March's speaker, Krzys Stankiewicz, has kindly provided us with the notes which he used for the outline of his talk. We re-produce them below with one or two minor tweaks and explanations to reflect how the talk was delivered on the night.
St.
Helens Historical Society - The Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth)
(Editor's note: Mr Stankiewicz's talk gave some background information on Poland before it union with Lithuania. Poland officially adopted Christianity when Mieszko I accepted baptism in 966 upon his marriage to a Bohemian princess. He noted that Poland's relations with the nations and people round and about - representing a variety of ethnicities and language groups - have been a key aspect of its history.)
1370 –
Death of King Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir the Great), the last King of the Piast
Dynasty, which ruled Poland for over 400 years between 960 and 1370. (Editor's note: Mr Stankiewicz shared with us the Polish saying that Casimir "found Poland in wood, but left it in brick" - a summary of his lasting achievements.) Kazimierz
has no heirs and the Crown passes to Louis of Hungary (in Polish, Ludwik
Węgierski), married to Kazimierz’s niece.
1386 –
On Ludwik’s death his daughter Jadwiga assumes the throne. In the same year she
marries Grand Duke Władysław Jagiełło of Lithuania. Jagiełło is baptised, and
Lithuania, the last pagan nation in Europe, becomes Christian.
With
this dynastic marriage the Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth)
comes into being, though it is only in 1569 that it is formally recognised and
constituted by the Unia Lubelska (The Union of Lublin).
1410 –
German tribes, collectively called ‘Prusowie’ (literally ‘Prussians’), have
been a presence to the north-east of Poland since the beginning of the Modern
Polish State. By 1386 they have become powerful and ambitions, expanding their
territory from modern day NW Poland (their western outpost of Bytów is just
over 30 miles to the south-east of my town of Słupsk) through to Trakai (the
old Polish Troki) in what is modern south-central Lithuania, 400 miles to the
east. On July 15th 1410 the Rzeczpospolita defeats the Teutonic
Knights at the battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), in modern NE Poland. Jagiełło
and his younger brother Witold (Vytautas in Lithuanian), the new Grand Duke of
Lithuania, are keen to drive the Knights out of north-east Europe altogether,
but the Vatican intervenes and an uneasy peace breaks out between the
Rzeczpospolita and the Teutonic Order.
The
defeat at Grunwald puts a brake on the expansionist ambitions of the Teutonic
Knights. However, their continuous presence in what, today, is north-east
Poland, south-west Lithuania and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad enables the
Kingdom of Prussia, newly-formed in the 18th century, to play a
major role in the Partitions of Poland nearly 400 years later.
(Editor's note: Mr Stankiewicz noted the importance of the battle of Warna in 1444, a Polish-Hungarian defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. This cemented the place of the Ottomans on the political stage in that part of Europe.)
1473
– February 19th, Mikołaj Kopernik is born in the historic
northern town of Toruń. His Magnum Opus, ‘De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium’,
which postulates a heliocentric Universe, is published in 1543, the year of his
death, and is dedicated to Pope Paul III. I couldn’t find anything relating to
the Vatican’s reaction. However, judging by how they treated poor Galileo 90
years later I doubt they were delighted… (Editor's note: "De Revolutionibus Coelestibus" was widely-read and well-received throughout Europe in the 16th Century - both among Catholics and non-Catholics. Explaining why Copernicus's ideas and Galileo's had such radically differing impacts would be a talk in itself!)
He was
also an Economist of some stature. His ‘Quantity Theory of Money’ in part underpins
the modern practice of Quantitive Easing, used by many Chancellors to stimulate
economic growth.
1505 –
Birth of Mikołaj Rej (d.1569), the Polish Chaucer. The first major poet and
writer to write in Polish. When challenged why he wasn’t using Latin he
famously replied, ‘Know that the Poles are not geese and we have our own
language, too!’
1520 -
Polish King Zygmunt Stary (Sigismund the Old) marries Bona Sforza. ‘Krolowa
Bona’ (‘Queen Bona’ as she was affectionately known) brings with her Italian Artists,
Architects, Poets, Musicians… and tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley and
other vegetables previously unknown in Poland! To this day these are known
collectively as ‘Włoszczyzna’ - literally ‘The Italian Things’, from the Polish
word Włochy (Italy). The Rzeczpospolita enters its Golden Age.
The
Diversity of its population markedly increases. Within its expanding boundaries
are to be found Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Jews, Russians,
Germans, Czechs, Bohemians, Latvians, Estonians, Swedes, Armenians, Rumanians,
Greeks, Tartars, Turks and… Scots! The prosperous City of Gdańsk on the Baltic,
a prominent member of the Hanseatic League, traded with Edinburgh and Dundee in
the Middle Ages. Scottish merchants and seamen were frequent visitors, and many
settled in the City. Their numbers were augmented in the 17th
century by Scottish mercenaries who fought against the invading Swedes during
the ‘Swedish Deluge’ (in Polish ‘Potop Szwedzki’) in the years 1655-1660.
1569,
July 1st. – Unia Lubelska (The Union of Lublin) finally formalises
the Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth). It is preceded by a number
of ‘Town Twinning’ agreements between the likes of Wilno (now Vilnius in modern
Lithuania) and Kraków, Wilno and Warsaw, Grodno (in modern Belarus) and Warsaw,
Lwów (now Ukrainian L’viv) and Lublin and, a curious one this, between Grodno
and Radom in modern south-east Poland. Radom is the only one on this list that
isn’t still an important city, today.
(Editor's note: Mr Stankiewicz mentioned what is sometimes known as the "Trinity" of Polish society during the time of the Commonwealth - the Pan (landlord / master), the Chlop (peasant / tenant farmer) and the Zyd (Jew - the estate manager and go-between.)
1596 – The Synod or Union of Brześć (now Brest in Belarus; also
once known as Brest-Litovsk). A number of Orthodox bishops in the region of
what is modern western Ukraine, eastern Poland and Belarus decide to break off
from the Orthodox Church and place themselves under the Pope (Clement VII) to
avoid being ruled by the newly-established Patriarch of Moscow. Thus was formed
the ‘Unia’ (Polish for ‘Union’), whence the term ‘Uniate’, the
name of this new Church, which recognised the authority of the Vatican while
maintaining the Byzantine Liturgy and its Religious-Cultural traditions. In
modern times the Uniates are also known as Greek Catholics. Many of the
Ukrainians who settled in the UK after World War II were from pre War Polish
Galicia and Wołyń (both now in W Ukraine) and were Uniates rather than Russian
Orthodox.
The Union of Brest was viewed by the mainly Orthodox population
of central and eastern Ukraine as a hostile act by the Rzeczpospolita and as an
attack on Ukrainian traditions and identity. It further undermined
already-fragile relations between the Rzeczpospolita and its substantial
Ukrainian population and caused Orthodox Ukraine to turn inexorably towards
Tsarist Russia. The Union, and the damage it caused, was a definite factor in
the dismantling of the Rzeczpospolita nearly 200 years later. (Editor's note: whatever its political ramifications, the Union of Brest had a profound impact on religious life well beyond the boundaries of the Rzeczpospolita. Clerical education improved dramatically and this inspired the Orthodox to raise their standards in turn. In intellectual matters, the Russians would for some time afterwards follow the guidance of their south-western neighbours.)
1648 –
The Cossack Rising begins in Zaporozhe in East Ukraine, led by Bogdan
Chmielnicki (Bohdan Khmelnitskiy in Ukrainian) a high ranking Officer in the
Polish Army. The spark that lights the tinder is the unsuccessful attempt by
the local Polish Starosta (Governor) to seize the land given to the Chmielnicki
family by the Polish King for services rendered in battle 50 years previously.
The
Cossacks choose Chmielnicki as their Hetman (Leader) and he proclaims Zaporozhe
as an independent Hetmanate. After a number of military successes in 1648 and
1649, the Ukrainians reach Lwów (modern L’viv in West Ukraine, 25 miles from
today’s Polish-Ukrainian border). The Rzeczpospolita rallies and gradually
drives the Ukrainians back east. Chmielnicki and his army are defeated at the
battle of Beresteczko in 1651, and this puts an end to their expansionist
ambitions.
A
stalemate develops with neither side gaining a decisive advantage. However
Chmielnicki holds on to Zaporozhe and, to protect the Hetmanate, in 1654 he
signs the Treaty of Perejesław with Tsarist Russia. The Russians undertake to
act as Guarantors for the future safety of Zaporozhe and other areas of Ukraine
with predominantly Orthodox populations.
This was
a pivotal moment in Polish History; with the Poles failing to grasp legitimate
Ukrainian national aspirations within the framework of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, the Ukrainians turn to the Russians with whom they already had
closer cultural, religious and linguistic connections. For me this marked the
start of the decline of the Rzeczpospolita, a decline that reached its nadir in
the three Partitions of Poland, by Prussia, Austria and Tsarist Russia in the
last 30 years of the 18th century. (Editor's note: the Russians would later use their generally-accepted status as the Orthodox Christians best-placed to look after Orthodox elsewhere as a justification to intervene in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire. More perinently, Mr Stankiewicz brought his talk to a close at this point due to constraints of time.)
1655-1660 The ‘Potop Szwedzki’ (‘Swedish Deluge’). A 7 month
Swedish Expansionist ‘Blitzkrieg’ takes them 400 miles south into Polish
territory before they are halted at Częstochowa in December 1655. The Swedes
lay siege to the iconic Monastery of Jasna Gora knowing its great significance
– national and religious – to the Poles. The Monastery has a historic tower.
Legend has it that, though Swedish artillery bombarded the Tower for several
days, they couldn’t hit it as it was swaying all through the bombardment. This
was a setback for the Swedes; the Poles re-grouped and, though the Conflict
lasted 4 more years, they gradually pushed the Swedes back to the Baltic.
1683 – After an urgent request from the Emperor of Austria,
and with the Ottoman Turks at the gates of Vienna, King John III Sobieski of
Poland leads an Army made up of Polish, German and French forces to victory
over the Turks and lifts the Siege of Vienna
1700 – Birth of Eliezer ben Israel (the ‘Baal Shem Tov’, or
‘Man of Good Name’) in Kamieniec Podolski (now Ukrainian Kamenyts Podolskiy) in
the very south of the Rzeczpospolita. He is the founder of the Hasidic Movement
within Orthodox Judaism, establishing the first Hasidic rabbinical Court in
1740 in Międzybóż (now Medzhybozh) near his home town of Kamieniec.
Jacob Frank, one of the ancestors of Howard Jacobson, the
well-known Manchester-Jewish author, also originally came from Kamieniec, where
he sold ‘Schmattes’ (literally ‘rags’) before leaving Kamieniec in 1774 to seek
his fortune elsewhere. He eventually finished up in Hull and then settled in
Manchester.
My maternal grandmother, Ludmila Voloshanovich/Wołoszanowicz
(Father Russian, Mother Polish) was also born in Kamieniec, in 1899.
When the ‘Baal Shem Tov’ died in 1760, three-quarters of the
World’s Jews lived within the boundaries of the Rzeczpospolita. Just before the
outbreak of WW2 there were 3.4 million Jews in Poland – 10% of the population.
In Warsaw alone there 400,000 – more than in the whole of the UK. Around
300,000 survived the Holocaust. There are 50,000 Jews in Poland today. Jewish
traditions and cultural life are gradually being revived.
1764 – The last King of Poland, Stanisław August
Poniatowski, ascends the throne.
1772 – The First Partition (‘Pierwszy Rozbiór’) of the
Rzeczpospolita. In Polish the word ‘Rozbiór’ actually means ‘Dismantling’, a
more accurate term. 81,500 sq.m lost – 14,000 to Prussia, 32,000 to Austria,
35,500 to Russia
1791 – The Constitution of the 3rd of May is
unveiled- the 2nd oldest written Constitution in the modern world. The
Middle Classes are enfranchised and there is a national resurgence of will to
preserve the Rzeczpospolita. This, however, is short-lived and far too late to
halt what, by now, is a terminal decline.
Today, May 3rd is a Public Holiday in Poland.
1793 – The Second Partition (‘Drugi Rozbiór’) of the
Rzeczpospolita. 119,000 sq.m lost – 22,500 to Prussia, 96,500 to Russia. These
two were Poland’s ‘traditional’ enemies for centuries. For many they still are…
And that’s a problem. A country like Poland with a modest economy and
equally-modest international status, can’t afford – economically, politically
or diplomatically - to be antagonistically-inclined towards two nations which
are significantly more powerful and influential.
1795 – The Third Partition (‘Trzeci Rozbiór’) of the
Rzeczpospolita. 83,000 sq.m lost -
18,500 to Prussia, 18,200 to Austria, 46,300 to Russia.
Total area annexed by the 3 Partitions – 283,500 sq. miles.
For comparison the biggest modern European country – outside of European Russia
– is Ukraine with an area of 233,000 sq. miles.
Also in 1795, King Stanisław August, after presiding over
the disappearance of the RP, finally throws in the towel and goes into exile to
France. Poland and Lithuania disappear from the map of Europe for 123 years, to
be revived by the Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War One.
During this period only one nation continued to recognise
their existence. Every year during the 19th century and right up to
World War One, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire used to organise a meeting for
all European Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers. One place was always kept
empty. During his opening address the Sultan was wont to say - ‘Once again, I am sad that we cannot welcome
our brother the Ambassador of Lechistan (Poland in the Islamic World is known
as Lechistan, after Lech, its mythical founder). Let us hope we shall see him
next year’.
