The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution

by Alex Storozynski

The decentralized government and divisive alliances of the aristocrats destabilized Poland, creating a tumult in the Commonwealth. When the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty died without an heir in the late sixteenth century, the magnates experimented with elections, creating a new system in which the nobility voted on the monarch. The Polish lords chose a French prince, Henri de Valois, to be king, but they required him and future monarchs to sign the “Henrician Articles.” These included a stipulation that the monarchy was not hereditary but elected, and that the king must call a session of the legislature, the Seym, every two years. The king could not declare war or collect taxes without approval of the Seym, and was bound by the Articles of Agreement, in which he promised to abide by his campaign promises.14 This libertarian system hailed its “Golden Freedoms,” such as freedom of religion, which could not be taken away by the king.

Poland was experimenting with a republican elected monarchy, albeit a caste based one, and liberal tenets like freedom of religion, in the 1500's