Poland [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONIn the opinion of many historians, even more illustrious was Poland's 'golden age', coinciding with the reign of the last two Jagieilonians -- Zygmunt the Old (1506-1548) and his son. Zygmunt August (1548-1572). Tlie values of the Renaissance and humanist thought spread through Poland at that time thanks to the growing number of Poles studying in Italy (in Padua and Bolonia) and to Queen Bona Sforza. the Italian-born wife of King Zygmunt the Old, who brought with her Italian scholars and artists. Polish writers of the epoch included Mikolaj Rey, known as the father of Poland's national literature, and Jan Kocha-nowski - the most outstanding Polish Renaissance poet. The slogans of the Protestant Reformation also began penetrating into Poland. Representatives of the gentry and burgher class converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. But religious tolerance prevailed, dissidents were not persecuted and Poland came to be known as 'a country without stakes'.After the heirless death of King Zygmunt August, new principles governing the succession of Polish kings (elections) were introduced. Henceforth monarchs would be elected by the gentry as a whole who converged in the meadows of Wola outside of Warsaw for that purpose. During an interregnum the Primate of Poland, the Archbishop of Gniezno, served as the interrex (interim ruler). Candidates to the throne often sought to win the support of the assembled nobles through bribery. The elective monarchy lasted in Poland from 1573 to 1795.Among the elected monarchs were outstanding indi-Shrine on Mount Gubalówka in the Tatra Mountains.viduals, but as time went on a growing, adverse influence' on the affairs of state was exerted by landed aristocrats. The first elected king, Henri de Valois, after a brief reign fled to France to ascend the throne vacated by his brother's death. The energetic reign of his successor, Stefan Batory, a good military leader and politician, was cut short by his untimely death. From 1587 to 1668 three representatives of Sweden's Vasa Dynasty ascended the Polish throne - Zygmunt 111, Wladyslaw IV and Jan Kazimierz. During that period the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was forced to wage bitter and bloody wars against the Swedes, Russians, rebellious Cossacks in Ukraine and the Turks.In the first half of the 17th century in those conflicts Poland in general came off fairly well. Throughout the country the culture of what was known as 'the silver age' continued to flourish. Beginning in 1648, however, a series of serious setbacks began. The first was a Cossack insurrection under the command of Chmielnicki, then came the 1655 Swedish invasion known as 'the deluge'. There were also triumphs in that period such as the defeat of Cossack-Tartar armies at Beresteczko in 1651 as well as the defence of Czgstochowa's Bright Mountain Monastery against the Swedes which triggered a nation-wide uprising against the invaders. In the final analysis, however, the war and Swedish occupation left the country in ruins and economic collapse.In the years that followed, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth scored two victories over the Turks: in 1673 at the Battle of Chocim and in 1683 at the gates of Vienna. On both occasions the Polish forces were under the command of Jan Sobieski, in the first case as hetman and in the second as King Jan III. When the 100,000-strong Turkish army of Kara Mustafa was besieging Vienna, Jan Sobieski rushed to Austria's aid and at the head of 30,000 troops and dealt the Turks a smashing defeat. The glory of the Viennese victory spread throughout Europe. That would be the last great Polish victory until 1920.The latter half of the 17th century brought about the economic and political decline of the Polish state. From 1625 to 1791 there existed the right of 'llberum veto', whereby a single dissenting deputy could end a session of the Sejm (pariiament) by shouting 'I disagree!' The period of religious tolerance had also come to an end. In the first half of the 18th century, during the reign of two kings of Saxony's Wettin Dynasty, August 11 the Strong and August 111, Poland declined in significance in comparison to its neighbours. Attempts to save the state during the reign of the last Polish king, Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764-1795), ended in failure.In 1772 Prussia, Russia and Austria carried out the first partition of Poland, annexing neariy 30 percent of its teiri-tory. It was at that time that numerous political reforms were launched, notably in the fields of education and the military, whose culmination was the Constitution of the Third of May 1791. Its resolutions, however, were over-1