Jarosław Stolicki

The Gołąb Confederacy in modern historiography

In 1972, Adam and Kazimierz Przyboś have published an edited Diariusz kołowania i konfederacji pod Gołębiem i Lublinem w 1672 r. (Diary of Gołąb and Lublin concentration and confederacy of 1672), a work that has provided an impulse for further study of the Gołąb Confederacy. At the time it has been one of the few confederacies with its own monograph, published already in 1936 by A. Przyboś, but since then – and until the 1972 edition of Diariusz – the subject has been mostly neglected, as was the case with the entire unhappy reign of King Michał. For K. Przyboś the said edition has been a starting point for a number of analytical studies of that period, and especially of the confederacy itself. In this research program, he has been followed by several younger historians, whose studies are reviewed in the article. The confederacy has received particular attention in the works of Jarosław Stolicki and Leszek Wierzbicki. Source editions connected to the confederacy, such as personal and public diaries and journals, and especially the 1672 resolutions of the nobles, also play a highly significant role.

* W niniejszym artykule omówiono studia, które ukazały się drukiem w latach 1972‒2017.

Under the Grzymułtowski’s treaty the Commonwealth received from Moscow a sum of 730,000 złotys. This money has been sought by the Ukrainian nobility who – by the virtue of the treaty – had lost any chance of recovering their Transdnieprian estates. Kyivian, Chernihivian and Bratslavian sejmiki instructed their deputies to obtain a compensation for their citizens for the lost property. These claims were presented at the Grodno diet of 1688, as well as on the successive two diets in Warsaw. The Warsaw Sejm in 1690 approved John III’s patent appointing the Warsaw commission to divide the treaty money among the exiled nobility of the ceded palatinates.
 

John III Sobieski’s reign has been marked by a surge in the Commonwealth’s international activity. It was a direct consequence of the King’s political plans. First, he sought a prompt termination of the war with the Ottoman Port, but his attempts were ultimately unsuccessful. Later, in a secret alliance with Louis XIV, Sobieski tried to eff ectuate his grand plans in the Baltic, but the awaited favorable arrangement of international interests did not occur. This disappointment drove John III again towards the war with Port, with whom the Commonwealth had in the meanwhile concluded a highly unfavorable peace treaty. The king has made an eff ort to mobilize popular support among the gentry for his war plans. Realistically assessing the Turkish military power, he also recognized the necessity of fi nding allies. His concurrent attempts to convince other European rulers to join forces fi nally met with success in 1683.

Records of the Kievan Palatinate during the Exile

The article discusses the efforts of the Kievan nobility to secure castle records in the period when the palatinate’s dietines have been held in Włodzimierz, and analyzes the resolves of those dietines in this regard. It also discusses the activities of the commissioners appointed to revise old records, assess the extent of war damage to existing records, and oversee the proper keeping of new ones. The attention is also paid to the postulates put forward in the instructions for the palatinate deputies. The Kievans have sought to recover the records captured by the Muscovy, but this objective has not been attained. Other sources, such as manifestations and requisitions, have also been employed. Activities of the Kievan nobility have led to the revision of the castle records of Żytomierz and Owrucz. Żytomierz records have been kept at Łuck, remaining inaccessible to the Kievans until the record-keeping has been resumed in the 18th century. Old Owrucz records have been lost after the monastery fire, and the new ones have been reestablished in the late 1670s. Keeping of Kiev records has been resumed in 1684 in consequence of the reestablishment of the palatinate courts.

John III Sobieski’s domestic policies before 1679

John III Sobieski’s domestic politics was mostly subordinated to his foreign policy objectives. The king’s post-election course of action was strongly influenced by his past experiences. He deferred the coronation until a more favourable moment, although the political benefits of that decision failed to materialize. The new king’s politics was quite cautious. He did not put forward any major reform proposals, assessing the prospects of such reforms to be poor. He managed to end the war with the Ottoman Empire, but the king’s subsequent moves met with strong domestic opposition encouraged  by Vienna and Berlin. The failure of the Baltic politics led John III to return to the idea of a war with the Porte. Before that, the king had to resolve acute internal conflicts, doing so during the Diet of Grodno  in 1679. Only then could he undertake preparations for a new political course. However, the most important factor in the success of the new policy was the opportune development of the  international situation at the time. 

The seats of Crown dietines in exile, 1648–1696

As a result of the wars of the second half of the 17th century, the gentry from a number of provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were forced to seek refuge from the enemy in other, safer provinces, and to hold their dietines in exile. In the years 1648–1649, the gentry from a number of Lesser Poland provinces were temporarily displaced, but most of them soon returned to their abodes. Citizens of the Ukrainian provinces were less fortunate. The Czerhnigovian, Bratslavian and Kievan gentry held virtually all of their dietines in that period in Włodzimierz in Volhynia. They convened in the Uniate cathedral church and in the Dominican Friars’ church. In their resolutions they continuously underscored the provisional but legal character of the place of their deliberations. The Ukrainian exiles (except Czernigovians) returned to their abodes in the 18th century. From 1672 to 1698, the Podolian gentry held their dietines in Halicz and later in Lviv (in Franciscan churches), and in 1699 in the Trinity Trenches, while Kamieniec Podolski was under Ottoman control.
 

Międzynarodowa konferencja „Nowożytny człowiek: przestrzeń, władza, prawo w XVI–XVIII wieku” (Kijów, 12–13 września 2013 roku)

O znaczeniu propagandy w Rzeczypospolitej. Uwagi o pracy Anny Czarnieckiej

Nobility of the Kievan palatinate and the problems of judicial organization in the second half of the 17th century

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s nobility attached great importance to the proper functioning of the judicial system, and the administrative issues of the justice system were among the principal matters discussed in the dietines. They were of particular importance to the Kievan nobility during their exile in the second half of the 17th century. The article discusses the statutes aimed at providing them relief during that period. The one of major importance was the act of 1683 that established county courts in the Owrucz and Żytomierz counties. The latter was carried into execution only in 1701. The same statute also prescribed the duties of the castle officials responsible for holding courts in Żytomierz and Owrucz. The article also discusses the issues of judicial administration in the Kievan palatinate and the proposals for the judicial reform raised by the dietines (especially between 1661 and 1667), which were only carried out in 1684, when the Kievan and Owrucz sheriffs were sworn in.