Polish-Lithuanian State Research Articles

A Variety of Religious Architecture in Poland

Before I attempt a brief survey of the numerous and varied examples of religious architecture in Poland let me mention a few well-known facts. Poland, having grown out of a tribal community, and having early developed a national character, after the Union with Lithuania (first a personal union in 1386 and then a State union in 1569) began expanding rapidly. At the turn of the fifteenth century a new model of parliamentary monarchy was established, a model functioning in an already multinational, federal state, which ceased to be the ‘Republic of Two Nations’ and became instead the ‘Republic of Many Nations’. I do not intend to analyse here all the achievements, changes, and mistakes of Poland, but I would like to stress that between the fifteenth century and the eighteenth century the Poles were in a minority. This minority, however, decided the country’s fate, as it was Polish noblemen (szlachta) who set the political and cultural pace. It has never been accurately assessed what percentage of the whole society the noblemen were, but it must have been high, probably the highest in Europe. According to some sources, the Poles who felt themselves free and regarded Poland as their commonwealth formed ten per cent of the whole population. We should also note that at that time the process of Polonization took place mainly among the nobility, and that the Poles who were in a minority in the Polish-Lithuanian State were at the same time a majority among those who ruled that State. I am not saying that as a Polish nationalist, but as an historian who has a deep respect and friendly feeling for all the nations and denominations which once inhabited this large and unique country. The Union of Lublin put the final touches to this distinctive commonwealth, which appeared too early in the Europe of nationalism and absolutism to survive.

Power and towns in the Polish Gentry Commonwealth

When studying the relation between the state authorities and the towns in the Polish Commonwealth of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, one should consider certain characteristic features of the PolishLithuanian state. First, within the European economic system of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Poland and Lithuania were in the agricultural and raw materials zone. The Polish economy was based almost exclusively on extensive exploitation of natural resources, and on an equally extensive agricultural and breeding production, with almost complete neglect of industrial production.' This meant an absolute predominance of villages over towns, economic weakness of towns, underdevelopment of industry, and lack of capital in the hands of the burghers. In the Commonwealth, then one of the largest countries in Europe, which covered an area of some 990,000 sq. km., there were more than 1,800 towns, with their townspeople accounting for over 20 percent of the population but only nine towns numbering more than ten thousand inhabitants.

A. Olizarovijus ir jo veikalas „Politinė žmonių visuomenė“

Straipsnyje pristatoma Vilniaus universiteto profesoriaus A. Olizarovijaus knyga „Politinė žmonių visuomenė“. Knygą sudaro trys dalys: apie šeimą, apie pilietinę padėtį ir apie valstybę. Joje autorius skundžiasi žmonėmis, kurie aukščiausiu gėriu laiko pilvo užgaidas, piktinasi didžiūnų papročiais bei žmonėmis, kurie nelaiko mokslo vertybe. Didžioji knygos dalis skirta auklėjimo klausimams. Iš mokymo dalykų A. Olizarovijus pabrėžė gimnastikos reikšmę, aptarė muziką, piešimą, kalbų mokymą. Auklėtinio amžių skirstė į septynerių metų periodus – kūdikystės, vaikystės ir jaunuolio amžius. Nagrinėjo visuomenės organizaciją, aptarė svarbiausias bajorų luomo privilegijas, valdymo formas – demokratiją, aristokratiją ir monarchiją. Smerkė žiaurių ponų elgesį su baudžiauninkais, skelbė užuojautą skriaudžiamiesiems sluoksniams. Aptarė santuokos klausimus: santuokos kliūtis, sutuoktinių amžių, būdą, pasirengimą santuokai. Daroma išvada, kad A. Olizarovijus nėra originalus mąstytojas, jis – kompiliatorius, eruditas, svetimų nuomonių rinkėjas ir aiškintojas.

The Problem of Unity in the Polish-Lithuanian State

The Problem of Unity in the Polish-Lithuanian State