mail: Bill Thayer	Help	Up	Home
previous: Chapter 12 This webpage reproduces a chapter of The Story of Lithuania By Thomas G. Chase printed by Stratford House, Inc. New York, 1946 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Chapter 14

You can follow much of the geography by opening Ian Macky's large map of modern Lithuania
in a separate window.

 p113  Chapter XIII
Valois and Bathory

(The numbers link directly to the sections.)

Merging two independent political entities and two distinct nations into one indivisible Commonwealth, ruled by a common king and a common legislature, the Union of Lublin explicitly recognized and proclaimed the complete equality of the two contracting parties, Poland and Lithuania. In reality, however, the same Union of Lublin relegated Lithuania to the role of a junior member in this partner­ship. The loss of Kiev, Bratslav, Volhynia and Podlesia had not only dispossessed the Grand Duchy of more than one‑third of its territorial domains, but had also taken away some of its richest sources of revenue. Again, since the counties, each of which sent two representatives to the House of Deputies, were numerically greater in Poland, the Lithuanians were always outnumbered at the General Diet by a radio of three to one. Similarly, the time-honored Polish distinction between Little Poland and Great Poland, a distinction of no greater consequence than that between Samogitia (Lithuanian Lowland) and Lithuania Proper, permitted a Lithuanian Marshal to preside only at every third General Diet of the Republic.

Due perhaps to this ascendancy of the Polish element, or due perhaps to the unpleasant conditions under which the Union of Lublin had been formed, the Lithuanian gentry, although victims of linguistic and cultural Polonization, continued to pursue a very definite separatist policy during the entire 226 years of the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian state. Consequently, it was very difficult,  p114 if not impossible, to develop the harmony and the mutual trust that was so necessary for a fruitful union.

1. The Convention of Warsaw

With the death of Sigismund in 1572, the dynasty of Gediminas ruling the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for two and a half centuries became extinct; it brought to an end an almost two-century reign of Lithuanian blood in the Polish Kingdom. The federated state of Lithuania and Poland was then faced with its first mutual problem as a Commonwealth, particularly because the details of a free and common election of the new ruler had not been completed at Lublin. Representatives of Little Poland and Great Poland, actively supported their respective favorites: the Polish Marshal John Firlej and Archbishop Jacob Uchanski of Gniezno, for the office of administrator. The Lithuanians, under the leader­ship of Katkevicius and Radvila the Brown, maintained an indifferent attitude, being mainly interested in recovering the territories lost to Poland three years previously and in obtaining aid against Muscovy. Numerous separate Lithuanian and Polish conferences took place, finally resulting in the recognition of Uchanski, Primate of Poland, as the Interrex.

The official administrator of Poland-Lithuania proceeded immediately to summon the Diet of Convocation at Warsaw in 1573, at which Lithuania was represented only by a small group of magnates. This assembly determined the basic principles which were to govern all future royal elections. It designated the field of Wola on the outskirts of Warsaw as the scene for this event, in spite of an appeal made by the Lithuanians for the selection of a site not so distant from the borders of the Grand Duchy; it empowered the Primate of Poland to act as the Interrex during every interregnum; and it proclaimed the right of every member of the gentry, magnate and boyar (although not associated with Senate or the House of Deputies), not only to vote, but even to qualify as a candidate for the throne. It also adopted the compact, known as the Confederation of Warsaw, formulated by the Protestant  p115 parties in view of preventing the growth of religious hatreds. This legal instrument guaranteed religious toleration and freedom of worship for all non-Catholic confessions, Orthodox and Protestant, and obtained juridical force in Lithuania some sixteen years later, after its incorporation into the Third Lithuanian Statute.

2. Henry of Valois

The Election Diet opened at Warsaw in April, 1573, with senators, deputies, and other representatives of the gentry participating. No less than five candidates were presented for the throne; namely, John of Sweden, brother-in‑law of Sigismund Augustus; Ernest, son of Emperor Maximilian II, favored by the Lithuanian and Polish magnates and bishops; Ivan IV of Moscow, suggested by the Lithuanian boyars, who were chiefly concerned with the prevention of future wars with Muscovy; John Kostka, a Piast and Palatine of Sandomierz, nominated by Lithuanian and Polish minorities; and Henry of Valois, son of Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Anjou. Since Montluc, Henry's agent, accepted all the conditions proposed and imposed by the electors, and since the Polish szlachta opposed only the choice of a German, Henry of Valois was elected King by the Poles in May, 1573. Through a separate proclamation this election was immediately confirmed by the Lithuanian gentry, who then sent their own personal ambassadors to Paris. These two acts may certainly be regarded as the first violations of the terms of the Union of Lublin, and revealed the continued existence of the separatist inclinations of the Lithuanians.

Two agreements between the King-elect and the gentry, accompanied Henry's election.⁠1 The first was a rather concise summary of the new Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The second, referred to as the pacta conventa, exacted from the King-elect a series of varied promises on matters of special concern to the gentry.

In accordance with the provisions of the Henrican Articles,  p116 Henry of Valois was required, among other points, to protect the elective character of the throne and therefore make no attempt to render it hereditary; to summon the General Diet at least every second year; to confirm the Confederation of Warsaw; to declare war and negotiate treaties only after having obtained the approval of the Diet; and to be attended by a permanent Advisory Council of sixteen senators. These Articles definitely restricted the prerogatives of the ruler and transformed Poland-Lithuania from a limited monarchy into a Republic, although its head continued to retain the title of King.

Similarly, the pacta conventa also unmistakably illustrated the extent to which the gentry had concentrated power upon itself. Among the many demands made by this covenant, it obligated Henry to wed the Princess Anne; to assume responsibility for the debts incurred by Sigismund Augustus; to hire mercenaries and to arrange for the maintenance of a fleet at his own personal expense. Furthermore, it stated, were the King to violate or ignore any of the promises by which he had bound himself, the Republic would be automatically freed from allegiance to him.

Welcoming the Lithuanian and Polish embassies at Paris, Henry, assisted by his brother Charles IX, sought in vain to obtain various amendments to these onerous conditions, and particularly objected to the proposed marriage with Sigismund Augustus' aged sister, Anne. Finally, on February 21, 1574, the twenty-three year old French prince was solemnly crowned at Cracow. The partiality he showed toward Samuel Zborowski soon made him unpopular, particularly among the Polish gentry. Having reigned scarcely four months, he fled to France upon receiving news of his brother's death whom he then succeeded as Henry III.

3. Stephen Bathory

Just as the first election of the King of the federated Republic of Poland-Lithuania proved to be a distinct disappointment, so the second also was beset with difficulties. Some eighteen months elapsed before Henry's successor could be chosen. The Convocation  p117 summoned at Warsaw in August, 1574, by Uchanski, again acting as the Interrex, merely assembled a gentry that was divided in its opinion as to whether Henry's abdication was to be regarded as irrevocable and final. Even at that time, consideration was given to various possible candidates; namely, Emperor Maximilian II and his son, Archduke Ernest; John Vasa of Sweden; John Kostka of Sandomierz; Alfonso, duke of Ferrara; and Stephen Bathory of Transylvania, who was strongly recommended by the Turkish envoy. The Convocation of Steczyc, in May, 1575, although attended by a very small number of the gentry, decreed that Henry's prolonged absence had automatically deprived him of all rights to the throne, and that arrangements should therefore be immediately made for a new election. They even offered the rule of the Grand Duchy to Archduke Ernest apart from Poland, making no other requests than that he endeavor to recover the territories lost to Poland and Muscovy, alter the terms of the Union of Lublin, and restore the separate Lithuanian Diet. Maximilian, however, harbored hopes of winning both Lithuania and Poland for his son.

In November, 1575, the Election Diet met at the appointed site in the vicinity of Warsaw. More than a month later, Maximilian II of Austria, favored by the majority of the senators and the Lithuanian gentry, was proclaimed the new King by the Interrex. Two days afterwards, the opposition, consisting of the numerous Polish szlachta, under the leader­ship of John Zamoyski, together with the remaining senators, announced the election of Stephen Bathory. Both parties immediately dispatched their deputies to the Emperor and the Prince of Transylvania. And in March, the latter entered Cracow and was crowned (May) as the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Like Henry of Valois, he accepted the Henrican Articles under oath, and agreed to a specially prepared pacta conventa, by which, among other matters, he promised to recover the territory lost to Moscow (this affected Lithuania); to maintain peaceful relations with the Tsars and the Turks; to marry the Princess Anne; and to confirm all previously existing privileges of the gentry.

 p118  The accession of Stephen Bathory was opposed by a group of Polish senators, by the Lithuanian gentry in general, and by the city of Danzig, which attempted to establish a semi-autonomous status for itself. The Lithuanians refused to recognize Bathory on the grounds that he had been elected without their participation and approval. Consequently, they attended neither the coronation ceremonies nor any of the Diets summoned by the Poles. At their own National Diet at Gardinas, the Lithuanians passed a resolution to the effect that a new election alone could settle the issue satisfactorily. They also protested against Bathory's use of the title Grand Duke of Lithuania. But the latter's conciliatory attitude towards the Lithuanians, and Muscovy's actions in Livonia, influenced the subsequent Lithuanian National Diet to seek an agreement with him. Through a special delegation it presented the King with a pacta conventa, which required that he resign in favor of the Lithuanian treasury all the private landed estates Sigismund Augustus had bequeathed to his sister, Anne, whom Bathory had already married; that the General Diets of the Republic be summoned alternately in Poland and Lithuania, and not at Warsaw exclusively; that offices in Lithuania be reserved only to Lithuanian subjects; that an expanse of territory equivalent to that seized by Poland at Lublin be added to Lithuania. Having agreed to abide by these conditions, and having solemnly sworn to protect the rights of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, Bathory was then accorded official recognition by the Lithuanians as the Grand Duke of Lithuania on June 19th, some two months after his coronation in Poland.

With the death of Bathory's opponent, Maximilian II, that same year, the opposition of the Polish magnates also ceased. And only in December, 1577, after a six months siege, was Danzig overcome.

4. Truce of Zapoli

The war for the possession of Livonia against Muscovy, begun during the reign of Sigismund Augustus, had been temporarily terminated by the truce of 1571. Ivan IV, however, continued to  p119 make no pretense about his anxiety to obtain an outlet to the Baltic. He did not abandon his war against the Swedes, who still held northern Livonia (portion of Estonia). Until the election of Bathory, he had refrained from attacks on the Livonian areas governed by Lithuania/Poland, perhaps because some of the Livonian magnates and boyars seemed at times to consider him as a candidate for the throne of the Republic. But in 1575, Ivan inaugurated a more active campaign for the annexation of the former lands of the secularized Order of the Sword. He supported his vassal, the Danish prince, Magnus, who in 1577, was even crowned King of Livonia.⁠2 These two allies succeeded in so pressing the Lithuanian forces of John Katkevicius that the latter, receiving no reenforcements, resigned his post as Grand Hetman in favor of Radvila the Brown, the Palatine of Vilnius. In 1578, nevertheless, the Lithuanians allied with the Swedes repulsed the invaders at Wenden (Cesis). Discussions carried on between Bathory and Ivan IV failed, because the former refused to recognize any Muscovite rights to Polock, Smolensk and Livonia.

Although displaying extraordinary diplomacy and tact, it was with the greatest difficulty that Bathory succeeded in making the necessary preparations for his three consecutive campaigns against Muscovy. The Lithuanians could in no way be induced to allow free passage to Polish troops through the Grand Duchy, and demanded that the Poles supply mercenaries instead. The Poles, in turn, were unwilling to burden themselves with taxation and insisted rather upon creating an army from the ranks of the gentry itself. Since such an army quite often proved to be undisciplined, the King favored the Lithuanian point of view and ultimately gained the reluctant and hesitant consent of the szlachta.

With mercenaries recruited from Hungary and Germany, and joined to the forces of the Grand Duchy, Bathory proceeded in the summer of 1579, to wrest the fortified city of Polock and its corresponding palatinate (lost to Lithuania since 1563) from the Muscovites. The following year he captured the stronghold of Velikie Luki in the northwestern section of the palatinate of Smolensk. And in 1581, while Bathory was besieging Pskov, negotiations  p120 for peace were reopened through the intervention of the Papal Legate, the Jesuit, Antonius Possevino. It seems that Ivan had manifested some intention of accepting the Catholic religion (which he never did adopt) and claimed to be interested in a reunion of the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches, and for this reason, he had sought an arbitrator from Rome. Consequently, a ten year truce was signed at Zapoli on January 15, 1582. The Tsar renounced all claims to the whole of Livonia, to Polock and to Velizh (in the palatinate of Vitebsk). Velikie Luki, however, was returned to him. Shortly afterwards, by the truce of Pliusa with Ivan, Sweden reestablished itself at Narva. And in this manner, Muscovy was barred from the Baltic coast for another century and a half. Sweden retained possession of the northern areas of Livonia (Estonia), while Poland-Lithuania occupied the central and the southern portions.

5. Supreme Court of Appeals

In addition to his victories over Moscow, and his concurrence in the elevation of the Jesuit school at Vilnius to the status of a university, one of the more important accomplishments of Bathory's reign in the affairs of the Grand Duchy, was to complete the reform of the judicial system. Even after the creation of the various district courts in 1566 for the benefit of the lesser gentry, the Grand Duke had remained, as before, the supreme judge to whom appeals were made. Generally, it was necessary for him to delegate the Marshal and the Chancellors for this task. Since the service rendered by the latter proved dissatisfactory to the gentry at large, diets and dietines had quite consistently petitioned the ruler to place the administration of the Court of Appeals in the hands of the nobility. In 1578, Bathory accepted this plan for Poland. Three years later, following a series of separate Lithuanian Diets, which Bathory had continued to summon, a similar Supreme Court of Appeals was formed in Lithuania, and the provisions which controlled its activities were soon afterwards incorporated into the Lithuanian Statute.

 p121  Each county dietine elected two deputies, who then held office in this tribunal for one year. (After 1588, Samogitia appointed three deputies for this purpose.) The presiding officer or marshal was chosen from these same delegates. All cases were decided by the vote of the majority. Vilnius, Trakai, Naugardukas and Minsk were designated as the centers where the tribunal was to function.

---

The Author's Notes:

1 This procedure was followed whenever possible in all subsequent elections.

2 He was banished by Ivan two years later.

◂ previous						next ▸
Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
UP TO:		T. G. Chase: The Story of Lithuania	History of Lithuania	European History	Home
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.

Accessibility