'' in the reign of
King Casimir the Great (14th-century Poland) The General Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland appeared for the first time in the years 1382–1386, when nobility and city representatives began to come to the nationwide official congresses. Public participation in policy making in Poland can be traced to the
Slavic assembly known as the
wiec. There are legends of a 9th-century election of the legendary founder of the
Piast dynasty,
Piast the Wheelwright, and a similar election of his son,
Siemowit (this would place a Polish ruler's election a century before an
Icelandic one's by the
Althing), but sources for that time come from the later centuries and their validity is disputed by scholars. The election privilege was usually limited to the most powerful nobles (
magnates) or officials, and was heavily influenced by local traditions and strength of the ruler. By the 12th or 13th century, the
wiec institution likewise limited its participation to high ranking nobles and officials. The nationwide gatherings of
wiec officials in 1306 and 1310 can be seen as precursors of the general sejm. The traditions of local wiec's or
sejmiks survived the
period of Poland's fragmentation (1146–1295), and continued in the restored Kingdom of Poland. Sejmiks proper date to the late 14th century when they arose from gatherings of nobility, formed for military and consultative purposes. Sejmiks were legally recognized by the 1454
Nieszawa Statutes, in a privilege granted to the
szlachta (Polish nobility) by King
Casimir IV Jagiellon, when the King agreed to consult certain decisions with the nobility. Such local gatherings were preferred by the kings, as national assemblies would try to claim more power than the regional ones. Nonetheless, with time the power of such assemblies grew, entrenched with milestone privileges obtained by the
szlachta particularly during periods of transition from one dynasty or royal succession system to another (such as the
Privilege of Koszyce of 1374). According to some older historians, such as
Zygmunt Gloger or
Tadeusz Czacki, the first sejm took place in 1180, the date of the gathering of notables (
zjazd, translated as an assembly, congress or synod) at
Łęczyca, shown on a painting of
Jan Matejko entitled "The First Sejm". More modern works however do not refer to the Łęczyca gathering as a sejm and instead focus on the more regular national gatherings that became known as
sejm walny or
sejm wielki and date to the 15th century. Whereas Bardach in discussing the beginning of
sejm walny points to the national assemblies of the early 15th century, Jędruch prefers, as "a convenient time marker", the sejm of 1493, the first recorded
bicameral session of the Polish parliament (although as noted by Sedlar, 1493 is simply the first time such a session was clearly recorded in sources, and the first bicameral session might have taken place earlier). == Composition ==