Warsaw Confederation

thumb|right|300px|Original act of the Warsaw Confederation, signed on 28 January 1573, by just over 200 members of the legislature, each with their wax seal.

thumb|right|300px|Exhibition commemorating the 450th anniversary of the Warsaw Confederation in the Sejm (parliament) building, Warsaw, 2023. The parchment manuscript with attached wax seals is displayed in the centre glass display unit.

The Warsaw Confederation, also called the Compact of Warsaw, was a political-legal act concluded in Warsaw by the first Convocation Sejm (Sejm konwokacyjny) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and formally promulgated in Kraków on 28 January 1573. Convened and deliberating as a confederation between 6 and 29 January 1573, during the Commonwealth's first interregnum (1572–1574), the Sejm sought to establish a general confederation to secure continuity of governance and prepare for the election of a new king. It is regarded as one of the first European acts to grant freedom of religion.

It was an important development in the history of Poland and Lithuania, extending religious tolerance to the nobility and free persons (burghers, the townspeople of royal cities) within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This event is considered the formal beginning of religious freedom in the Commonwealth. Although the confederation initially granted religious freedom primarily to the nobility, it was also embraced in practice by the townspeople of royal cities. This groundbreaking act marked a significant milestone not just for the Commonwealth but for the entire continent, as it was one of the first European acts granting broad religious freedoms.

The text of the Warsaw Confederation was originally written in multiple languages: the original in Classical Latin and Old Polish (mixed-language manuscript), with translations in Ruthenian, Early New High German, and Middle French (intended for Prince Henry of Valois who would be crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania). This multilingual approach ensured that the document could be understood by a diverse audience within the Commonwealth and beyond.

While the confederation could not prevent all religious conflicts and tensions within the state, it guaranteed religious tolerance, civil rights, and political equality to religious minorities, the so-called dissenters (dissidentes de religione), who did not follow the dominant Roman Catholic state religion.

Origin

History of religious tolerance in Poland

Religious tolerance in Poland has a long tradition (e.g., Statute of Kalisz), and influenced by two significant documents issued by King Casimir III the Great. On 30 August 1356, the king approved customs, freedoms, and privileges in the realm of worship and administrative matters for the Monophysite Armenians. In a document from 1341, he guaranteed the followers of the Orthodox Church respect for their rites and customs. This stance by King Casimir made Poland the first multi-denominational state in Europe, where the royal court was Roman Catholic. However, tolerance for schismatics did not extend to heresies that arose within the Catholic Church. The Edict of Wieluń by King Władysław II Jagiełło in 1424 recognised Hussitism as a crime against the state. Nonetheless, in the same century, the Orthodox nobility enjoyed the same privileges as the Catholic nobility, as did the Armenians in Poland. Certain restrictions on the access of Orthodox Christians to the highest offices in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were lifted by King Sigismund II of Poland in 1563 and 1568. In addition to the Orthodox and Armenians, Lipka Tatars, Ashkenazi Jews, and Crimean Karaites living in some cities and more numerous Lithuanian villages also enjoyed tolerance in Poland–Lithuania.

In opposition to the prevailing principles in Western Europe, a doctrine regarding the state's relationship with pagans was formed in Poland in the 15th century, represented by Bishop Andrzej Łaskarz of Poznań and Paweł Włodkowic from the Kraków Academy (Jagiellonian University). In the early years of the Protestant Reformation, royal edicts against reformers were issued, but their implementation was far from perfect. King Sigismund I the Old himself recognised not only the secularisation of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 but also, as the first ruler, recognised Lutheranism in Prussia as an official religion, guaranteeing tolerance for Catholics. Bishop Andrzej Krzycki, defending the Treaty of Kraków of 1525, referred to the fact that in Poland, alongside Catholics, Ruthenians, Armenians, Ashkenazi Jews, and Lipka Tatars had long lived together in harmony; in this community, there was also a place for Lutherans in the Duchy of Prussia.

Anabaptists, who arrived in Poland in 1535, and Mennonites, who appeared in Poland in 1526, also received tolerance. In the years 1557–1559, King Sigismund II Augustus guaranteed the cities of Prussia the freedom of the Augsburg Confession, and in the Treaty of Vilnius of 1561, Livonia received the same privilege, where the king guaranteed the nobility and townspeople freedom of the Lutheran Confession while simultaneously ensuring tolerance for Catholicism.

Sandomierz Agreement to the Warsaw Confederation

thumb|right|Portrait of Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and from 1569 the first ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During his reign from 1548 to 1572, religious freedom was a royal decree.

In 1570, representatives of Lutherans, Calvinists, and the Bohemain Brethren residing in the Commonwealth gathered in Sandomierz, where they reached an agreement to mutually recognize each other as Christian denominations and to jointly oppose the Catholic majority. They excluded the Arians (Polish Brethren) from their group, deeming them heretics. The dissenters presented a draft constitution (the Sandomierz Agreement) to the Sejm (parliament) in 1570, guaranteeing freedom of religion for all, so that "everyone may believe according to their conscience" on an equal footing with Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. However, this draft was not accepted at that time.

Meanwhile, on 7 July 1572, following the childless death of the last king, Sigismund II Augustus of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Protestant camp, facing a new election for a new king, found itself without legal guarantees for their faith.

Formation of the Warsaw Confederation

thumb|right|Religious situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573 - Catholicism circumscribed in the red dashed border line (beige highlights the dominant regions), Lutherans in grey, Calvinists in purple, Orthodox in green, and remainder symbols indicating: Arians (Polish Brethren), Anabaptists and Mennonites.

The Convocation Sejm (parliament), acting as the Confederation Legislature, was composed of approximately 200 high-ranking nobles (the szlachta) from Poland and Lithuania. They gathered at Warsaw to prevent any separatists from acting and to maintain the existing legal order.

This act was not imposed by a government or as a consequence of war but rather resulted from the actions of members of Polish-Lithuanian society. It was also influenced by the 1572 French St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which prompted the Polish-Lithuanian nobility to ensure that no monarch would ever be able to carry out such an act in Poland.

The people most involved in preparing the articles were Mikołaj Sienicki (leader of the "execution movement"), Jan Firlej, and Jan Zborowski. Together with his brothers, Jan Zborowski became the head of the Zborowskis party. Their efforts were opposed by many dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. Franciszek Krasiński was the only lone bishop who signed them (Szymon Starowolski claimed he did so under the "threat of the sword"), and the future legal acts containing the Articles of the Confederation were signed by Catholic bishops with the stipulation: "excepto articulo confoederationis" (except the article of the confederation). Another Catholic bishop, Wawrzyniec Goślicki, was excommunicated by the Holy See for acceding to the repeated acts of the Sejm of 1587. And while that was not the issue in Orthodox-dominated cities, in Catholic-controlled cities it led to further restrictions of non-Catholics. For example in 1572 Orthodox Ruthenians in Lviv were granted the same rights with Polish Catholics, but king's decree was ignored by Catholic-controlled city council claiming that it had contravened the city's rights and privileges. The situation remained unchanged even after local Ruthenians had converted to Greek Catholicism.

By the 1590s, there were anti-Jewish outbreaks in Poznań, Lublin, Kraków, Vilnius and Kyiv. And in 1596 after Union of Brest, Orthodox church was outlawed by the Crown.

Significance

Late-16th-century Poland–Lithuania stood between the Orthodox Tsardom of Moscow in the East, the Muslim Ottoman Empire to the South, and Western Europe, torn between Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation, to the North and West. Its religious tolerance made it a welcome refuge for those escaping religious persecution elsewhere; in the words of Cardinal Hosius, it became "a place of shelter for heretics". The confederation legalised the previously unwritten customs of religious tolerance.

The debate over whether religious freedom in historical contexts was intended solely for the nobility or also for burghers and peasants is a topic of discussion among historians. While there are differing opinions, many historians lean towards the interpretation that religious freedom was intended for all social classes, not just the nobility.

The Warsaw Confederation of 1573 was a groundbreaking document that established religious tolerance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As historian Norman Davies noted, "Certainly, the wording and substance of the declaration of the Confederation of Warsaw of 28 January 1573 were extraordinary with regards to prevailing conditions elsewhere in Europe; and they governed the principles of religious life in the Commonwealth for over two hundred years." This confederation was a significant achievement, ensuring that the principles of religious tolerance were upheld for generations.

In 2003, the text of the Warsaw Confederation was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.

English translation

An English translation from the original Warsaw Confederation articles, with Latin phrases retained, provided by contemporary historians Tristan Korecki and Philip Earl Steele, is available online at the Polish History Museum in Warsaw.

Warsaw Confederation

Origin

History of religious tolerance in Poland

Sandomierz Agreement to the Warsaw Confederation

Formation of the Warsaw Confederation

Significance

English translation

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links