Mikołaj Sienicki of Bończa (c. 1521-1582) was a member of the
landed gentry
The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...
of the
Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...
. He held the office of
chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
of the land of
Chełm
Chełm (; uk, Холм, Kholm; german: Cholm; yi, כעלם, Khelm) is a city in southeastern Poland with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some ...
and was a notable
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
of his period. Considered one of the best Polish political
orator
An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.
Etymology
Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...
s, he also held the title of
marshal of the Sejm
The Marshal of the Sejm , also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm ( pl, Marszałek Sejmu, ) is the Speaker (politics), speaker (chairperson, chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of Poland, Polish ...
nine times. A
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, near the end of his life he became a member of the
Polish Brethren
The Polish Brethren (Polish: ''Bracia Polscy'') were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a Nontrinitarian Protestant church that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658. By those on the outside, they were called "Arians" or "Socinians" (, ' ...
and one of the major initiators of, and contributors to the
Warsaw Confederation
The Warsaw Confederation, signed on 28 January 1573 by the Polish national assembly (''sejm konwokacyjny'') in Warsaw, was one of the first European acts granting religious freedoms. It was an important development in the history of Poland and o ...
, which introduced new laws of
religious tolerance
Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...
in 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 Crown of the Kingdom of ...
, on a scale unimaginable in contemporary Europe.
Early career
Mikołaj Sienicki was born around 1521, to Stanisław Sienicki and Barbara née Boryszewska. In 1535 he started studies at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
, one of the oldest universities in Europe. Soon afterwards he took active interest in
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
, joining his father in the sessions of the local parliament (''sejmik'') of his home region (
Chełm land
Chełm Land or Kholmshchyna ( pl, ziemia chełmska or ''Chełmszczyzna'', uk, Холмщина ''Kholmshchyna'') is a historic region (''ziemia'') of eastern Poland and the adjacent areas of present-day Ukraine and Belarus. In the Polish–Lith ...
or ''
ziemia chełmska
Land is a historical unit of administration in Poland and Ruthenia.
In the Polish language, the term is not capitalized (''ziemia chełmińska'', Chelmno Land; not ''Ziemia Chełmińska''). All ''ziemias'' are named after main urban centers (or ...
''). He was chosen several times as a royal
legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
to those diets, and gained much respect and popularity among his peers.
The Sejm career
After the death of his father he was already an established politician. In 1550 he was elected by the ''sejmik'' of Chełm to be a region's deputy for the national
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 t ...
. On this very Sejm Sienicki gained fame with his famous critique of the senators, whom he accused of not providing any assistance to the king, and for his critique of the king himself ( Zygmunt II August at that time was in a dispute with much of the nobility over his marriage This would not be the last of his speeches in the Sejm; over the next few years he would gain fame as the ''Polish
Demosthenes
Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...
'
From 1553 on he was an active member of the
executionist movement
The Executionist movement was a 16th-century political movement in the Kingdom of Poland and, later, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was popular among lesser, middle and even some higher nobility, and it also enjoyed the support of the Pol ...
, a political party of the middle nobility, opposing the
magnate
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
s and attempting to reform the country. He would be a vocal member of the group demanding the return of the
Crown Lands
Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
held illegally by the magnates, the enforcement of the ''
incompatibilitas :This article is about a historic Polish law.
''Incompatibilitas'' (a Latin term, meaning "incompatibility") was a principle instituted in the Kingdom of Poland (later, from 1569, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), which forbade an individual ...
'' rule, and reform of the
starost
The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...
office in order to strengthen the law enforcement in Poland. He was also an expert on
parliamentary law
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or th ...
, and is often considered to have introduced or popularized many