The Functioning of the Monarchy during the Reigns of the Electors of Saxony, 1697–1763

Abstract

The ‘Saxon period’ (czasy saskie) has over the centuries acquired distinctly pejorative connotations. For a long time the reigns of the two monarchs of the Wettin dynasty, Augustus II (1697-1733) and Augustus III (1733-63) were universally regarded as the period of the collapse of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, an age of anarchy and lost sovereignty. This impression was rooted in many factors. During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, political publicists painted the preceding reigns in dark colours, as they propagated change in both the political system and social behaviour. Similar opinions were expressed in the propaganda of the partitioning powers, and later in German and Russian historiography, because ‘Polish anarchy’ justified the liquidation of the Commonwealth. In the nineteenth century, Polish historians confirmed the image. The ‘Cracow school’ attributed the collapse of the state to its internal dissolution; the black picture of the Saxon period fitted that concept perfectly. The ‘Warsaw school’ blamed the fall of Poland on the rapacity of its neighbours, emphasizing the reform effort undertaken under Stanislaw August. This, however, was set in sharp contrast to the chaos of the Saxon era. Moreover Polish nationalism was above all anti-German in tone, and historians affected by those ideas presented the rule of the German monarchs as ruinous to the Polish nation.KeywordsSeventeenth CenturyGeneral CouncilFree ElectionPolish HistorianCrown EstateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.