Warsaw Confederation
Encyclopedia
The Warsaw Confederation (January 28, 1573), an important development in the history of Poland
History of Poland
The History of Poland is rooted in the arrival of the Slavs, who gave rise to permanent settlement and historic development on Polish lands. During the Piast dynasty Christianity was adopted in 966 and medieval monarchy established...

 and Lithuania
History of Lithuania
The history of Lithuania dates back to at least 1009, the first recorded written use of the term. Lithuanians, a branch of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands, establishing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the 13th century the short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy...

 that extended religious tolerance to nobility and free persons within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

. , is considered the formal beginning of religious freedom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

, and in fact is the first such document in Europe. While it did not prevent all conflict based on religion, it did make the Commonwealth a much safer and more tolerant place than most of contemporaneous Europe, especially during the subsequent Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

.

History

Religious tolerance in Poland had had a long tradition (e.g. Statute of Kalisz
Statute of Kalisz
The General Charter of Jewish Liberties known as the Statute of Kalisz was issued by the Duke of Greater Poland Boleslaus the Pious on September 8, 1264 in Kalisz...

) and had been de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

policy in the reign of the recently deceased King
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 Zygmunt II. However, the articles signed by the Confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...

 gave official sanction to earlier custom. In that sense, they may be considered either the beginning or the peak of Polish tolerance.

Following the childless death of the last king of the Jagiellon dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

, Polish and Lithuanian nobles (szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

) gathered at Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 to prevent any separatists from acting and to maintain the existing legal order. For that the citizens had to unconditionally abide the decisions made by the body; and the confederation was a potent declaration that the two former states are still closely linked.

In January the nobles signed a document in which representatives of all the major religions pledged each other mutual support and tolerance. A new political system was arising, aided by the confederation which contributed to its stability. Religious tolerance was an important factor in a multiethnic and multi-religious state, as the territories of the Commonwealth were inhabited by many generations of people from different ethnic backgrounds (Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenian, Germans and Jews) and of different denominations (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and even Moslem). "This country became what Cardinal Hozjusz
Stanislaus Hosius
Stanislaus Hosius was a cardinal, since 1551 Prince-Bishop in Bishopric of Warmia, Poland since 1558 papal legate to the Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria and since 1566 a papal legate to Poland.Hosius was born in Kraków as the son of Ulrich Hos of Pforzheim and studied law...

 called “a place of shelter for heretics”. It was a place were the most radical religious sects, trying to escape persecution in other countries of the Christian world, sought refuge."

This act was not imposed by a government or by consequences of war, but rather resulted from the actions of members of Polish-Lithuanian society. It was also influenced by the 1572 French St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...

, which prompted the Polish-Lithuanian nobility to see that no monarch would ever be able to carry out such an act in Poland.

The people most involved in preparing the articles were Mikołaj Sienicki (leader of the "execution movement
Execution movement
The Executionist movement was a 16th-century political movement in the Kingdom of Poland and, later, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was popular among lesser, middle and even some higher nobility, and it also enjoyed the support of the Polish king...

"), Jan Firlej
Jan Firlej
Jan Firlej was a Polish nobleman , and Calvinist activist.Jan became Great Marshal of the Crown in 1563 and starost of Kraków in 1572. He agreed with the candidature of Henryk Walezy for the Polish throne only on the condition that Henryk signing the Henrican articles...

 and Jan Zborowski. Their effort was opposed by many dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

.

They were opposed by most of the Catholic priests: Franciszek Krasiński was the only bishop that signed them (Szymon Starowolski
Szymon Starowolski
Szymon Starowolski was a writer, scholar and historian in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was probably born near Pruzhany, and died near Kraków. He was very prolific writer, left behind over 70 works, mostly in Latin...

 claimed he did so under the "threat of the sword"), and the future legal acts containing the articles of the Confederation were signed by bishops with the stipulation: "excepto articulo confoederationis." Another bishop, Wawrzyniec Goślicki, was excommunicated for signing the acts of the Sejm of 1587.

The articles of the Warsaw Confederation were later incorporated into the Henrician Articles
Henrician Articles
The Henrician Articles or King Henry's Articles were a permanent contract that stated the fundamental principles of governance and constitutional law in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the form of 21 Articles written and adopted by the nobility in 1573 at the town of Kamień, near Warsaw,...

, and thus became constitutional provisions
Constitution of Poland
The current Constitution of Poland was adopted on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland , it replaced the temporary amendments put into place in 1992 designed to reverse the effects of Communism, establishing the nation as "a democratic state ruled by law and...

 alongside the Pacta conventa
Pacta conventa (Poland)
Pacta conventa was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" and a newly-elected king upon his "free election" to the throne.The pacta conventa affirmed the king-elect's pledge to respect the laws of the...

also instituted in 1573.

Importance

The late 16th century Poland stood between the Orthodox Muscovy in the East, the Muslim Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 to the South, and the Western Europe, torn between Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 and Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...

, to the North and West, Its religious tolerance made it a welcome refuge for those escaping religious persecution elsewhere; in the words of Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius
Stanislaus Hosius
Stanislaus Hosius was a cardinal, since 1551 Prince-Bishop in Bishopric of Warmia, Poland since 1558 papal legate to the Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria and since 1566 a papal legate to Poland.Hosius was born in Kraków as the son of Ulrich Hos of Pforzheim and studied law...

 it became “a place of shelter for heretics”. The confederation legalized the previously unwritten customs of religious tolerance.

There is debate as to whether the religious freedom was intended only for the nobility or also for the peasants and others; most historians favour the latter interpretation.

Quotes

  • “Certainly, the wording and substance of the declaration of the Confederation of Warsaw of 28 January 1573 were extraordinary with regards to prevailing conditions elsewhere in Europe; and they governed the principles of religious life in the Republic for over two hundred years.” - Norman Davies
    Norman Davies
    Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...


See also

  • Edict of Turda
    Edict of Turda
    The Edict of Torda in 1568, also known as the Patent of Toleration, was an early attempt to guarantee religious freedom in Christian Europe, that was born due the special political, social and religious situation in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 16 Century.- The original edict :King John II...

  • Edict of Nantes
    Edict of Nantes
    The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...

  • Statute of Kalisz
    Statute of Kalisz
    The General Charter of Jewish Liberties known as the Statute of Kalisz was issued by the Duke of Greater Poland Boleslaus the Pious on September 8, 1264 in Kalisz...

  • Warsaw Confederation (1704)
    Warsaw Confederation (1704)
    The Warsaw Confederation was a confederation against King of Poland August II the Strong. It was formed on February 16, 1704 in Warsaw. It dethroned August II and declared Stanisław Leszczyński king. In response, the supporters of August II formed the Sandomierz Confederation on May 20....


Further reading

  • Bob Scribne, Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-89412-3, Google Print, p.264+
  • A. Jobert, La tolerance religieuse en Pologne au XVIc siecle, [w:] Studi di onore di Ettore Lo Gato Giovanni Maver, Firenze 1962, s. 337-343,
  • Norman Davies
    Norman Davies
    Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...

    , God's Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795, Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-925339-0 / ISBN 0-19-925340-4
  • M. Korolko, J. Tazbir, Konfederacja warszawska 1573 roku wielka karta polskiej tolerancji, Warszawa Instytut Wydawniczy PAX 1980.
  • G. Schramm, Der Polnische Adel und die Reformation, Wiesbaden 1965.

External links

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