Chancellor of Poland ( pl, Kanclerz - , from la, cancellarius) was one of the highest
officials
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...
in the historic
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
. This office functioned from the early
Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
in 1795. A respective office also existed in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...
since the 16th century. Today the office of the chancellor has been replaced by that of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
.
Chancellors' powers rose together with the increasing importance of written documents. In the 14th century the office of Chancellor of
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
( pl, Kanclerz krakowski) evolved into the Chancellor of the Crown ( pl, Kanclerz koronny) and from that period the chancellor powers were greatly increased, as they became responsible for the
foreign policy of the entire Kingdom (later, the Commonwealth). The Chancellor was also supposed to ensure the legality of monarch's actions, especially whether or not they could be considered illegal in the context of
pacta conventa
''Pacta conventa'' (Latin for "articles of agreement") was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" (i.e., the szlachta (nobility) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and a newly elected king upon ...
(an early set of documents containing important laws, in some aspects resembling today's
constitutions
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these prin ...
). Finally, the Chancellor was also responsible for his office, the
chancellery ( pl, kancelaria). A 16th-century Polish lawyer, Jakub Przybylski, described the Chancellor as the king's hand, eye and ear, translator of his thoughts and will.
From 15th century onward there were two separate Chancellor offices, neither of them subordinate to the other: Great Chancellor ( pl, Kanclerz wielki) and Deputy Chancellor ( pl, Podkanclerzy). In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there were four Chancellors: Great Chancellor of the Crown ( pl, Kanclerz wielki koronny), Great Chancellor of Lithuania ( pl, Kanclerz wielki litewski), Deputy Chancellor of the Crown ( pl, Podkanclerzy koronny), and Deputy Chancellor of Lithuania ( pl, Podkanclerzy litewski).
History
During the
times of fragmentation of Poland, each Polish prince had his own chancellor, but with the
reunification of Poland, the office of Chancellor of Kraków (contemporary capital of the Kingdom of Poland) became dominant and other, local chancellors disappeared by the early 15th century. Also in the 15th century, the Chancellor's office was split into that of the Great Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor. The Deputy Chancellor was, however, not a subordinate of the Chancellor and his independence was specifically confirmed by the laws passed during the reign of king
Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jag ...
. The
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...
of 1504 confirmed the Chancellor's office as well as its powers and responsibilities for the first time, specifically stating that one person cannot hold both Chancellors' offices, and established the Grand Lithuanian Chancellor's office. The Lithuanian Deputy Chancellor was created later, in the mid-16th century
After the
Union of Lublin
The Union of Lublin ( pl, Unia lubelska; lt, Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the per ...
in 1569 there were four Chancellors (one Grand Chancellor and one Deputy Chancellor for Crown, and another pair for Lithuania).
At first, the Chancellor's office was always given to an