External influences The concept of
corona regni first emerged in the early 12th century
England. By the 13th century, when it had fully developed, the term
corona regni Angliae signified the inalienable and enduring royal dignity, authority, and rights, primarily encompassing the king's judicial power and the state as a whole, including territories that had been lost. Similar developments occurred in other European regions, each shaped by local conditions. In France, the term appeared slightly later and initially referred mainly to the royal domain but also extended to the lands held by royal vassals. In
Aragon, the
Crown denoted a collection of kingdoms and territories united chiefly by their shared ruler, the
King of Aragon. For Poland, the significant development was the emergence of the concept of
corona regni in Hungary in the late 12th century. Initially, it represented the kingdom as a territorial entity linked to the
Árpád dynasty, heirs to
St. Stephen's crown. The shift came with the twilight of the
Anjou dynasty, as the diet legitimised the succession through the female line. During the rule of
Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Holy Crown was finally distinguished from the King, and the Hungarian estates emphasised the ruler’s obligations to the Crown. By the 15th century, the Crown gained legal personality, standing above both King and Estates, becoming the true sovereign. In Bohemia, the concept of the
corona regni emerged primarily in connection with the territorial expansion and consolidation of the state. The
Luxemburg dynasty's unsuccessful pursuit of the Polish throne underscored the necessity of uniting the Silesian principalities with the Bohemian crown. In 1348,
Charles IV formalized the feudal structure of the state and introduced the notion of the
corona regni Bohemiae, incorporating the Silesian and Upper Lusatian territories bounding them to the perpetual Crown.
Idea of the Kingdom as the patron of the
Kingdom of Poland by Maciej of Drohiczyn, initial "K", ca. 1501. The history of Poland as an entity has been traditionally traced to , when the
pagan prince
Mieszko I and the
West Polans adopted
Christianity. The
Baptism of Poland established the first true Polish state, though the process was begun by Mieszko's
Piast ancestors. His son and successor,
Bolesław I the Brave,
Duke of Poland, became the first crowned
King of Poland in 1025. And although his son and successor
Mieszko II was forced to relinquish the crown, as was his great-grandson
Boleslaw II the Bold, the idea of a kingdom survived. Even during the period of deep partition and the collapse of the central ducal power, Poland was still regarded as a kingdom, and the Piast princes, ruling the various provinces, as members of a royal dynasty and princes of Poland. A special role was played by
Kraków, which was regarded as the main city of the kingdom, as the
Wawel Cathedral held the royal jewels. Also important was the cult of
Saint Stanislaus Bishop of Kraków, who was presented as the patron saint of the kingdom and its unification. A unified ecclesiastical metropolis headed by the
Archbishop of Gniezno also played an important role; its boundaries coincided with those of the kingdom.
Gniezno, as the second centre of the state, and the place of coronation, nurtured the cult of the second patron saint,
St Adalbert. His influence, however, was less. In 1295, the Duke of Greater Poland Przemysł II, although his power did not extend to Kraków, was crowned king in
Gniezno Cathedral, as the first Piast since 1076. He was, however, assassinated a year later. He was succeeded by
Wenceslas II, King of Bohemia, who from 1291 ruled
Lesser Poland, conquered Greater Poland and in 1300 was crowned King of Poland in Gniezno. This meant the loss of central power for the
Piast dynasty. This situation did not last long, however, as Wenceslas II died in 1305, followed by his son and successor, Wenceslas III, in 1306. The
Duke of Kuyavia,
Władysław Łokietek, managed to occupy first Lesser Poland and then Greater Poland, and made efforts to be crowned by the Pope. In 1320, the Archbishop of Gniezno crowned him king in Kraków, which formally did not infringe on the rights of the
Přemyslids' successor, King
John of Bohemia, who still considered himself king of Poland. Władysław's successor
Casimir III the Great was also crowned in Kraków in 1333. Casimir, like his father, considered himself the inherent ruler of the kingdom, the heir of the ancient Bolesławs. He strove to extend his power over the remaining Piast princes and to regain all the lands ruled by the former kings of Poland. The Silesian princes were referred to in Poland as
duces Poloniae, although they paid homage to the
Bohemian Crown. Casimir also abandoned the coat of arms of the Kuyavia line of the Piasts, a hybrid of eagle and lion, in favour of a crowned white eagle, which was also the symbol of the Kingdom. At the
congress of Visegrad in 1335, Casimir bought off John of Bohemia's claims to the title of king of Poland. This allowed for the expansion of the semantic scope of the term "Kingdom of Poland," () which was often interpreted in a particularistic manner and limited only to Greater Poland. From that moment, in a territorial sense, it began to denote all the lands currently under the king's rule, and in an ideological sense, all the territories that once belonged to the Piast dynasty. Particularly noteworthy was the situation of
Ruthenia, which was conquered by Casimir III. Formally, it was a separate kingdom, on whose throne Casimir sat as the heir of his relative,
Yuri II Boleslav of the Piast dynasty. The king, however, regarded himself as a patrimonial ruler who could freely manage the kingdom and its lands. An expression of this attitude was the appointment of his nephew, King
Louis the Great of Hungary, as his successor, rather than any of the numerous male representatives of the Piast dynasty. In his testament, he bequeathed a significant portion of the borderlands to his grandson,
Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania from the
House of Griffin. However, the court annulled this provision after Louis's coronation, as it fragmented the kingdom's territory. This was an open challenge to the ruler's claim of having the full freedom to manage the territory and resources of the state.
Idea of the Crown , used from 1320 for the coronation of Polish kings. The chronicler
Jan Długosz referred to it as the actual crown (
coronam materialem) of the Kingdom of Poland, distinguishing it from the conceptual Crown. The crown, along with other regalia, was taken to
Hungary by
Louis the Great and brought back in 1412 by
Władysław Jagiełło. Its return to the country was exceptionally ceremonial. The concept of
Corona Regni appears in the documents of Casimir the Great only three times, and all three documents were produced by foreign chanceries in the king's name. This idea, which limited the monarch's power, gained popularity only after his death. The annulment of Casimir the Great's testament in 1370 was essentially the first act undertaken in the name of the interests of the Crown. Ludwik was initially inclined to recognise the will, but strong opposition forced him to refer the matter to the court, which ruled that the ruler could not diminish the territory of the Crown of the Kingdom, a decision that Ludwik accepted. Similarly, the new king, Louis the Great, committed himself to reclaiming the lost territories not for himself, but for the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, during his coronation. Jan Radlica was the first royal chancellor who stopped referring to himself as "of Kraków" or "of the court" chancellor and began to use in 1381 the title
regni Poloniae supremus cancellarius (supreme chancellor of the Kingdom of Poland). The concept of the Crown being the real sovereign began to be promoted by the elites of Lesser Poland, who saw it as a way to elevate their role. This was facilitated by the rule of a foreign king, the regency in Poland by his mother,
Elizabeth, as well as disputes over the succession after his death, which resulted in a woman,
Queen Jadwiga, ascending the Polish throne. In the perception of the time, this violated the old laws and required the consent of the lords. The interregnum following the death of Ludwik in 1382, which ended with the coronation of Jadwiga in 1384, was evidence of the vitality of the Crown of the Kingdom. During this period, the magnates (
regnicolae regni Poloniae) managed the affairs of the state, avoiding a bloody civil war and successfully leading to the coronation of the new ruler. Moreover, the basis of power began to rest on an agreement between the dynasty and the kingdom's community. The nobles respected the natural right of Louis's daughters to the throne, but this right was conditional upon adherence to the oaths and obligations made by the ruler to the Crown of the Kingdom.
Union of Krewo 's Pontifical, ca. 1510 The
Union of Krewo was a set of prenuptial agreements made at
Kreva Castle on 13 August 1385, between Lithuanian Grand Duke
Jogaila and Polish lords, who were offering him the hand of Queen Jadwiga of Poland. Once
Jogaila confirmed the prenuptial agreements on 14 August 1385, Poland and Lithuania formed a
personal union. The agreements included the adoption of Christianity and the repatriation of lands lost by the Crown. Jogaila also pledged to permanently attach his Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (
terras suas Lithuaniae et Rusie Corone Regni Poloniae perpetuo aplicare), the clause which formed the personal union. After being baptised at the
Wawel Cathedral in
Kraków on 15 February 1386, Jogaila began to formally use the name Władysław. Three days after his baptism, the marriage between
Jadwiga and Władysław II Jagiełło took place. Over the next few years, the Lithuanian princes from the Gediminid dynasty paid homage to Jogaila, himself a Lithuanian and Gediminid, his wife Jadwiga, and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The union concluded at Krewo was not an ordinary personal union, common in Europe at that time, precisely because one party was the
Corona Regni, that is, the community of the Kingdom of Poland, and not a dynasty or ruler, as was the case with the agreement between
Casimir the Great and
Louis the Great, which elevated the latter to the throne. According to
Robert I. Frost, both Jogaila and Jadwiga were elected to the Polish throne by the nobles, having their natural rights to the throne weakened and the power that rested solely on the agreement between them and the Crown of the Kingdom. However, that is contradicted by the fact Jadwiga was viewed as hereditary monarch "naturally-enthroned" and "inherent" Lady of the Kingdom (
pl: "
pani naturalna/pani przyrodzona królestwa"), as an heir to both
Anjou and
Piast dynasties on the virtue of being daughter of the previous King. While her ascension needed to be approved by nobles because of lack of precedence for the female succession in Poland, after being accepted the Queen was viewed as unquestioned bearer of the hereditary rights to the Polish throne, and any legitimate child born to her would be the heir of the Crown. Jadwiga and her only daughter, Princess Elizabeth, both died in 1399, thus ending the line of succession. Jogaila and his future descendants were to remain monarchs over Poland as elective rulers. On 4 August 1392, the
Ostrów Agreement was concluded between Jogaila and
Vytautas the Great, who agreed to rule
Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, as regent of Jogaila and to remain a vassal of the Polish King, however while ruling Vilnius and its region Vytautas the Great was not content with the duties of a regent, but acquired the factual authority of the Grand Duke, which was eventually recognized by treaties. The personal union was terminated in 1440 when
Casimir IV Jagiellon was elevated as the
sovereign Grand Duke of Lithuania and subsequently he stressed himself as a "free lord" (
pan – dominus).
1444–1569 In 1444, following the death of
Władysław III of Poland during the
Battle of Varna, the Polish nobles invited his younger brother Casimir IV Jagiellon to also become the King of Poland and sought to renew the
Polish–Lithuanian union. Casimir IV Jagiellon, taking into account the demands of the
Lithuanian nobility, accepted the Polish offer only under the conditions that it will be a union of states with equal rights (personal union) and was crowned on 25 June 1447. In 1501, Alexander Jagiellon was elected as the King of Poland after his brother John I Albert's death. In 1506, Alexander Jagiellon died and the Lithuanian nobles arbitrarily elected his brother
Sigismund I the Old as the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, this way ignoring the stipulations of the 1501 Union of Mielnik to elect a common monarch of Poland and Lithuania. The Polish nobles, seeking to preserve the Polish–Lithuanian union, also elected Sigismund I the Old as the King of Poland in 1506. Initially, Sigismund II Augustus opposed the Polish–Lithuanian union as he sought to leave Polish and Lithuanian thrones to his descendants, however as the
Livonian War with the
Tsardom of Russia progressed Sigismund II Augustus began to seek a union of Poland and Lithuania. The Union of Lublin also made the Crown an elective monarchy; this ended the
Jagiellonian dynasty once
Henry de Valois was elected on 16 May 1573 as monarch. On 30 May 1574, two months after
Henry de Valois was crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on 22 February 1574, he was made
King of France, and was crowned King of France on 13 February 1575. He left the throne of the Crown on 12 May 1575, two months after he was crowned King of France. In order to replace him,
Anna Jagiellon and her husband-to-be
Stephen Báthory were elected during the
1576 Polish–Lithuanian royal election. On 28 January 1588,
Sigismund III Vasa confirmed the
Third Statute of Lithuania in which it was stated that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is a
federation of two countries – the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where both countries have equal rights within it.
Constitution of 1791 The
Constitution of 3 May 1791 is the second-oldest, codified national constitution in history, and the oldest codified national constitution in Europe; the oldest being the
United States Constitution. It was called the
Government Act (
Ustawa Rządowa). Drafting for it began on 6 October 1788 and lasted 32 months.
Stanisław II Augustus was the principal author of the Constitution, and he wanted the Crown to be a constitutional monarchy, similar to the one in Great Britain. On 3 May 1791, the
Great Sejm convened, and they read and adopted the new constitution. It enfranchised the bourgeoisie, separated the government into three branches, abolished
liberum veto, and stopped the abuses of the
Repnin Sejm. It made Poland a constitutional monarchy with the King as the head of the executive branch with his
cabinet of ministers, called the
Guardians of the Laws. The legislative branch was bicameral with an elected
Sejm and an appointed
Senate; the King was given the power to break ties in the Senate, and the head of the Sejm was the
Sejm Marshal. The
Crown Tribunal, the highest appellate court in the Crown, was reformed. The Sejm would elect its judges for the Sejm Court (the Crown's parliamentary court) from its deputies (
posłowie). The Government Act angered
Catherine II, who believed that Poland needed permission from the
Russian Empire for any political reform; she argued that Poland had fallen prey to radical
Jacobinism that was prominent in France at the time. Russia invaded the
Commonwealth in 1792. The Constitution was in place for less than 19 months; it was annulled by the
Grodno Sejm. == Politics ==