The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania Volume I: The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, 1385—1569 ROBERT FROST OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, 0X2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Robert Frost 2015 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2015 Impression: 2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2014948999 ISBN 978-0-19-820869-3 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. In Memoriam Oskar Halecki (1891-1973) Adolfas Sapoka (1906-1961) Mykhailo Hrushevsky (1866-1934) Matvei K. Liubavskii (1860-1936) Preface This is not the history of a state, or a nation, the usual concepts that frame the writing of political history, but of a political relationship: a political union that grew and changed over time, and expanded to include more peoples and cultures than the Poles and Lithuanians who established it in its original form in 1386. Histor­ ians often write of state- and nation-building; they rarely write of the formation of unions, and if they do, they usually do so from the point of view of one or other of the states or nations that form the union. After the process usually—and erroneously—referred to as the ‘partitions of Poland’ removed Poland-Lithuania from the map between 1772 and 1793, the complex historical development of the lands that once formed Poland-Lithuania has resulted for much of the time since 1795 in the union being presented in a negative light: it is seen as a failure, and above all an episode in Polish history, in which the Poles extended political control over the territories of what now constitute the modern states of Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, and parts of what became Estonia, Russia, and (until 1945) Germany. This approach has led many non-Polish historians to portray the Polish-Lithuanian union as an exercise in Polish imperialism that stunted their own national development, while there is a strong tradition in Polish historiog­ raphy, dating back to Michal Bobrzynski and beyond, that blames the union for the partitions. Yet the union was no empire. In its origin it was a classic late-medieval composite state, in which the various realms that came together under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty between 1386 and 1569 gradually formed a strong political union through negotiation and consent, despite some spectacular disagreements as to its nature and form. Its disappearance in 1795, just as revolutionaries in France were proclaiming the doctrine of the sovereign nation, one and indivisible, means that the history of east central Europe has been written largely through the eyes of the partitioning powers and their successors—above all Russia and Germany—or by historians of the individual nation states that fought for the independence that was only secured after 1918 or 1990. Yet the largely negative assessments of the union fail to explain why it came to be, and why it lasted so long. This book attempts to answer the first of those questions. When, more years ago than I care to admit, Robert Evans invited me on behalf of Oxford University Press to write a history of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth from 1569 until 1795, I had originally intended the story of the making of this union between 1386 and 1569 to be a brief introductory section. I soon realized, however, that it is impossible to understand the political dynamics of such a complex political construct as the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, without a clear grasp of how it was formed. There is no detailed study in English of the making of this union; indeed there is very little on it in English at all, since the Anglo-Saxon scholarly world has for far too long been largely content with the versions of the history of eastern Europe written by Russianists and Germanists. viii Preface With this in mind, and aware that there has been no comprehensive re-evalu­ ation of the making of the union since Oskar Halecki’s classic two-volume Dzieje unii jagiellohskiej, published in 1919, I suggested to OUP that I might publish a two-volume study of the union from its formation in 1386 to its dissolution, against the will of its citizens, in 1795. This book is the result. It takes the story from the origins of the union in the late fourteenth century up to its consummation at Lublin in 1569. Halecki’s great work was written as the partitioning powers imploded in the maelstrom of the First World War, and published as Poles and Lithuanians began a war over Vilnius, the former capital of the grand duchy of Lithuania. While it is sympathetic to the Lithuanian and Ruthenian inhabitants of the former grand duchy, and is frequently critical of Polish policy towards them, it is written from a Polish perspective. This book is an attempt to provide a history of the making of the union that eschews any national perspective, and which suggests that the non-Polish peoples within the union state played as great a part in its formation as the Poles. It therefore tells the story from multiple viewpoints in order to explain the success of the union, which remains, despite its inglorious end, one of the longest-lasting political unions in European history, whose cultural legacy is evident to this day. It is the first part of a two-volume attempt to study the union on its own terms, and not to judge it for failing to be what it did not try to be. Above all, it seeks to restore the history of the largest state in late medieval and early modern Europe to the general story of European development after years of historiographical neglect outside eastern Europe. This first volume is not and cannot be an histoire totale of the vast geographical area that constituted the union state. It is conceived as a political history that tells the story of the union’s making; it is therefore largely a histoire evenementielle, and only deals with economic, social, and cultural factors of direct relevance to the making of the union, such as the political role played by religion, and the development of the rural economy, which was of crucial importance to the nobility that formed—although never exclusively—the union’s citizen body. There will be a fuller, thematic treatment of important issues such as religion, the Renaissance and the influence of humanism, and the union’s unique urban world in volume two. The book is dedicated to the memory of four great scholars of the Polish- Lithuanian union: a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Ukrainian, and a Russian. They had very different attitudes towards it, and one of them—Mykhailo Hrushevsky— loathed it and all it stood for. All of them lived through the traumas of the twentieth century in eastern Europe, and suffered for their fearless and uncom­ promising attitude towards their scholarship. Two of them—Oskar Halecki and Adolfas Sapoka—ended their lives in exile, without access to the sources that nourished and sustained their scholarship; two of them—Matvei Liubavskii and Mykhailo Hrushevsky—ended theirs in Soviet detention, as their works were denigrated or suppressed by the communist regime. None of them ever aban­ doned their integrity as historians: this work owes much to all of them. Its shortcomings are entirely the responsibility of its author, who has had the good fortune to live in an age when the difficulties they faced have largely evaporated, and the peoples of the successor states of the Polish-Lithuanian union have mostly—although alas not yet entirely—had the freedom to explore its history on their own terms. I hope that they will accept this view from an outsider in the spirit in which it was written. Robert Frost Warsaw, January 2014 Acknowledgements I owe a great deal to the many people who have helped me in the writing of this book, and to the institutions which have provided support. My greatest debt is to the British Academy and the Wolfson Foundation, who appointed me to a three- year research professorship in 2009; without the precious time that this afforded me, I could neither have conceived the book, nor completed it. I owe much to everyone at Oxford University Press, who have shown great belief in the project: to Professor Robert Evans, who invited me to undertake it, who has given me unstinting support and advice, and who read the text, making many invaluable suggestions that have improved it considerably; to Christopher Wheeler, Stephanie Ireland, and Cathryn Steele, who waited patiently for me to produce it, and were extremely understanding and helpful when I asked whether they would allow me to write a work double the length that they had expected; and to Emily Brand, who proved a most helpful and constructive editor. I would also like to thank my copy editor, Miranda Bethell, and my proofreader, Ela Kotkowska, whose sharp eyes saved me from many infelicities. I owe a considerable debt to my employers during the work’s long gestation: King’s College London and the University of Aberdeen, both of which granted me research leave and funding. I am grateful to the Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituly Katedralnej, the Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych in Warsaw, the Zamek Krolewski in Warsaw, the Muzeum Historii Polskiej in Warsaw, the Zamek Krolewski na Wawelu in Cracow, and the Muzeum Lubelskie in Lublin for permission to publish illustrations of materials in their collections. Many individuals provided inspiration, help, support, and advice. Geoffrey Parker first introduced me to the problems of composite states in St Andrews three decades ago, while Norman Davies guided my first steps in Polish history; I have learnt much from both of them. Hamish Scott has proven an invaluable source of wisdom over the years; his ability tactfully to save an author from the consequences of his own folly is unrivalled. I am particularly grateful to Igor Kqkolewski, who helped enormously with regard to the illustrations, and to the historians and librarians of the Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun, who have supported and helped me since my first visit in 1992, in particular Krzysztof Mikulski, Jaroslaw Porazinski, Janusz Mallek, Roman Czaja, Tomasz Kempa, Adam Szweda, the late Jacek Staszewski, the late Stefan Czaja, and Urszula Zahorska. Chester Dunning read the first draft with characteristic care and thoughtfulness, and made numerous perceptive suggestions. I owe much to Andrei Ianushkevich, who invited me to Minsk, and took me to Kreva, where it all began, and to Olenka Pevny, who was a splendid guide to the churches of Kyiv and Chernihiv, who read parts of the typescript, and whose scepticism about the value of unions was always bracing. Marek Ferenc kindly sent me his splendid biography of Mikolaj Radziwill Rudy long after it had disappeared from the shops. I have benefited greatly from the practical help of, and discussions with, many other xii Acknowledgements scholars, including Hans-Jiirgen Bomelburg, Michael Brown, Paul Bushkovitch, Jola Choinska-Mika, Jim Collins, Iaroslav Fedoruk, David Frick, Natalya Iako­ venko, Andrzej Kaminski, Jurate Kiaupiene, Colin Kidd, Val Kivelson, Paul Knoll, Krzysztof Link-Lenczowski; Flenryk Litwin, Henryk Lulewicz, Allan Madnnes, Karol Mazur, Michael Muller, Natalia Nowakowska, Micheal O Siochru, Rimvy- das Petrauskas, Serhii Plokhy, Andrzej Rachuba, Martyn Rady, John Robertson, Stephen Rowell, Henadz Sahanovich, Mindaugas Sapoka, Alex Storozynski, Frank Sysyn, Arturas Vasiliauskas, Michelle Viise, Thomas Wiinsch, and Andrzej Zak- rzewski. My greatest personal debt, as ever, is to my wife, Karin Friedrich, who taught me the importance of Royal Prussia, and much else besides. This book could not have been written without her. The complete indifference of our children, Tommy and Anna, to the whole project has helped me keep it in perspective. Contents List of Maps and Tables xv List of Illustrations xvi List of Abbreviations xvii A Note on Personal and Place Names xx A Note on Currency xxii A Note on the Genealogies xxiii I. TOWARDS UNION 1. Kreva, Kp3Ba, Krewo 3 2. Poland 5 3. Lithuania 18 4. On Unions 36 5. The Krewo Act 47 II. ESTABLISHING THE UNION 6. Structures 61 7. Baptism 71 8. Cousins 74 9. Vilnius-Radom 91 10. Fruits of Union 99 11. Horodlo 109 12. Defending the Union 122 III. CRISIS, 1422-47 13. The Coronation Tempest 131 14. Svitrigaila 151 15. Rus' 158 16. After Jagiello 177 17. Resolution 182 Contents XIV IV. CONSOLIDATION AND CHANGE 18. Defining the Union 199 19. Prussia 209 20. The Thirteen Years War 222 21. Nieszawa 231 22. Peasants 242 V. DYNASTY AND CITIZENSHIP 23. New Monarchs 265 24. Jagiellonian Europe 277 25. From Sejmiks to Sejm 286 26. Shliakhta 291 27. Litva 309 VI. REFORM 28. Mielnik 327 29. Nihil Novi 344 30. Parliamentary Government 354 31. Mazovia 374 32. Prussia and the Union 381 VII. UNION ACCOMPLISHED 33. Mque Principaliter 405 34. Transformation 424 35. Execution Proposed 433 36. Execution Achieved 446 37. Failure 456 38. Interlude 469 39. Lublin 477 Bibliography 495 Glossary 524 Gazetteer 'bTJ Index 531