Abstract
AbstractThe article analyses attitudes of the Lithuanian nobility towards the inheritance of the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the Commonwealth) in the period of the Four-Year Sejm (1788-1792). Thorough analysis of historiography and research of narrative sources amplifies the position of the Lithuanian nobility towards the issue of inheritance of the throne of the Commonwealth as it was reflected in the political literature of 1787-1789 period. Analysis of the documents produced by the February and November dietines (Pol. sejmiks), 1790 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the GDL) reveals changes in the position of nobility towards selection of the successor to the throne with the king still alive. It was established, that in supporting the idea of a hereditary throne, Lithuanian political writers suggested different strategies in realizing this idea and proposed as candidates for the throne representatives of ruling dynasties of several states: Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Great Britain.Changes in the position of nobility were significantly influenced by the activism of patriotic-reformist faction, which proposed the very idea of a hereditary throne and a candidate from the dynasty of Wettins: the GDL districts (Pol. powiats), having ignored the question of throne inheritance in the February dietines of 1790, in November of the same year agreed to the selection of Elector of Saxony as the successor to the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanislaw August. However, even if agreeing to the Wettin candidacy, the GDL nobility did not support establishing of the principle of such inheritance. Most of the GDL dietines supported limited monarchy, politically and financially dependent on the political will of the nation. The Elector of Saxony was given certain conditions, the departure from which was to bring back an elective monarchy.
Highlights
On 3 May 1791, by the resolution of the Sejm of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the nation received constitutional monarchy
The instruction of the Vaukavysk dietine emphasized that, ‘the Sejm must pass the law which would forbid succession to the Polish throne to be passed not unto one particular person but a family, and that the heir to the throne would be elected with the king still alive in order to avoid disasters arising from the interregnum periods.’56 Dietine of Minsk voivodeship, adhering to the recommendations of the marshals, unanimously supported election of the Elector of Saxony as ‘the heir to the Polish Crown.’57 The nobility of the Minsk voivodeship in their instruction to the delegates emphasized, that in the case of the Elector of Saxony not accepting the throne of Poland, they retain the right to choose another candidate
In the period of 1787–1790, the position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the GDL) nobility regarding a hereditary throne were close to the tendencies prevalent in the entire Commonwealth
Summary
On 3 May 1791, by the resolution of the Sejm of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the nation received constitutional monarchy. The position of the nobility regarding inheritance of the throne and attitudes regarding the return of the Wettin dynasty to the throne, declared in the GDL dietines in February and November of 1790, did not receive any wider analysis, except for the general picture on the views of the nobility in the Commonwealth presented in the works of Zofia Zielińska.3 This question was not sufficiently researched by Adolfas Šapoka and Eligijus Raila, who analysed the activities of the Lithuanian dietines in the period of the FourYear Sejm. By 1788 there were two concepts clarified among proponents of the hereditary throne of the Commonwealth: some were in favour of continuing the republican form of government (“moderate monarchy” or “limited monarchy”), yet others wanted to amplify powers of the monarch and to establish constitutional monarchy
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