Did Siciński act alone? A new look at the causes of the rupture of the Sejm in 1652

More than half a century ago, it has been proven that the author of the first practical application of the liberum veto institution was Władysław Siciński during the Winter Sejm of 1652. The opinion presented by the senior Polish parliamentarian researcher of the mid-17th century, Ludwik Kubala, about the reasons of the breakdown of the discussed Sejm has been fixed. It was pointed out to Janusz Radziwiłł’s activity, which was to use Siciński for his own political games. For over a hundred years, the position presented by Kubala has not been challenged, even though it does not have sufficient reasoning in the sources. It can not be ruled out that the current hypothesis is correct, but it is also necessary to look at other possible reasons for the precedential application of the liberum veto institution.

The presented article is devoted to using present-day legal terminology in scientific research on pre-modern and pre-constitutional states’ legal systems. The main focus of analysis is the rule of law principle existence between the 16th and 18th centuries in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The author tries to establish whether this is even justified to use the modern idea of the rule of law to describe the Polish-Lithuanian pre-partitions political system? And, if so, how technically do that to avoid presentism? The author tries to formulate a set of features concerned with the rule of law principle applicable to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He also tries to determine the set of conditions necessary for the rule of law principle to blossom in pre-modern reality fully

Piotr Mieszkowski on the Senate of the Commonwealth. Some Remarks on the 17th Century Polish Republicanism

Piotr Mieszkowski is one of the forgotten republican writers of 17th century Poland. His reflections on the political system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are the culmination of the debates that took place in the 16th century. In his treatise Polonus Iure Politus, Mieszkowski presents a mature perspective on the proper system of the Polish-Lithuanian state, which merges the Roman republican tradition and the achievements of Polish political philosophy of the Renaissance, its golden age. According to Mieszkowski, the Senate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is of particular importance. The author of the article proves that Mieszkowski is one of the representatives of a group of constitutionalists of 17th century Commonwealth who considered the senate the crucial element of the political system, ensuring its durability and stability. The necessary condition for fulfilling this role, however, is the cultivation of republican virtues.

Attack on the Saxon Palace on 29–30 September 1733

The article deals with events in Warsaw in the late summer of 1733. On the basis of diplomats’ accounts, the diplomatic and military situation in the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian state just before the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession in 1733–1735 has been reconstructed.

The image of Polish rulers in eighteenth-century silva rerum books

The aim of this article is to present the view of Polish rulers by the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century. These reflections were based on the silva rerum books written in the eighteenth century, containing separate sections on the history of the Polish Kingdom. As in the printed works, there is a noticeable slow change in the manner of descriptiveness – the abandonment of factual information in favour of an attempt to evaluate the ruler and the times of his reign. The painful reality of the successive partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and then its collapse, resulted in a more critical approach to certain rulers, but also to the mechanisms of governance.

The ethos of the Polish hetman as presented in domestic theoretical treatises from the 16th century

The author of this text proves that it is possible to reconstruct the hetman ethos on the basis of a group of sources such as works on topics related to the military. The form of the ethos is also justified by extra-source materials, which may be regarded as confirmation of its real value in research into the moral issues of the Polish nobility in the 16th century. The author submits this proposal for further discussion and possible revision. It is recommended to carry out in-depth research into the hetman ethos where other types of sources are employed, which may prove to be no less authoritative. The knowledge of the hetman ethos, also as an example of research into the world of values and the moral side of human activity in history, can be used in assessing the moral-ethical aspect of other social groups or professions, not necessarily related to the military. However, scholarly endeavours based on an analysis of all kinds of activities of Polish commanders in the First Republic using the hetman ethos will prove extremely important. In the course of the research, the emergence of new interpretations and assessments of issues may be expected, issues which to this day remain incomprehensible or seem to have been exhausted by research.