Krzysztof Baczkowski
Prace Historyczne, Numer 133, 2006, s. 73 - 79
Italians in the Dąbrowski Legion in Italy
In the agreement of 1797 signed between general Jan Henryk Dąbrowski and the government of Lombardy concerning the creation of the Polish Legion, there was no mention of the possibility of Italian citizens joining the Legion. In spite of this, in the years 1797–1807, 53 Italians obtained an officer status in the Legion; among them, there were 31 physicians, and military surgeons, 9 quartermasters, 9 junior officers, 4 chaplains, and 1 officer whose function had not been specified. A small group of Italians who were recruited mainly from among the dissolved Piedmont divisions, also served as non-commissioned officers and private soldiers. As regards the geographical origin of the Italians, the majority of the officers and army officials came from Milan and Lombardy, as well as from Piedmont and Bologna. The majority of the Italians obtained the above posts in the effect of being nominated by the authorities of the Republic of Lombardy which was subsequently transformed into a Cisalpine Republic and finally into the Italian Republic The above decisions were due to the lack of suitable specialists in the Polish Legions, as well as a lack of posts for Italian volunteers in the Cisalpine army.The most valuable group consisted of army physicians who were highly praised for their professional knowledge, intelligence as well as their dedication to the sick and wounded soldiers in their care. The Poles did not have an equally high opinion of the junior officers, as they considered them to be inferior with regard to training and moreover, they thought that the Italians blocked the possibility of promotion for the Polish soldiers. The group which had the worst opinion among the Poles, were the quartermasters, among whom there were many adventurers and careerists. The majority of them had left the Legions following a series of defeats in the II coalition war.
4 Italian officers had remained in the Polish army after the liquidation of the legions and they participated in the next Napoleonic campaigns. In spite of the many years of common service in the Legions, no closer ties between the Poles and the Italians had been formed. This fact was largely due to the differences in the social standing of the officers representing the two nations (the Poles represented mainly the nobility, while the Italians chiefly the middle classes), as well as the linguistic and cultural differences, and last but not least different political aspirations. The idea of the common struggle for independence of the Poles and the Italians originated only in the thirties of the 19th century.
Krzysztof Baczkowski
Prace Historyczne, Numer 135, 2008, s. 53 - 63
“Natural monarchs” and the electiveness of the throne in medieval Poland
The concept of “natural monarchs”, the only legitimate heirs to the monarchical power, was most closely associated with the Piast dynasty. Yet at the time of regional disintegration of Poland which occurred in the period 1138–1320, the disputes concerning succession to the Krakow throne, had led to a situation when side by side the principle of heredity, certain elements of electiveness of the supreme ruler had already been introduced. More and more often it was the magnates who decided about the election of the monarch, in exchange for support and certain class privileges. The first ruler to be elected from outside the Piast dynasty was the Czech king Vaclav II who ascended to the throne in the year 1291, having paid for the support of the nobility with the privileges granted to them in the town of Lutomyśl. The dying out of the Piast dynasty in the 14th cenuty, had led to the situation when the succession of the Andegaven dynasty both in the male and female line, had to be obtain the approval of both the clergy and the knighthood. And although Jadwiga /Hedwig/ was recognizsed as the “natural monarch”, her husband Władysław Jagiełło, had to be formally elected by the nobility, regardless of the so called “treaty of Krewo” – thus he was an elected king. In the 30’s of the 15th century, the principle of the hereditary rights to the throne sustained by the Jagiellon dynasty and the principle of the electiveness of the king supported by the nobility, became the object of arguments between the monarch and the “political nation”. Ultimately, it was the principle of electiveness that gained the upper hand, yet in practice it was subsequently realized within the Jagiellon dynasty. After the dying out of the Jagiellons, the Polish-Lithuanian state became fully elective, and when choosing each successive monarch, up until the year 1669, the nobility always took into consideration the blood ties of the successive king elect with the extinct Piast and Jagiellon dynasties.