Polish nobles

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 state, exercising extensive political rights and power. Szlachta as a class differed significantly from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the March Constitution."Szlachta. Szlachta w Polsce"
''Encyklopedia PWN''

The origins of the ''szlachta'' are obscure and the subject of several theories. Traditionally, its members owned land (allods), often '' folwarks''. The ''szlachta'' secured substantial and increasing political power and rights throughout its history, beginning with the reign of King Casimir III the Great between 1333 and 1370 in the Kingdom of Poland until the decline and end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Apart from providing officers for the army, its chief civic obligations included electing the monarch and filling honorary and advisory roles at court that would later evolve into the upper legislative chamber, the Senate. The ''szlachta'' electorate also took part in the government of the Commonwealth via the lower legislative chamber of the Sejm (bicameral national parliament), composed of representatives elected at local '' sejmiks'' (local ''szlachta'' assemblies). Sejmiks performed various governmental functions at local levels, such as appointing officials and overseeing judicial and financial governance, including tax-raising. The ''szlachta'' assumed various governing positions, including '' voivode'', '' marshal of voivodeship'', castellan, and ''starosta''. (Pol.)

In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the existing Lithuanian- Ruthenian nobility formally joined the ''szlachta''. As the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) evolved and expanded territorially after the Union of Lublin, its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia and Livonia. Over time, membership in the ''szlachta'' grew to encompass close to 10% of Polish-Lithuanian society, which made it as an electorate several times larger than most noble classes in other countries.

Despite often enormous differences in wealth and political influence, few distinctions in law existed between the great magnates and lesser ''szlachta''. The juridic principle of ''szlachta'' equality existed because ''szlachta'' land titles were allodial, not feudal, involving no requirement of feudal service to a liege Lord. Unlike absolute monarchs who eventually took reign in most other European countries, the Polish king was not an autocrat and not the szlachta's overlord. The relatively few hereditary noble titles in the Kingdom of Poland were bestowed by foreign monarchs, while in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, princely titles were mostly inherited by descendants of old dynasties. During the three successive Partitions of Poland between 1772 and 1795, most of the ''szlachta'' began to lose legal privileges and social status, while ''szlachta'' elites became part of the nobilities of the three partitioning powers.

History

Etymology

In Polish, a nobleman is called a "''szlachcic''" and a noblewoman a "''szlachcianka''".

The Polish term ''szlachta'' derived from the Old High German word ''slahta''. In modern German ''Geschlecht'' – which originally came from the Proto-Germanic *''slagiz'', "blow", "strike", and shares the Anglo-Saxon root for "slaughter", or the verb "to slug" – means "breeding" or "gender". Like many other Polish words pertaining to nobility, it derives from Germanic words: the Polish word for "knight" is ''rycerz'', from the German ''Ritter'', meaning "rider". The Polish word for "coat of arms" is ''herb'' from the German ''Erbe'' ("heritage").
17th-century Poles assumed ''szlachta'' came from the German ''schlachten'', "to slaughter" or "to butcher", and was therefore related to the German word for battle, ''Schlacht''. Some early Polish historians thought the term might have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. The szlachta traced their descent from Lech/Lekh, who allegedly founded the Polish kingdom in about the fifth century.

The Polish term ''szlachta'' designated the formalized, hereditary aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which constituted the nation itself, and ruled without competition. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, the hereditary szlachta were referred to as "''nobilitas''" from the Latin term, and could be compared in legal status to English or British peers of the realm, or to the ancient Roman idea of ''cives'', "citizen". Until the second half of the 19th century, the Polish term ' (which now means "citizen") could be used as a synonym for szlachta landlords.

Today the word ''szlachta'' simply translates as "nobility". In its broadest sense, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods and baronial titles granted by other European monarchs, including the Holy See. Occasionally, 19th-century landowners of commoner descent were referred to as ''szlachta'' by courtesy or error, when they owned manorial estates, but were not in fact noble by birth. ''Szlachta'' also denotes the Ruthenian and Lithuanian nobility from before the old-Commonwealth.

In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of "''szlachta''" as "gentry" rather than "nobility". This mistaken practice began due to the inferior economic status of many ''szlachta'' members compared to that of the nobility in other European countries (see also Estates of the Realm ''regarding wealth and nobility''). The ''szlachta'' included those rich and powerful enough to be great magnates down to the impoverished with an aristocratic lineage, but with no land, no castle, no money, no village, and no subject peasants. Historian M.Ross wrote in 1835: "At least 60,000 families belong to this class, of which, however, only about 100 are wealthy; all the rest are poor."

A few exceptionally wealthy and powerful szlachta members constituted the ''magnateria'' and were known as magnate