Plan of the elective camp of Polish Kings in Wola near Warsaw
(Polish:
wolna elekcja) was the
election of individual
kings, rather than of
dynasties, to the
Polish throne between 1572 and 1791, when "free election" was abolished by the
Constitution of May 3, 1791.
Actually the first documented election of a Polish king had occurred as early as 1386, with the selection of
Władysław Jagiełło, Grand Duke of
Lithuania, to be the first king of Poland's second dynasty. However, while the principle of election continued in effect throughout the nearly two centuries of the
Jagiellon Dynasty, it actually amounted to mere confirmation of the incoming dynast.
In 1572 Poland's
Jagiellon dynasty became extinct upon the death, without a successor, of King
Zygmunt II August. During the ensuing
interregnum, anxiety for the safety of the Commonwealth eventually led to agreements among the political classes that, pending election of a new king, supreme authority would be exercised by the
Roman Catholic primate, acting as
interrex (from the
Latin); that
confederations (Polish:
konfederacje) of
nobility would assume power in the country's respective regions; and that, by the "
Warsaw Confederation" of 1573, peace would be maintained among the realm's various
religions. The most important decision, however, was that the next king would be chosen by election, whose terms were finally established at a
convocation sejm (
sejm konwokacyjny) in 1573. On the initiative of southern-Polish nobles, supported by the future Crown (i.e., Polish)
great chancellor and
hetman Jan Zamoyski, the election would be by all male
szlachta (
nobles) who assembled for the purpose.
The nobles voted by province (
voivodship) in the presence of
deputies, who conveyed the
votes to the
senate: the choice of
king was announced by the senate's
marshal and solemnized by the primate.
Royal elections were held at Wielka Wola, outside Warsaw (now that city's western,
Wola district). The stormiest elections were those of 1575 and 1587, when matters came to blows among the divided nobles. Following an election, the king-elect was obliged to sign
pacta conventa (Latin: "agreed-upon agreements")--laundry lists of campaign promises, seldom fulfilled—with his noble electors. The agreements included "
King Henry's Articles" (
artykuly henrykowskie), first imposed on Prince
Henri de Valois (in Polish, Henryk Walezy) at the outset of his brief reign (upon the death of his brother, French King
Charles and had se
The last of the [[Jagiellon kings, Zygmunt August, had in 1529 been elected
vivente rege (Latin: "during the [previous] king's life"); and about 1660 Queen
Ludwika Maria Gonzaga attempted to engineer a similar election. Such elections were meant to enhance the continuity of royal
political power.
Beginning in 1697, Polish royal elections ceased to be truly "free" and took place under duress from foreign armies.
The largest number of participating nobles (40,000–50,000) attended the first free election, in 1573. The second such election, in 1575, drew only 12,000.
Free elections weakened the kings' authority, occasioned quarrels among the voting provinces (voivodships) over the candidates for the throne, and encouraged foreign dynasties' meddling in Polish internal politics. Abolition of free elections became one of the major reforms instituted by Poland's "Great" or "
Four-Year Sejm" (1788-1792) in its
Constitution of May 3, 1791.
Prior to the abolition of "free elections," 13 were held in Poland, resulting in the elevation of the following kings:
See also
