Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The folding of the Sejm as an estate-representative body has roots in veche traditions and is associated with the development of the estate system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the XIV-XVI centuries. The tradition of convening meetings and congresses of representatives of privileged classes has arisen at the gathering places of national meetings. The congresses were based on the idea of ​​the equality of all representatives of the upper class ( nobility ), based on the common right for princes, lords and chivalry to own land on the basis of knightly law. The congresses of the military servants turned into a representative body of the gentry class against the background of registration of the rights of the privileges of the gentry by them, at the same time, the decisions of the Sejm limited the power of the Grand Duke ^[1] .

The election of the 12-year-old Casimir Jagiellonchik , 12 years old, unable to rule independently at such a young age, had a significant influence on strengthening the power of the rich boyars . The governing body of Casimir and his son Alexander had a lot of state councils, at the same time the Council of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania finally took shape (Pana-Rada), whose meetings in full force were often called Sejm . Initially, whether the discussion of a particular issue will take place in a narrow circle of advisers, or with a broader discussion with the participation of specially invited or persons who arrived at their own request, the grand duke decided alone. There is no consensus on the time when the meetings of the monarch with dignitaries turned into meetings of the national representative body. As the first shaft diet ( conventio generalis or diaeta ^[2] ) Matvey Lubavsky singled out the Vilnius Seimas of 1401, at which the question of a union with Poland was decided. The modern Krakow scholar Lydia Korczak considers the Vitebsk Congress of 1433 as such, at which the princes, pans, chivalry and petty bourgeois made a pope against the Grand Duke Sigismund . Oscar Khaletsky called the Vilnius congress of January 1446 the first shaft seym, discussing the question of the possible election of Grand Duke Casimir as King of Poland, and the congress of 1452, which spoke about the problem of preserving Volyn as part of the Grand Duchy. And finally, Nikolai Maksimeyko considered the first Seym of 1492, convened to elect the Grand Duke ^[1] .

The criteria for the emergence of the Sejm include the appearance at meetings as advisers of elected or appointed representatives from the entire “political people”, that is, privileged classes, the frequency and regularity of meetings. Stanislav Rusotsky noted that the Sejm should have been the body for consultation of the Grand Duke, not only with the Pan-Rada, but with representatives of the entire estate, especially the nobility, with the election or appointment of representatives, as well as the presence or absence of the division of the Sejm into houses, values does not have. All representatives were supposed to be not so much witnesses and supplicants as advisers, and it did not matter that their voice was much less important than the voice of the Pan-Rada. The emergence of a national Diet is associated with the emergence of problems that the Grand Duke in the new historical conditions could not solve without the approval of chivalry. So, Matvey Lyubavsky believed that the privilege of Casimir in 1447 established the order in which the Grand Duke was obliged to convene a shaft parliament to raise funds to protect the state. According to the hypothesis of Nikolai Maksimeyko, the emergence of a state-wide Sejm at the end of the 15th century was caused by “military demand” ^[1] .

Representatives of the boyars (gentry) regularly participated in meetings of the Sejm since the first quarter of the XVI century. They also took part in the Sejm of 1492 and 1529, convened to elect a new Grand Duke. It is noted that initially the system of representation did not exist and all the nobles were invited to the congress. For the first time, the introduction of the representative office was proposed by the Grand Duke Sigismund the Old , who in 1511 recommended the election of two gentry from each district. Despite the fact that this practice quickly took root, before the reforms of the 60s of the XVI century it was not forbidden to come to the Sejm and any gentry. Most often, representatives of the gentry elected district officials, usually coronets ^[1] .

The decision to convene the Sejm and its composition was made by the monarch, the exception was the Sejm convened to elect the Grand Duke during his infancy or to resolve issues relating to relations with the Kingdom of Poland or other states. In these cases, the initiative to convene the meeting came from the Pan-Rada, who appointed his time and place and prepared draft decisions of the Sejm ^[1] .

The competence of the Seimas was not clearly indicated. Decisions were made on any issues submitted by the Sejm by the Grand Duke or Pan-Rada. Matters almost always resolved at the Sejm included the election of the monarch, the introduction of new taxes (including for military purposes), issues of war and peace, as well as the union with Poland. At the Sejm, the Grand Duke issued the most important legislative acts and considered the most important court cases. Representatives of the land and the gentry had the right to submit complaints and requests to the monarch, to which he responded by consulting with members of the council ^[1] .

Most often, the Diet was held in the capital - Vilna , as well as in Grodno , Novogrudok , Brest , Minsk and Belsk . Diet was held both in castles and in city squares and in special open areas. The meetings were led by the Marshal of the Zemsky , who also announced the decisions taken and the responses of the Grand Duke to requests ^[1] .

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the gentry's struggle intensified for increasing influence and expanding political rights. At the field (convoy) Diet of 1562, held near Vitebsk, the nobility first formulated their demands, which laid the foundation for broad reforms of the political and legal system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Within a few years, Vilensky (1563) and Belsky (1564) privileges were adopted, administrative reform (1565-1566) was carried out, and a new version of the Lithuanian Statute (1566) was introduced. The gentry from a military population turned into a privileged estate that occupied the dominant position in the state - the “gentry people”. According to the second edition of the Statute, the right to limit the power of the monarch passed from the Rada to a bicameral Diet, in which the representatives of the Povet gentry had a decisive vote. At the same time, the Seimas operating procedure was not specified by the Statute ^[1] .

Meetings of the Sejm were held separately in the chambers: one chamber consisted of Pan-Rada, the second, knightly, united the gentry. As in Poland, each chamber discussed issues separately, and then the decisions of both chambers were brought to agreement ^[1] .

The composition of the Val Diet included all the pans-happy (bishops, governors , coughtans, marshals of the Zemsky and the court, the great hetman , Podskarbiy of the Zemsky and other higher state dignitaries), individual pans and princes arriving by special invitation, and two representatives of the gentry from each Povets, elected by seismic ^[1] .

Of the princes and lords, all the princes Vishnevetsky , Gedroits , Derechinsky, Drutsky , Drutsky-Sokolinsky , Zbarazhsky , Kurtsevichi , Lukomsky , Olelkovichi-Slutsky , Mosalsky , Svirsky , Radziwill , Ruzhinsky , Cheregichov , Sangushki , Allsvycholov , Allsvychi , Sangushki were invited , Ermines , Doynov , Zavis , Ilinichi , Guts , Narbuty , Ostikovichi , Patsy , Solloguby , Sapieha , Tyszkiewicz , Khreptovichi and Shemety ^[1] .

The diet was of an aristocratic character. The dominant position was held by large landowners, who did not receive the gentry rights, the boyars , clergy and philistinism as separate estates of their representation did not have. Only in 1568, Vilna bourgeoisie in the amount of 2 or 3 burmists received the right to attend the Sejm, but they could speak out only when it came to their city ^[1] .

• List of Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

• Dovnar-Zapolsky M.V. Controversial issues in the history of the Lithuanian-Russian Sejm // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. - 1901. - No. 9. - S. 454—498.
• Leontovich F.I. Veca, Sejm, Seymic in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. - 1910. - No. 2. - S. 233—274; No. 3. - S. 37–61.
• Maksimeyko N.A. Seymas of the Lithuanian-Russian State before the Union of Lublin 1569. - Kharkov, 1902. - 205 p.
• Lubavsky M.K. Lithuanian-Russian Diet. Experience in the history of the institution in connection with the internal structure and external life of the state . - M .: University type., 1909. - 1160 p.
• Halecki O. O początkach parlamentaryzmu litewskiego // Sprawozdania z czynności i posiedzeń Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie. - T. 20. - Nr 8. - Sierpień - wrzesień - październik, 1915.