SzlachtaSzlachta was the noble class in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the two countries that later jointly formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The szlachta arose in the late Middle Ages and existed through the 18th century and into the 19th. Traditionally, its members were owners of landed property, often in the form of *
folwarks. The szlachta enjoyed substantial and almost unrivalled political privileges until the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Distinctions of nobility were officially abolished by Poland's 1921 March Constitution, though
szlachta membership remains widely claimed in various strata of Polish society at home and abroad.
HistoryEtymologyThe Polish term
szlachta designated the
gentle or
noble class. It encompassed the idea of gentility or nobility of blood, and was roughly equivalent to the English
gentry and
nobility. A specific nobleman was called a
szlachcic, and a noblewoman, a
szlachcianka. Early Polish historians thought the term may have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings.
szlachta is thought by some simply to mean "Lechitians," or "Lech's people" (in modern Polish, "z Lecha"), probably denoting the ruling warrior class in Lech's tribe. Even today, some Ukrainians refer to Poles as
Lakhy (Lechitians), while the Turks use the term
Lekh.
Another theory suggests that
szlachta derives from the old German word "slahta" (now "(Adels)Geschlecht," "(noble)family"), much as many other Polish words pertaining to the nobility derive from German words — e.g., the Polish "rycerz" ("knight," cognate of the German "Ritter") and the Polish "herb" ("coat of arms," from the German "Erbe," "heritage"). Poles of the 17th century assumed that
szlachta was from the German "schlachten" ("to slaughter" or "to butcher"); also suggestive is the German "Schlacht" ("battle"). "Šlèkta" is a derivative from a Polish term used in the Lithuanian language having more or less the same meaning usually with a negative nuance.
Kindred terms that might be applied to an early Polish nobleman were "rycerz" ("knight"), the Latin "nobilis" ("noble"; plural: "nobiles") and "mozny" (
szlachta, "oligarch"; plural: "mozni"). Some powerful Polish nobles were referred to as
magnates (Polish singular: "magnat", plural: "magnaci").
OriginsThe Polish nobility probably derived from a Slavic warrior class, forming a distinct element within the ancient Polonic tribal groupings. This is uncertain, however, as there is little documentation on the early history of Poland, or of the movements of the Slavonic people into what became the territory so designated. Around the 14th century, there was little difference between knights and the
szlachta in Poland. Members of the
szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country (pospolite ruszenie), thereby becoming the kingdom's privileged social class.
Szlachta rise to powerNobles were born into a noble family, adopted by a noble family (this was abolished in 1633) or ennobled by a
king or
Sejm for various reasons (bravery in combat, service to the state, etc. - yet this was the rarest means of gaining noble status). Many nobles were, in actuality, really usurpers, being peasants or merchants, who moved into another part of the country and falsely pretended to noble status. Hundreds of such false nobles were denounced by
Walerian Nekanda Trepka in his
Liber generationis plebeanorium (or Liber chamorum) in the first half of 16th century. Many sejms issued decrees over the centuries in an attempt to resolve this issue, but with little success. It is unknown what percentage of the Polish nobility came from the 'lower' orders of society, but most historians agree that nobles of such base origins formed a 'significant' element of the
szlachta.
The Polish nobility enjoyed many rights that were not available to the noble classes of other countries and, typically, each new monarch conceded them further privileges. Those privileges became the basis of the Golden Liberty in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite having a king, Poland was called a noble
republic (Rzeczpospolita) because the king was elected by all interested members of the nobility and Poland was considered to be the property of this class, not of the king or the ruling dynasty. This state of affairs grew up in part because of the extinction of the male-line descendants of the old royal dynasty (first the
Piasts, then the
Jagiellons), and the selection by the nobility of the Polish king from among the dynasty's female-line descendants.
Poland's successive kings granted privileges to the nobility at the time of their election to the throne (the privileges being specified in the king-elect's Pacta conventa) and at other times in exchange for ad hoc permission to raise an extraordinary tax or a pospolite ruszenie. Poland's nobility thus accumulated a growing array of privileges and immunities: In 1355 in
Buda King Casimir III issued the
first country-wide privilege for the nobility, in exchange for their
agreement that in the lack of Kazimierz male heirs, the throne would pass to his relative,
King Louis the Hungarian. He decreed that the nobility would no longer be required to pay 'extraordinary' taxes, or pay with their own funds for military expeditions outside Poland. He also promised that during travels of the royal court, the king and the court would pay for all expenses, instead of using facilities of local nobility.
In 1374 King Louis the Hungarian approved the Privilege of Koszyce (Polish: "przywilej koszycki" or "ugoda koszycka") in Koszyce in order to guarantee the Polish throne for his daughter Jadwiga. He broadened the definition of who was a member of the nobility and exempted the entire class from all but one tax (lanowy, which was limited to 2 grosze from lan (an old measure of land size)). In addition, the King's right to raise taxes was abolished; no new taxes could be raised without the agreement of the nobility. Henceforth, also, district offices (Polish: "urzedy ziemskie") were reserved exclusively for local nobility, as the Privilege of Koszyce forbade the king to grant official posts and major Polish castles to foreign knights. Finally, this privilege obliged the King to pay indemnities to nobles injured or taken captive during a war outside Polish borders.
In 1422 King Wladyslaw II Jagiello by the Privilege of Czerwiñsk (Polish: "przywilej czerwiñski") established the inviolability of nobles' property (their estates could not be confiscated except upon a court verdict) and ceded some jurisdiction over fiscal policy to the Royal Council (later, the Senat), including the right to mint coinage.
In 1430 with the Privileges of Jedlnia, confirmed at Kraków in 1433 (Polish: "przywileje jedlnensko-krakowskie"), based partially on his earlier Brzesc Kujawski privilege (April 25, 1425), King Wladyslaw II Jagiello granted the nobility a guarantee against arbitrary arrest, similar to the English Magna Carta's Habeas corpus, known from its own Latin name as "neminem captivabimus (nisi jure victum)." Henceforth no member of the nobility could be imprisoned without a warrant from a competent court of justice: the king could neither punish nor imprison any noble at his whim. King Wladyslaw's quid pro quo for this boon was the nobles' guarantee that his throne would be inherited by one of his sons (who would be bound to honour the privileges theretofore granted to the nobility). On May 2, 1447 the same king issued the Wilno Privilege which gave the Lithuanian boyars the same rights as those possessed by the Polish
szlachta.
In 1454 King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon granted the Nieszawa Statutes (Polish: "statuty cerkwicko-nieszawskie"), clarifying the legal basis of voivodship sejmiks (local parliaments). The king could promulgate new laws, raise taxes, or call for a levée en masse (pospolite ruszenie) only with the consent of the sejmiks, and the nobility were protected from judicial abuses. The Nieszawa Statutes also curbed the power of the magnates, as the Sejm (national parliament) received the right to elect many officials, including judges, voivods and castellans. These privileges were demanded by the
szlachtaas a compensation for their participation in the Thirteen Years' War.
The first "free election" (Polish: "wolna elekcja") of a king took place in 1492. (To be sure, some earlier Polish kings had been elected with help from bodies such as that which put Casimir II on the throne, thereby setting a precedent for free elections.) Only senators voted in the 1492 free election, which was won by Jan I Olbracht. For the duration of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, only members of that royal family were considered for election; later, there would be no restrictions on the choice of candidates.
In 1493 the national parliament, the Sejm, began meeting every two years at Piotrków. It comprised two chambers:
- a Senate of 81 bishops and other dignitaries; and
- a Sejm of 54 deputies (in Polish, "deputy" is "pose?") representing their respective sejmiks.
The numbers of senators and deputies later increased.
On April 26, 1496 King Jan I Olbracht granted the Privilege of Piotrków (Polish: "przywilej piotrkowski", "konstytucja piotrkowska" or "statuty piotrkowskie"), increasing the nobility's feudal power over serfs. It bound the peasant to the land, as only one son (not the eldest) was permitted to leave the village; townsfolk (Polish: "mieszczanstwo") were prohibited from owning land; and positions in the Church hierarchy could be given only to nobles. On 23 October 1501, at Mielnik Polish-Lithuanian Union was reformed as the Union of Mielnik (Polish: unia mielnicka, unia piotrkowsko-mielnicka). It was there that the tradition of the coronation Sejm (Polish: "Sejm koronacyjny") was founded. Once again the nobility attempted to reduce the power of the magnates with a law that made them impeachable before the Senate for malfeasance. However the Act of Mielno (Polish: Przywilej mielnicki) of 25 October did more to strengthen the magnate dominated Senate of Poland then the lesser nobility. The nobles were conceded the right to refuse to obey the King or his representatives--in the Latin, "non praestanda oboedientia"--and to form confederations, an armed rebellion against the king or state officers if the nobles thought that the law or their legitimate privileges were being infringed.
On 3rd May 1505 King Aleksander I Jagiellon granted the Act of "Nihil novi nisi commune consensu" (Latin: "I accept nothing new except by common consensus"). This forbade the king to pass any new law without the consent of the representatives of the nobility, in Sejm and Senat assembled, and thus greatly strengthened the nobility's political position. Basically, this act transferred legislative power from the king to the Sejm. This date commonly marks the beginning of the First Rzeczpospolita, the period of a szlachta-run "republic".
In 1520 the Act of Bydgoszcz granted the Sejm the right to convene every four years, with or without the king's permission.
About that time the "executionist movement" (Polish: "egzekucja praw"--"execution of the laws") began to take form. Its members would seek to curb the power of the magnates at the Sejm and to strengthen the power of king and country. In 1562 at the Sejm in Piotrków they would force the magnates to return many leased crown lands to the king, and the king to create a standing army (wojsko kwarciane). One of the most famous members of this movement was Jan Zamoyski. After his death in 1605, the movement lost its political force.
Until the death of Zygmunt II August, the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, monarchs could only be elected from within the royal family. However, starting from 1573, practically any Polish noble or foreigner of royal blood could become a Polish-Lithuanian monarch. Every newly elected king was supposed to sign two documents - the Pacta conventa ("agreed pacts") - a confirmation of the king's pre-election promises, and Henrican articles (artykuly henrykowskie, named after the first freely elected king, Henry of Valois). The latter document served as a virtual Polish constitution and contained the basic laws of the Commonwealth:
- free election of kings;
- religious tolerance;
- the Diet to be gathered every two years;
- foreign policy controlled by the Diet;
- a royal advisory council chosen by the Diet;
- official posts restricted to Polish and Lithuanian nobles;
- taxes and monopolies set up by the Diet only;
- nobles' right to disobey the king should he break any of these laws.
In 1578 king Stefan Batory created the Crown Tribunal in order to reduce the enormous pressure on the Royal Court. This placed much of the monarchs juridical power in the hands of the elected szlachta deputies, further strengthening the nobility class. In 1581 the Crown Tribunal was joined by a counterpart in Lithuania, the Lithuanian Tribunal.
Transformation into aristocracyFor many centuries, wealthy and powerful members of the
szlachta sought to gain legal privileges over their "equals." Few
szlachta were wealthy enough to be known as magnates (karmazyni — the "crimson ones," from the crimson colour of their boots). A proper magnate should be able to trace noble ancestors back for many generations and own at least 20 villages or estates. He should also hold a major office in the Commonwealth. Some historians estimate the number of magnates as 4% of
szlachta number. Out of 1 million of
szlachta, tens of thousands of families, perhaps only 200-300 persons could be classed as great magnates with country-wide possessions and influence, and 30-40 of them could be viewed as those with significant impact on country's politics. Magnates often received gifts from monarchs, which significantly increased their wealth. Often, those gifts were only temporary leases, which the magnates never returned (in 16th century, the anti-magnate opposition among
szlachta were known as the ruch egzekucji praw - movement for execution of the laws - which demanded that all such possessions are returned to their proper owner, the king). One of the most important victories of the magnates was the late 16th century right to create ordynacja's (similar to majorats), which ensured that a family which gained wealth and power could more easily preserve this. Ordynacje's of families of Radziwills, Zamoyski's, Potocki's or Lubomirski's often rivalled the estates of the king and were important power bases for the magnates. With the partitions of Poland, the magnates finally got the recognition in law they craved. The equality among
szlachta was no more, as the law systems of the partitioning powers recognized only the privileged aristocracy and treated the poorer
szlachta as normal citizens, or extreme cases, peasants.All
szlachta privileges were finally abolished after the Second World War under the communist regime of the People's Republic of Poland.
Szlachta cultureThe Polish nobility differed in many respects from the nobility of other countries. The most important difference was that, while in most European countries the nobility lost power as the ruler strove for absolute monarchy, in Poland the reverse process occurred: the nobility actually gained power at the expense of the king, and the political system evolved toward a partial democracy.
Poland's nobility were also more numerous than those of all other European countries, forming some 10%-12% of the total population and almost 25% among ethnic Poles, while in some poorer regions (e.g. Mazowsze, the area centred on Warsaw) nearly 30%. By contrast, the nobilities of other European countries, except for Spain, amounted to a mere 1-3%. There were a number of avenues to upward social mobility and the achievement of nobility. Poland's nobility, unlike France's aristocracy, was not a rigidly exclusive, closed class. Many low-born individuals, including townsfolk, peasants and Jews, could and did rise in Polish society. Thus Poland's noble class was more stable than those of other countries, and so was spared the societal tensions and eventual disintegration that characterised the French revolution. Each
szlachcic had enormous influence over the country's politics, in some ways even greater than what is enjoyed by the citizens of modern democratic countries. Between 1652 and 1791, any nobleman could nullify all the proceedings of a given sejm (Commonwealth parliament) or sejmik (Commonwealth local parliament) by exercising his individual right of liberum veto (Latin for "I do not allow"), except in the case of a confederated sejm or confederated sejmik. All children of the Polish nobility inherited their noble status from a noble mother and father. Any individual could attain ennoblement (Polish: "nobilitacja") for special services to the state. A foreign noble might be naturalised as a Polish noble (Polish: "indygenat") by the Polish king (later, from 1641, only by a general sejm).
In theory at least, all Polish noblemen were social equals. The poorest enjoyed the same rights as the wealthiest magnate. The exceptions were a few privileged families such as the Radziwill, Lubomirski and Czartoryski, who sported aristocratic titles received from foreign courts, such as "Prince" or "Count." (see also The Princely Houses of Poland). All other szlachta simply addressed each other by their given name or as "Sir Brother" (Panie bracie) or the feminine equivalent.
According to their financial standing, the nobility could be divided into:
- magnates: the wealthiest class;
- middle nobility;
- lesser nobility (often referred to by a variety of colourful Polish terms such as:
- szaraczkowa - 'grey ones', from their grey, woollen, uncoloured zupans
- zasciankowa - from za?cianek, a name for szlachta village, full of zagrody, the impoverished
- okoliczna - 'nearby', similar to zasciankowa
- zagrodowa - from zagroda, a poor szlachta house, often little different from a peasant's dwelling
- zagonowa - from zagon, a small unit of land measure
- czastkowa - 'partial', owners of only part of a single village
- drazkowa - when gathered, had no comfortable chairs, so they had to sit on fences and the like
- golota - 'naked ones', i.e. the landless
- panki - little 'pan' (i.e. lordling), term used in Kaszuby, the Kashubian region
- brukowa - 'cobbled ones', for those living in towns like townsfolk
- hreczkosiej - 'those who sow buckwheat' and have to work their fields themselves.
HeraldryCoats of arms were very important to the Polish nobility. It is notable, that the Polish heraldic system evolved separately from its western counterparts and differed in many ways from the heraldry of other European countries. The most notable difference is that, contrary to other European heraldic systems, the coat of arms did not "belong" to a family or a clan, but the other way around, the szlachta family pertained to a coat of arms. As a consequence, it was common that many distinct, unrelated families (sometimes as many as 600) share the same coat of arms. Because of that, the symbols were barely ever parted. Logically, the number of coats of arms in this system was rather low and did not exceed 200 in late Middle Ages. Also, the tradition of differentiating between the coat of arms proper and a lozenge granted to women did not develop in Poland. Usually men inherited the coat of arms from their fathers (or the member of the clan who "adopted them") while women inherited it after their mothers or were adopted to the family of the husband. Also, the brisure was rarely used.
SarmatismThe
szlachta's prevalent mentality and ideology were manifested in
Sarmatism, a name derived from supposed ancestors of the
szlachta, the
Sarmatians. This belief system became an important part of
szlachta culture and affected all aspects of their lives. It enshrined traditional village life, peace and pacifism; popularised oriental-style apparel (the zupan, kontusz, sukmana, pas kontuszowy, delia); and made the scimitar-like szabla, too, a near-obligatory item of everyday
szlachta apparel.
Sarmatism served to integrate the multi-ethnic nobility as it created an almost nationalistic sense of unity and pride in the
szlachta's
Golden Liberty (
zlota wolnosc). Knowledge of
Latin was widespread, and most
szlachta freely
mixed Polish and Latin vocabulary (the latter, "macaronisms" — from "macaroni") in everyday conversation.
In its early, idealistic form,
Sarmatism seemed like a salutary cultural movement: it fostered religious faith, honesty, national pride, courage, equality and freedom. As with any doctrine, however, that puts one social class above others, it eventually became perverted. Late
Sarmatism turned belief into bigotry, honesty into political naiveté, pride into arrogance, courage into stubbornness, equality and freedom within the
szlachta class into dissension and anarchy.
Religious beliefs Prior to the Reformation, the Polish nobility were mostly Roman Catholic or Orthodox. Many families, however, soon adopted the Reformed faiths. After the Counter-Reformation, when the Roman Catholic Church regained power in Poland, the nobility became almost exclusively Catholic, despite the fact that Roman Catholicism was not the majority religion in Poland (the Catholic and Orthodox churches each accounted for some 40% of the population, with the remaining 20% being Jews or members of Protestant denominations).
Szlachta, as the Commonwealth itself, was extremely tolerant of other religions. There were almost no conflicts based on faith, and
szlachta members are known to have intervened several times to pacify religious conflicts in cities and towns. In the 18th century, many followers of
Jacob Frank joined the ranks of Jewish-descended Polish gentry.
Note:
*
Folwark is a Polish word for the giant farms (in Latin,
latifundia) that were operated in Poland or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 14th century into the 20th, whose purpose was to produce surplus produce for export. The first folwarks were created on church- and monastery-owned grounds; later they were adopted by both nobility (szlachta) and rich peasants (singular: soltys). The term
folwark came into the Polish language in the 14th century from the German
Vorwerk (
farmhouse before a manor or city).
Creation of the folwarks was boosted by growing demand for grain and the profitability of its export, both to Western Europe and inside Poland. This in turn led to the creation of serfdom, when land owners discovered that instead of money-based rent and taxes it was more profitable to force the peasantry to work on folwarks. Folwark-based grain export was an important part of the economy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In Poland serfdom was regulated (and increased) by the Act of Piotrków and Act of Toru?. With the fall of agriculture goods prices in the end of 17th century, the folwark economy was in crisis, and szlachta attempts to increase production by increasing folwarks' area (usually by appropriating peasant lands) and labour (usually by increasing work demand for peasants) only compounded the economic crisis and further worsened the fate of the peasants, who had been, until then, no poorer than their average counterparts in Western Europe. Until the end of the 18th century folwarks remained the basis for szlachta economic and political power. After the abolition of serfdom, folwarks used paid labor. Folwarks were abolished by the People's Republic of Poland with the PKWN decree of 6th September 1944 about agricultural reform. After the end of Second World War folwarks were nationalised (resulting in PGRs - state-owned folwarks, Polish Pa?stwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne) or partitioned, usually with no or little compensation to their owners.
Link:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szlachta
