From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The first
pacta conventa
, signed by King
Henry of Poland
, 1573
Pacta conventa
(Latin for "articles of agreement") was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" (i.e., the
szlachta (nobility)
of the
Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth
) and a newly elected
king
upon his
"free election" (
wolna elekcja
)
to the throne.
[1]
[2]
The document was drawn up by the
convocation sejm
.
[3]
The
pacta conventa
affirmed the king-elect's pledge to respect the laws of the Commonwealth and specified his undertakings and promises in such realms as
foreign policy
,
taxes
,
public debt
, the military, and so on.
[2]
They varied from king to king, depending on whatever particular pledges he might have made.
[2]
An example of the various concrete undertakings found in a king-elect's
pacta conventa
is King
Władysław IV Vasa
's pledge to create a
Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy
for the
Baltic Sea
.
In addition to his own unique
pacta conventa
, each king-elect was required to sign the
Henrician Articles
, a set of privileges named after the first king who signed them,
Henry of Poland
.
[2]
Unlike the
pacta conventa
, the Henrician Articles were constant and unchanging.
[2]
The distinction between the two documents gradually faded away over successive elections. Together, those two documents spelled out most of the critical details of the Commonwealth political system.
[2]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Corwin, Edward Henry Lewinski (1917)
The political History of Poland
Polish Book Importing Company, New York,
page 195
,
OCLC
626738
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Juliusz Bardach, Bogusław Le?nodorski and Michał Pietrzak,
Historia pa?stwa i prawa polskiego
(History of the Polish State and Law), Warsaw, Pa?stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987, pp. 216?7.
- ^
Jacek J?druch
(1998).
Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493?1977: a guide to their history
. EJJ Books. p. 74.
ISBN
978-0-7818-0637-4
. Retrieved
13 August
2011
.
External links
[
edit
]
