e s a n
d to wn
.
B R I EF H I S TO RY OF P OLA N D
2 44
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
t to their national hopes t o get
c o u ra g e m e n
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
,
WA RS AW
G RA N D D U C H Y OF
2 45
thousand men Ravaged by war its t rade with

England greatly reduced when not en t irely ou t
and Eng
o ff by the Continental blockade
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
l
e
l
p e d to leave Warsaw from want o f money
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
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
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
r
r
n
e
o
Paul
had
visited
in
prison
and
o
n
o
e
p
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
o t only took meas ures to ameliorate
1 8 0 1 he n
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
830
2 49
n
f
though
indirectly
o
account
o
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
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
He had gained
c e ss o rs o nthe Russian throne
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
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
,
B R I EF H I STO RY
2 54
O F P O LA N D
pursuing his o wnautocratic way as though it

did not exist The Russian Imperial Commis
N icholas No v o s il t so ff appointed to
er
s io n
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
s
e
l
o
d
a
harer
hi
s
liberal
view
s
N
ovo
S
o
f
p
y
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
He regarded parliamentary
a l go v ernment
t io n
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
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 n
a l means
Lu b e cki was a Pole a co s t i
t u t io n
and regretted the
a l is t and a patriot
.
2 56
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
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
,
W
lodges as centers
h
s in
s
o
n
s
a
n
d n
m
e
e
t
a i g
'
In 1 8 2 2 No v o s il t s o ff ferreted
and got the leaders im pris
o u t its existence
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
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
o c ia t io nmentioned above
secret
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
o
'
' '
THE RE VO L U T I ON OF
830
2 59
cluding Prince Adam Czartorysk i the head o f

the Council and General Joseph C h l o pic ki the
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
l
c
f
o
n
i
amnesty
maintenan
e
the
e
t
e
O
C
s
t
tu
p
tion and the reunion o f Podolia Vo l hynia and
the Ukraine with the Kingdom And the Em
e
r
o
r
o
n
his
side
would
accept
nothing
but
p
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
n the
t
go ypr mgn
Poland to replace the

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
at
Petersburg
the
new
Dep
rtment
of
a
l is h in
g
with Pas
o f the Czardom o f Poland
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
as for exam
d hostile to Poland
Rus s ian s a n
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
o
of
CHAPTER V I I I
THE
S I NC E
R E VOL UT I ON O F
86 3
the Congres s Kingdom has been

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
1
83 1
THE RE VOL U TI ON OF
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
All else i s imitation
C ipl e s o f her development
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
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
,
B R I E F H IST O RY OF P O LA N D
2 64
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
t
treachery o the Pan Slav cause
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
l
the
impossible
task
of
destroying
the
c h in
gy
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
He visited
o f all parts o f his empire
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
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
which was almost im
o f trade and industry
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
it is necessary that
o f the Poles themselves
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
m en
t looking at all denitely toward aut o n
e rn
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
s t it u
O f revolution and the character o f the co n
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
T h e revolutionary element in
o f go v ernment
e ach group was greatly strengthened by t h e
political exiles who ocked back to Warsaw as
The maj ority o f these
a result o f the amn e sty
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
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
As h a s been
t re m e l y liberal t o the pe a sants
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
o
8 60
N apoleon by t h e law
,
of 1
80 7 ,
had indeed
THE RE VO L U T I ON OF
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
,
B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF P OLAN D
2 72
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
f
r
s ian
a s o instance the Post O ice Public
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
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
h
c ru it in
a d been the method by which the
g
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
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
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
l
r
l
o
a
b
e
still
N
othing
but
anarchy
could
ha
v
e
p
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
.
B R I EF H I STO RY
2 78
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
863
2 79
e o f severe repression and

change its policy to on
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
m en
e rn
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
That year wa s marked by s uccessful
1 84 8
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
m en
t for the Grand Duchy and demanded
e rn
.
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
ic a t io nbe tween the revolutionists of both
m un
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
Germanization stopped and each
o f the Slav s
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
m en
t Galicia became the headquarters o f
e rn
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
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 n
o 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
I
8 63
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
b u rg Hohenzollern s s ucceeded to the Duchy
d en
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
l
l
f
t
G
rman
The
Kingdom
o
Prussia
e
e
e
y
p
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
,
'
B RI E F H I ST O RY OF P O LA N D
2 86
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
er
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
1
formed Russian Pol a nd had also been at work
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
Se e
pp
2 3 , 24 .
B R I E F H I ST O R Y OF PO LA N D
2 88
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
e
l
n
A
n
s
id
e
n
s
o
i
s
i
o
was
founded
The
s
n
K
m
m
(
)
g
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
Poles also who sold to the Commission
o f it
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
m en
e rn
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 nly when the Polish pro
o f the Commission
.
2 90
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
l
e
t
e
l
s
uccumb
to
the
inuences
surrounding
p
y
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
claims that
1 90 0 to 1 90 8 in his recent book
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
er
8 63
2 91
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 n
e 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
to
2 92
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
1
pire
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
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
it e l y check the G e rman ad vance That
in
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
,
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
,
Ra m o nDm owski, La
u estionPol o n
a is
Q
f}
2 94
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
quite undecided about carrying them
1 8 63
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
i
l
authorized
by
the
Russian
central
l
e
c
a
y
p
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
.
OF P OLA N D
2 96
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
,
H IST O R Y OF P OL A N D
B R I EF
2 98
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
Such progress was made in e c onomic and
1 8 63
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
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
r
i
f
destined
to
be
factor
enormous
e
ss
e
a
o
v
g
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
undisciplined and unprepared they
v id e d
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
.
6
6
3
B R I EF H I STO RY
f act s and possibilities
O F P OLA N D
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 n
t 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
of
2
0
3
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
,
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
Before 1 8 7 0
o f the German Empire in 1 8 7 0
the Poles like other Europeans had regarded
the menace of Russian aggression on the wes t
-
0
3 4
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
.
6
6
3
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
,
no t until the defeats
86 3
0
3
Russia in the J apanese

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
of
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
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
,
OF P OLA N D
10
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
the Poles had 5 7
o f the new Government
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
86 3
31 1
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
l
r
o
a
l
e
b
and
even
in
West
Galicia
there
ha
s
p
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
ow
12
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
x
d o ) and hav e a distinct race consciousness
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
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
.
14
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
Her s ucces s was su fficient distinctly to
a l is m
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
.
8 63
1
3 5
Germany was secretly but effectively helping

and during the
o n the Ukrainian mov ement
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
Ukrainian
state
to
the
children
of
the
e
c
t
e
d
j
Archduke s morganatic marriage with the
Duch e ss o f Hohenberg
,
1
6
3
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
f
s
uspicion
Austria
s
good
faith
in
the
o
k
r
i
U
a
n
7
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
f
ec
o
wa
s
at
an
end
A
large
number
them
t
s
j
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
e o f the most
it with rej oicing as removing o n
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
o t a v e ry bright
inher their only hope e v e n i f n
h ope o f Slav fre edom
.
1
3
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
1
3 9
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

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
c ie n
cy o f the Polish programme into sharp
e
contrast with the entire absence o f any con
s tructi v e Polish policy o n the p a rt o f the
of
2
3 o
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
1
the great Slav cause
,
Ra m o nDm owski La
,
a is e
nP ol on
uestio
2
2
3
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
h
ll m e n
d a h a lf a go t h e livi n
e
s
o
f
t
A cen
t u ry a n
g
Po l a n
d e r , b u t h e r s o u l d id n
o t d ie
d wa s t o rn a s u n
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
h
b ri n
s
o
n
f
n
a
yf
l
i
i
hi
r
ili
o
u
t
e
u
t
d
s
t
s
co
tion
o
e
c
g y
j
g
M a y t he b o u n
nu l
d a ri e s b e a n
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
r
r
o
U
e
nd e r this s ce pte r Po l a nd pha ll b e reb o rn ,
p
fre e in fa i th , inl a ngu a ge , in s e lf-go ve rnm e nt O ne
n
t hi n
o
s
n
ly
u
s
i
x
f
l
s id e ra t i o n
R
o
a
e
e
c
t
s
o
o
e
u
a
c
u
g
p
q
y
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
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
yo u
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
ew
T h e d a wno f a n
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
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
, t h e S i gn
o f t h e Pa s s i o n a n
s!
d Re s u rre c t i o n o f N a t i o n
.
l
i
n
d
m
m
an
d
e
r
n
chi e f G e ne ra l Ad ju ta n t ,
S
o
( g e ) C
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
.
WAR
THE P O LES A N D T H E
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 :
.
re pre s e nta t ive s o f th e u nd e rs igne d po li tica l

m
s
ss
e
s
a
n
1
r
i
l
in
a
r
w
a
t
e
a
e
b
d
W
o
6
A
u
s
u
g t 1 91 4
p
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
-C h ie f o f
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
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
ce a n
d im pl ic i tl y b e li e ve t h a t u po n
t o rica l i m po rt a 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 e t e rm i n
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
d fo re fa th e rs will b e
t h e d re a m s o f t h e ir fa t h e rs a n
rea lized tha t Po l a nd s e s h t o rn a s u nd e r a ce n
c e a ga i nb e m a d e wh o l e
d a h a lf a go will o n
t u ry a n
h
t i e rs seve ri n
t
e
P
o
s
li
h N a t io nwill
th a t t h e fro n
g
va nis h
d s so n
s s he d inu ni te d co m ba t
T h e bl o o d o f Po l a n
s will s e rve e q u a lly a s a s a c ri ce
s t t h e G e rm a n
a ga i n
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
D
M
i
n
T
H
E
E
O C RA T I C N ATI O NAL PA RT Y
d
S
e
)
( g
Th e
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
I t i s not an eas y
t ra ry oppo sed it bitterly
,
B R I EF H I STO RY
2
3 4
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
o t bring themselves to s upport her
c ould n
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
,
2
6
3
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
f
ustria
Hungary
the
independence
Poland
o
A
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
e to Prince Jerome Radziwill and
on
the other to Prince Alexander O l gie rd C z a rto
Fo r a time these inuences seemed
rys ki
,
THE P OLES AN D THE
WAR
2
3 7
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
i
n
l
and
conspicuously
pro
Russian Their
t ct y
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
n
i
z
i
a
t
o
n
could
get
into
existence
to
ght
a
g
anywhere
.
2
8
3
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
iz in
them
as
comb
a
tants
in
a
note
to
o gn
g
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
j ust what territories will go to form t h e ne w

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
f
THE P O LES A N D THE
WAR
1
33
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
,
2
33
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
der such a rgime Poland will be secure in
un
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 n
e 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
is a go o d b ri e f a c c o u n
S e ri e s ,
t thro u gh 1 8 6 3
B AI N , R N , S l a von
is s o m ewh a t
ic E u rope
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 n
s 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 n
sab 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
ppe
nd e d
to M
o r l l s
d; t o t h e V e ry e xc e ll e n
P ol a n
d in
t a r t i c le o nPo l a n
t h e e l e ve n
t h e d it i o no f t h e E n
cycl op
ce dia B rita n
nica ;
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
nd
to
of
t h e Ca m brid ge M
nHis tory;
od e r
d ( 1 91 5 N e w Y o rk )
ALI S O N Pol a n
t o f t h e Po li s h q u e s t io nu p
whi ch is t he b e s t a c c o u n
t d ev e l o pm e n
His a c c o u n
t o f re c e n
ts in
to d a t e
d d is cri m i n
a ti n
Po l a n
d is e s pe c i a lly va l ua b l e a n
g
P HILLI PS
s
h
e
d
n
u
b
e
ce
t
s
T h e fo ll o w in
l
k
r
l
li
r
f
o
a
e
u
s
u
b
o
e
,
yp
g
d 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 :
an
d Pa rtitio nof
LO RD , RO B ERT H OWA RD , Th e S eco n
is t h e
d ( H a rv a rd H i s t o ri c a l S t u d ie s ,
Pol a n
l 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
on
d
d , Ru s sia , a n
ALM A T ADEM A , LAU RENC E , Pola n
.
B I B L I O G RA P H Y
3 36
Wa r ( Lo nd on
n ta i ns t he t ex t o f t h e
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
G ra n
an
d o th e r o ri gi n
a 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 on
a 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 n
ce
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
the
co
c ra
ts
S T EE D , W W , PHILLI PS ,
A , an
d HANN AY , D ,
A S ho rt H is tory of A u s tria -H u n
o
l
a
r
a
n
d
P
n
d
a
g y
( Lo nd o n,
FRI E DLAE N DE R, I S RAE L , The J ews of Ru ssia a n
d
d ( N e w Yo rk ,
Pol a n
al
G A RD NER , M O N I C A , P o l a n
d : A S tu dy inN a tion
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
.
I N D EX
8
33
i nt igu e s o f S igi s
m un
d III 1 1 8 25
A u st ri a nPo l a n
d 3 0 7- 1 6
Ava rs t h e 2
A u st r a n
B a r,
84 ; Con
fe de ra
c a st e a t ,
8,
20
I V Ki n
g o f Po l a nd
B o l esl a u s
2 4 1 34
B o l e sl a u s
37
22
ng his four so ns
mo
V Ki ng
of
Po l a nd
B o n Q ee n 8 4 8 5
B n J hn 74
Ba on 3 1
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
d 1 0 3 S e Ste p h e n B o ni a nd H go v i na 3 1 3
o f Po l n
B r nd nb g 1 5 6 ; h e r d e ig n
B t 30
B ee K p a r 7 4
o nP o l a n
d 1 66 ; t he M k o f
B li n 2 7 9
2 84
B tt m a n t he 74 7 5
B ra n
i ki K a we ry 2 2 2
B
da n
il
B nb g 1 3 7
y St n
92
B i ly t o k 2 4 2
B e l u t h S o f free d f o m
B i h p 90
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
9
w
wi t h P o l nd B iihl C o u nt 1 6 3 1 6 5
Boh m i
n o n t he
B il l w P i n
d C im i
7 8 1 4 1 7 42 ; n
I I I 4 6 6 4 ; b c m e p es
G m n p li cy in Po l nd
i o n f t h H se o f H b
2 90
b g 82 83
B
n co i t utor o f J oh n
B l l u I Ki n
g o f P o l nd Alb rt 6 9 7 o
di p o
hi B u g
d p i v d o f igh t t o
(992
b th
h ld l nd o t id e t h i t y
7 ; i m t o f e Po
l nd f m t h E m pi a nd w ll 6 8 ; g d lly d e
ni t e P l nd nd B o h m i a
p e d t o l e ve l o f p a sa nt
f l 8 ; ry 6 9
e
7 8 ; how f
f il t o t S i t o p l kt o
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
th
of
Ki ng 9; d i i nd C a l v i ni t 91
h C li 1 3 4 1 5 9
d e ne o f P o li h h
pe n
d t h e S e f G n n 9; C l wi t
T t y of
9; n
g a t r l 9; h i i nt n l
I 55
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
p o pl 1 0 ; p li t i l g ni
l nd t t h
th 2
5
d nd 1 1 C i m i
no f M i y w I I
ti n f P l n
nd Ki ng f P l nd 1 3 1 5
1 3 ; h d d n
i t p li c y o f
i n 19
Sl v n
C im i
n f Wl d i l
1 1 ( ll d t h e D
nt
nd Ki ng f P l nd 2 3 2 5 ;
B ole l
li n f 2 5 ; ll y n d f
l ) Ki ng o f P l nd 1 5
bi h o p nd
17
t
d i
nd
g o f P l nd
B l l s I I I Ki n
o y
o n il
3 2 33 ;
ni
w f wi t h h i ne ighb r
o f Po m
D ke
34 ;
ni t
17;
S il i
an
d
r l
t h o u gh g v n
34
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
Ki ng o f Po l a nd 4 5 4 9 5 8
t ie
t o re -C h i t i n
i t he
1 81
p e o p l e 1 7 ; di v id s Po l a nd
i o no f
1 99
s,
or
u,
ro
e o
o a
s a us
e ss
ca
a re
e r,
r,
es a
c re a
es
v s
e ra
u es
ca
s a us
o a
s a
o a
so
ecz
o s,
r, s o
e sou
s,
as
o a
r s
re a
au
o a
or a
ra
as
es
ua
re u
e c
ra
ar o
a r a re
u s
s s,
o a
o es a u
s,
er a
ca
e,
u rc
re s s
e se
u e r,
rs
es
z a
e s re s
vo
r e sse s ,
re
ce
v a
ss u
re s o re
re
a r s u cc
re
s se s se s
ee
o a
uo
e rs ,
er
ro
er
o ss
ou
as
ar
ro
a rs
o es a
ra u
r s a
ur
rc
s a us,
s,
ur
e rz e
s,
ez a
e r,
as
er
r s
r,
e r o rs ,
ze
I N D EX
3 39
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
r
a
ra
c
t
e
x
ii
h
Chri s tianity entrance into
c
1
;
( 44 7
n
Poland
o
6
n
o
f
1 5 1 7 ; adopted
p
h
P
l
d
o
e
a
c
t
t
5
;
59
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
Le g e 60 6 1 ; hi t ru ggl e
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
g o f B o he m ia
an
c e wi t h Ki n
a ga l
political importance in P
6 4 ; jo i n l e g u e
land 1 6 ; reform s o f H ilde
T k a nd T rt a s 6 5
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
free from kingly and princely
d
a s re g a rd s t h e f a l l o f P o l a n
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 t he 1 3
union
with
Greek
church
13
C a t le
;
3
5
i n the Union o f F lorence

Ca t ha i n
m ot h e r o f S i g i s
e
d Va sa 1 1 3 1 1 6
m n
5 7 ; put o n the s ide of the
C a t h a ri n
wife o f J o h n priv ileged under John Al
e
bert 6 9
Va a 96 97
s
Church court s 8 9 90 92
Ca t h i n
e I I o f R u s i a pl a n
g P l nd u nd e r Ru Churche s endowment o f 2 8
t o b ri n
6
8
8
1
8
1
i
l
1
Cla
ss
e
s
in
Poland
1
1
6
n
n
o
t
c
o
s a
;
7
7 9
59
1 68 7 8
i nt ig e wi t h P o ni t o w ki
S ee N oble s Pea s
ant s S l a chta
1 91 1 92 ; b c o m e E m p re
d a rm y i nt o Po l nd Clergy inuence of increa sed
1 92 ; e n
in h v i n
g 1 8 2 5 ; H ildebrand s re
1 93 ;
s cc e d
P o ni a t o w ki e l ec t e d Ki ng
form o f 2 6 ; married 2 7 ;
g
immunitie s granted to 2 8
1 94 ; h e r h o ld o nt h e Ki n
h e s bill e nfra n 2 9 3 2 ; coloni st s in Poland
1 94 97 ; p
t s 1 98 1 99;
2 9; under S igi s mund I I 8 7
c hi in
g D i id e n
8 9 90
an
d t h e T u ki h W r 2 0 1
di t io n o n Colonization German in P0
2 0 2 ; i m po s s c o n
P o l a nd 2 1 0
land 2 9 3 o
ce wi t h
a lli n
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
2 89
at
d t h e Comme ce 1 7 9
Po a n
d 22 3 224 ; a n
d p a t i t i o n2 2 5 3 1 de Compact o f Wilna ( I 40 1 ) 5 5
se c o n
d 2 3 4 ; Cond
Prince o f 1 4 9 1 5 0
c id e s t o c ru s h P o l n
Confederacy Poli sh 2 4 0
d th 236
C onfederation of 1 5 90 1 1 8 ;
C h le
f S u d e rm a n
ia 1 2 5
of 1 5 92 1 1 9; o f 1 60 6 1 2 3 ;
Ch l
X o f S we d e n 1 4 3
under John Ca s imir 1 44 ;
C h rl
X I o f S we d e n 1 5 6
and Counter Confederation
C h l e s X I I o f S we d e n 1 5 6
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 in
C he n
40
y D ie t o f
f Targowica 2 2 3 2 2 5 2 2 8
l J o ph 2 59
e
C h l o pic ki G e n
Congre ss Kingdom 2 5 1 2 5 2
1
0
ic ki B o gd a n 4 42
C h m ie l n
Ca s
ce
ss
s s
-
s a
ur
s,
ar
o a
ss ,
us
ss
es
a ss
ea
s o
ar
a r es
a
es
ar
ra
77
se
,
2 62
I N D EX
3 4o
Congre ss
nna
5 53
C ongre s se s f P a n S la vi s m
n d D uke o f M
i
35
Con s tant i ne Grand D uke
73
5
55 57
C on stant i nople 3 ; the church
at 5 3 5 4 ; be s ieged by T urk s
5 9; captured by the T urk s
2
Vie
of
ra
a so v a
'
67 ;
70
e l ect i v e kingship 1 6 8
2 3 0 ; upheld by R u ss i a
,
and P ss ia int re a t y o f I 7 64
1 8 9; effort s of Poli s h R efor m
ne w
Party t o in t roduce
1 92 97 ;
the Confedera
tion at R adom 1 97 ; the
20 4 ;
Con
stit ution of
the Four Year s D iet
2 1 1 ; e ff orts of the Patrio t
Party to make a new 2 1 8
2 1 ; e v il feature s o f the old
reenacted 2 30 2 3 1 ; o f
D uchy o f War saw 2 2
2 4 3 ; granted by A le x an e r
I 2 5 3 ; under A lexander 1 1
f R epublic o f Crac o w
2 72 ;
2 7 7 ; o f Grand D uchy
of
Po sen 2 7 8 ; granted t o
Galicia 2 8 2 S ee N ob l e s
S z l a chta V eto
Conti Prince o f 1 5 5
Con v ocation D ie t ( I 5 7 3 ) 98
C o rv in
us
M atthia s King o f
H ungary 6 5
C o ssack s mean i n g of t h e
name 8 4 1 2 7 ; u sed for de
o f border b y S igis
fe n
se
mund I 8 4 1 2 8 ; brough t
into the army by S tephen
1 2 8 ; regi stered 1 2 8 ; Z a po ro
g hian 1 2 9; rank s joined by
many 1 3 0 ; not utilized by
t he Pole s I 3O 1 3 1 ; allie s
of T he T hief 1 3 4 ; a nd
Wl a d is l a s IV I 39 1 4 0 ;
their grie vance s again s t the
Pole s 1 4 0 1 4 1 ; war with
Poland 1 4 1 ; join R u ss ia and
lo s e their power 1 4 2 ; put
under joint dominion o f
M u sco vy and Poland 1 4 7 ;
defeated by S obie s ki 1 5 1
C ounter -Confederation s 1 6 5
ru
"
Catharine I I s dream of
ruling at 1 8 7
C o n stitution of Poland the
d i s trict the unit of local
government 1 2 foundation s
o f ari s tocratic go v ernmen t
laid 3 2 ; permanent ad vi so ry
c ouncil
created 3 3 ; the
r st D iet 4 0 ; all noble s d
m itt e d to s hare in King s
coun sel s 4 0 ; ari s tocratic
c on s titution come s into e x
Pri v i
i te n
c
5 0 5 1 ; the
6 2 ; the
l ege of Ka schau
S tat ute s of N ie s zawa 6 2 ;

D ietine s 6 2 6 4 ; the
t he
M odel Parliament 6 7 ; the
A rticle s of M ielnica 7 1 ;
power s limited by
royal
D iet in 1 5 0 4 7 1 7 2 ; D iet
gi v en permanent organiza
tion 7 2 ; the l a chta cur
tail right s o f burghers
and pea sant s 7 5 7 6 ; pri v i
lege s secured by H ou se o f
N uncio s 8 7 8 8 ; the D iet
by the Union of L ublin

t e rre g
94 ; pro v i s ion for in
num 98 99; the King and
the D iet according to the
nenid with H enry
pa cta
o f A njou
1 0 1 ; reform in
planned by S tephen 1 0 9 ;
1 93
unanimity o f v oting in D iet
C ounter -Refor ma t i o n i n
1 2 2 1 2 3 ; v eto p we r inD iet
land 92
1 4 7 1 4 8 ; eff ort s to change
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
65 ;
e,
"
"
sz
co
P0
I N D EX
2
34
Grea t ( Fo ur Year s D iet )

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 uchy o f War saw 2 4 2 ; of
Grand D uchy of Po sen 2 7 8
Galician 3 1 4
D ietine s local a ss emblie s 6 2
6 3 ; deputie s of s ent to the
N ational D iet 6 7 ; curtail
right s of citizen s 7 5 7 6 ;
v ote s o f the poor noble s at
service of magnate s in 1 7 4 ;
S a m o git ia ,
of
20
uke s of P o mera n i a
D uma the 3 0 7 3 1 5 3 1 72 0
D umb S e ssion the 2 2 9
D yna st s 1 70 -7 3
D
E a st Galicia 3 1 1
E a st Pru ss ia 6 1 1 3 6
N ew 2 3 7
Ec cle s ia st ica l S yn od o f
.
1 45
1 5 42 ,
84
E dict Nihil N ovi 7 2

E ducati o n o f Poli s h mag
nate s 1 7 3 ; reorgan i za t i on
.
of 20 7
iet s of Poland and o f L
it h
ia union of 94 ;
e x E lbe t he 2
ua n
ploded 1 4 8 1 6 3 1 6 5 1 7 0 E lbing 1 3 7
1 93
E lection D iet o f 1 5 7 3 99
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
1 1 2 ; of 1 6 6 9 1 5 0
D i ss ident s depri v ed o f politi
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
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
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
2 89
Dm o ws ki R amon quo t ed on
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
Fe d e a t i e S y st em t he 2 1 6
cratic Poli s h Pa rt y 3 0 3
Fe d ina nd o f H ab sbur g 8 2
D nie p er the 2 3
g3
Do b a wa Prince ss 6
F euda l sy st em ne v er i nt r o
D o b ry n 4 6 5 5
d uc e d in t o Poland 1 2 ; i n
D ombrow s ki Pol i s h g e n e ra l
L ithuania 5 4 5 6
2 40
D oro s h enk o C o ss ack l eader Firl e y John 1 0 0 1 0 2
151
F l orence Uni o n o f
57
'
,l
na ch
Os ten
, 2 85
, of
72
121
t he Pol es F ore st s
re ss na t i o nal
,
Dra n
g
F our
79
Year s
i et
21 1
212,
224
ual A lliance t h e 1 6 1
ual M onarchy e st ab l i sh F rance h er int ere st i n the
election of the King s o f P0
ment o f 3 1 0
land 1 60 ; ri v alry with Au s
D uchy o f Pru ss ia 8 0
tria for the R hine I 6O ; l

2
D uchy o f W a r sa w 2 4 4 6
lia n
ce o f wi t h R u ss i a
1 61 ;
25 1
D
D
I N D EX
i n u e nc e o f a t t h e Polish
Court 1 6 1
F ranz F erdina n d Arc hduke
,
3 1 5. 316
F rederick
Augu
st u s
King
colo ni zat i on of i n P
land 9 3 ; not tenaciou s
f t heir nationali s m
86
9
Germany her pre sent att i tude
t oward the Pole s xv iii x i x ;
abiding danger to S lav ic in
dependence 8 ; fail s to n
quer Poland
; in v ade s
Poland under B l l I I I
7 ; her s truggle again s t the
Papacy 9; conquers to the
1
3;
Poland election 1 5 5 S ee
A ugu stu s I I
F rederick B arbaro ssa 2 3
co
10 1 1
F rederick the Great ha s de
sign s on Poland 1 6 6 ; and
o e a us
1
the N otez R i ver 1 8 0 ; atti
1
tude toward R u ss ian alli
ance 1 8 8 ; urge s a weak O der 3 4 ; aim o f her d ipl o
Poland 1 95 1 96 ; attitude macy to create enmity be
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
20 1
20 2
s ky H elena 7 9
o f Poland
S ee G l in
Pru ss ia
G lin
s ky
Prince M i c h ael 7 8
Frederick William of B ran den
79
G ne sen Germa n Bi sh op o f
b urg ( the Great
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 ia 2 7 9
rai sed t o metro p oli t an ra n k
of
F re e m e n
S ee K m e t e n
uchy of P o sen 2 7 8
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
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
century 6 ; and D uke M ie G iine w l d battle o f
x 1
czy la w 6
7 ; inuence in
55
Poland u nder Quee n R ixa G u st av u s Adolp h u s 1 3 6 1 3 8
.
G rand
1,
I N D EX
3 44
He b sb u rg E m pe r ors 7 9 8 2
g4
al i cz 4 7
H an seatic L eague 4 2
H edwig Queen x i
58
4 9. 5 7 .
Ho s iu s
92
H o s pital f S t M ary 3 6
H ou e militia I 7 1 1 74
H ungary settlement o f M ag
yar s in 2 ; and Wl d i l u
I I I 5 9; Wl d i l
of B 0
h m ia elected King of 6 5 ;
cru s hed by the T urk s 8 1 ;
become s po sse ss ion of H ou se
o f H ab s burg
8 2 8 3 ; join s
t he T urks 1 5 3
H u ss ite s the 5 8 6 4
,
s a
s a us
I ge l s t rom
G eneral
enry fourt h o no f Wl a dis

lau s 2 2
H enry I I E mperor 8
H enry I V E mperor 1 9
H enry V E mperor 1 7
H enry D uke of A njou
S ee
A njou
H ere sy 8 9 90
H ildebrand reform o f 2 5 2 6
H ohenberg D uche ss of 3 1 5
H ohenzollern E lec t or s 0 f
B randenburg 1 4 5
H olland 1 4 6 2 1 6
H orodlo Union of
56
,
Jagiel lo C at h ari ne m ot h er o f
S igi s mund Va sa 1 1 3 1 1 6
Jagiello Grand D uke o f Lit h
nania and King o f Poland
marrie s H edwig x i 4 9; and
Wit o wt of L ithuania 5 1 5 2
5 5 5 6 ; religiou s tole ance of
5 8 ; hi s rule o f Poland 5 8
,
2 3 1 -33
59
Jagiellon dynas ty chara cter

of 5 0 ; in po sse ss ion o f fou r
throne s 6 5 ; champion s of
the town s 75
an
o wiec
battle o f
e
1 23
Ja s na Gora Con vent of 1 4 3

Ja ss y T reaty o f
218
Jena battle of
2 49
.
d rz o w
J en
1 19
J e s uit s in Poland 92 ; int o l e r

ance o f 1 8 5 ; and educat ion
2 0 7 ; intolerance partly re
s pon s ible for ruin of Poland
.
30 2
Jewi s h Judge t h e 1 8 2
Jew s in Poland 1 8 0 - 8 4 3 2 4
John King of S weden 1 1 3 1 6
Joh n I I I ( S obie s ki ) King o f
Poland ght s the Co ss ack s
and the T urk s 1 5 1 1 5 2 ;
elected King 1 5 2 ; charac te r
1 5 2 ; decline o f Polan d
of
under 1 5 2 1 5 3 ; hi s re scue
o f V ienna from the T urk s
1 5 3 5 5 ; death 1 5 5
h nA lbe rt King o f Pola nd
.
I mmaculate Conception Or
der o f 1 3 9
0
1
2
6
6
6
I mmunity Churc h 2 8 2 9
( 49
7
4
John Ca s imir King of Poland
I ng ria 1 5 9
1 4 1 49
I nnocent I I I Po pe 2 7
I
nqui s ition D iet
1 19
John Va sa D uke o f Fi nla n d
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
Gne sen 6
98 99
I sabella Queen o f H u ng a ry
Kamieniec 1 5 1 1 5 2 1 5 5
83
I van I I I Czar 64
Kara M u s tafa K i p ili 1 53
I van I V Czar 96 1 0 0 1 0 6 Ka nk w ki Primate 1 1 2 1 4
0 8 1 32
Ka scha u P ri vi leg e of
62
1 3 60 H ou se o f N unc i os 1 0 3
I N D EX
6
34
a
nd
te phe n for
10
6,
7;
1 25 ;
10
invaded by S wede s
sa v ed for Poland at battle
1 2 6 ; M u sco
o f Kirkholm
vy s claim s on renounced
t o Sweden by Sh u iski I 3 4 ;
invaded by Gu stav u s A dol
ph u 1 3 6 ; in Swedi s h hand s
I 3 7 ; reco v ered by Poland
1 39; ceded to Charle s X
1 4 6 ; in po sse ss ion o f Peter
the Great 1 5 9; Poli s h g oes
t o R u ss ia 2 0 2
Lo ca l go v ernment the di strict
the unit o f 1 2
,
s,
,
,
Lo d o m e ria ,
Lo ui s
2 82
son of Wl
M aria T he e sa E m p re ss
M ary s i ster of Grand Prince
of Kiev
l
f
i 14
i mar s he s in 5 ; M a
slav f 4 ; left to B l l
I V ; inherited by L e szek
4 ; obtained by Ca s imir
2 5 ; T eutonic Knight s s ettle
in 3 3 ; Pru ss ian s in vade 3 5 ;
ruled by it s wnduke 39;
accept s s uzerainty f P
land 4 8 ; united with P
land 8 4 ; pa rt of fall s t
Pru ss ia by second partition
7 ; remainder fall s to Pr s
s ia by third partition 3 7
r
20 2
a s av o
a so v a
o
a so v a
o es a us
22
a d is l a u s ,
83
22
L oui s X I V of France 1 6 1
im il i n Archduke
1 12
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
M n
G d ink ) 2 5 6
d g o f L ithuania 43
L b e c ki F ranci s 3 0 0
M ichael Romanoff 1 3 5 1 3 6
L b ki Prince X a v ier 2 5 5
2 60
M ichael Wi ni wie ki Ki ng
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
M ieczyslaw I D uke rst non
to A u stria 2 3 7
legendary ruler of Poland
L b o m i ki rebellion of 1 4 6
nd
1 49
4 ; become s Chri st ia n
marries Chri stian prince ss
24 1
L unev ille Pea c e of
6 ; oppo ed by German s 6 ;
L u t heran s 91
make s friend s wi t h Ger
man s 6 ; receiv e s Germa n
M c ie g o wi e 2 3 6
help again st B ohemian s 7 ;
M adalin s ki Genera l 2 3 2
legend concerning hi s blind
M agnate s (pa ns ) o f Pol a nd
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
M ine s I 7 9
M oldav ia Poli s h s uzerainty
24 1
M a nt ua batt l e f
o ver 6 5 ; ra vage s Poland
M anu f acture s 1 7 9 2 0 6
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
,
ax
u
u
ov
rs
e o
ec
ru
er s a
I N D EX
3 47
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
mania 2 0 1
N ationali s m
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
tion in Poland 2 9
e o -S a vs 3 0 6 3 2 1
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
1 62
triet o f g oe s to R u ss ia 2 0 2 ;
M ontluc 99
di st rict of take n from Pru s
s ia 2 42
M ora v ia annex ed t o Pol a nd
8
N ew E a s t Pruss ia 2 3 7
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
62
o f S tephen 1 0 4 0 6 ; defeated
by S tephen 1 0 6 1 0 7 ; n Nihil N ovi E dic t 7 2
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
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
a rmy 4 1 ; in L ithuania 5 6 ;
Year s War 1 4 6 ; ad v ance
f
under M ichael A l e xi s
and Ca s imir I V 60 6 2 ; s ub
o
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
1 6 8 70 ;
2 39; lead s Pole s to think
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
nate familie s 1 7 0 7 3 ; othe r
form s D uchy of War saw
2 4 2 ; and T reaty o f V ienna
grade s o f 1 7 3 7 5 ; their
2 42 ; feeling of the
Pole s chief v irtue and their chief
toward 2 44 2 4 5 ; defea t in v ice s 1 7 5 ; rich land s i n
hand s o f 2 0 5 ; re d uced prof
R u ss ia 2 4 6
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
20 5
Party 3 0 1 3 0 3 3 0 6 3 1 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
land 4
N ational Patri ot i c A ssoc i a t i on
ot ez Ri ver t h e 1 80
t
'
'
I N D EX
8
34
ovgo r od-Sev e rski province
J o se p h 3 2 5
of 1 36
Piotrkow D iet o f 1 493 a t 6 7
N o v i battle of
24 1
D iet o f 1 5 4 8 at 8 6 ; D iet of
N o o il t s o ff N ichola s 2 5 4
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
by 8 7 8 8
Pl a t t b u g Wa l ter vo n 95
N yst ad t Peace o f
Po d ie b od s ki Ge orge 6 4
1 59
N
Pil s u d z ki,
Po dl a c h ia , 2 3 0 , 2 3 7
Po d l e s ia , 2 2 7 , 2 3 7
gin s ki Coun t 2 40
R uthene s 3 1 4 3 2 1
Podolia 5 5 ; take n b y Prince
L ithuania 4 5 4 7
ia
of T a n
s l yv a n
1 4 3 ; in
l va Peace o f
1 46
v aded by T urks 1 5 1 rec ov
rgani c t at ute of 1 8 3 2 2 5 9
ered by Poland by T reaty
26 1
o f Carlowitz
1 5 5 ; A u s tria
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
O
,
O ld
O l gie rd o f
O i
,
O
S
x iii
ven
to ,
Pa cta Con
95
71 ,
10 1
Pan Germani s m x xv i
P anin Count 1 95
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
l au s I 8 ; in modern R u ssia
2 6 3 ; a defen se again s t Ger
man inuence 3 0 4 ; Co n
g e se s of 3 2 0 3 2 1
P arliament Poli s h 6 7
Pa rt itiona l Peri od t h e 1 8
,
r s
63
P arty
of
Conciliat i o n
Pa s kie v ic h ,
2 60
P atriarchate s 5 3
P aul E mperor 2 3 6
30
om
P eter the Grea t

.
t he
m it t e e ,
55 ,
"
5 7 5 9;
of
t ake s t i t le of
all R u ssia 5 9
P eter I I I f R u ss ia 8 8
Pia st legendary f ound e r
P ol i sh sta t e 4
,
E m p eror
1
P ermanen t
2 48 .
Peaceful p enetration 2 8 4
P ea sant s Poli sh 1 7 67 8 2 70
,
Poland s ummary o f h i st o ry
o f x xv ; he r pre sen t relation
t o R u ssia Germany and
A u stria xvx i x ; real his
t ory begin s with t enth cen
t ury 1 ; the founding of a
state 4 6 ; limit s o f 4 5 ;
s hifting of ea st er n a nd
we stern fr o nt ier s of 5 ; b e
come s Chri stian state 6
a recognized pa rt of We st
ern Chri stian world a t
M ie cz ys l a w s death 7 ; u n
der B o l e sl u s I 7 ; the
unconquered kernel of We s t
ern S lav dom 1 0 I 1 ; politi
cal org anization o f under
B o le l a u s I
1 1 1 3 ; feudal
sy stem introd uced into 1 2 ;
under M iec zy slaw I I and
Queen R i x a 1 3 1 4 ; unde r
Ca simir s o n of M ieczys law
I I 1 4 1 5 ; under B o l e sl u s
I I 1 5 1 7 ; Church for rst
time come s int o politica l
importance in 1 6 ; u nde r
Wl a d isl a us H erma n 1 7 ;
.
20
of
I N D EX
0
35
t erri t ory
nd Li v onia
39
truggle o f King with

D iet 1 3 9 1 40 ; under John
Ca s imir 1 4 1 4 9; war wit h
t he Co ssacks 1 4 1 1 4 2 ; los e s
the Ukraine 1 4 2 ; attacked
by M u s co v ite s and S wede s
1 4 3 ; Charle s X o f S weden
s et up a s King of 1 4 3 ; de
S
fe n
se
1 44 ;
s t o c h o wa , 1 4 3 ,
Cz en
1 45 ;
1 44
Y
,
1 46 , 1 47
f
of
of
1 47 , 1 4 8 ;
m of
1 5 1 , 1 52 ;
o f,
,
1 53 ;
S
, 1 52
of
buy s allie s
in the T hirteen ear s War
ef ect v eto power
in D iet
war
with T urk s at ti e M i
chael
decline
u nder obie s ki
in
t he Great N orthern War
1 5 6 ; the ruin o f 1 5 7 ; R u s
s ian inuence e stabl i s hed in
1 5 9; Peter the Great s p lan s
with reference to 1 5 9; in
en
c e o f F rance at court
of
1 6 1 ; period o f s tagna
tion during the reign o f
A ugu s tu s I I 1 6 3 6 6
L acked s trong go v ern
men t 1 6 7 ; electi v e king s hip
in a mi s fortune 1 6 8 ; weak
ne s s o f the nobility o f 1 6 8
7 0 ; nobility re s pon s ible for
her fall 1 6 9; ruled by a few
great familie s 1 7 0 ; the
court s of the dyna st s and
t heir hou se militia 1 7 1 1 7 2
1 7 4 ; the national dre ss 1 7 2 ;
retainer s o f the magnate s
1 72
1 74
I 7 S ; education of
ma gnate s 1 7 3 ; the no n
magnate cla ss e s o f the no
the chief
1 73 7 5 ;
b ilit y
virtue and the chief v ice s
o f the nobility 1 7 5 ; the pea s
6
ant s 1 7 7 8 ; the town s o f
1 78
1 7 9; natural riche s o f
t he c o untry unworked 1 7 9
1 80 84 ;
1 8 0 ; the Jew s in
t orn by antagoni s m s 1 8 4
8 6 ; religi o u s per s e c uti on in
,
8 ;
18
1
t h e fall
o f,
fo re t o l d
85 ,
M ade the t ool of foreig n

p owers 8 7 ; R u ss ia of pre
dominant inuence in 8 7
treaty of R u ss ia and Pru s
s ia aimed at 89; not l
lowed to reform her go vern
ment 8 9; D i ss ident s s up
ported by Catharine I I 8 9
9 ; e ffort s f R eform Party
to change t he Con s titution
9
93 ; Catharine s end s
army into 93 ; Poniatow
s ki elected King 94 ; the
que stion f a s trong
a
weak 95 96 ; weakne ss f
the King 96 ; further eff ort s
f the R eform Party
96 ;
t h K in
g yield s to the E m
pre ss 96 97 ; attitude f
D i ss ident s toward que stio n
f equality 97 98 ; in ci v il
war o v er the religiou s que s
tion 99; and the R u ss o
T urki s h War
; r s t par
tition f
3 ; go v erned
by R u ss ia 3 4 ; u n de r
the Con s titution f 7 7 3
4 ; economic and so cial
reform s in 4 6 ; re s ult s
f partition on re v enue s and
income s 5 7 ;
i
g n
t i n f education in
7;
di v ergent v iew s f the Kin g
and the Patriot Party a s
to political future of
8;
aim s to free her s elf from
R u ssian control 9
;
the Great D iet
4 ; and Pru ss ian alliance
3 ; Pru ss ia co v et s ter
it y
f
f
3 ; nature
Pru ssian alliance 4 ; a s
gard s the wi s dom of the
Pru ss ian alliance
4 6;
and the T riple A lliance o f
Pitt 6 ; E ngland promote s
commercial treaty betwee n
1
2,
or
'
20 1
,
20
20 0
0
20
20
20
20
za
20
20
re o r a
20
20
20
2 10
21 1
212,
22
21 1 1
r
or
21
21
21
re
21
-1
I N D EX
1
35
ado p ti o n int o 2 8 4 2 8 5 ; Pru ss ian

218
Go v ernmen t opponent o f
o f new Con s titution
freedom o f 2 8 5 2 8 6 ; Pru s
2 1 ; intrigue s o f R u ss ia for
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
of
nationali s m 2 8 7 ; pro
term s 2 2 5 2 2 6 ; s econd par
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 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 ;
R u ss ian 2 92 3 0 7 ; agra
s econd partition 2 3 1 ; re vo
rian reform s of R u ss ia in
l u t io n of 1 7 94 in 2 3 1 3 6 ;
6
f
2
2 93 ; s y s tem o f local
third partition o 3 3 8
2 92
E s tabli s hment of D uchy admini stration of R u ss ia in
R
i c a t io n of
2 42 ; C o n
s t it u
2 93 2 94 ;
o f War s aw
tion of 2 4 2 2 4 3 ; int o d c
2 94 97 ; recent progre ss o f
2 98 ;
nati ve middle cla ss
tion o f Code N apol on into
formed in 2 99; indu s trial
2 4 3 ; hop e s o f a new 2 4 4 4 6 ;
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
mou s s tate within R u ss ia n
o f territorie s o f a s re s ult of
Congre ss o f V ienna 2 5 0
E mpire 3 0 0 3 0 1 3 0 5 3 0 6 ;
work o f the N ational L eague
5 2 ; Con s titution of granted
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
again st Germani s m 3 0 4
9; declared integral p a rt o f
2 5 9 2 60 ;
A u strian 3 0 7 1 6 ; and t h e
u s ia n E mpire
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
of 1 832
and We st Galicia 3 1 1
R u ssia toward since 1 8 3 1 Pole s anc e stor s o f 1 ; pa rt o f
2 62 ;
policy o f E m p eror We stern S lav ic group 2 ;
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
German s 6 ; join N apoleon s
in 2 6 8 7 1 ; complete inde
de s ired 2 7 3 ; forces 2 3 9 2 4 0 ; in battle s
den
ce o f
pe n
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
go 2 4 1 ; feeling o f toward
7 6 ; co nd ition s in R epublic
277 ;
N apoleon 2 44 2 4 5 ; join the
o f Cracow s ince 1 8 1 5
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
P ru ssi a and
21
7;
uss
I N D EX
and t h e Ukr a nian

attitude o f Germany and
A u s tria 3 0 7 3 1 5 3 1 6 ; in
E a s t Galicia 3 1 2 ; a p
t between R u ss ia
p ochem e n
and 3 1 7 2 0 ; in the D uma
3 1 7 2 0 ; R u ss ian pr o clama
tion concerning at the b e
ginning o f the Great War
3 2 1 3 2 2 ; their rece p tion o f
the R u ss ian p roclamation
3 2 2 2 4 ; s upport gi v en A u s
tria by 3 2 4 2 6 ; in Galicia
at the beginning of the War
3 2 6 3 2 7 ; their treatment in
the War 3 2 8 3 2 9; pro s pect s
for after the War 3 2 9 3 2
P oli s h Church and B ole s
lau s I 9
Poli s h E x propriation or D i s
po ss e s ion A ct 2 8 9
P oli s h L eague the 3 0 2
P oli s h Pru ss ia 6 1
P oli s h que s tion the i x
Poli t ic s game o f in Po l a n d
2 6 5 , 2 66 ;
Po l o c k
1 43
olot s k
the 2 2
P olta v a battle of
1 57
Pomerania reunited to P0
l and 1 7 ; become s inde
pendent duchy 3 3 ; D uke s
of 3 4 ; in po ss e ss ion of T eu
tonic Knight s 39 4 6 ; F red
erick William aim s t o c on
quer 1 4 5
.
Po m e re l ia , 6 0 , 6 1
Po m e re l l e n, 3 7
P oniatows ki
62
Pru ss ia D uchy of 8 0 ; c oa st
town s in S wedi s h hand s 1 3 7 ;
Poland reco ver s part s con
que red by Gu s ta v u s A dol
1 39; her de s ign s on
ph u
Poland 1 6 6 ; become s a
great power 1 8 7 ; alliance
with R u ss ia 1 8 8 1 8 9; and
the r s t partition o f Poland
2 0 2 ; and the propo s ed Pol
i s h -R u ss ian alliance 2 1 0
2 1 1 ; alliance with Poland
2 1 1 1 3 ; co v et s Poli s h t erri
tory 2 1 3 ; nature o f the a l
21
li n
ce
a s regard s t he
wi s dom o t he alliance o n
Poland s part 2 1 4 1 6 ; in
Pitt s T riple A lliance 2 1 6 ;
E ngland promote s c o m
m e ia l treaty between Po
land and 2 1 7 ; re s ol ve s to
lea v e t he T riple A lliance
2 1 8 ; aim s at s econd parti
tion o f Poland 2 1 8 ; refu s e s
to carry out treaty with P0
land 2 2 4 2 2 5 ; and R u ss ia
agree o n second partition
2 2 7 ; acceptance
f treaty
with forced on Poland 2 2 9;
her acqui s ition s at the third
partition 2 3 6 2 3 7 ; become s
peace
ri a l o f A u s tria 2 8 1 ;
ful penetration and D r ng
nch Osten settled policie s
of 2 8 4 2 8 5 ; Kingdom o f
how formed 2 8 4 ; s teady
and con s i s tent O pponent o f
P oli s h free dom 2 8 6 ; Poli s h
poli c y s tiffened s ince 1 8 7 1
.
s,
Prince Jo s e p h
.
s a
rc
Poniatow s ki Cou n t S t a n i s
lau s 1 90
P oniatow s ki S t ani slau s Au
gu stu s King o f Poland
S ee S t a nl u s
( A ugu s tu s
Poniatow s ki )
P o sen pro v ince 2 5 1 ; G ra n d
D uchy of 2 7 8
,
225
7
P
, 97 ,
Po l o v s t u i
10
Po t emkin 2 2 1
Po t ocki F elix 2 2 2
Potocki I gnacy 2 2 6 2 3 6
Potocki T heodore 1 62
Pra d t M de 2 4 5
Praga 2 3 5
Pre t c z B er n ard 8 4
Prince s Poli s h 3 0 -3 2
Pri v ilege o f Ka s chau
I N D EX
3 54
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
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
271 ;
mini stration in Poland 2 93
aboli s hed in R u ss ia
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
i n
Uk a n
s
o f Poland 3 0 2
3 1 3 ; ra pproche
m en
t between
Pole s and S etch the 1 2 9
S e v en Y ear s War 1 6 6 1 8 7
3 1 7 2 0 ; Poli s h proclama
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
o f the War
xv ii 3 2 8 S ee S igi s mund I Kin g o f Poland
M u sco vy
Gov er
( 1 50 6
72 ;
nor o f S ile s ia 7 2 ; and the
R u ss ian Poland 2 92 3 0 7
s l ch ta
R u ss ian s s ettle in v alley s o f
7 3 7 4 ; nancia l
impro v ement s o f 7 4 7 5
the D nieper and it s tribu
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 ;
ho s tilitie s o f with M u s co v y
Queen R i xa I 4
R uthenian s 3 1 1 3 1 4
7 7 7 9; recognize s D uchy o f
Pru ss ia 8 0 ; hi s attitude
R zewu s ki S eweryn 2 2 2
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
6 9
gary 8 1 8 a s tanch s up
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
King o f Poland ( 1 5 4 8
S m o g it i 3 7 5 2 55 91 2 0 9
P ol a nd and L ith
,
Si
z a
I N D EX
na n i a
355
s ingle st ate
a danger f or 3 0 4 S ee Pa n
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
1 47
ria g e and the D iet
86 8 7 ;
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
king 1 5 2 S e John I I I
o f peace 93 ; hi s rea s on s fo r
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
the 1 5 6
98 ; forbade further s ettle
ment o f Jew s in Poland 1 8 3 S tani s lau s B i s hop o f Cracow
16
S igi s mund ( I I I ) V a s a R u s
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
character and internal pol
s ia and Pru ss ia a s King of
Poland 1 8 9; education and
icy o f 1 1 5 1 7 ; foreign pol
icy o f 1 1 7 ; A u s trian in character 1 90 ; at the Court
of S t Peter s burg 1 91 ; lo v er
t rig e and ci v il war o f I 1 8
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
1 3 5 ; death 1 3 7
burg 1 91 ; in R u ss ian c o n
1 91
1 92 ; elected
s pi a c y
S ile ia anne x ed to Poland
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
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
Poland 1 8 5
s ia 2 1 0 ; s upport s the new
S la v ophil s 2 6 3 2 6 4
Con stitution 2 2 0 ; appointed
Commander -inChief 2 2 4 ;
S la vs in second centu ry 1 ;
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
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 ;
to
0 6 5
den
8 ; in s titution
Gro dno and then to S t
ce Of
pe n
Peter sburg 2 3 6 ; abdicate s
f the di s tr ict among 1 2 ;
237
D n
g n h O t nat the e x
pen s e f 2 8 5 ; e x pelled from Stani slau s L e s zczyn s ki King
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
b ecame
s a
s,
ar a
ra
ac
s e
I N D EX
6
35
of
S t t u t es
i e sz aw a
t ephen
( 1 575
word s
o f quoted x i v ; elected King
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
M u s co v i t e s 1 0 6 1 0 7 ; hi s
army 1 0 1 0 8 ; triumpha l
return 0 1 0 8 ; h i s great
E uro p ea n s c h eme 1 0 8 1 0 9;
death 1 0 9; a nd the Z borow
s ki family 1 0 9 1 1 0 ; a grea t
ruler 1 1 1 ; t olerant in t e
l igio u s ma t ter s 1 1 1 b r ough t
t h e Co s s ack s into t he army
.
12
S t e pl
C h arl e s
Arc h duke
n
,
32g
S t e pe ,
S t o ypin
,
319
t he
8 1 , 82 , 84
Prime M i n i st er
,
31 8,
of
u cce ss i on seniori t y a s b a s i s
f according to S l a v cu s
t m
S uleiman I I 8
S
ff R u ss ian ge n er a l 3 5
S n
t p l k 34 3 5
f
s o n in-l aw
S i t p lk
I 8
B l l
S weden i n 5 5 9 ( T reatie s f
Wilna ) 96 ; and t he throne
,
2 0 2 2
uv
ro
ve
v a
o es a u s
Poland
1 14 1 15 ;
defeated at Kirkholm 1 2 6 ;
and S h u is ki 1 3 4 ; invade s
L i v onia u nder Gu stav u s
Adolphu s 1 3 6 ; return s L i
v onia to Poland 1 39; in
v ade s Poland under Charle s
X 1 4 3 ; in t he T hirteen
Y ear s W ar 1 4 6 1 4 7 ; in
t he Great N orther n Wa r
of
39
tr o ng place s 1 3
t uhm s d o rf T ruce
1
S
S
men t b ut not el ig i b l e t o
S enate 4 0 4 1 and the S t a t
ute s of N ie s zawa 6 2 and the
D ietine s 6 3 ; John A lbert
and 6 6 69; s ince D iet of
c in
Che n
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O f M ielnica on Kin g A le x an
de r 7 1 ; v ict ory o f o ve r
S igi s mund I 7 3 7 4 ; try to
e xclude dep utie s o f town s
from D iet 7 5 ; army ine i
cien t o wing t o control of 7 9;
try t o bring clergy under
their cont rol 8 7 8 9 90 ;
King to be elected b 99;
p ea cefu l sentiment O 1 0
1 0 5 1 0 8 ; lack O f re s po n
s ib i
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s ki 1 1 8 1 1 9; st ruggle b e
twee n Ki n g S tephe n and
1 20
1 2 1 ; their dangerou s
p olicy toward the Co ssack s
l 3 o ; Wl a d i l a u s
I V plan s
blow at 1 3 9; s ecure elect ion
o f M ichael
1 5 0 ; would no t
p ay foreign amba ssadors
1 6 3 ; blind to the in t ere s t s
1 6 9;
o f the count ry
1 68
really v ery weak 1 7 0 ; a sec
t ion o f not well -t o -do 1 7 4
rank O f alway s recognized
1 7 5 ; legi s late
again s t t he
t own s 1 7 8 ; O ppo sed to t he
Jew s 1 8 3 1 8 4 ; pri v ilege s of
reenacted af t er s econd
par
t ition 2 3 1 ; O f t he R ed
party 2 5 8 ; much land i n
hand s o f i n 1 91 4 2 98 S ee
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Tannenberg b att le of
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x ii 5 5
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223 225 228
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1 45 .
2 75,
lt u p rst R u s William of H ab sburg 5 7

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bury 9
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55 ;
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96
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v er s ity f clo sed 6 4
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x iii 4 7 8 9 1 92 96 Wi ni wi ki Jeremiah 5
Wi ni wi ki M ichael Kin g
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f 55 56
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l
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53
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or L ong
King of
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Poland ( 3 9
;
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b ecome s king 3 8 3 9;
i 55
unite s P o la n d into s ingle
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37
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regeneratio n f Poland n
Walden s ian s 9
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in
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7 9;
59
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land ( 6 3
attemp t
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entered by R u ss ian s 3 5 ; v ite throne 3 5 3 7 ; war
fall s to Pru ss ia at third par
f
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t ition 3 7 ; D uchy of 4
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Uni v er s ity f
3 8 ; attem p t s to de s troy
5 ;
46
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power of the D iet 3 9 4 0 ;
W artha t he 4
death 4
s on o f B l l
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Wl d i l
I I I King O f Poland 1 8
W e st Galicia 3
5
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4
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B e rke l e y C a l ifo rn
,

A Brief History of Poland

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P RE FA C E

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

EARLY HI S TORY : THE E RA OF B EGI N

I V POL I S H S OC IETY I N THE E IGHTEE N TH C E N T U RY

again after a century o f O blivion the

ing Polish nationality and securing fo r the Poles

tary order o ne o f the many which came into

rania to the Gulf of Finland was in it s hands

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

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

ultimately do so unless she changed her ways

neighbors were ready to deal with her a n

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

the Germans will serve as a sacrice upon the

as always it i s only by Germanizing the Slavs

WHEN the light of history rst dawned upo n

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

again they were driven o u t thi s time by the

The Eastern Slavs o r the Russian s s ettled

German s o nthe west obliged them to combine

hea then brethren to believe and be baptized

against the Slavs west

forces o f Bohemia and the Emperor Henry I I

laus took the title o

oners o f war o nthe land gave them their free

unconquered kernel o f Western Slavdom

Rixa now rose again s t their oppressors aided

ebuilding towns and churches and insuring

situation reaching the soldiers they had rushed

ned the nobles but the kingly power was still

Herman succeeded him with o ut protest o r

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

an entire reorganization both external

internal di fculties and were ready to begin

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

system was o f course in this direction and

youngest so n Casimir received no t h I ng from

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

exped ition did no t accomplish its purpose

ruler in his place By the death within a few

Church started by the monk Hildebrand after

whole level o f the c lerical life and to produce

people to the quickened zeal and the new de

no dues fo r the rst few years and v ery mod er

s oon came to form as they had formed at

home a wealthy middle class which Poland

barbarians exe m ption from military service

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

the bishops o f the kingdom and this as

an event of sinister and far -reaching importance

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

and Conrad at his wits end nally sought help

B lack marked the lowest point in the degrada

Wl a d isl a u s Lokietek Duke

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

foe s that menaced it from without Wl a d is l a u s

who had no voice in the gov ernment

also lay midway on the great road that led

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

the Grand Duchy o f Lithuania extended from

sometimes with Bohemia and sometime s with

to this treaty The King had hard work to get

to German courts outside o f Poland for nal

integrity and keep the peace Casimir secured