Między wolnością a kryzysem. Sejm Rzeczypospolitej w dobie panowania Wettynów na polskim tronie w latach 1697–1763

Adam Perłakowski

doi:10.31268/ps.2021.81

Abstract

During the Saxon period (1697–1763) the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced an extremely serious crisis. The latter, however, did not come into being in 1697, but was a continuum of the inferior functioning of the Polish Parliament already during the previous years. In the course of the Saxon era this crisis grew more grievous as demonstrated by the intervention of foreign states (Russia, Prussia, the Empire, France, and partly Sweden) into the functioning of the Polish Parliament. The outcome assumed the form of a paralysis of the legislature, making it impossible to carry out indispensable reforms within the state. At the time of Augustus II the Strong (1697–1733) the Sejms partly fulfilled their function and were even capable of introducing order into the legal treasury system in Poland (e.g. the Silent Sejm in 1717), but during the reign of Augustus III (1734–63) the Sejm became the sole arena of the political struggle waged by the royal court and magnate factions, often supported by neighbouring countries. The symbol of the role played by this particular monarch was the solitary Sejm held at the time, which ended with the passage of a constitution (the pacification Sejm of 1736). Despite its decline the Sejm remained of considerable importance for the nobility of the modern era. Conceived as a symbol of the functioning of the state it was treated as pupilla libertatis, a personification of the sovereign existence of the state and an institution indispensable for reforming and modernising the country.

Highlights

The passage of a constitution by the Parliament of the Commonwealth was a complex process
During the reign of the second Vasa monarch that “the trust of the local nobility towards the senators successively declined, and its crisis spread to the chambers of the Sejm”
The majority of the elements of the entire procedure were regulated by common law, which caused them to evolve in time

Summary

Introduction

The passage of a constitution by the Parliament of the Commonwealth was a complex process. The majority of the elements of the entire procedure were regulated by common law, which caused them to evolve in time. The efficacy of the work performed by the Sejm was subject to change – in the second half of the seventeenth century the Sejm succumbed to a growing crisis and faced increasingly great problems with legislation. This period coincided with the reign of Jan III Sobieski (1674–96), when twelve Sejms were convoked but only half ended successfully and the remaining six were broken off. Many terms from the period do not have equivalents in present-day parliamentary procedure; with time the meaning of some of them changed and today they denote something quite different than they did during the discussed timespan. The reflections presented below apply terminology from the epoch studied, which replicates better the prevailing reality and makes it possible to avoid imprecisions

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion