TheUnion of Lublin (Polish:Unia lubelska;Lithuanian:Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 inLublin, Poland, and created a single state, thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced thepersonal union of theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland and theGrand Duchy of Lithuania with areal union and anelective monarchy, asSigismund II Augustus, the last of theJagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy ofRoyal Prussia was largely abandoned. TheDuchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania inreal union since theUnion of Grodno (1566), became a Polish–Lithuaniancondominium.[1]
The Commonwealth was ruled by a single elected monarch who carried out the duties ofKing of Poland andGrand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a commonSenate andparliament (theSejm). The Union is seen by some as an evolutionary stage in thePolish–Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania's dangerous position in wars withRussia.[2][3][4]
There were long discussions before signing the union treaty. Lithuanianmagnates were afraid of losing much of their power, since the union would make their legal status equal to that of the much more numerous Polish lower nobility. Lithuania had been increasingly on the losing side of theMuscovite–Lithuanian Wars, however, and by the second half of the 16th century, it faced the threat of total defeat in theLivonian War and incorporation into theTsardom of Russia.[citation needed] The Polish nobility (theszlachta), on the other hand, were reluctant to offer more help to Lithuania without receiving anything in exchange (as much as 70% of the taxes collected in Poland in the 1560s went to support Lithuania in its war with Moscow).[5][6] The Polish and Lithuanian elites strengthened personal bonds and had opportunities to plan their united futures during increased military cooperation.[7]
Sigismund II Augustus,King of Poland andGrand Duke of Lithuania, seeing the threat to Lithuania and eventually to Poland, pressed for the union, gradually gaining more followers until he felt enough support to forcibly evict landowners who opposed the transition of territory from Lithuania to Poland.[8] A clear motivation for Sigismund was that he was the last Jagiello and had no children or brothers who could inherit the throne. Therefore, the Union was an attempt to preserve the continuity of his dynasty's work since the personal (but not constitutional) union of Poland and Lithuania as a result of the marriage ofJadwiga andJogaila. The Union was one of the constitutional changes required to establish a formalelective monarchy, which would simultaneously reign over both domains.[8]
TheSejm met in January 1569, near the Polish town ofLublin, but did not reach an agreement (sejm of 1569 in Lublin [pl]). One of the points of contention was the right of Poles to settle and own land in the Grand Duchy. After most of the Lithuanian delegation under the leadership ofVilnius Voivodeship'sMikołaj "Rudy" Radziwiłł left Lublin on 1 March, the king responded by annexingPodlachie,Volhynian,Bracław, and theKievVoivodeships to theCrown (on 6 June), with wide approval from the local gentry.[9][10] Those historic lands ofRus' are over half of modernUkraine and were then a substantial portion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's territory. The Rus' nobles there were eager to capitalise on the economic and political opportunities offered by the Polish sphere, and by and large, they wanted their lands to become a part of the Polish Crown.[11]
The Lithuanians were forced to return to the Sejm under the leadership ofJan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz (father ofJan Karol Chodkiewicz) and to continue negotiations, using slightly different tactics from those of Radziwiłł. Though the Polish szlachta wanted full incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Crown, the Lithuanians continued to oppose that and agreed only to afederal state. On 28 June 1569, the last objections were overcome, and on 4 July, an act was accordingly signed by the king atLublin Castle.[9]
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The Union of Lublin was superseded by theConstitution of 3 May 1791, under which the federal Commonwealth was to be transformed into aunitary state by KingStanisław August Poniatowski. The status of semi-federal state was restored by theReciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The constitution was not fully implemented, however, and the Commonwealth was ended with thePartitions of Poland in 1795.
After the Union, the Lithuanian nobles had the same formal rights as the Polish to rule the lands and subjects under their control. However, political advancement in theCatholic-dominated Commonwealth was a different matter.[citation needed]
By the late 15th century, thePolish language was already making rapid inroads among the Lithuanian and Rus' elites.[9] The Lublin Union accelerated the process ofPolonization. In culture and social life, both the Polish language and Catholicism became dominant for the Ruthenian nobility, most of whom were initiallyRuthenian-speaking andEastern Orthodox by religion. However the commoners, especially the peasants, continued to speak their own languages and after theUnion of Brest converted toEastern Catholicism.[citation needed]
This eventually created a significant rift between the lowersocial classes and the nobility in the Lithuanian and Ruthenian areas of the Commonwealth.[11] Some Ruthenian magnates resisted Polonization (like theOstrogskis) by adhering to Orthodox Christianity, giving generously to the Ruthenian Orthodox Churches and to the Ruthenian schools. However, the pressure of Polonization was harder to resist with each subsequent generation and eventually almost all of the Ruthenian nobility was Polonized.[citation needed]
TheCossack uprisings and foreign interventions led to the partitions of the Commonwealth byRussia,Prussia andAustria in1772,1793, and1795. The Union of Lublin was also temporarily inactive while theUnion of Kėdainiai was in effect.[citation needed]
Many historians like Krzysztof Rak consider the Union of Lublin to have created a state similar to the present-dayEuropean Union,[12] thus considering the Union (along with theKalmar Union, the severalActs of Union in the British Isles and other similar treaties) to be a predecessor of theMaastricht Treaty. The former, however, created a state of countries more deeply linked than the present-day European Union.[citation needed]
The union brought about the Polishcolonization of Ruthenian lands and increasing enserfment of Ruthenian peasantry by the szlachta.[13][14][15][16] Although the conditions for peasants in the Commonwealth was quite dire, compared to the West (seesecond serfdom), the peasants in the Commonwealth had more freedom than those inRussia; hence peasants (as well as to a lesser extent nobility and merchants) escaping from Russia to the Commonwealth became a major concern for the Russian government, and was one of thefactors ultimately leading to the partitions of Poland.[17]
A common coin, thezłoty, was introduced.[citation needed]
Execution ofcrown lands was not extended to the Grand Duchy.[citation needed]
The Union created one of the largest and most populous states in 17th-century Europe (excluding the states not completely in Europe, i.e. theRussian andOttoman Empires).[18]
As part of the Union, Lithuania lostPodlaskie,Volhynia,Podolia andKiev voivodeships to theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland.[citation needed]
TheStatutes of Lithuania declared the laws of the Union that conflicted with them to be unconstitutional. The First Statute of Lithuania was also used in the territories of Lithuania that were annexed by Poland shortly before the Union of Lublin (except for Podlaskie). These conflicts between statutory schemes in Lithuania and Poland persisted for many years, and the Third Statute of Lithuania remained in force in territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania even after partitions, until 1840.
Attempts to limit the power of Lithuanian magnates (especially theSapieha family) and unify the laws of the Commonwealth led to thekoekwacja praw movement, culminating in thekoekwacja reforms of theElection Sejm of 1697 (May–June), confirmed in theGeneral Sejm of 1698 (April) in the documentPorządek sądzenia spraw w Trybunale Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskego.[19]
Poland provided military aid in the wars after the union of the two entities, which was crucial for the survival of the Grand Duchy.[3] Poland and the Grand Duchy were to have separate military but common defense policies.[citation needed]
The Union of Lublin provided for merger of the two states, though each retained substantialautonomy, with their own army, treasury, laws and administration.[10] Though the countries were in theory equal, the larger Poland became the dominant partner. Due to population differences, Polish deputies outnumbered Lithuanians in the Sejm by 3:1.[10]
There was to be a single ruler for both Poland and the Grand Duchy,freely elected by the nobility of both nations, and crowned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania inWawel Cathedral,Kraków.[citation needed] The demand of a separate inauguration ceremony of theGrand Duke of Lithuania was raised by the nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (e.g.Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł,Eustachy Wołłowicz,Jan Karol Chodkiewicz,Konstanty Ostrogski) during the negotiations of the Union of Lublin, however it was not officially included into it.[20] Nevertheless, on 29 May 1580, a separate ceremony was held in theVilnius Cathedral during which bishopMerkelis Giedraitis presentedStephen Báthory (King of Poland since 1 May 1576) adecorated sword and a hat adorned with pearls (both were sanctified byPope Gregory XIII himself), while this ceremony manifested the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and had the meaning ofelevation of the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, this way ignoring the stipulations of the Union of Lublin.[21][22][23][24]
A common parliament, the Sejm, held its sessions inWarsaw; it had 114 deputies from the Polish lands and 48 from Lithuania. The Senate had 113 Polish and 27 Lithuanian senators.[citation needed]
Poland and the Grand Duchy were to have a common foreign policy.[citation needed]
The Union of Lublin was Sigismund's greatest achievement and his greatest failure. Although it created one of the largest states in contemporary Europe, one that endured for over 200 years,[25] Sigismund failed to push through the reforms that would have established a workablepolitical system. He hoped to strengthen the monarchy with the support of the lesser nobility, and to balance the power of lesser nobility andmagnates. However, while all the nobility in the Commonwealth was in theoryequal under the law, the political power of the magnates was not weakened significantly, and in the end they could too often bribe or coerce their lesser brethren.[9] In addition, the royal power continued to wane, and while the neighbouring states continued to evolve into strong, centralized absolute monarchies, the Commonwealth slid with itsGolden Liberty into apolitical anarchy that eventually cost it its very existence.[26]
Following theŻeligowski's Mutiny after which the Lithuania's capitalVilnius Region wasoccupied and which eventually led to theannexation of it intoRepublic of Poland in 1922, theLithuanians formally renounced the 1569 Union of Lublin.[27][28]
Today's Republic of Poland considers itself a successor to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,[29] whereas theinterwarRepublic of Lithuania viewed the Commonwealth's creation in mostly negative light.[30]
The original act document was included byUNESCO in theMemory of the World International Register in 2017.[31]
TheLublin Triangle, a regional alliance betweenPoland,Lithuania, andUkraine, was named in reference to the Union of Lublin.[32]
Between 1562 and 1565, the Lithuanian treasury had spent nearly 2,000,000złoties. Of the 626,000 złoties in taxation voted by Poland at the 1565 Sejm, the substantial sum of 483,000 złoties went to support Lithuania. This was in addition to the significant contingents of Polish troops which bolstered the defence of the eastern borders.
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