DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0032
THE SARMATIAN PERIOD
The state ruled by the Jagiellon dynasty, which encompassed Poland and vast Lithuanian and Ruthenian
territories and was known as the Commonwealth of Two Nations, gradually evolved into a country where
the magnates and the gentry (known as shlakhta) gained predominance, royal power was weakened,
towns declined and the peasants were deprived of basic rights. The religious situation was complicated.
The great majority of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church; the Roman Catholic clergy
enjoyed numerous privileges and owned vast property. The Orthodox Church also had a great many
followers, and next to it there were the Uniate or Greek Catholic Church, and various Protestant deno-
minations. The Jewish population had complete freedom to practise their religion and so did Muslims,
particularly Tartars settled in Lithuania in the i 5 th century. These various nationalities gradually became
polonized and Polish became the common language of them all. All regarded the Commonwealth as
their homeland, though mutual relations were not always harmonious. Despite constant changes of politi-
cal, social and economic factors, despite numerous wars and invasions, the period of some two hundred
years, from the end of the 16th to the end of the 18th century, was marked by growing stabilization and
uniformity of ideals, institutions and behaviour and a similar material culture.
During that period, Polish culture expressed the needs and aspirations of the gentry, who imposed its
style of life, at least in part, on the royal court and the urban patricians who had formerly followed western
fashions. The gentry's way of life and customs also had an influence on the material culture and political
awareness of the peasants who began harbouring dreams of freedom. These yearnings took a dramatic
turn in 1648 when the insurrection led by Bohdan Khmelnitsky broke out in the Ukraine and in the 17th
and 18th centuries when numerous Cossack rebellions took place. Some customs of the gentry were
adopted abroad, in Muscovy, Sweden, Ducal Prussia (the part of Prussia ruled by a Hohenzollern
prince who paid allegiance to the King of Poland), Moldavia, Walachia and Slovakia. The gentry estate
in Poland was more numerous than anywhere else and toward the end of the 1 8th century it numbered
about a million or some 12 to 14 per cent of the total population. It enjoyed greater privileges and freedoms
than elsewhere: safety of person and security of property, full right of ownership, and freedom from
taxation with the exception of taxes voted in Parliament by their representatives. The gentry took part in
regional diets, elected local officials and Seym deputies which in practice assured them a decisive voice in
all state affairs. In principle, all members of the gentry estate were equal, in practice however the dignities
and positions they held gave rise to differences in property and in the standard <>f education. During ihe
reign of the Jagiellon dynasty the course of state politics was influenced by the king, the magnates and
the rest of the gentry. In the 1 7th century, however, the gradual impoverishment of the medium and petty
gentry brought them under the hegemony of the magnates and this state of affairs continued right up to
the partitions of Poland in the 1 8th century. A number of great families emerged, no more than a few
dozen in all, most of them in Little Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia. They held leading offices and positions
in the country and possessed vast estates, where they acted like sovereign lords. Their residences vied in
splendour with the royal court. These great magnates kept in their service hundreds of minor gentry and
had their own troops. Thus they conducted their own policies aimed to serve their own personal interests;
occasionally these even led to private military expeditions into foreign lands.
The policy conducted by the magnates and the gentry contributed largely to the decline of the towns,
recession in industry and stagnation of trade in general. This process was first noted in the 1 6th century
when it resulted from unfavourable economic trends in Western Europe, particularly in Italian and Han-
seatic cities. Poland was an important producer of grain which was exported in large quantities to Western
The state ruled by the Jagiellon dynasty, which encompassed Poland and vast Lithuanian and Ruthenian
territories and was known as the Commonwealth of Two Nations, gradually evolved into a country where
the magnates and the gentry (known as shlakhta) gained predominance, royal power was weakened,
towns declined and the peasants were deprived of basic rights. The religious situation was complicated.
The great majority of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church; the Roman Catholic clergy
enjoyed numerous privileges and owned vast property. The Orthodox Church also had a great many
followers, and next to it there were the Uniate or Greek Catholic Church, and various Protestant deno-
minations. The Jewish population had complete freedom to practise their religion and so did Muslims,
particularly Tartars settled in Lithuania in the i 5 th century. These various nationalities gradually became
polonized and Polish became the common language of them all. All regarded the Commonwealth as
their homeland, though mutual relations were not always harmonious. Despite constant changes of politi-
cal, social and economic factors, despite numerous wars and invasions, the period of some two hundred
years, from the end of the 16th to the end of the 18th century, was marked by growing stabilization and
uniformity of ideals, institutions and behaviour and a similar material culture.
During that period, Polish culture expressed the needs and aspirations of the gentry, who imposed its
style of life, at least in part, on the royal court and the urban patricians who had formerly followed western
fashions. The gentry's way of life and customs also had an influence on the material culture and political
awareness of the peasants who began harbouring dreams of freedom. These yearnings took a dramatic
turn in 1648 when the insurrection led by Bohdan Khmelnitsky broke out in the Ukraine and in the 17th
and 18th centuries when numerous Cossack rebellions took place. Some customs of the gentry were
adopted abroad, in Muscovy, Sweden, Ducal Prussia (the part of Prussia ruled by a Hohenzollern
prince who paid allegiance to the King of Poland), Moldavia, Walachia and Slovakia. The gentry estate
in Poland was more numerous than anywhere else and toward the end of the 1 8th century it numbered
about a million or some 12 to 14 per cent of the total population. It enjoyed greater privileges and freedoms
than elsewhere: safety of person and security of property, full right of ownership, and freedom from
taxation with the exception of taxes voted in Parliament by their representatives. The gentry took part in
regional diets, elected local officials and Seym deputies which in practice assured them a decisive voice in
all state affairs. In principle, all members of the gentry estate were equal, in practice however the dignities
and positions they held gave rise to differences in property and in the standard <>f education. During ihe
reign of the Jagiellon dynasty the course of state politics was influenced by the king, the magnates and
the rest of the gentry. In the 1 7th century, however, the gradual impoverishment of the medium and petty
gentry brought them under the hegemony of the magnates and this state of affairs continued right up to
the partitions of Poland in the 1 8th century. A number of great families emerged, no more than a few
dozen in all, most of them in Little Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia. They held leading offices and positions
in the country and possessed vast estates, where they acted like sovereign lords. Their residences vied in
splendour with the royal court. These great magnates kept in their service hundreds of minor gentry and
had their own troops. Thus they conducted their own policies aimed to serve their own personal interests;
occasionally these even led to private military expeditions into foreign lands.
The policy conducted by the magnates and the gentry contributed largely to the decline of the towns,
recession in industry and stagnation of trade in general. This process was first noted in the 1 6th century
when it resulted from unfavourable economic trends in Western Europe, particularly in Italian and Han-
seatic cities. Poland was an important producer of grain which was exported in large quantities to Western