The szlachta (Polish pronunciation: [ˈʂlaxta] ; Lithuanian: šlėkta; Ruthenian: шляхта, translit: šlachta) were the hereditary noble estate in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the dominating social class in the Kingdom of Poland and the Commonwealth, which was exercising political rights and power. Polish noble class differed substantially from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the March Constitution.
The origins of the szlachta are obscure and the subject of several theories. The szlachta secured substantial and increasing political power and rights throughout its history, beginning with the reign of King Casimir III the Great between 1333 and 1370 in the Kingdom of Poland until the decline and end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Apart from providing officers for the army, its chief civic obligations included electing the monarch and filling honorary and advisory roles at court that would later evolve into the upper legislative chamber, the Senate. The szlachta electorate also took part in the government of the Commonwealth via the lower legislative chamber of the Sejm (bicameral national parliament), composed of representatives elected at local sejmiks (local noble assemblies). Sejmiks performed various governmental functions at local levels, such as appointing officials and overseeing judicial and financial governance, including tax-raising. The szlachta assumed various governing positions, including voivode, marshal of voivodeship, castellan, and starosta.
In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the existing Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobilities formally joined the Polish nobility. As the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) evolved and expanded territorially after the Union of Lublin, its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia and Livonia. Over time, in the nobility grew to encompass around 8% to 10% of Polish-Lithuanian society, which made the electorate that was several times larger than all noble classes in other European countries; by contrast, nobles in Italy and France encompassed 1% and England’s less than 1% during the early modern period.
Despite often enormous differences in wealth and political influence, few distinctions in law existed between the great magnates and lesser nobles. The juridic principle of nobles’ equality existed because noble land titles were allodial, not feudal, involving no requirement of feudal service to a liege Lord. Unlike absolute monarchs who eventually took reign in most other European countries, the Polish king was not an autocrat and not the absolutist tyrant. During the three successive Partitions of Poland between 1772 and 1795, most of the nobles began to lose legal privileges and social status, while noble elites became part of the nobilities of the three partitioning powers.
In Polish, a nobleman is called a "szlachcic" and a noblewoman a "szlachcianka".
Some early Polish historians state the term have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish Lechitic prince, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech sources. The szlachta traced their descent from Lech, who founded the Polish kingdom in about the fifth century. The word szlachta derives directly from the word Lech/Lach— z Lach-ta/z-Lech-ta, meaning “ from the Lach/Lech”, “the ród/house of the Lech/Lach”, “ the people of the Lech/Lach” (notice in the words Lech and Lach we have the vowel shift known as “przegłos”, specific grammatical feature in the Slavonic languages). Polish and Lechitic language are synonymous. In antiquity and early medieval periods Polish people were known as Lechites (“Regnum Lechorum sive Polonorum” and other sources). The name of Poland is the name of the Christianized Poland, used from the medieval period when the Lechitic Prince Mieszko from the Lechitic tribe of Polans was baptised , accepted Christianity and joined the pope-recognised monarchs of Christian Europe. In many languages Poland was and is always called Lechia, Lechistan, Lehistan, Lahestan, Lengyelorsag, Lenkija, etc.
The Polish term szlachta designated the formalized, hereditary aristocracy of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which constituted the nation itself, and ruled without competition. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, the hereditary szlachta were referred to as nobilitas from the Latin term. Until the second half of the 19th century, the Polish term obywatel (which now means "citizen") could be used as a synonym for noble landlords.
The word szlachta literally translates as nobility. It also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods and baronial titles granted by other European monarchs, including the Holy See. Szlachta also denotes the Ruthenian and Lithuanian nobility from before the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of "szlachta" as "gentry" rather than "nobility". This mistaken practice began due to the inferior economic status of many szlachta members compared to that of the richer nobility in some other countries (see also Estates of the Realm regarding wealth and nobility). The szlachta included those rich and powerful l, the great magnates and the impoverished with a noble and aristocratic lineage, but with no land, no castle, no great wealth , and no subject peasants. Historian M.Ross wrote in 1835: "At least 60,000 families belong to the noble class, of which, however, only about 200 are very rich and wealthy;." From the very principle and in Polish culture the true nobility ultimately derives from the peoples’ purest, kindest, gentlest character qualities and virtues, courage, wisdom and care and protection of the weaker, and roots, not from the amount of money.
The exceptionally wealthy and powerful noble families constituted the magnateria and were known as magnates (magnates of Poland and Lithuania).
Adam Zamoyski argues that the szlachta were not exactly the same as the European nobility nor a gentry, as the szlachta fundamentally differed in law, rights, political power, origin, and composition from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The szlachta did not rank below the king, as the szlachta's relationship to the Polish king was not feudal. The szlachta stood as equals before the king. The king was not an autocrat, nor the szlachta's overlord, as szlachta land was in allodium, not feudal tenure. Feudal dependence upon a Polish king did not exist for the szlachta and earlier in history some high-ranking szlachta (magnates) descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of Piast realms and constantly sought to undermine Piast authority.
In 1459 Ostroróg presented a memorandum to the Sejm (parliament), submitting palatines, or Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, receive the title of prince. Sons of a prince were to receive titles of counts and barons. Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were to receive the title of count. This attempt to introduce the hierarchy of noble titles common for European feudal systems for szlachta was rejected.
The fact the szlachta were equal before the king and deliberately opposed becoming a feudal nobility became a matter of law embedded as a constitutional principle of equality. The republicanism of ancient Rome was the szlachta's ideal. Poland was known as the Most Serene Republic of Poland, Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae. The szlachta, not as a feudal nobility or gentry, but as an electorate, and an aristocracy and warrior caste, with no feudal dependence on a king, exercised supreme political power over that republic and elected kings as servants of a republic the szlachta regarded as the embodiment of their rights.
Over time, numerically most lesser szlachta became poorer, or were poorer than, their few rich peers with the same political status and status in law, and many lesser szlachta were worse off than commoners with land. They were called szlachta zagrodowa, that is, "farm nobility", from zagroda, a farm, often little different from a peasant's dwelling, sometimes referred to as drobna szlachta, "petty nobles" or yet, szlachta okoliczna, meaning "local". Particularly impoverished szlachta families were often forced to become tenants of their wealthier peers. They were described as szlachta czynszowa, or "tenant nobles" who paid rent. See "Szlachta categories" for more.