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Home , History of Poland, History of Ukraine

A Commonwealth of Many Nations? Early Modern - History 1551 Prof. Adam Teller

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest in early-modern , home to a diversity of ethnic and religious groups. We will examine how they lived together and interacted in this unique setting. The rise of the nobility and development of Poland’s constitutional monarchy show how Polish identity was transformed in the . The interactions of , Italians, Scots, and as “national” groups within urban society, and the economic dynamism of Jews and Armenians reveal the possibilities and problems of social integration. The experiences of Protestants, the Ukrainian Orthodox population, and the Moslem demonstrate the meaning and limitations of the religious tolerance for which Poland was famous in this period. Finally we will see how the development of the new ideology of the enlightenment and the rise of the modern centralized state sounded the death knell for this unique society and culture.

As far as possible, each topic in the syllabus will be covered in the course of a week. Classes will combine a frontal lecture with open discussions of the week’s readings and primary sources in English translation. Students will be expected to come to class having done the readings and ready to discuss them in class. Active participation in class discussions will form part of the final grade for the course.

1 Course Goals and Objectives By introducing students to the basic themes of early modern Polish history through the lens of the minority groups who lived there, this course will: 1. Situate the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within a broader history of 2. Explore the nature of political, social, religious, and cultural boundaries and they ways they have both separated and joined people. 3. Encourage reflection and critical comparison of a range of methodological approaches to historical research – national, social, religious, and cultural. By the end of the course, students should be able to: 1. Understand the course of the early modern history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 2. Identify the key issues in research on early modern Polish-Lithuanian history. 3. Read and critically analyze primary historical sources from the period.

Final Grade The final grade, which will be based on a mid-term and final exam, a class presentation of one of the monographs on the syllabus, and a response paper (3-4 pages) on another of the readings, as well as active participation in class, will be calculated as follows:

Active Participation 15% Mid-Term Exam 25% (3/19) Paper 25% (4/12, 5pm) Final Exam 35% (5/14, 9am)

Paper You will be expected to write a paper of 2,500-3,000 words based largely on a primary source, from the eighteenth century, examining the ways in which it portrays the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, its society, and culture. We will devote some class time to preparing the paper, which will be due by 5pm on 3/28. The precise question to be answered and any secondary sources will be detailed during the second week of the semester, Primary Reading: William Coxe, Travels into Poland, , Sweden, and Denmark, I-II, 1779, pp. 1-250.

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Weekly Topics

1. Whose History? Approaches to the Study of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth a. 1/22 Getting Acquainted with Poland and her History - Maps 1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 23, 26, 29 in: The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of (eds. Dennis P. Hupchick & Harold E. Cox), New York 2001 - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08krugman.html?_r= 1&ref=paulkrugman - Larry Wolff, Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment, Stanford 1994, pp. 1-49, 356- 381, 404-406

3 b. 1/27 Is Poland’s History National or Multicultural? Reading: - Janusz Tazbir, “Polish National Consciousness in the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century”, Harvard Ukrainian Studies 10 (1986): 316- 335 - Brian Porter, “The Catholic Nation: Religion, Identity, and the Narratives of Polish History”, Slavic and East European Journal 45 (2001): 289-299 - , Gods Playground: A , I, Oxford 1981, pp. 3-22

2. The Rise of the Noble a. 1/29 Royalty and Nobility Struggle for Power Reading: - Antoni Maczak, “The Structure of Power in the Commonwealth of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”, in: J.K. Federowicz (ed.), A Republic of Nobles: Studies in Polish History to 1864, Cambridge 1982, pp. 109-134 - “, 1505” in: M.B. Biskupski & James S. Pula (eds.), Polish Democratic Thought from the to the : Essays and Documents, Boulder 1990, pp. 109-120

b. 2/3 Poland’s Progressive Parliament Reading: - Anna Sucheni-Grabowska, “The Origin and Development of the Polish through the End of the Seventeenth Century”, in: Samuel Fiszman (ed.), Constitution and Reform in Eighteenth Century Poland, Bloomington-Indianapolis 1997, pp. 13- - Almut Bues, “The Formation of the Polish Lithuanian Monarchy in the Sixteenth Century”, in: Richard Butterwick (ed.), The Polish- Lithuanian Monarchy in European Context, c. 1500-1795, pp. 58-81

3. Lord and a. 2/5 Poland and the European Economy Reading: - Jerzy Topolski, “Continuity and Discontinuity in the Development of the Feudal System in Eastern Europe”, Journal of European Economic History 10 (1981): 373-400 - “A Rabbi’s Critique of the Manorial System, 1590” (trans. A. Teller)

4 b. 2/10 Social and Cultural Aspects Reading: - Andzrej Pospiech and Wojcech Tygielski, “The Social Role of the Magnates’ Courts in Poland (From the End of the 16th up to the 18th Century)”, Acta Poloniae Historica 43 (1981): 75-100 - Jerzy Lukowski, “”, in: idem, Liberty’s Folly: The Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Eighteenth Century, London- New York 1991, pp. 38-61

4. Urban Lives and Cultures a. 2/12 Town Structures Reading: - Norman Davies, Gods Playground: A History of Poland, I, Oxford 1981, pp. 293-320, 559-562 - “ Town Privilege”, in: A. Francis Steuart (ed.), Papers Relating to the Scots in Poland, 1576-1793, Edinburgh 1915, pp. 230-238

b. 2/19 Nobles, Jews, and the Urban Environment Reading: - Gershon David Hundert, “The Role of the Jews in Commerce in Early Modern Poland-Lithuania”, Journal of European Economic History 16 (1987): 245-275

5. Asylum for Heretics? Religious Toleration in Poland-Lithuania a. 2/24 The in Poland Reading: - Janusz Tazbir, “Poland” in: Bob Scribner, Roy Porter, and Mikulas Teich (eds.), The Reformation in National Context, Cambridge 1994, pp. 168-180 - Stanislas Lubieniecki, History of the Polish Reformation (trans. and ed. George Hunston Williams), Minneapolis 1995, pp. 87-110

b. 2/26 Religious Tolerance Reading: - Wiktor Weintraub, “Tolerance and Intolerance in Old Poland”, Canadian Slavonic Papers 13/1 (1971): 21-44 - John Krell, “A Vindication of Liberty of Religion” in: George Hunston Williams, The : Documentation of the History and Thought of Unitarianism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Diaspora, 1601-1685, Missoula 1980, pp. 337-355

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6. Poland-Lithuania: A Commonwealth of Many Nations? a. 3/3 What Makes A Nation? Reading - Anthony D. Smith, The Antiquity of Nations, Cambridge 2004, pp. 181-210 - Henryk Litwin, “The Nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Controversial Questions” Acta Poloniae Historica 77 (1998): 43-58

b. 3/5 The Scots and the Jews Reading: - Waldemar Kowalski, “The Placement of Urbanised Scots in the Polish Crown during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”, in: Alexia Grosjean and Steve Murdoch (eds.), Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period (Leiden, 2005), pp. 53-103 e-book: http://site.ebrary.com.revproxy.brown.edu/lib/brown/docDetail.acti on?docID=10171798 - Gershon Hundert, “On the Jewish Community in Poland during the Seventeenth Century: Some Comparative Perspectives”, Revue de Etudes Juives 142 (1983): 349-372 - A. Francis Steuart (ed.), Papers Relating to the Scots in Poland, 1576-1793, Edinburgh 1915, pp. 119-126, 243-254

7. The Limits of Tolerance: Poland and , 1569-1654 a. 3/10 The Colonization of Ukraine Reading: - Henryk Litwin, “Catholicization among the Ruthenian Nobility and Assimilation Processes in the Ukraine during the Years 1569- 1648, Acta Poloniae Historica 55 (1987): 57-83 - Guillaume Le Vasseur, Sieur de Beauplan, A Description of Ukraine (eds. A. Pernal and D. Essar), Cambridge Mass 1993, pp. 8-20

b. 3/12 The Chmielnicki Uprising Reading: - , -Rus’: Volume Eight, The Cossack Age, 1626-1650 (Trans. M. Olynyk), Edmonton- Toronto 2002, pp. 367-414 - Nathan Hannover, Abyss of Despair (ed. Abraham Mesch), New Brunswick 1983, pp. 27-109

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8. Monarchy in Crisis: The Northern Wars and their Aftermath a. 3/17 The Flood and First Attempts at Reconstruction Reading: - Robert I. Frost, The Northern Wars, 1558-1721, Harlow 2000, pp. 156-191 - Jerzy Lukowski, “The and the Monarchy: Reflections on the Struggle inter maiestatem ac libertatem”, in: Richard Butterwick (ed.), The Polish-Lithuanian Monarchy in European Context, c. 1500-1795, pp. 132-149

9. 3/19 Midterm Exam

10. 3/31 Women’s Experience Reading: - Maria Bogucka, Women in Early Modern Polish Society, Against the European Background, Ashgate 2004, pp. 1-29

11. Assertion of Polishness? Sarmatism and the Counterreformation a. 4/2 The Counterreformation Reading: - Jerzy Kloczowski, A History of Polish , Cambridge 2000, pp. 126-163 - Janusz Tazbir, “Culture of the in Poland”, in: Antoni Mazcak, Henryk Samsonowicz, abnd Peter Burke (eds.), East- Central Europe in Transition, Cambridge 1985, pp.167-180, 188- 189

b. 4/7 Poland under Saxon Rule Reading: - Jozef Andrzej Gierowski, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the XVIIIth Century: From Anarchy to Well-Organized State, Krakow 1996, pp. 105-146

4/12 Response Paper Due: 5pm

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12. Polish Jews in the 18th Century

a. 4/9 Economic Relations with the Magnates Reading: - Moshe Rosman, The Lords’ Jews: Magnate-Jewish Relations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth During the 18th Century, Cambridge Mass. 1990, pp. 106-142 - Solomon Maimon, An Autobiography (Trans. J. Clark Murray), Chicago 2001, pp. 6-21

b. 4/14 Religious Relations Reading: - Magda Teter, Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era, Cambridge, 2006, pp. 99-145

13. 4/16 Discussion of Response Papers

14. Enlightenment and Thoughts of Reform a. 4/21 Stanislaw August Poniatowski Reading: - , The Last King of Poland, New York 1998, pp. 221-264 - Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Government of Poland (Trans. W. Kendall), Indianapolis-New York 1972, pp. 10-78

b. 4/23 The Partitions and the Four Year Reading: - Jerzy Lukowski, Disorderly Liberty: The Political Culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Eighteenth Century, London 2010, pp. 173-222

5/14 Final Exam, 2pm

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