Editing Szlachta (section)

=== Composition ===
[[File:Jan_Matejko_-_Upadek_Polski_(Reytan).jpg|upright=1.50|thumb|Szlachcic [[Sejmik|sejmik representative]] [[Tadeusz Rejtan]] (lower right), with szlachta [[Republicanism|republican]] right of ending any [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Senate (Sejm)]] session and nullifying any legislation passed (''[[Liberum veto]]''), defying [[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[Prussia]]n, and [[Austria]]n [[Autocracy|autocratic might]] to cease legalization of the [[First Partition of Poland]], by halting the [[Partition Sejm]]'s exit from the Senate chamber on 30 September 1773, in effect proclaiming, ''"Murder me, not Poland."'' Painting by [[Jan Matejko]], 1866]]
[[Adam Zamoyski]] argues that the szlachta were not exactly the same as the European [[nobility]] nor a [[Landed gentry|gentry]],<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /> as the szlachta fundamentally differed in law, rights, political power, origin, and composition from the [[Feudalism|feudal nobility]] of Western Europe.<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system">{{cite book
| last = Dmowski
| first = Roman Stanisław
| author-link = Roman Dmowski
| editor-last = Duff
| editor-first = James Duff
| editor-link = James Duff Duff
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
| title = RUSSIAN REALITIES & PROBLEMS
| year = 1917
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| pages = 91–92
| chapter = Poland, Old And New
| quote = This military class was subdivided into clans, the members of each clan being bound together by strong ties of solidarity. Each clan had its name and crest. The Polish nobility, which sprang from this military class and which derived its family names from its landed properties (in the fifteenth century), had no family crests, of which there was only a limited number. Each of these bore a name which had been the old word of call of the clan. In many instances, one crest belonged to more than a hundred families. The clan system survived in this way throughout the whole of Polish history. It is evident that the warrior class in Poland had quite a different origin and a different legal and social position from that of the feudal nobility of Western Europe.}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-rule">{{cite book
| last = Boswell
| first = Alexander Bruce
| author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA66
| format = GOOGLE EBOOK
| title = POLAND AND THE POLES
| year = 1919
| publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
| location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
| pages = 66–67
| quote = But the Parliament was at best a clumsy body, as the deputies were not free agents, but were bound by their mandates from the real sovereign bodies, the local Diets or Sejmiki. The representative of a Sejmik had the right of vetoing all legislation in the Sejm, since he spoke for a whole province or tribe.}}</ref> The szlachta did not rank below the king,<ref name="szlachta-can-be-king" /> as the szlachta's relationship to the Polish king was not feudal. The szlachta stood as equals before the king.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> The king was not an [[Autocracy|autocrat]], nor the szlachta's overlord, as szlachta land was in [[allod]]ium, not [[Feudal land tenure in England|feudal tenure]].<ref name="szlachta--allodial" /> Feudal dependence upon a Polish king did not exist for the szlachta<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> and earlier in history some high-ranking szlachta ([[magnate]]s) descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of [[Piast dynasty|Piast realms]] and constantly sought to undermine Piast authority.<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|75, 76}}

In 1459 [[Ostroróg family|Ostroróg]] presented a memorandum to the [[Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland|Sejm (parliament)]], submitting [[palatine]]s, or [[Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], receive the title of [[prince]]. Sons of a prince were to receive titles of [[count]]s and [[baron]]s. [[Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] were to receive the title of count. This attempt to introduce the hierarchy of noble titles common for European feudal systems for szlachta was rejected.<ref name="szlachta-reject-titles-of-nobility">{{cite journal
| last = Skwarczyński
| first = Paweł
| date = June 1956
| title = The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century
| jstor = 4204744
| journal = [[The Slavonic and East European Review]]
| location = Salisbury House, Station Road, [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire county]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
| publisher = [[Modern Humanities Research Association]]
| volume = 34
| issue = 83
| page = 302
| quote = In 1459 [[Ostroróg family|Ostroróg]] submitted a memorandum to the parliament (sejm), suggesting that the [[Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|palatines, or provincial governors]], should be given the title of prince and their sons the titles of barons and counts. The title of count was suggested by him for a [[Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|castellanus]]. But all these suggestions were not accepted. The composition of the king's council provides another distinction between the system in Poland and regular feudal systems elsewhere.}}</ref>

The fact the szlachta were equal before the king and deliberately opposed becoming a feudal nobility became a matter of law embedded as a constitutional principle of equality.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /><ref name="szlachta-can-be-king" /> The [[republicanism]] of [[ancient Rome]] was the szlachta's ideal.<ref name="szlachta-roman-republicanism">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 47
 | quote = ... through all modern Polish history it was Roman republicanism that formed the ideal of the republican gentry. The Roman precedent was even quoted to justify serfdom, which was a modified form of [[Slavery in ancient Rome|Roman slavery]].}}</ref><ref name="roman-empire">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Ivor Norman Richard
 | author-link1 = Norman Davies
 | last2 = Dawson
 | first2 = Andrew Hutchinson
 | last3 = Jasiewicz
 | first3 = Krzysztof
 | author-link3 = :pl:Krzysztof Jasiewicz
 | last4 = Kondracki
 | first4 = Jerzy Aleksander
 | author-link4 = :pl:Jerzy Kondracki
 | last5 = Wandycz
 | first5 = Piotr Stefan
 | author-link5 = Piotr S. Wandycz
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | title = Poland
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth
 | access-date = 4 June 2017
 | date = 2 June 2017
 | page = 15
 | quote = Throughout most of Europe the medieval system of [[Estates of the realm|estates]] evolved into [[Absolute monarchy|absolutism]], but in the Commonwealth it led to a szlachta democracy inspired by the ideals of [[ancient Rome]], to which parallels were constantly drawn.}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-dictate-like-roman-senate">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 67
 | quote = Poland was the great power of East Central Europe, and the [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish Sejm]] dictated to the [[Kresy|East]] as despotically as the [[Roman Senate]] itself.}}</ref><ref name="okolski-ancient-romans">{{cite journal
 | last = Milewska-Waźbińska
 | first = Barbara
 | editor1-last = Sosnowski
 | editor1-first = Miłosz
 | url = http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-47ad7632-fb82-47ff-a88d-3ebf4845ea16
 | title = Latin as the Language of Social Communication of the Polish Nobility (Based on the Latin Heraldic Work by Szymon Okolski)
 | journal = The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
 | publisher = [[Kórnik Library]] of the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]]
 | location = [[Poznań]]
 | date = 2013
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170608095553/http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-47ad7632-fb82-47ff-a88d-3ebf4845ea16
 | archive-date = 8 June 2017
 | access-date = 8 June 2017
 | quote = The article highlights the role of Latin as the language of communication of the nobility living in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the beginning discusses the concept 'latinitas', which meant not only the correct Latin, but also pointed to the ideological content of antiquity passed through the language of the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]]. ... We studied Latin armorial 'Orbis Polonus' by [[Szymon Okolski|Simon Okolski]] (Cracow 1641-1645). ... It concludes that Okolski consciously wrote his work in the language of the ancient Romans.}}</ref><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /> Poland was known as the [[Most Serene Republic]] of Poland, Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} The szlachta, not as a feudal nobility or gentry,<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system" /><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /> but as an electorate,<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /> and an [[aristocracy]] and warrior [[caste]],<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /><ref name="races-old-world--caste">{{cite journal
| last1 = Hutton
| first1 = Richard Holt
| author-link1 = Richard Holt Hutton
| last2 = Bagehot
| first2 = Walter
| author-link2 = Walter Bagehot
| date = January 1864
| title = The Races of the Old World
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4u4RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA484
| journal = [[National Review (1855)|National Review]]
| location = London, England
| publisher = Robson and Levey
| pages = 484
| access-date = 9 Oct 2014
| quote = ".... there we find an exact counterpart of Polish society: the dominant settlers establishing themselves as an upper caste, all politically equal among themselves, and holding the lands (or more frequently, simply drawing the rents) of the country."
}}</ref><ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="szacki--caste--1995">{{cite book
 | last = Szacki
 | first = Jerzy Ryszard
 | author-link = Jerzy Szacki
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gU6_JbBHkXoC&pg=PA46
 | title = LIBERALISM AFTER COMMUNISM
 | year = 1995
 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]]
 | location = Budapest, Central Hungary region, HUNGARY, EU
 | pages = 45–46
 | quote = [[Aleksander Świętochowski]], on the other hand, wrote as follows: 'If from the deeds of the Polish nobility we took away excesses and the exclusiveness of caste, ...'| isbn = 9781858660165
 }}</ref> with no feudal dependence on a king,<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> exercised [[Liberum veto|supreme political power over that republic]]<ref name="szlachta-rule" /> and [[Royal elections in Poland|elected kings]] as servants of a republic the szlachta regarded as the embodiment of their rights.<ref name="szlachta-rights-embodied-in-republic">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Ivor Norman Richard
 | author-link1 = Norman Davies
 | last2 = Dawson
 | first2 = Andrew Hutchinson
 | last3 = Jasiewicz
 | first3 = Krzysztof
 | author-link3 = :pl:Krzysztof Jasiewicz
 | last4 = Kondracki
 | first4 = Jerzy Aleksander
 | author-link4 = :pl:Jerzy Kondracki
 | last5 = Wandycz
 | first5 = Piotr Stefan
 | author-link5 = Piotr S. Wandycz
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | title = Poland
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth
 | access-date = 24 April 2021
 | date = 2 June 2017
 | page = 15
 | quote = The Commonwealth gradually came to be dominated by the szlachta, which regarded the state as an embodiment of its rights and privileges.}}</ref>

Over time, numerically most ''lesser'' szlachta became poorer, or were poorer than, their few rich peers with the same political status and status in law, and many ''lesser'' szlachta were worse off than commoners with land. They were called ''szlachta zagrodowa'', that is, "farm nobility", from ''zagroda'', a farm, often little different from a peasant's dwelling, sometimes referred to as ''drobna szlachta'', "petty nobles" or yet, ''szlachta okoliczna'', meaning "local". Particularly impoverished szlachta families were often forced to become tenants of their wealthier peers. They were described as ''szlachta czynszowa'', or "tenant nobles" who paid rent.<ref>[[Jolanta Sikorska-Kulesza]], [http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku.pdf ''Deklasacja drobnej szlachty na Litwie i Białorusi w XIX wieku''] Warsaw, Oficyna Wydawnicza "Ajaks". 1995. p.14. [accessed 2018-11-2]. This monograph describes how during the 19th century the mass of "local" szlachta in the western borderlands of the Russian Empire were subjected to downward mobility and rank poverty through tsarist bureaucracy and a policy of social degradation</ref> See "[[#Szlachta categories|Szlachta categories]]" for more.