Kingdom Of Poland (1385–1569)

The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the patrimonial property of the monarch or dynasty, but became a common good of the political community of the kingdom. This notion allowed the state to maintain stability even during periods of interregnum and paved the way for a unique political system in Poland, characterized by a noble-based parliament and the free election of the monarch. Additionally, the concept of the Crown extended beyond existing borders, asserting that previously lost territories still rightfully belonged to it. The term ''Crown of the Kingdom of Poland'' also referred to all the lands under the rule of the Polish king. This meaning became especially significant after the union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, when it began to be commonly used to denote the Polish part of the joint Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The idea of the Crown in Central Europe first appeared in Bohemia and Hungary, from where the model was taken by kings Ladislaus the Short and Casimir III the Great to strengthen their power. During the reign of Louis the Great in Poland, who spent most of his time in Hungary, as well as during the interregnum following his death and the regency during the minority of his daughter Jadwiga, the idea was adopted by the lords of the kingdom to emphasize their own role as co-responsible for the state.

The development of the concept of ''corona regni'' in Poland

External influences

The concept of ''corona regni'' first emerged in early 12th-century England. By the 13th century, when it had fully developed, the term '' corona regni Angliae'' signified the inalienable and enduring royal dignity, authority, and rights, primarily encompassing the king’s judicial power and the state as a whole, including territories that had been lost. Similar developments occurred in other European regions, each shaped by local conditions. In France, the term appeared slightly later and initially referred mainly to the royal domain but also extended to the lands held by royal vassals. In Aragon, the Crown denoted a collection of kingdoms and territories united chiefly by their shared ruler, the King of Aragon.

For Poland, the significant development was the emergence of the concept of ''corona regni'' in Hungary in the late 12th century. Initially, it represented the kingdom as a territorial entity linked to the Árpád dynasty, heirs to St. Stephen's crown. The shift came with the twilight of the Anjou dynasty, as the diet legitimized the succession through the female line. During the rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg the Holy Crown was finally distinguished from the King, and the Hungarian estates emphasized the ruler’s obligations to the Crown. By the 15th century, the Crown gained legal personality, standing above both King and Estates, becoming the true sovereign.

In Bohemia, the concept of the ''corona regni'' emerged primarily in connection with the territorial expansion and consolidation of the state. The Luxemburg dynasty's unsuccessful pursuit of the Polish throne underscored the necessity of uniting the Silesian principalities with the Bohemian crown. In 1348, Charles IV formalized the feudal structure of the state and introduced the notion of the '' corona regni Bohemiae'', incorporating the Silesian and Upper Lusatian territories bounding them to the perpetual Crown.

Idea of the Kingdom

The history of Poland as an entity has been traditionally traced to , when the pagan prince Mieszko I and the West Polans adopted Christianity. The Baptism of Poland established the first true Polish state, though the process was begun by Mieszko's Piast ancestors. His son and successor, Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland, became the first crowned King of Poland in 1025. And although his son and successor Mieszko II was forced to relinquish the crown, as was his great-grandson Boleslaw II the Bold, the idea of a kingdom survived. Even during the period of deep partition and the collapse of the central ducal power, Poland was still regarded as a kingdom, and the Piast princes, ruling the various provinces, as members of a royal dynasty and princes of Poland.

A special role was played by Kraków, which was regarded as the main city of the kingdom, as the Wawel Cathedral held the royal jewels. Also important was the cult of Saint Stanislaus Bishop of Kraków, who was presented as the patron saint of the kingdom and its unification. A unified ecclesiastical metropolis headed by the Archbishop of Gniezno also played an important role; its boundaries coincided with those of the kingdom. Gniezno, as the second centre of the state, and the place of coronation, nurtured the cult of the second patron saint, St Adalbert. His influence, however, was less.

In 1295, the Duke of Greater Poland Przemysł II, although his power did not extend to Kraków, and was crowned king in Gniezno Cathedral, as the first Piast since 1076. He was, however, assassinated a year later. He was succeeded by Wenceslas II, King of Bohemia, who from 1291 ruled Lesser Poland, conquered Greater Poland and in 1300 was crowned King of Poland in Gniezno. This meant the loss of central power for the Piast dynasty. This situation did not last long, however, as Wenceslas II died in 1305, followed by his son and successor, Wenceslas III, in 1306. The Duke of Kuyavia, Władysław Łokietek, managed to occupy first Lesser Poland and then Greater Poland, and made efforts to be crowned by the Pope. In 1320, the Archbishop of Gniezno crowned him king in Kraków, which formally did not infringe on the rights of the Přemyslids' successor, King John of Bohemia, who still considered himself king of Poland. Władysław's successor Casimir III the Great was also crowned in Kraków in 1333.

Casimir, like his father, considered himself the inherent ruler of the kingdom, the heir of the ancient Bolesławs. He strove to extend his power over the remaining Piast princes and to regain all the lands ruled by the former kings of Poland. The Silesian princes were referred to in Poland as ''duces Poloniae'', although they paid homage to the Bohemian Crown. Casimir also abandoned the coat of arms of the Kuyavia line of the Piasts, a hybrid of eagle and lion, in favour of a crowned white eagle, which was also the symbol of the Kingdom. At the congress of Visegrad in 1335, Casimir bought off John of Bohemia claims to the title of king of Poland. This allowed for the expansion of the semantic scope of the term "Kingdom of Poland," () which was often interpreted in a particularistic manner and limited only to Greater Poland. From that moment, in a territorial sense, it began to denote all the lands currently under the king's rule, and in an ideological sense, all the territories that once belonged to the Piast dynasty. Particularly noteworthy was the situation of Ruthenia, which was conquered by Casimir III. Formally, it was a separate kingdom, on whose throne Casimir sat as the heir of his relative, Yuri II Boleslav of the Piast dynasty.

The king, however, regarded himself as a patrimonial ruler who could freely manage the kingdom and its lands. An expression of this attitude was the appointment of his nephew, King Louis the Great of Hungary, as his successor, rather than any of the numerous male representatives of the Piast dynasty. In his testament, he bequeathed a significant portion of the borderlands to his grandson, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania from the House of Griffins. However, the court annulled this provision after Louis's coronation, as it fragmented the kingdom's territory. This was an open challenge to the ruler's claim of having the full freedom to manage the territory and resources of the state.

Idea of the Crown

The concept of ''Corona Regni'' appears in the documents of Casimir the Great only three times, and all three documents were produced by foreign chanceries in the king's name. This idea, which limited the monarch's power, gained popularity only after his death. The annulment of Casimir the Great's testament in 1370 was essentially the first act undertaken in the name of the interests of the Crown. Ludwik was initially inclined to recognize the will, but strong opposition forced him to refer the matter to the court, which ruled that the ruler could not diminish the territory of the Crown of the Kingdom, a decision that Ludwik accepted. Similarly, the new king, Louis the Great, committed himself to reclaiming the lost territories not for himself, but for the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, during his coronation. Jan Radlica was the first royal chancellor who stopped referring to himself as "of Kraków" or "of the court" chancellor and began to use in 1381 the title ''regni Poloniae supremus cancellarius'' (supreme chancellor of the Kingdom of Poland).

The concept of the Crown being the real sovereign began to be promoted by the elites of Lesser Poland, who saw it as a way to elevate their role. This was facilitated by the rule of a foreign king, the regency in Poland by his mother, Elizabeth, as well as disputes over the succession after his death, which resulted in a woman, Queen Jadwiga, ascending the Polish throne. In the perception of the time, this violated the old laws and required the consent of the lords.

The interregnum following the death of Ludwik in 1382, which ended with the coronation of Jadwiga in 1384, was evidence of the vitality of the Crown of the Kingdom. During this period, the magnates (''regnicolae regni Poloniae'') managed the affairs of the state, avoiding a bloody civil war and successfully leading to the coronation of new ruler. Moreover, the basis of power began to rest on an agreement between the dynasty and the kingdom's community. The nobles respected the natural right of Louis's daughters to the throne, but this right was conditional upon adherence to the oaths and obligations made by the ruler to the Crown of the Kingdom.

Union of Krewo

The Union of Krewo was a set of prenuptial agreements made at Kreva Castle on August 13, 1385, between Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila and Polish lords, who were offering him the hand of Queen Jadwiga of Poland. Once Jogaila confirmed the prenuptial agreements on August 14, 1385, Poland and Lithuania formed a personal union. The agreements included the adoption of Christianity, repatriation of lands lost by the Crown. Jogaila also pledged to permanently attach his Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (''terras suas Lithuaniae et Rusie Corone Regni Poloniae perpetuo aplicare)'', the clause which formed the personal union. After being baptized at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on February 15, 1386, Jogaila began to formally use the name Władysław. Three days after his baptism, the marriage between Jadwiga and Władysław II Jagiełło took place. Over the next few years, the Lithuanian princes from the Gediminid dynasty paid homage to Jogaila, himself a Lithuanian and Gediminid, his wife Jadwiga, and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.

The union concluded at Krewo was not an ordinary personal union, common in Europe at that time, precisely because one party was the ''Corona Regni'', that is, the community of the Kingdom of Poland, and not a dynasty or ruler, as was the case with the agreement between Casimir the Great and Louis the Great, which elevated the latter to the throne. Both Jogaila and Jadwiga were elected to the Polish throne by the nobles; their natural rights to the throne were weak, and their power rested solely on the agreement between them and the Crown of the Kingdom. According to Robert I. Frost, the aim of the Union of Krewo was not the annexation of Lithuania by Poland, but its incorporation into the community of the kingdom, that is, the Crown. Nevertheless, the Union of Krewo did not abolish the statehood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On 4 August 1392, the Ostrów Agreement was concluded between Jogaila and Vytautas the Great, who agreed to rule Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, as vicegerent of Jogaila and to remain a vassal of the Polish King, however while ruling Vilnius and its region Vytautas the Great was not content with the duties of a vicegerent, but acquired the factual authority of a grand duke, which was eventually recognized by treaties. The personal union was terminated in 1440 when Casimir IV Jagiellon was elevated as the sovereign Grand Duke of Lithuania and subsequently he stressed himself as a "free lord" (''pan – dominus'').

1444–1569

In 1444, following the death of Władysław III of Poland during the Battle of Varna, the Polish nobles invited his younger brother Casimir IV Jagiellon to also become the King of Poland and sought to renew the Polish–Lithuanian union. Casimir IV Jagiellon, taking into account the demands of the Lithuanian nobility, accepted the Polish offer only under the conditions that it will be a union of states with equal rights (personal union) and was crowned on 25 June 1447.

Following the death of Casimir IV Jagiellon, the Polish nobility elected his son John I Albert as the new King of Poland in August 1492, while the Lithuanian Council of Lords sought for a separate monarch from Poland and in July 1492 they elected Alexander Jagiellon as the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, which meant another termination of the personal union. In 1501, Alexander Jagiellon was elected as the King of Poland after his brother's John I Albert death. In 1501, Alexander Jagiellon and some members of the Lithuanian Council of Lords concluded the Union of Mielnik which stated that the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merge into one political unit (indivisible body), however the Union of Mielnik faced an opposition of influential Lithuanian nobles ( Radziwiłłs, Goštautai, Michael Glinski) and in 1505 the Sejm of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania rejected the Union of Mielnik as an agreement that narrows the Lithuania's independence and for which the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not have the authority of the Sejm.

In 1506, Alexander Jagiellon died and the Lithuanian nobles arbitrarily elected his brother Sigismund I the Old as the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, this way ignoring the stipulations of the 1501 Union of Mielnik to elect a common monarch of Poland and Lithuania. The Polish nobles, seeking to preserve the Polish–Lithuanian union, also elected Sigismund I the Old as the King of Poland in 1506. In 1529, Sigismund I the Old declared his son Sigismund II Augustus as a successor to the Lithuanian throne and on 18 October 1529 Sigismund II Augustus was inaugurated as the Grand Duke of Lithuania in the Vilnius' Grand Ducal Palace, while the same year on 18 December Sigismund II Augustus was also named King of Poland alongside his father. Initially, Sigismund II Augustus opposed the Polish–Lithuanian union as he sought to leave Polish and Lithuanian thrones to his descendants, however as the Livonian War with the Tsardom of Russia progressed Sigismund II Augustus began to seek an union of Poland and Lithuania.

Union of Lublin

The Union of Lublin created the single state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 1, 1569 with a real union between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Before then, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania only had a personal union. By concluding the 1569 Union of Lublin, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania retained separate territories, armies, treasuries and most other official institutions, but were ruled by a single monarch and a joint Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established. The Union of Lublin also made the Crown an elective monarchy; this ended the Jagiellonian dynasty once Henry de Valois was elected on May 16, 1573 as monarch.

On May 30, 1574, two months after Henry de Valois was crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on February 22, 1574, he was made King of France, and was crowned King of France on February 13, 1575. He left the throne of the Crown on May 12, 1575, two months after he was crowned King of France. In order to replace him Anna Jagiellon and her husband to-be Stephen Báthory were elected during the 1576 Polish–Lithuanian royal election.

On 28 January 1588, Sigismund III Vasa confirmed the Third Statute of Lithuania in which it was stated that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is a federation of two countries – the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where both countries have equal rights within it.

Constitution of 1791

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is the second-oldest, codified national constitution in history, and the oldest codified national constitution in Europe; the oldest being the United States Constitution. It was called the Government Act (''Ustawa Rządowa'') Drafting for it began on October 6, 1788, and lasted 32 months. Stanisław II Augustus was the principal author of the Constitution, and he wanted the Crown to be a constitutional monarchy, similar to the one in Great Britain. On May 3, 1791, the Great Sejm convened, and they read and adopted the new constitution. It enfranchised the bourgeoisie, separated the government into three branches, abolished liberum veto, and stopped the abuses of the Repnin Sejm.

It made Poland a constitutional monarchy with the King as the head of the executive branch with his cabinet of ministers, called the Guardians of the Laws. The legislative branch was bicameral with an elected Sejm and an appointed Senate; the King was given the power to break ties in the Senate, and the head of the Sejm was the Sejm Marshal. The Crown Tribunal, the highest appellate court in the Crown, was reformed. The Sejm would elect their judges for the Sejm Court (the Crown's parliamentary court) from their deputies ( ''posłowie'').

The Government Act angered Catherine II who believed that Poland needed permission from the Russian Empire for any political reform; she argued that Poland had fallen prey to radical Jacobinism that was prominent in France at the time. Russia invaded the Commonwealth in 1792. The Constitution was in place for less than 19 months; it was annulled by the Grodno Sejm.

Politics

The creation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a milestone in the evolution of Polish statehood and the European identity. It represented the concept of the Polish kingdom (nation) as distinctly separate from the person of the monarch.Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodorski, and Michal Pietrzak, ''Historia panstwa i prawa polskiego'' (Warsaw: Paristwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987, pp. 85–86 The introduction of the concept marked the transformation of the Polish government from a patrimonial monarchy (a hereditary monarchy) to a "quasi-constitutional monarchy" (''monarchia stanowa'') in which power resided in the nobility, the clergy and (to some extent) the working class, also referred to as an "elective monarchy".

A related concept that evolved soon afterward was that of Rzeczpospolita ("Commonwealth"), which was an alternate to the Crown as a name for the Polish state after the Treaty of Lublin in 1569. The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was also related to other symbols of Poland, such as the capital (Kraków), the Polish coat of arms and the flag of Poland.

Geography

The concept of the Crown also had geographical aspects, particularly related to the indivisibility of the Polish Crown's territory. It can be also seen as a unit of administrative division, the territories under direct administration of the Polish state from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century (currently part of Poland, Ukraine and some border counties of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania, among others). Parts formed part at the early Kingdom of Poland, then, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until its final collapse in 1795.

At the same time, the Crown also referred to all lands that the Polish state (not the monarch) could claim to have the right to rule over, including those that were not within Polish borders.

The term distinguishes those territories federated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania () from various fiefdom territories (which enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy or semi-independence from the King), such as the Duchy of Prussia () and the Duchy of Courland ().

Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin, Crown territories may be understood as those of the Kingdom of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles, or as other areas under the sovereignty of the Polish king (such as Royal Prussia) or the szlachta. With the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine (which had a negligible Polish population and had until then been governed by Lithuania), passed under Polish administration, thus becoming Crown territory.

During that period, a term for a Pole from the Crown territory was ''koroniarz'' (plural: ''koroniarze'') – or Crownlander(s) in English – derived from ''Korona'' – the Crown.

Depending on context, the Polish "Crown" may also refer to "The Crown", a term used to distinguish the personal influence and private assets of the Commonwealth's current monarch from government authority and property. It often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected king (royalists) and persons loyal to Polish magnates (confederates).

Provinces

After the Union of Lublin (1569) Crown lands were divided into two provinces: Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska). These were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships (the Polish names of the voivodships and towns are shown below in parentheses).

Greater Poland Province

* Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (, Brześć Kujawski)
* Gniezno Voivodeship (, Gniezno) from 1768
* Inowrocław Voivodeship (, Inowrocław)
* Kalisz Voivodeship (, Kalisz)
* Łęczyca Voivodeship (, Łęczyca)
* Mazovian Voivodeship (, of Mazowsze, Warsaw)
* Poznań Voivodeship (, Poznań)
* Płock Voivodeship (, Płock)
* Podlaskie Voivodeship (, Drohiczyn)
* Rawa Voivodeship (, Rawa)
* Sieradz Voivodeship (, Sieradz)
* Prince-Bishopric of Warmia

Lesser Poland Province

* Bełz Voivodeship (, Bełz)
* Bracław Voivodeship (, Bracław)
* Czernihów Voivodeship (, Czernihów)
* Kijów Voivodeship (, Kijów)
* Kraków Voivodeship (, Kraków)
* Lublin Voivodeship (, Lublin)
* Podole Voivodeship (, Kamieniec Podolski)
* Ruś Voivodeship (, Lwów)
* Sandomierz Voivodeship (, Sandomierz)
* Wołyń Voivodeship (, Łuck)
* Duchy of Siewierz ( Siewierz)

Royal Prussia Province (1569–1772)

''Royal Prussia'' () was a semi-autonomous province of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land (Kulmerland), Malbork Voivodeship (Marienburg), Gdańsk (Danzig), Toruń (Thorn), and Elbląg (Elbing). Polish historian Henryk Wisner writes that Royal Prussia belonged to the Province of Greater Poland.

Other holdings or fiefs

Principality of Moldavia (1387–1497)

The history of Moldavia has long been intertwined with that of Poland. The Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians (under the name ''Wallachians'') as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The Polish state was powerful enough to counter the Hungarian Kingdom which was consistently interested in bringing the area that would become Moldavia into its political orbit.

Ties between Poland and Moldavia expanded after the Polish annexation of Galicia in the aftermath of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars and the founding of the Moldavian state by Bogdan of Cuhea. Bogdan, a Vlach voivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathian Mountains in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in transforming it into an independent political entity. Despite being disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary (the latter was still the country's overlord), Bogdan's successor Lațcu, the Moldavian ruler also likely allied himself with the Poles. Lațcu also accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without lasting consequences.

Petru I profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union and moved the country closer to the Jagiellon realm, becoming a vassal of Władysław II on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against the Teutonic Knights, and was granted control over Pokuttya until the debt was to be repaid; as this is not recorded to have been carried out, the region became disputed by the two states, until it was lost by Moldavia in the Battle of Obertyn (1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to the Danube Delta. His brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruled Cetatea Albă in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to the Black Sea, before being toppled from the throne for supporting Fyodor Koriatovych in his conflict with Vytautas the Great of Lithuania. Under Stephen I, growing Polish influence was challenged by Sigismund of Hungary, whose expedition was defeated at Ghindăoani in 1385; however, Stephen disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Although Alexander I was brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance from Mircea I of Wallachia), this ruler shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in the Battle of Grunwald and the Siege of Marienburg), and placed his own choice of rulers in Wallachia. His reign was one of the most successful in Moldavia's history, but also saw the first confrontation with the Ottoman Turks at Cetatea Albă in 1420, and later even a conflict with the Poles. A deep crisis was to follow Alexandru's long reign, with his successors battling each other in a succession of wars that divided the country until the murder of Bogdan II and the ascension of Peter III Aaron in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, as Matthias Corvinus deposed Aron and backed Alexăndrel to the throne in Suceava. Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia's Ottoman Empire allegiance, as the ruler agreed to pay tribute to Sultan Mehmed II.

The principality of Moldavia covered the entire geographic region of Moldavia. In various periods, various other territories were politically connected with the Moldavian principality. This is the case of the province of Pokuttya, the fiefdoms of Cetatea de Baltă and Ciceu (both in Transylvania) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug rivers.

Towns in Spisz (Szepes) County (1412–1795)

As one of the terms of the Treaty of Lubowla, the Hungarian crown exchanged, for a loan of ''sixty times the amount of 37,000 Prague groschen'' (approximately seven tonnes of pure silver), 16 rich salt-producing towns in the area of Spisz (Zips), as well as a right to incorporate them into Poland until the debt was repaid. The towns affected were: Biała, Lubica, Wierzbów, Spiska Sobota, Poprad, Straże, Spiskie Włochy, Nowa Wieś, Spiska Nowa Wieś, Ruszkinowce, Wielka, Spiskie Podgrodzie, Maciejowce, Twarożne.

Duchy of Siewierz (1443–1795)

Wenceslaus I sold the Duchy of Siewierz to the Archbishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki, for 6,000 silver groats in 1443. After that point it was considered to be associated with the Lesser Poland Province and was the only ecclesiastical duchy in Lesser Poland. The junction of the duchy with the Lesser Poland Province was concluded in 1790 when the Great Sejm formally incorporated the Duchy, as part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (1466–1772)

The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (,) was a semi independent ecclesiastical