Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or
The Commonwealth of the Two Nations,
Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów in
Polish;
Belarusian: Рэч Паспалі́тая) was a federal monarchy-republic formed by the Kingdom of
Poland and Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, between
1569 and
1795, which was governed by an elected
monarch.
Since the word Poland was also commonly used to describe the whole country, the members of the commonwealth were called:\n*The
Crown of the Polish Kingdom (Poland proper), colloquially the Crown.\n*The
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, colloquially Lithuania.\n*The
Duchy of Ruthenia was the planned member of the Commonwealth, after it would have been reconstructed to the tripartite
Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth, but it never really existed.
The Crown had approximately double the population of Lithuania and five times the income of its treasury.
In the
Partitions of Poland in
1772-
1795 divided the country between
Russia, the
Kingdom of Prussia and
Austria. However, the last political movement that wanted to restore the state was active about the time of the
January Uprising (
1863-
1864).
These lands are distributed today mostly among
Poland,
Lithuania,
Latvia,
Ukraine,
Belarus, and
Russia, with smaller pieces in some other neighboring countries (
Estonia,
Slovakia,
Romania and
Moldova).
The political doctrine of Polish-Lithuania was "our state is a Republic under the presidency of the King". The Commonwealth introduced the doctrine of
religious tolerance, had its own parliament, the
Sejm, and elected kings that were bound to the contracts "Pacta conventa" from the beginning of their reign.
The foundation stones of the Commonwealth, the so called Golden Freedoms, were commonly:\n*free
election of the king \n*"
pacta conventa" that were binding for the king and evolved from the earlier
Henrician_Articles\n*"rokosz" (
insurrection) — a legal rebellion of citizens against the king that violated their guaranteed freedoms\n*"liberum veto" — the right to express opposition to the decisions of the majority by an individual during the
Sejm session leading to its nullification\n*"konfederacja" — confederatio, the military organisation of the citizens willing to achieve a common political aim.
\n
Contour of the Commonwealth with its major subdivisions \n
as of 1619 superimposed on present-day national borders
Intellectual inheritance
The Commonwealth was one of the most important places in development modern social and political ideas of Europe. See Polish brethren.
The article
Nobles' Democracy covers this historical period in greater detail.
Related articles
List of Polish rulers
Category:Polish history\nCategory:Lithuanian history\nCategory:Ukrainian history\nCategory:Belarusian history
