Private wars and in the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania

Today official titles are abundant and hardly represent the ideal of clarity. But, believe it or not, it has been getting better over the past few centuries. Progress was here, and it is easy to see it when one examines how official structure looked a few hundred years ago�lets say around 163x.

First of all, there were several types of officials, which can be broadly divided into:

a)       government officials � responsible for country�s functions, like Great Crown Chancellor;

b)       court officials � responsible for royal court functions, like Master of the Royal Hunt;

Today we would not consider court official an important person. Master of Royal Hunt, it sounds almost ridiculous, does it?

Wrong! In fact, in 163x he took care not simply of royal hunts but he was in charge of country�s forests and other �wild� areas and their protection from poachers. So don�t be mislead by the tiles � while court officials often started doing just what their name suggested (most of those titles appeared around X-XII century, and the first written text with their names dates back to XII century to the chronicles of Gal Anonym), by XVII century they very often had other, more important duties.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. While some titles gained power (good example being marshal, who evolved from fairly unimportant person to one of the most powerful dignitaries) other lost their importance - like the title of the judge.

There are other problems with jumping to the conclusions. Sometimes, the name of one dignitary suggests that he was a subordinate of another. Neither King�s Cup-Bearer (czesnik) was senior to Master Cup-Bearer (podczaszy), nor was it the other way around.

Finally, Rzeczpospolita was composed of several very different provinces, and the local official titles were rarely the same � often, some important dignitary in one province had no corresponding partner in another.

The above division into 2 groups was very broad. A more detailed one is here:

I.                       Senat-related officials (lists B-F)

II.                     Central not senat-related officials (list G)

III.                    Court officials (list G)

IV.                  Military officials (list H)

V.                    District officials (list I)

VI.                  Borough and judicial officials (list J)

VII.                 City and village officials (list K)

VIII.               Guild and union officials

As a side note, Polish parliament consisted of two chambers � higher, Senat, where most important dignitaries were seated (and which will be described below), and lower, Sejm, with delegates of lesser nobles from Sejmik�s (local parliaments).

On who could be an official

From XV to XVIII century only nobles could became an official. But not every noble could be one � there were requirements of age of 23 years or greater and of having substantial personal wealth.

With varying degrees of success, the kings and more enlighten nobles tried to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one or few persons, therefore there was a trend to make many titles.

On curiosities of Polish officials

Once a noble was chosen to be an official, he had a job for a lifetime. He could not be recalled unless he was convicted of high treason. If he agreed, he could be moved to an another, usually higher place in the hierarchy.

There were certain times various kings or nobles wanted to make the titles hereditary, but it has never become a reality. Rarely, the title passed from father to the son, but it was often considered a king�s abuse of power by the rest of the nobles.

The most problematic was certainly the trading in offices. From the �koszyce privilege of 1374 (przywilej koszycki)�, the king had the right to chose which person would become and official. This meant that selling the titles become an important source of income for the king. The title of Crown Deputy Chancellor went in 1638 for 60000 Hungarian ducats.

As one can imagine, the stories connected with this practice would make more then one good movie. Albrecht Radziwill describes in his diaries one such event: the election of District Judge of Luck (sedzia zemski luzycki) in 1643. One of the candidates brought with him a large group of well-armed nobles, the other a regiment of soldiers. Only king�s mediation prevented the bloodshed.

In Poland, the titles had an additional function � they replaced medals, which were deemed unfair by nobles (since all nobles considered themselves equal�of course there always were more equal among equals, but it is another story). Therefore there was a clear division between �officials� nobles and normal nobles.

It went so far that even grandchildren of an official had the right to the title (which did not carry any power, as it was not hereditary, of course � but the prestige remained).

On Senat-related officials

Senat of I Republic consisted of bishops, voivodes, castellans and ministers.

The list of dignitaries allowed to participate in the Senat was finalized in 1569.

The most important of all officials was the Primate, Archbishop of Gniezno. Since 1572, the first time Poland had no king, he was the interrex - acted as the head of the state until new king was elected. He represented the country and prepared elections for the new king. In addition he had the power to call for new Senat session, if he deemed it important, even if king was not present. He also could invoke the �de non praestanda obedientia� article, which gave the country a right to legally overthrow the king. From among the other senators, he chose his own court marshal (often one of the castellans). That person usually acted as a messenger from the archbishop during senat missing, by giving signs (moving the cross) he conveyed how he wishes his allies to vote. His two deputies were bishops of Wroclaw and Poznan.

Among the secular district officials, the first one was the Castellan of Cracow.

Power of voivodes was diminishing since the title was introduced around XII century. In 163x they were the most important of district officials. They were the highest representatives of their voivodship (province) to the Senat. They were the leaders of local parliaments (voivodship�s seimik - sejmiki wojewodzkie). They were in charge of assembling local military forces in case of �common mobilistation� (a specific mobilistation of all nobles in times of war). They chose a deputy voivode, who was responsible for setting local prices and measures. Voivodes were chosen by king, with the exceptions of voivodes of Polock and Vilnus who were elected locally (but still had to be approved by the king).

With the exception of the Castellan of Cracow, the other castellans were often considered to be subordinates of voivoides. They were in charge of a part of the voivodship (called castellanies till XV century, and from that time divided into provinces for Greater Castellans and powiat�s for Minor Castellans).

From 1565 the rule of �incopatibila� has forbidden the voivodes and castellans to hold a second title of a minister, other voivode or a starost, with the exception of hetman.

Ministers were what we would call today the central government officials. They consited of 10 officials (5 for Poland, 5 for Lithuania). Hetmans were also considered �ministers� but had no right to be sited in the Senat.

Ministers consisted of Great Crown Marshal, Great Lithuanian Marshal, Great Crown Chancellor, Great Lithuanian Chancellor, Crown ���Deputy Chancellor, Lithuanian ���Deputy Chancellor, Great Crown Treasurer, Great Lithuanian Treasurer, Court Crown Marshal and Court Lithuanian Marshal.

Court Marshals were considered the subordinates of Great Marshals. Lithuanian ministers, while had the same powers as Crown ones, were considered in hierarchy to be behind them.

Marshals duties consisted of providing security to the king and keeping order where he was present. They had 2 regiments of infantry, a regiment of militia and a special court (with a marshal�s judge, marshal�s writer and assessors.) Those courts dealt sentences on the spot, and there was no appeal. For the crimes like drawing a weapon near the king the penalty was death. Marshal�s court had the jurisdiction over all crimes committed on the court and by the courtiers.

When king traveled, marshals were the supervisors of local voivodes. They decided on who to admit for the royal audience. They were the masters and organizers of royal and court ceremonies (including weddings, funerals and such). They were the masters of court, kept track of lesser courtiers and set their pensions (if applicable). 

Each marshal had a marshal�s staff, which he received from the chancellor. In exchange, all chancellor nominations were heralded by marshals. If no marshal was present, their functions were carried out by a Great Treasurer or secular Great Chancellor.

On formal occasions and in travel, marshal preceded the king, carrying his staff, where appropriate.

Close after the marshals in the hierarchy were the chancellors.

From 1507, the title of Great Crown Chancellor was rotated between secular and ecclesiastic nobles.

Chancellor and his Deputy Chancellor (but not a subordinate!) were responsible for the work of two chancelleries, Greater and Minor one. They were supposed to be in constant contact and develop common policies. Among their responsibilities were the foreign and internal affairs. They had also judiciary powers, leading so called �assessors� courts�, that were the highest appeal courts for people subjected to crowns laws (i.e. not subjected to ecclesiastic or magnates courts).

Chancellor often gave speeches representing the royal will. The symbol of their office was the seal, which was used to seal all documents passing through his office. He also sealed documents signed by the monarch and could refuse to seal a document he considered illegal or damaging to the country (such documents had no power without his seal). When the king died, the seal was destroyed during funeral and new one given to him by the succeeding king.

Therefore they were considered the guardians of the king and country, making sure the kings folly would not endanger the country by forcing it into an unnecessary war (and in fact, they prevented many wars in 163x, including the war with Turkey Wladyslaw wanted to wage after he was elected in 1632).

The chancellor powers combined with the fact that wars required funds, funds were given by the Senat, and nobles were usually unwilling to increase taxes and contributions, meant that Poland very rarely declared wars on its own. Usually it was attacked by its neighbors, and while it repelled all attacks till the end of XVIII centurty, it almost never capitalized on any of its victories. The army was undermanned and under equipped (since usually any suggestion of bigger military budget when enemy was not on the doorstep was considered warmongering) and lands of Rzeczpospolita were ravaged by new invasions, crippling its economy.

Back to the chancellors. They received no official wage, but instead a varying provisions or gifts from thankful clients of Chancellery. The ramifications in the area of corruption does not need to be discussed, I think :/

The Chancelleries were staffed with regent (the boss), secretaries, writers, clerks and metricants. Regent divided the work between the clerks. 2 secretaries (one responsible for private correspondence, second for official) presented the ready letters to the king for his signature. Writers designed the letters, clerks readied the final draft. No copies were made, but instead they were written into the books called Metrics, who were taken care by metricans (2 in Poland, 2 in Lithuania). Metrican of Great Chancellor was called Great Metrican, the one serving Deputy Chancellor was a Minor Metrican.

The staff of Chancellery had no wage, just like the Chancellors, but in the middle of eachreception room was the box into which all clients were supposed to deposit a varying amount of money, and nobody who planned on coming back could afford to be mean.

Last among the ministers were the Great Treasurers. They kept account of country�s finances, cash flow, State Treasury and controlled the making of coins. Since, like chancellors, they had no wages, corruption ran rampant and a sizable potion of state finances was lost in their pockets. If a Treasurer moved to another post, he had to presents accounts of his expenses, and if he died, his family was asked for them. A telling story is that of Boguslaw Leszczynski, who being a Great Treasurer (from 1650 to 1658) received an offer to become a Chancellor (which he accepted in 1658). He bribed all the members of parliament to grant him �absolutory�, and when one of them later opposed him, he asked, curious: �Who is the son of�that I have not paid off?�

Great Treasurers supervised the lesser officials like mnicerz (who was in charge of coin production), dispensators, curators, tax collectors, superintendents, duty officers and sub-tax collectors. It is useful to remember that in those times, goods � and people � were taxed not only at borders, but at bridges, crossroads and city gates.

Central not Senat-related officials

As name suggests, non senat-related officials didn�t have the right to vote in Senat.

The most important were the Great Secretaries (Crown and Lithuanian). Only an ecclesiastic person could be a great secretary. They were considered to be more important then all district and court officials, with the sole exception of court marshal. They could act as chancellors where no chancellor was present. They dealt with secret letters, in senat they read kings letters and or sejm�s declarations. They often acted as assessors and were called �born assessors�.

Next were 4 Referendaries, 2 Secular and 2 Ecclesiastic, one of each was Crown�s, second Lithuanian.

They rarely left the royal court, and their duties comprised of listening to petitions and complains which they referred (hence their name) to the king. They acted also as judges in cases involving peasants from kings lands, and often acted as assessors in other courts.

Close to the office of Referandaries was the Instigator, or what we would call today � Chief National Prosecutor. One for Crown, one for Lithuania, their duty was to uncover and deal with crimes against the king and the country, and had the power to accuse all dignitaries safe the king.

Then came the Great Writers � 1 for Crown, 3 for Lithuania. Their duty was to clarify the royal decrees and send the letters to those dignitaries who must hear about them. They often acted as ambassadors and assessors.

Crown Keeper was the person responsible for safeguarding the Royal Treasury, were royal insignias were kept. Keys to the treasury were kept by Great Treasurer and 6 voivodes, and without all of them, it could not be opened. Traditionally, Crown Keepers where chosen among the priests of Cracow�s Cathedral.

From 1647, the ministers were joined by Great Postmaster, supervisor of the Royal Post, founded in 1547.

As mentioned earlier, the rule was that Polish officials had life long cadences. There were several notable exceptions from that rule.

The most important among them was the Senat Marshal, who chaired the Senat meetings. He could not decide the topic of the meeting, but could suggest it. Traditionally, the Senat Marshal title was rotated among the Senators from 2 provinces of Rzeczpospolita (Wielkopolska and Malopolska) and Lithuania.

Senat Marshal chose the Senat Secretary, who was in charge of keeping records of Senat meetings.

The highest Court for nobles was called The Tribunal, and was headed by Tribunal President and Marshal. Marshal was chosen from and by the judges themselves, while President dealt with matters involving ecclesiastics (and was a high-ranking priest himself).

The second Court was called Crown Treasury court. Wages for all judges were decided on Sejm�s meetings.

Mines were supervised by �zupnik�. Other less important dignitaries, nominated by king or Sejm to deal with specific short term problems were called commissars, lustrates, revisers, delegates, legates and deputies.

Court officials

Court officials are the most difficult to describe. Some held responsibilities important both the court and country, functions of others kept evolving during centuries. In time (usually with end of XVII century), the titles become only honorary and the king had to create another bunch of officials to deal with those responsibilities.

Court officials can be divided into those who dealt with king service and those who ensured the court and run smoothly (in XVI century, it consisted of approximately 1000-1500 people). Since the first group was not subjected to the rule of �incompabilitias�, they often held another title, usually that of a smaller district officials like �starosta�.

Among those who dealt with king�s service, the most important one was the Master of the Kitchen, who supervised the kitchen staff and equipment as well as making of foods. During the feasts, he announced the dishes names.

Second was the Esquire Carver chose and started setting the table. During the feast, he directed the setting of dishes. He was aided by Lord High Steward during the feasts.

Master Food-Cutter finished setting the table (with table utensils and plates), and during the feast cut all dishes that require the usage of knife. After cutting them, he tasted them (in XVII century it was just a tradition, from the days that they were used to detect poison).

Drinks were dealt with by Master Cup-Bearer and King's Cup-Bearer. The first one tasted drinks, poured and ordered them, the second one served them to the king after receiving them from the former one.

For those that beared with me so far, here is a description of a banquet during king Zygmunt III reign in 1596, described by the secretary of papal nuncio (ambassador), Giorgio Paolo Mucante: "Each dish was first given, with a bow, by Master of the Kitchen to the Master Food-Cutter, who passed it to the Esquire Carver. He dipped a prepared piece of bread into the dish, touched it with his tongue and then threw it away into a nearby silver bin. It took quite a while before the king and the cardinal started eating, since they had to bear all the ceremonies. The Master Food-Cutter was bowing so often that I truly think that during that feast he bowed at least 3000 times"

The second group of the dignitaries was lead by Court Marshall (described above). Then there was:

-          Chamberlain �  in charge if kings court and economy on crown grounds

-          Standard-keeper - carrying king's or country's banner

-          Sword-bearer - carrying sword before the king

-          Master of the Horse - in charge of kings stables and horse breeding grounds

-          Master of the Royal Hunt - organized hunts, guarded royal forests from poachers

-          Court Treasurer managed the finances of the king, kept account of his personal treasure and supervised the courts treasures

-          King�s Secretaries � dealt with kings personal correspondence

-          King�s Chaplain � headed the courts masses, supervised the liturgical courts treasures and headed the courts musicians

-          and a lot of other dignitaries, less and less important, dealing with things like food supplies, transport, etc.

Queen had her separate court, but it was staffed with women and its influence over the country was much smaller.

Military officials

Hetmans were the highest military officials. As most of the positions in I Rzeczpospolita, hetman was a job for life and couldn�t be removed even if he was a poor commander. Until beginning of XVIII century, they were not paid for their job.

Hetmans were very independent; they could keep their own foreign contacts with Ottoman Empire, Russia and Tatars. They distributed the military budgets as they felt like and as the highest commanders and administrators, hetman made administrative and juridical law concerning military. From 1590 those had the same power as Sejm�s decisions.

Hetmans symbol was a mace, which was added to his coat of arms (see coats of arms of hetmans and several other dignitaries here: http://www.bezuprzedzen.pl/urzedy/urzedygaleria.html).

There were 2 types of hetmans (besides the division into Crown and Lithuanian) � Great and Field. Field were subordinates of Great ones, and were sometimes called Border Hetmans, since they evolved from commanders of permanent garrisons on Polish south-eastern borders (which was a great school of combat, since it was a land almost constantly attacked by Ottomans and Tatars).

Cosak�s were commanded by a commissar, chosen by the hetmans for the period of 2 years. Below hetmans were regimentars, the commanders of common mobilization in voivodships.

Hetmans and regimentars were accompanied by a Staff composed of officers named: Great Guardians, Field Guardians, Field Writers, Great Camp Leader and Field Camp Leaders.  Those officers were paid for their work (Lithuanian Field Guardian, Field Writer and Camp Leader received 15000 polish zloty�s per year. Crown Field Writer received 30000 per year).

Great Guardian supervised the scout forces during movement and camping and commanded the front guard (however, if both hetmans were present, field one acted as Great Guardian).

Field Guardians were found only on the eastern borders.

Field Writers kept accounts of people, equipment and fortifications. He was in charge of paying soldiers wages.

Camp Leaders were responsible for choosing the current camping place for the armies, building the camps, logistics and security inside the camps.