Everything about The Union Of Lublin totally explained
The
Union of Lublin (
Lithuanian:
Liublino unija;
Polish:
Unia lubelska) replaced the
personal union of the Kingdom of
Poland, the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a
real union and an
elective monarchy, since
Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the
Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, autonomy of
Royal Prussia was largely abandoned.
It was signed
July 1,
1569, in
Lublin,
Poland, which united a single State, the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was ruled by a single
elected monarch who carried on the duties of
Polish King and
Grand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a common
Senate and
parliament (the
Sejm). The Union was an evolutionary stage in the
Polish-Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania's dangerous position in wars with
Russia.
Constituting a crucial event in the history of several nations, the Union of Lublin has been viewed quite differently by many historians. Polish historians concentrate on its positive aspect, emphasizing its peaceful, voluntary creation and its role in the spreading of advanced
Polish culture. Lithuanian historians are more critical of the union, pointing out that it was dominated by Poland.
History
Background
There were long discussions before signing the treaty, as Lithuanian
magnates were afraid of losing much of their powers, since the union would make their status equal in the eyes of law with that of the much more numerous lower nobility. However Lithuania had been increasingly on the losing side of the
Muscovite-Lithuanian Wars and by the second half of the 16th century it faced the threat of total defeat in the
Livonian war and incorporation into
Russia. The Polish nobility (the
szlachta) on the other hand were reluctant to offer help to Lithuania without receiving anything in exchange.
Sigismund II Augustus,
King of Poland and
Grand Duke of Lithuania, seeing the threat to Lithuania and eventually to Poland, nonetheless pressed for the union, gradually gaining more supporters.
Sejm of 1567
The
Sejm met in January, 1567, near the Polish town of
Lublin, but didn't reach an agreement. In protest against heavy pressure by the Poles to sign the Act, the
Lithuanians under the leadership of
Vilnius voivod Mikołaj "Rudy" Radziwiłł left Lublin on
March 1, fearing that Sigismund would make a decision on his own.
After that, on
March 26, the king was forced by the szlachta to incorporate
(External Link
) (External Link) the southern Lithuanian-controlled lands of
Podlachia,
Volhynia,
Podolia and the
Kiev regions into the
Crown of Poland. These historic lands of Rus' make up more than half of modern day
Ukraine, and were at that time a significant part of Lithuanian territory. The higher class in these lands was largely Ruthenian at that time and was loyal to Lithuania. All loyal nobles were forced to swear loyalty to the King of Poland. Those who refused had their lands confiscated.
The Lithuanians were forced to come back under the leadership of
Jan Chodkiewicz, (father of
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz) and continue negotiations using slightly different tactics than Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł. Although the Polish szlachta wanted full incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Crown, the Lithuanians continued to oppose, and agreed only on the status of a federal state. On
28 June,
1569, the last objections were overcome, and the act was signed by the king in
Lublin Castle on
4 July (External Link).
The end
The Union of Lublin was superseded by the
Constitution of the Third May from 1791, when the
federal Commonwealth was to be transformed into a
unitary state by King
Stanisław August Poniatowski. However, the constitution wasn't fully implemented. The Commonwealth was ended by the
partitions of Poland in the late 18th century, with the last one in 1795.
Aftermath
Cultural
After the Union, the Lithuanian nobles had the same formal rights as the Polish to rule the lands and subjects under their control. However, political advancement in the Catholic dominated Commonwealth was a different matter.
In culture and social life, however, both the
Polish language and
Catholicism became dominant for the Ruthenian nobility, most of which were initially Ruthenian speaking and
Eastern Orthodox by religion (see
Polonization). However the commoners, especially the peasants, continued to speak their own languages and to practise the Orthodox religion, which eventually created a significant rift between the lower
social classes of people and the nobility in the Lithuanian and Ruthenian areas of the Commonwealth. Some Ruthenian magnates resisted the attempted Polonization (see,
for example,
Ostrogski) by adamantly adhering to Orthodox Christianity, giving generously to the Ruthenian Orthodox Churches and to the Ruthenian schools. However, the pressure of Polonization was harder to resist with each subsequent generation and eventually almost all of the Ruthenian nobility was Polonized.
The and foreign interventions led to the
partition of the Commonwealth by
Russia,
Prussia and
Austria-Hungary in 1795. The Union of Lublin was also temporarily not active while the
Union of Kėdainiai was in effect.
Many historians also consider the Union of Lublin to have created a state similar to the present-day European Union, thus considering the Union (along with the
Kalmar Union, the several
Acts of Union in the British Isles and other similar treaties) to be kind of a predecessor of the
Maastricht treaty. The former, however, created a state of countries more deeply linked than the present-day
EU.
Economical
The union brought about the Polish colonization of Ruthenian lands and enserfment of Ruthenian peasantry by the
szlachta. Despite the situation of peasants in the Commonwealth being pretty dire compared to the West (see
second serfdom), the peasants in the Commonwealth had more freedom than those in
Russia; hence peasants (as well as to a lesser extent nobility and merchants) escaping from Russia to the Commonwealth became a major concern for Russian government, and one was of the factors leading to the
partitions of Poland.
A common coin (
złoty) was introduced.
Execution of
crown lands wasn't expanded to Grand Duchy.
Geographical
The Union created one of the largest and most populous states in 17th century Europe (excluding the states not completely in Europe, for example the
Russian or
Ottoman Empires).
Within the Union Lithuania had to accept the loss of
Podlachia,
Volhynia,
Podolia and the
Kiev regions, formerly the territories of GDL annexed by the
Polish Crown.
Legal
Legal systems of Crown of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania according to the Union were to be unified, although it never happened.
The drafters of the Union of Lublin expected that the countries of Lithuania and Poland would be linked together more closely than they actually were, because the 1566
Second Statute of Lithuania hadn't lost its power, and some of its provisions substantially differed from the acts of the Union of Lublin. Eventually the
Third Statute of Lithuania was adopted in 1588, which however still contradicted the Union of Lublin on many points.
The Polish nobility therefore viewed the
Statutes of Lithuania as unconstitutional, because at the signing of the Union of Lublin it was said that no law could conflict with the law of Union. The Statutes, however, declared the laws of the Union that conflicted with them to be unconstitutional. The First Statutes of Lithuania was also used in the territories of Lithuania annexed by Poland shortly before the Union of Lublin. These conflicts between statutory schemes in Lithuania and Poland persisted for many years, and the Third Statute of Lithuania remained main law in territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania even after partitions until 1840.
Attempts to limit the power of Lithuanian magnates (especially the
Sapiehas' family) and unify the laws of the Commonwealth led to the
koekwacja praw movement, culminating in the
koekwacja reforms of the
election sejm of 1697 (May-June), confirmed in the
general sejm of 1698 (April) in the document
Porządek sądzenia spraw w Trybunale Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskego.
Military
Poland provided military aid in the war after the union of the two entities, which was crucial for the survival of the Grand Duchy. whereas the pre-
World War II Republic of Lithuania saw the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth mostly in a negative light.
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