''Nihil novi nisi commune consensu'' ("Nothing new without the common consent") is the original Latin title of a

1505 __NOTOC__ Year 1505 ( MDV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * June 6 – The M8.2–8.8 Lo Mustang earthquake strikes Nepal, causing sev ...

act or constitution adopted by the Polish '' Sejm'' ( parliament), meeting in the royal castle at Radom.

History

''Nihil novi'' effectively established " nobles' democracy" in what came to be known as the Polish "

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

r Republic">Republic.html" ;"title="r Republic">r Republicof the Nobility". It was a major component of the evolution and eventual dominant position of the Polish parliament (Sejm). "''Nihil novi''", in this politics, political sense, is interpreted in the vernacular as "Nothing about us without us" (in Polish language, Polish, "''Nic o nas bez nas''"). The Latin expression, "''nihil novi''" ("nothing new"), had previously appeared in the Vulgate Bible phrase, "''nihil novi sub sole''" ("there is nothing new under the sun"), in ''

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...

'' 1:9.'' King James Version'': "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." ''

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...

'': "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

''Nihil novi''

The '' Sejms 1505 Act of ''Nihil novi nisi commune consensu'' marked an important victory for Poland's nobility over her

kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

. It forbade the king to issue laws without the consent of the nobility, represented by the '' Senat'' and Chamber of Deputies, except for laws governing royal cities,

crown land 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. ...

s (''królewszczyzny''), mines, fiefdoms, royal peasants, and Jews. ''Nihil novi'' invalidated the Privilege of Mielnik, which had strengthened only 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 it thus tipped the balance of power in favor of the Chamber of Deputies (the formally lower chamber of the Parliament), where the ordinary nobility held sway. ''Nihil novi'' is often regarded as initiating the period in Polish history known as " Nobles' Democracy," which was but a limited democracy as only male nobility (''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

'') were able to participate (the nobility constituting some ten percent of the Republic's population, still a higher eligible percentage than in much of Europe). The act of ''Nihil novi'' was signed by King Alexander Jagiellon on 30 May 1505 in a ''Sejm'' session held at the royal castle in Radom. That same year, the nobility further expanded their power by abrogating most cities' voting rights in the ''Sejm'' and by forbidding peasants to leave their lands without permission from their feudal lords, thereby firmly establishing a "second serfdom" in Poland.

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References

Sources

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor at ...

, ''God's Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes. Volume I: The Origins to 1795'', New York, Columbia University Press, 1982, . * Sebastian Piątkowski, ''Radom: zarys dziejów miasta'' (Radom: A Brief History of the City), Radom, 2000, . * Adam Zamoyski, ''The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1994, .

External links