Poland has become kingdom in 1025 year, and in 1569 Kingdom of Poland merged with Grand Duchy of Lithuania— I Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (lat. “rēs rūblica”). Main role Poles played in this union. As a result, between the Russian empires and Sweden at the beginning of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced a process of disintegration into two states. Thanks to the victory of Peter I over the Swedes, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth retained its existence, but became heavily dependent on its neighbors.
In the summer of 1701, the Swedish king Charles XII invaded with the main forces in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and conquered Courland; V In July 1702, the Swedes occupied Warsaw and smashed Polish-Saxon army near Kliszow (near Krakow). Swedish king Charles XII intervened in the internal political struggle in Poland and in July 1704 obtained from the Polish Sejm deposition Elector of SaxonyAugusta II and electing his candidate to the throne Stanislav Leshchinsky. IN 1705 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into a military alliance with Sweden against Russia.
Since 1709, the throne in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was occupied by monarchs from Saxony, Poland was dependent on the German states - Saxony, Prussia and Austria.
Between In 1772 and 1795, Russia, together with Prussia and Austria, participated in the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. First section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place on February 19 1772 g., second section - January 23 1793 third section - October 24, 1795., as a result of which an entire state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, disappeared from the map of Europe. The territory of Poland was divided between three countries: Prussia, Austria and Russia.
Main role in first section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth V 1772 g. played by Empress Catherine the Great. By joining most Polish lands to their possessions, the Russian Empire became the largest and most influential state on the European continent.
Russia's influence on Poland was especially pronounced during the election of the king in 1764 When The Polish Sejm elected Stanislaw Poniatowski, a favorite of Empress Catherine the Great. Into the Empress's plans Catherine II further divisions of Poland were not included, Russia was quite happy with a semi-independent state that would become a buffer between Russia and the countries Western Europe, ready to start a war at any moment.
However, sections Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth still took place.
One of the reasons why Russia agreed to the partitions of Poland was the possible alliance of Turkey and Austria against the Russian Empire. Eventually, Catherine II accepted Austria's offer for divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in exchange for Austria's refusal of an alliance with Turkey.
In fact, Austria and Prussia forced Catherine II go to the second and third sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, since Western neighbors intended, even without Russia’s consent, to independently begin the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and this created a great threat in Eastern Europe.
The reason to start sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth served as a religious question. Russia demanded that Poland grant rights and privileges to the Orthodox population. In Poland itself there were both supporters and opponents of the implementation of Russia’s demands, who started a civil war. It was at this time that the monarchs of three neighboring countries gathered in Vienna and made a secret decision to begin the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The main stages and results of the sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
History included three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a result of which Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist.
After the secret treaty in Vienna, the Russian Empire, Prussia and Austria in 1772 d. switched to practical actions first section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Russia received part of the Baltic states (Livonia), the eastern part of modern Belarus.
Prussia received the northwestern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth along the coast of the Baltic Sea (up to Gdansk).
Austria received the lands of the Krakow and Sandomierz voivodeships (without Krakow), as well as the territory of Galicia.
Second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - 1793
Constitution, proclaimed at the Warsaw Sejm May 3, 1791 caused great discontent among magnates and gentry Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Part Polish gentry and gentry of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, outwardly expressing submission Russian Empire, secretly prepared for an uprising, arousing the discontent of the people, they formed conspiracies, waiting for a suitable opportunity for an uprising, and hoping for financial assistance from revolutionary France.
IN 1792 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth carried out several reforms aimed at resolving internal political conflicts, as well as an attempt to return previously lost lands. This caused dissatisfaction on the part of the Russian Empire, since in the future The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could declare war on it.
By joint agreement Prussia and Russia organized second partition of Poland. According to its results, Russia annexed part of Belarusian-Ukrainian Polesie, Volyn and Podolia(modern Ukraine). Prussia included in its composition Gdańsk and part of the Masovian Voivodeship.
Polish uprising of 1794. Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
The national liberation uprising in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was being prepared General Tadeusz Kosciuszko, son of a noble Lithuanian nobleman, Count Ignasy Pototsky(1750-1809) and Hugo Kollontai(1750-1812), leader of the Lithuanian Jacobins, Colonel Yakov-Ignasy Yasinsky(1761-1794) - and more more than 70 conspirators ready-made March 24 1794 start an uprising, and start recruiting volunteers. On May 7, 1794, Kosciuszko issued a decree on the release of the peasants who participated in the uprising; they were called “kosiners.”
The rebels established control over the territory of the central and part of the northern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Warsaw, Krakow, Vilna and Lublin. The government of the Polish Republic, headed by King Stanislaus Augustus, in its manifesto it spoke out “against Kosciuszko.” The Russian army was moving from the south towards the rebels Alexandra Suvorova, With east - army General Saltykov, sent by Empress Catherine II, and from the west - the armies of Austria and Prussia, under the leadership of the Prussian king Frederick II Wilhelm and General of the Infantry Baron Ivan Evstafievich von Fersen (1747-1800).
October 7, 1794 General Kosciuszko(6,500 infantry, 4,000 cavalry) opposed the troops of General Ivan von Fersen, at the Battle of Maciejowice October 10, 1794 The Russians completely defeated the Polish-Lithuanian army of Kosciuszko, in this battle the Poles lost 5,000 killed and 1,500 captured, including the commander-in-chief, generals Sierakowski, Mikhail Kamensky (1758-1812) and Karl-Otto Knyazhevich (1762-1842).
Empress Catherine II wrote to the Polish king Stanislaus Augustus: « All my worries in this regard there were paid with ingratitude, hatred and treachery. ...you can safely expect that state interests and the general interest of peace will decide about the future fate of Poland».
January 3, 1795 by Russia, Prussia and Austria was decided third partition of Poland, approved and signed in St. Petersburg on October 24, 1795. In November 1795, the Polish king Stanislaw August Poniatowski abdicated the throne. and, having received a pension of 20,000 ducats, settled in St. Petersburg.
Russia received 2,000 square miles of Polish territory - most of modern Belarus - up to the Grodno-Nemirov line and the city of Vilna.
Prussia annexed Warsaw and 1,000 miles of land in central Poland, and western Lithuania.
Austria included 834 miles of territory between Pilica and the Vistula and the city of Krakow.
Historical consequences of the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
According to the results three sections The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist. It was revived only after the First World War.
Domestic problems. The division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became possible due to internal conflicts and the weakening of power in Poland. One of the problems of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which led to the decline and further disappearance of the state, was the system political structure Poland. Main government body - Polish Sejm, consisted of Polish-Lithuanian gentry- large landowners who chose the king. Each nobleman had the right of veto, that is, he could cancel the collective decision of the Polish Sejm if he alone did not agree with it. This acceptance system government decisions led to the fact that life in the state stopped for several months, and in conditions of war or military aggression this had tragic consequences. Kings were elected by the nobility rather than passing down their power by inheritance, and as a result, kings began to play an increasingly larger role in politics. intrigues, treachery, betrayal, secret agreements of the gentry.
An equally important reason for the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the rapid expansion of neighboring states Prussia and Austria take over neighboring Polish territories.
Prussia laid claim to the northern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, primarily the large Baltic Sea port of Gdansk. Austrian Empire claimed to establish control over Central Europe, she was interested in the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, inhabited by Poles and Ukrainians. Austria was ready to enter into an alliance with Ottoman Empire and start a war against Russia, and only by dividing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was it possible to stop these aspirations of Austria.
Russia also significantly expanded its possessions, but at the same time acquired a big problem in the form Polish struggle for independence, which manifested itself in the national liberation uprisings of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864.
However in 1795, all three participants in the partitions of Poland were satisfied the current situation, as evidenced by the absence of conflicts and territorial claims against each other.
Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1918 - 1939), as Poland was called between the First and Second World Wars, appeared on the political map of the world after a 123-year break in 1918 and was an aggressive state. Immediately after its appearance Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to seize foreign lands where Poles did not make up the majority of the population. At first they occupied the lands taken away from Russia as a result of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, replacing the German and Austro-Hungarian troops leaving there with Polish troops. Thanks to the October Revolution of 1917, Russia was revived SecondPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Poles “thanked” the Bolsheviks for gaining state status, and in January 1919 Poland began a war with Soviet Russia.
Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Red Army were busy fighting the White Guards, the Polish authorities managed to carry out “a century-old dream” - to recreate the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders of 1772. But this was not enough for them: the Polish troops moved on.
In May 1920, the Poles captured Kyiv and still continued the offensive, crossing the Dnieper. Now the Poles obviously wanted borders of 1612, that is, the capture of Moscow. In any case, back in January 1920 ruler of Poland Jozef Pilsudski in a conversation with the English diplomat Halford Mackinder said that Polish troops could take Moscow in the spring 1921. He stated more than once that his dream is to write on the Kremlin wall: "Speaking Russian is prohibited."
By the way, the Polish miracle happened, but not in Moscow, but on the Vistula. After the Red Army defeated the troops of Kolchak and Yudenich, and drove Denikin’s troops into the Crimea, the turn came aggressors from the West. Already in August 1920, the Red Army stood 20 kilometers from Warsaw. But mistakes were made here. Troops weakened by months of continuous fighting Soviet Russia broke away from their supply bases, stretching the front line.
All this allowed the Polish troops, having received enormous military assistance, primarily from the United States, to accomplish what they themselves call the “miracle on the Vistula” - go on a counteroffensive and defeat the Red Army. March 18, 1921 in Riga a peace treaty was signed, according to which Western Belarus and Western Ukraine went to Poland. At the same time, in violation of all international treaties, Polish troops captured the capital of the independent Lithuania and later incorporated Vilnius into their state. During the war The Polish army organized Jewish pogroms in Vilnius and Lvov.
In 1764, he actively supported the rise to power of Stanisław August Poniatowski, one of his former favorites, to power on the Polish throne. There is reason to believe that Catherine gave birth to her daughter Anna, who died at the age of two from smallpox, from Poniatovsky, although he recognized the girl as his own.
At the Sejm of late 1767 and early 1768, called the “Repninsky Sejm” because of the noticeable influence that Catherine’s representative Nikolai Repnin had on its decisions, Orthodox and Protestants became equal in rights with those who professed Catholicism.
Having thus received the opportunity to occupy all positions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Catholic hierarchs of Poland reacted to this innovation with indignation; part of the Polish gentry, dissatisfied with the decisions of the Repninsky Sejm, formed a confederation against the king and Russian interference.
Sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Starts in Poland Civil War. Russia, Austria and Prussia could not stand aside, and on February 19, 1772, a document on partition was signed in Vienna with the condition that each state participating in the partition of Poland would receive an equal part. Shortly before this, on February 6, 1772, Russia and Prussia entered into an agreement in St. Petersburg. At the beginning of August, troops of Russians, Prussians and Austrians crossed the border of Poland and occupied the areas assigned to them in accordance with the convention.
The divisions of Poland came to an end. As a result of the division, Central Prussia united with East Prussia - previously Königsberg was separated from Berlin. Austria received the densely populated southern provinces with Krakow and Lvov. Eastern Belarus went to Russia: Polotsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Mogilev.
Twenty years after the first partition, the Polish state was preparing to fight back. Government reform, economic recovery, one of the world's first constitutions - not everyone is happy with this. A confederation is formed again against the king, now the opposition demands the intervention of Catherine and calls for Russian troops.
The division of the second Poland took place in 1793 between Russia and Prussia. Poland loses two-thirds of its territory. Prussia receives the largest port - Gdansk, as well as Torun and Poznan. Russia - right-bank Ukraine with Zhitomir and Vinnitsa and then moves into Belarus: Minsk, Slutsk.
Uprising of Tadeusz Kosciuszko during the Partition of Poland
An uprising breaks out. Its initiator was Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Belarusian nobleman and a skilled general, a graduate of the Paris Academy and a participant in the War of Independence in the United States. The center of the uprising, the ancient capital of Krakow, is located in the Austrian zone of occupation, but the Poles consider the Russians to be their main enemies.
The first defeat to the Russians is inflicted by Kosciuszko's cosiners - Polish peasants armed with scythes. The rebels win in Warsaw and Vilna. Catherine sends Suvorov to pacify the Poles. He takes Vilna, Kosciuszko is defeated near Warsaw, arrested and placed in the famous Peter and Paul prison. And after the Warsaw suburb of Prague was taken by storm, the Polish capital surrendered. Suvorov’s report was summed up in one phrase: “Hurray, Warsaw is ours.” The third partition of Poland follows in 1795, after which the country ceased to exist as an independent state for 125 years.
Warsaw, taken by the Russians under the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, went to Prussia and remained a Prussian city until 1807, when Napoleon, having defeated Prussia, restored the Duchy of Warsaw. After 1815, Warsaw passes to Russia. German neighbors probably would not allow Russia to solve problems with Poland one on one. But gifts to them from Russian diplomacy are not at all justified.
freed Kosciuszko from the Peter and Paul Fortress on the ninth day after the death of Catherine. As a result of the division, a huge number of Catholics became citizens.
Did you know that...
Three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795) between Austria, Prussia and Russia led to the fact that the Polish state was absent from the political map of Europe for 123 years. Throughout the 19th century, Polish politicians and historians argued about who was more to blame for the loss of independence. The majority considered the external factor to be decisive. And among the powers that divided Poland, the role of the main organizer was assigned to the Russian Empire and Catherine II. This version is popular to this day, and is layered with events in the history of Poland in the twentieth century. As a result, a stable stereotype was formed: Russia for several centuries was the main enemy of Poland and the Poles. Why is this myth so persistently promoted by some Polish politicians today?
What were the true reasons for its division?
What is stated on this topic in publicly available information sources.
Prelude to the section
From 1669 to 1673 the ruler was Mikhail Vishnevsky. Researchers conclude that he was an unprincipled man, since he played along with the Habsburgs and simply gave Podolia to the Turks. John III Sobieski, who was his nephew and reigned from 1674 to 1696, waged a successful war against the Ottoman Empire. He also liberated Vienna from the Turks in 1683. But, based on the treaty, which was called “Eternal Peace,” Yan had to cede some lands to Russia, in exchange for these lands he received a promise that Russia would help them in the fight against the Crimean Tatars, as well as the Turks. After Jan III Sobieski passed away, the state was ruled by foreigners for seventy years.
The third section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became the last of the three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a result of which it ceased to exist.
The defeat of the Kosciuszko uprising in 1794, directed against the divisions of the country, served as the reason for the final liquidation of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
On October 24, 1795, the states participating in the partition determined their new boundaries. Simultaneously with this condition, a secret agreement was signed in St. Petersburg between Austria and Russia, clearly hostile to Prussia - on military assistance in the event that Prussia attacked any of the allied states.
As a result of the Third Partition, Russia received lands east of the Bug and the Nemirov-Grodno line, with a total area of 120 thousand km² and a population of 1.2 million people. Prussia acquired territories inhabited by ethnic Poles to the west of pp. Pilica, Vistula, Bug and Neman, together with Warsaw (referred to as South Prussia), as well as lands in Western Lithuania (Zemaitija), with a total area of 55 thousand km² and a population of 1 million people. Krakow and part of Lesser Poland between Pilica, Vistula and Bug, part of Podlasie and Mazovia, with a total area of 47 thousand km² and a population of 1.2 million people, came under Austrian rule.
King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who was taken to Grodno, resigned on November 25, 1795. The states that participated in the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth concluded an agreement 1797 "St. Petersburg Convention", which included regulations on the issues of Polish debts and the Polish king, as well as a commitment that the monarchs of the contracting parties would never use the name "Kingdom of Poland" in their titles.
The Russian Empire received the lands of Western Belarus, part of Lithuania, Western Volyn and part of the Kholm land with a population of about 1 million 200 thousand people.
In Prussia, three provinces were created from former Polish lands: West Prussia, South Prussia and New East Prussia. Official language became German, Prussian land law was introduced and German school, the lands of the “royalty” and spiritual estates were selected for the treasury.
The lands that came under the rule of the Austrian crown were called Galicia and Lodomeria, they were divided into 12 districts. The German school and Austrian law were also introduced here.
As a result of the three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian lands of White Rus' (except for the part with the city of Bialystok, which went to Prussia) and Little Rus' (except for Galicia, which went to Austria) with the Russian indigenous population passed to Russia, and the indigenous Polish lands, we want to draw attention to this , inhabited by ethnic Poles, were divided between Prussia and Austria. And for some reason Russia is considered the main enemy of the Poles. Why?
WHAT IS MODERN POLISH HISTORIOGRAPHY, THE PRESS AND THE AUTHORITY SILENT?
The divisions of Poland in the 18th century were carefully managed Soviet historians: the Poles’ version of the role of Russia was shared by Karl Marx, with whom it is impossible to argue with in Marxist historiography. Some archival documents about the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were declassified only starting in the 1990s, and modern researchers received additional documentary grounds for an objective analysis of the processes that led to the disappearance of one of the largest states of what was then Europe.
Let's start with the fact that the mere desire of three powerful neighbors for the divisions of Poland was completely insufficient.
Unlike Austria, Russia and Prussia, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth there were neither prerequisites for the imperial development of the state, nor a strong regular army, nor a consistent foreign policy. Therefore, it was the internal factor of the collapse of the state that was of utmost importance. And this is true in relation to the collapse of any state, regardless of the external factors influencing it: if there is internal weakness, you can break it, if there is no weakness, you cannot.
The famous Polish historian Jerzy Skowronek (in 1993-1996 - chief director of the state archives of Poland) noted:
“The partitions and fall of Poland were a tragic refutation of one of the “brilliant” principles of the foreign policy of the gentry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He said that it is precisely the powerlessness of the state that is the basis and condition for unlimited democracy and the freedom of each of its citizens, which at the same time serves as a guarantee of its existence... In fact, it turned out the other way around: namely the impotence of the Polish state pushed its neighbors to liquidate Poland».
So, the very quality of the Polish state made it possible for external factors to play.
Let us note that the initiator of the process was not Catherine II at all. Russia was quite happy with the policy of “tough and comprehensive guardianship” over the weakening Polish state that had developed since the time of Peter the Great. But in Berlin and Vienna they had a completely different attitude.
Jerzy Skowronek logically emphasized:
“The main instigator of the divisions of Poland was Prussia; Austria willingly supported it. Both powers feared that Russia, implementing its policy, would firmly draw the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into the orbit of its unlimited influence.”
That is, the Russian Empire did not pursue the goal of erasing geographical map its centuries-old geopolitical enemy in the person of Poland. A similar desire was experienced primarily by the Prussian king Frederick II, and for obvious reasons.
Part of the Prussian lands with Königsberg, formed on the basis of the possessions of the Teutonic Order, was in vassal dependence on Poland until the middle of the 17th century. Russian Field Marshal I.F. Paskevich reasonably argued that:
“Prussia is a concession from Poland to the Elector of Brandenburg.”
But even later, in conditions of separation East Prussia from the remaining territories with a center in Berlin, the full existence of Prussia without the seizure of Polish lands was impossible.
Naturally, the main initiator of all three divisions of Poland was the Prussian Kingdom.
The final version of the first partition was imposed on Austria and Russia in January 1772 by the Prussian king. Catherine II resisted these plans of Frederick II for some time. But in conditions when the Polish authorities and the weak king Stanislav Augustus could not provide Russia with stable support for its positions against the backdrop of growing resistance from Berlin and Vienna to Catherine’s new successes in the great war with Turkey (1768-1774), the empress accepted the partition project. The Russian Empress assumed that Poland, albeit in a reduced form, retaining its capital Warsaw, would remain an independent state.
But Prussia did not want to stop there and became the main initiator and organizer of the two subsequent sections. Taking advantage of the fact that the only possible opponent of such a development of events - France - had been engulfed in revolution since 1789, his nephew Frederick William II, who replaced Frederick II on the throne who died in 1786, brought the matter of eliminating Polish statehood to completion.
Prussia in the early 1790s, as Jerzy Skowronek wrote,
“showed particular cynicism: by luring the Poles with the prospect of a supposedly possible union, she encouraged the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to quickly formally leave Russia’s tutelage (even accompanied by anti-Russian gestures) and to begin quite radical reforms, and then abandoned it to the mercy of fate, agreeing on a second partition "
While Russia in 1772-1795 received territories with a non-Polish peasant majority of the population (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians), Prussia included the most important part of the original Polish lands with the capital Warsaw, capturing the most economically and culturally developed Polish regions.
SOME CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE REASONS FOR THE COLLAPSE OF THE RICHE POSPOLITA
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a state that was formed in 1569 by the unification of Lithuania and Poland. The Poles played the main role in this union, which is why historians often call the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth experienced a process of disintegration into two states. This was the result of the Northern War between the Russian Empire and Sweden. Thanks to the victory of Peter I, Poland retained its existence, but became heavily dependent on its neighbors. In addition, since 1709, monarchs from Saxony were on the throne in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which indicated the country’s dependence on the German states, the main of which were Prussia and Austria. Therefore, Russia’s participation in the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth must be studied on the basis of connections with Austria and Prussia, which laid claim to this territory. These 3 countries have clearly and secretly influenced the state for many years.
One of the reasons why Russia agreed to the partitions of Poland was the potential alliance of Turkey and Austria against the Russian Empire. Eventually, Catherine accepted Austria's offer to partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in exchange for renouncing an alliance with Turkey. In fact, Austria and Prussia forced Catherine II to partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Moreover, if Russia had not agreed to the conditions of Poland’s western neighbors, they would have begun the division on their own, and this created a great threat in eastern Europe.
The reason for the beginning of the partitions of Poland was also a religious issue: Russia demanded that Poland provide rights and privileges to the Orthodox population. In Poland itself, supporters and opponents of the implementation of Russia's demands have formed. A civil war actually began in the country. It was at this time that the monarchs of three neighboring countries gathered in Vienna and made a secret decision to begin the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Thus, one of the problems of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which led to the decline and further disappearance, was the system of political structure. The fact is that the main state body of Poland, the Sejm, consisted of the gentry - large landowners who even elected the king. Each nobleman had the right of veto: if he did not agree with the decision government agency, then the decision was reversed. This could lead to the fact that the state body could stop for several months, and in conditions of war or military aggression from neighbors this could have tragic consequences.
However, the structure of society was crowd-“elite” both in the Russian Empire and in the included territories, for some reason the subjective vector of goals of the current bloc control center (the tsarist government) did not correspond to the objective general bloc vector of goals (the mission of Russian civilization http://inance. ru/2017/08/missiya-russkoy-civilizacii/), this was the reason for management errors and the subsequent collapse of management of the Russian Empire.
The Russian authorities were concerned with the issue of integrating new lands into the state in accordance with their subjective vector of goals. An administrative reform was carried out: the lands were divided into 5 provinces, which in turn were united into two general governorates: Belarusian (Vitebsk, Mogilev) and Lithuanian (Vilna, Grodno and Minsk provinces).
An attempt was made to integrate the population of new territories into the empire without conflict. The entire population took an oath. The nobles who did not want to do this had the right to sell their property and go abroad within three months. Those who remained received the rights and privileges enjoyed by the Russian nobility and came under the jurisdiction of the Russian state. Their privileged status was guaranteed by the “Certificate of Nobility” issued by Catherine II in 1785. At the same time, some privileges enjoyed by the gentry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were eliminated: privileges that undermined the foundations of centralized state(the right to choose a monarch, gather in povet sejmiks, elect judges, maintain one’s own troops and fortresses).
Russian legislation was gradually introduced on Belarusian lands. The local gentry and merchants were allowed to elect their deputies to develop a new national code; in 1777, district and provincial noble assemblies were created, and leaders of the nobility were elected.
Privately owned cities were bought by the authorities, residents were given equal rights with the rest of the population of the Russian Empire, Magdeburg law was abolished, and legal laws were also abolished. Cities were governed by city dumas: it was an elected body of city self-government, created on the basis of class representation. The Russian tax system also extended to the Belarusian lands: all state taxes were replaced by a poll tax and zemstvo tax. Due to extreme poverty, Belarusian peasants were exempted from taxes for two years, in the next 10 years they were levied at half the amount, and then they began to be levied in full, and recruitment kits were introduced.
At first, the Russian authorities took into account the peculiarities of socio-economic and social life in the region and did not switch to an open Russification policy, therefore the national policy of the authorities was moderate; office work, printing, and education of children were conducted in Polish, as before.
At first, a very restrained policy was also pursued regarding religion. IN late XVIII century, 38% of Catholics, 39% of Uniates, 10% of Jews, 6.5% of Orthodox Christians and representatives of other faiths lived on Belarusian lands. All confessions were allowed, but Orthodoxy became the state religion. The local Orthodox Church came under the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod, which was the highest governing body in the Russian Orthodox Church. Catholicism was widespread in Belarus, and the activities of the Jesuit order, which was banned by the Pope in 1773, developed. With the permission of the Russian authorities, the Jesuits were engaged in missionary activities, charity, and opened pharmacies, colleges, and libraries. The order was expelled after the War of 1812 due to collaboration Catholic clergy with the French occupation administration.
The social structure of the Belarusian provinces was class-based.
Estates:
Privileged - nobility, clergy, merchants and honorary citizens(famous scientists, artists, educated children of nobles and clergy).
The tax-paying classes included peasants (privately owned, state-owned and free) and townspeople.
In the first half of the 19th century, a legally formalized category of the population emerged in Belarus - raznochintsy (not a tax-paying, but also not a privileged group of the population, as a rule, these were educated people who were engaged in mental work - lower officials, gymnasium teachers, representatives of science, literature and art) .
The class policy on the territory of Belarus was aimed at strengthening the position of Russia and was carried out through the introduction of Russian land ownership. Even Catherine II distributed the bulk of state lands, together with peasants (over 180 thousand people), to Russian nobles and officials. In relation to the Belarusian nobility, the Russian authorities pursued a very moderate policy, hoping to strengthen the loyalty of the gentry to the throne. True, this did not apply to the minor nobility, in relation to whom the so-called “analysis of the gentry” was carried out, which consisted of checking the availability and validity of documents confirming noble origin. The gentry who did not pass the test were transferred to the tax-paying estates.
In general, the policy of the Russian authorities at the end of the 18th century and the first third of the 19th century was moderate. However, after the War of 1812, when many gentry and townspeople greeted Napoleon as a liberator, the discovery of secret student societies and the gentry uprising of 1830-31, Polish influence began to be driven out and a policy of Russification was pursued.
The Polonized gentry did not have support from the population and they were reoriented and divided into the pro-Belarusian and pro-Lithuanian parts. Some of the gentry turn to Belarusian spoken language and begins its literary processing. The appeal to the Belarusian folk language and customs is accompanied by a gradual, albeit rather painful, abandonment of the names “Lithuania” and “Litvins”, which are assigned to ethnic Lithuania. At the same time, the appeal to the “Litvinian” heritage remains a structure-forming element of this version of the Belarusian national ideology: the polytonym “Litvinians” is “privatized” as an ancient ethnonym of Belarusians, official language The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which contemporaries called Russian, is declared “Old Belarusian” (respectively, “new” Belarusian language becomes his direct heir), and the only candidate for the role of the capital of the future Belarusian state seems to be the city of Vilna. It was from this time that disputes began between ethnic Lithuanians and Belarusian “Litvins” about who “owned” medieval Lithuania.
Thus, the political and ideological monopoly of the Polonized “Litvinian” aristocracy in the region was undermined. Competing with Polo-Litvinism are Western Russianism, as well as the Belarusian and Lithuanian movements, which, claiming ownership of the heritage of historical Lithuania, laid the preconditions for the division of the region between the ethnic groups inhabiting it.
That is, in general, we see a process of more or less peaceful entry of Belarusian lands into Russia, taking into account local specifics, until the War of 1812, when a vector of goals was identified among the gentry, aimed at destroying the bloc, and not at increasing the stability of management and solving problems society. For what reason has policy become tougher towards the “elite” strata of society. In relation to the common people, since the advent of serfdom in Rus', it has always been tough.
MEANWHILE…
Throughout the 19th century, powerful pressure was exerted on Russia, the purpose of which was to force it to accept, as God’s good providence, the biblical project of buying up the world on the basis of a monopoly on usury, the ideological basis of which is the Old Testament. Even the Decembrists took part in this process. Our Orthodoxy was based on the New Testament and the Psalter, and not on the Old Testament. But the activities of the Bible Society and Masonic lodges, aimed at changing the ideological position of part of the clergy and intelligentsia, bore fruit, and another sacred book appeared in Russia - the Old Testament, under the same cover as the New Testament. The Holy Synod for the most part did not understand the essence of what was happening and even approved the Jew Khvolson and Rabbi Levinson as translators, and the secular power that came after Nicholas I not only did not interfere with this process, but itself contributed to the acceleration of events. The clergy argued about what was the standard for translating the Old Testament. Some believed that it was the Hebrew Bible, others that it was the Septuagint, and some preferred the Church Slavonic version. But by that time this was no longer of fundamental importance: all options had been corrected, including the New Testament. The struggle for the standard of translation was provoked to divert attention from the main goal of the owners of the biblical project, which was the acceptance by the Orthodox country of the Old Testament as sacred scripture, into which the ideological basis was inserted for the enslavement of not only Russia, but the entire planet through a usurious stranglehold.
What does this have to do with the Jews?
Under Catherine II, the bulk of the Jews ended up in Russia as a result of the division of Poland, which was a surprise to her, and no one understood how to behave in relation to this mass. But it was Catherine II who laid the foundation for the Jewish Pale of Settlement with a decree of December 23, 1791 (January 3, 1792), which formally was the final reaction of the imperial government to the letter of the Vitebsk Jewish merchant Tsalka Faibishovich; The decree allowed Jews to permanently reside in Belarus and Novorossiya, then a region recently annexed to Russia, and prohibited registration as a merchant, in particular in Moscow (which was what local merchants, fearing competition, demanded).
A researcher of the history of Jewry in Russia, Heinrich Sliozberg, noted that Catherine’s decree of 1791 was evidence of only:
“that they did not consider it necessary to make an exception for Jews: restrictions on the right of movement and free choice of residence existed for everyone, to a large extent even for the nobles.”
With the third partition of Poland, the provinces of Vilna and Grodno, where a significant number of Jews lived, became part of the border. Alexander “established a special committee to discuss the issue of improving the life of Jews in Russia. The final legal formalization of the Pale of Settlement was provided by the “Regulations on the Organization of the Jews” of 1804, which listed those provinces and territories where Jews were allowed to settle and trade.
The “Regulations” strictly ordered all Jews to be enrolled in one of the “states”: farmers, manufacturers, artisans, merchants, and philistines. This was a mistake, because the division into these classes did not meet the task of protecting Russia from the biblical project and neutralizing its activists and bearers. The “Regulations” of 1804 were partly based on the “Opinion” of Senator Gavrila Derzhavin on the causes of food shortages in Belarus, and to a large extent on Polish bills of the 18th century. Educational measures are in the foreground in this “Regulation”: Jews are given access to Russian educational establishments and the spread of the Russian language between them is encouraged.
Nicholas I also did not realize this and tried in every possible way to make the Jews normal residents of Russia, thinking that they would become Christians, serve in the army and fulfill all civic duties. But all in vain: the lack of understanding of global politics even by such an outstanding Russian figure had sad consequences for the country and its people as a whole.
Here is what Andrei Dikiy writes about this time:
"IN early XIX century, when Russia received more than a million Jewish subjects, Jews who did not know the Russian language, did not have any large capital, were generally alien to the pan-European culture and did not want to join it - could not, and did not, exert any influence on state policy wanted. But in less than one century everything has changed. Large capitals were accumulated in Jewish hands; a cadre of Jews has been created who have fully mastered the Russian language and graduated from higher and secondary schools; with the help of accumulated capital, Jews penetrated into all sectors of economic and cultural life countries. To this we must add the fact that in Europe, starting from half of the 19th century century, Jewish capital sometimes acquired decisive importance not only internally, but also foreign policy in many states. And Russia urgently needed foreign investment to develop its industry. From the Rothschilds, French, English, Austrian; Much depended on the German Mendelssohn in resolving certain financial issues in the policies of these states towards Russia. The largest and most influential newspapers and publishing houses in Europe, telegraph agencies (which made “political weather”) were either purely Jewish or with a strong influence of Jews. The issue of loans or trade agreements was often made directly dependent on the policy of the Russian government in the “Jewish question.” Five and a half million Jewish Russian subjects took an active part in economic life not only in the Pale of Settlement, but throughout Russia and, despite all the existing restrictions, achieved enviable success. At the beginning of the 19th century, when they became subjects of Russia, all Jews were exclusively traders, various tenants, brokers, intermediaries and owners of drinking establishments (taverns, taverns). There were neither the big bourgeoisie nor people with a secular education among them. There were no people involved in agricultural labor (personal, physical) or landowners. In just one century, the picture has changed dramatically. On the eve of the Revolution of 1917, almost all the most important and largest sectors of trade and industry in the Pale of Settlement, and to a large extent throughout Russia, were either completely in Jewish hands, or with a significant and sometimes dominant influence of Jewish capital in them.”
This is how they develop social processes, if they have a purposefully built ideological basis.
One can appreciate the long-range aim of those who pushed Russia to absorb part of Poland:
The involvement of Russia ensured the disloyalty of the Polish population, which served as the basis for the promotion of Nazi views in Poland already in the 20th century;
The policy of the tsarist government, which did not take into account the peculiarities of the development of bloc-type civilizations, being moderate and copying the principles of development of a conglomerate, planted time bombs in Polish society, which card was played by Hitler, in fact, a policy similar to a conglomerate was partially pursued;
The involvement of Russia to some extent legitimized the predatory actions of Austria and Prussia towards the Poles;
The Pale of Settlement appeared, creating the potential for Jewish expansion into central Russia, which occurred already at the beginning of the 20th century, after restrictions were lifted. But this is another story and a topic for another article.
AFTERWORD
We see the interconnection of processes from the global to the local level. Russian civilization, which represented an alternative to the Western one, was largely uncontrollable for the owners of the Western concept, for which reason the decision was made to introduce biblical management tools on its territory - Old Testament and its carriers, which was carried out by the hands of the authorities, who did not fully understand what they had gotten themselves into. The potential for disaster has not yet been eliminated and the biblical concept of governance is still in effect in Belarus, Poland and Russia.
Belarus, like Russia, is a battlefield between Russian and Western civilizations. Of course, the main criterion for development - the level of education - increased after joining the Russian Empire, but it continued to remain insufficient, so Belarus was at the level of the inhabitants of the empire itself, who were under the yoke of serfdom and the absence of a universal education system.
Today, Belarus and Russia have sufficient potential to transition to their own management concept. After overcoming illiteracy in the USSR, the potential was laid for the subsequent acquisition of real sovereignty - the power to manage according to one’s own concept of development, and not according to the concept of “divide and conquer” with pseudo-sovereignty, in which the development potential is successfully channeled in the interests of the biblical concept of management.
Thus, Belarus and Russia today need to improve management literacy. At this stage, the process takes place within the framework of self-government (self-education) with the subsequent prospect of reaching the state level.
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The established principles of religious tolerance, as well as the very fact of interference in the internal affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian state, led to the creation of the Roman Catholic Bar Confederation on February 29, 1768 and to the subsequent war in which the forces of the confederation fought against the troops of Russia, the Polish king and the rebellious Orthodox population of Ukraine (-) . The Confederation also turned to France and Turkey for support, promising Turkey Podolia and Volhynia and a protectorate over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Flattered by these acquisitions and counting on significant military assistance from France, Austria and the Bar Confederation itself, Turkey and Crimea declared war on Russia. However, the Turks were defeated by Russian troops, French assistance was insignificant, Austria did not help at all, and the confederation forces were defeated by the Russian troops of Krechetnikov and the Polish royal troops of Bronitsky.
Simultaneously with the war in Poland, Russia successfully waged a war with Turkey. A situation was being created in which Moldavia and Wallachia would be in the sphere of Russian influence. Not wanting such an outcome, King Frederick II the Great invited Russia to abandon Moldavia and Wallachia, and as compensation to Russia for military expenses, he proposed the division of Poland between Prussia and Russia. Catherine II resisted this plan for some time, but Frederick won over Austria (which also did not want the strengthening of Russia), to which he opened up the prospects for territorial acquisitions in Poland instead of lost Silesia. Prussia, Austria and Russia signed a secret agreement to preserve the immutability of the laws of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This alliance later became known in Poland as the “Union of the Three Black Eagles” (the coats of arms of all three states featured a black eagle, as opposed to the white eagle, the symbol of Poland).
Chapter
Catherine II initially resisted the partition plan, since she already owned the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but Frederick won Austria over to his side, opening up the possibility of territorial acquisitions in Poland instead of lost Silesia. Russia, exhausted by the war with Turkey, crop failures and famine, could not fight against Austria, Prussia, France, Turkey and the Bar Confederation at the same time. On February 19, 1772, a partition convention was signed in Vienna with the condition that the parts acquired by the three powers be equal. Before this, on February 6 (17), an agreement was concluded between Prussia and Russia in St. Petersburg. Since the agreements were secret, the Poles, not knowing about them, were unable to unite and take action. The forces of the Bar Confederation, whose executive body was forced to leave Austria after it joined the Prussian-Russian alliance, did not lay down their arms. Each fortress where its military units were located held out for as long as possible. Thus, the defense of Tyniec is known, which lasted until the end of March 1772, as well as the defense of Czestochowa, led by Kazimierz Pułaski. On April 28, 1772, Russian and Polish troops and Krakow militia under the command of General Suvorov occupied Krakow Castle, the French garrison of which capitulated. On June 24 of the same year, Austrian units camped near Lvov and occupied the city on September 15, after Lviv was abandoned by Russian troops. France and England, on whom the Confederates pinned their hopes, remained on the sidelines and expressed their position after the fact, after the division took place.
The Partition Convention was ratified on September 22, 1772. In accordance with this document, Russia took possession of part of the Baltic states (Livonia, Duchy of Transdvina), previously under Polish rule, and Belarus up to the Dvina, Druta and Dnieper, including the areas of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. Territories with an area of 92 thousand km² with a population of 1 million 300 thousand people came under the power of the Russian crown.
Having occupied the territories due to the parties to the treaty, the occupying forces demanded ratification of their actions by the king and the Diet. The king turned to Western European states for help, but no help came. The combined forces occupied Warsaw in order to force the convening of a meeting of the Sejm by force of arms. Senators who opposed this were arrested. Local assemblies (sejmiks) refused to elect deputies to the Sejm. With great difficulty, it was possible to assemble less than half of the regular composition of the Sejm, led by Marshal of the Sejm Adam Poniatowski, a military leader from the Order of Malta. In order to prevent the dissolution of the Sejm and provide the invaders with a guaranteed opportunity to achieve their goals, he undertook to transform the ordinary Sejm into a confederal one, where the principle of the majority operated. Despite the efforts of Tadeusz Rejtan, Samuel Korsak and Stanisław Boguszewicz to prevent this, the goals were achieved with the help of Michal Radziwill and Bishops Andrzej Młodziewski, Ignacy Massalski and Anthony Kazimierz Ostrowski (Primate of Poland), who took high positions in the Polish Senate. The "Divided Diet" elected a committee of thirty to consider the issues presented. On September 18, 1773, the Committee officially signed an agreement on the transfer of lands, renouncing all claims of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the occupied territories.
Under pressure from Prussia, Austria and Russia, Poniatowski had to assemble the Sejm (1772-1775) to approve the act of partition and the new structure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The authorized delegation of the Sejm approved the partition and established the “cardinal rights” of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which included the electivity of the throne, and the liberum veto. Among the innovations was the establishment of a “permanent council” (“Rada Nieustająca”), chaired by the king, consisting of 18 senators and 18 gentry (chosen by the Sejm). The council was divided into 5 departments and exercised executive power in the country. The king ceded to the council the right to lease the lands of the “royalty”. The council presented three candidates for positions to the king for approval of one of them.
Consequences
The Sejm, which continued its work until 1775, carried out administrative and financial reforms and created a Commission National Education, reorganized and reduced the army to 30 thousand soldiers, established indirect taxes and salaries for officials.
Having captured northwestern Poland, Prussia took control of 80% of that country's foreign trade. Through the introduction of huge customs duties, Prussia accelerated the inevitable collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Her Imperial Majesty My Most Gracious Sovereign from the Army General-in-Chief, Senator, Tula, Kaluga and newly annexed regions from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Russian Empire Governor-General, commanding all the troops there and located in 3 Little Russian Provinces, holding the post of Governor-General of these Governor, Military Inspector and Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew the First-Called, St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir of the first degree, Polish White Eagle and St. Stanislav and Grand Duke of Holstin of St. Anne, I Mikhail Krechetnikov declare this, by my Highest will and command The All-Merciful Empress of Her Imperial Majesty All-Russian, to all residents in general and to everyone especially of every rank and title now annexed from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for eternity to the Empire Russian places and lands.The acceptable participation of Her Majesty the Empress of All Russia in Polish affairs was always based on the immediate, fundamental and mutual benefits of both States. That not only were they in vain, but also turned into a fruitless burden and the same incurrence of countless losses, all Her efforts to preserve peace, quiet and freedom in this neighboring region of Her is indisputably and palpably proven by thirty years of testing. Between the disorders and violence that arose from strife and disagreement, constantly tormenting the Polish Republic, with particular condolences Her Imperial Majesty always looked at the oppression of the lands and cities adjacent to the Russian Empire, which were once Her property and were inhabited by Her fellow tribesmen, created by the Orthodox Those who were enlightened by the Christian faith and still profess it to this day were subject to it. Nowadays, some unworthy Poles, enemies of their fatherland, are not ashamed to arouse the rule of godless rebels in the Kingdom of France and ask for their benefits, so that together with them they will involve Poland in bloody civil strife. The greater the danger from their impudence, both the saving Christian faith and the very prosperity of the inhabitants of the aforementioned lands from the introduction of a new destructive teaching, striving to dissolve all civil and political ties, conscience, safety and property of everyone ensuring that the aforementioned enemies and haters of the common peace , imitating the godless, frantic and depraved crowd of French rebels, they are trying to scatter and spread it throughout Poland and thereby forever destroy both their own peace and that of its neighbors.
With these respects, Her Imperial Majesty, my Most Gracious Empress, both to satisfy and replace many of her losses, and to protect the benefits and security of the Russian Empire, as well as the Polish regions themselves, and to avert and suppress once and for all all vicissitudes and frequent various changes of government, deigns now to take under His power and annex for eternity to His Empire all the lands and their inhabitants enclosed in the below-described line, namely: starting this line from the village of Druya lying on the left bank of the Dvina River at the corner of the border of Semigallia, from there extending to Noroch and Dubrova and following the private border of the Vilna Voivodeship to Stolptsy, leading to Nesvizh, then to Pinsk and from there passing through Kunev between Vyshgroda and Novogrobly near the border of Galicia, with which it joins, extends along it to the Dniester River, finally descending always along the course of this river, adjoins to Yegorlyk, the point of the former border in that country between Russia and Poland in such a way that all the lands of the city and surrounding areas encompassed by the above-described line of the new border between Russia and Poland will now forever be under the Scepter of the Russian Empire; the inhabitants of these lands and owners, no matter what kind or rank they may be, are subject to it.
For this reason, I, as the Governor-General established over them by Her Majesty, have the exact Highest command to solemnly reassure, first of all, with Her own sacred name and word, (as with this solemn Manifesto for general information and certification I actually fulfill) all Her Majesty’s new subjects, and now dear fellow citizens to me, that the All-Merciful Empress will deign not only to confirm all of them with perfect and unlimited freedom in the public exercise of their faith, also with the legality of each possession and property; but also completely adopting them under her power and introducing them to the glory and prosperity of the Russian Empire, following the example of Her loyal subjects, the Belarusian inhabitants, living in complete peace and abundance under Her wise and meek reign, from now on reward each and every one in full and without any exception all those rights, liberties and advantages that Her ancient subjects enjoy, so that from this very day each state from the inhabitants of the annexed lands enters into all its inherent benefits throughout the entire space of the Russian Empire, expecting and demanding Her Majesty to reciprocate the recognition and gratitude of Her new subjects, that they, being by Her grace placed in equal prosperity with the Russians, will strive on their part to make themselves and this name worthy of true to the new now, but previously their ancient fatherland, with love and unshakable loyalty from now on to the strong and magnanimous Empress.
And therefore, everyone and everyone, starting from the most noble Nobility, officials and down to the last who is required, has to take a solemn oath of allegiance within one month, with the testimony of people appointed by me for this purpose. If someone from the Nobility or from another state who owns an immovable estate, neglecting his own well-being, does not want to swear allegiance, he is allowed to sell his immovable estate and voluntarily leave the borders for a period of three months, after which all his remaining estate is sequestered and taken into the treasury be has.
The clergy, high and low, must set themselves, as spiritual shepherds, the first example in taking the oath and in daily publicly offering warm prayers to the Lord God for the health of Her Imperial Majesty, the Most Gracious Empress and Her dearest son and Heir, Tsarevich Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and the entire Highest Imperial House. those forms that will be given to them for this use.
Through the above solemn hope to each and every one of the free practice of faith and inviolable integrity of property, it goes without saying that the Jewish societies living in the cities and lands annexed to the Russian Empire will be left and preserved with all those freedoms with which they are now in the judgment of law and use their property; for the philanthropy of Her Imperial Majesty does not allow them alone to be excluded from the common favor and future well-being of all under Her Power, blessed by God, until they, on their part, live with proper obedience as loyal subjects and in real trades and trades according to their ranks. May the trial and reprisal be continued in their present places in the name and authority of Her Imperial Majesty with the supervision of the strictest order and justice.
In conclusion, I think it is necessary to add, by the Highest permission of Her Imperial Majesty, that all troops, as already in their own land, will observe the strictest military discipline; and therefore, neither their entry into different places, nor the change of government itself should interfere with anyone in the least in the calm and safe economy, trades and trades; for their reproduction serves more than private benefit; thereby will serve to the pleasure and favor of Her Majesty.
This Manifesto was read in all churches on the 27th of this month of March, recorded in the city books and presented in the appropriate places for public information. And so that perfect faith would be given to him, I confirmed him, according to the authority given to me, by signing my hand and applying the seal of my coat of arms. Published in the main camp of the troops entrusted to me at Polonna.