W a cław Unuszczek Thc 1505 4eneQal Sevm In Rabom ano rrs nihil novi statutes stablishing in 138S its personal uni on tors and deputies of the Kingdom/s voivodships but with th e Grand Lithuanian Duchy, .'1. [50 representatives o] th e G rand Duchy and West Kingd om of Poland undertook the gre­ Pruas ia in attend ance. lt was not by accident that Ra­ at effort o] rapprochement and unifica­ dom was chosen as th e place of meeti ng. lts central [Ition of na tions of che Kin gdom and location wa s expected to facilitate arri val of sena tors Duchy in th e spirit o] mutual und er­ and deputies from th e two princip a l provinces of th e standing and respect for one another/; identity. The Kingdorn, namelYI C reat and Lesser Poland, and au ­ effort reached its crown ing moment wich che real union thorised repr esentatives o] other invited sraces . The that IB ot h N ationsl executed in IS69 in Lublin, which diet, set to begin on Februa ry 91 ISOSI was intended to resu lte d in a federation of Poland and Lithuania. lt execute provis ions o] the un ion of Poland and the un ified not only Poles and Lithuanians but .'1. 150 Grand Lithuanian Duchy s igned at Mielnik in Belo russian sj U krainians, C ermans, l.atvians, ISO!. Articles o] th e M ielnik u.iion stipulated: Estonians, Va flachians, Arme nia ns, Tarrars, f(ingdom of Poland and th e Grand Lithuanis n [ews, and man y other nationalities th at settled Duchy s hall unify and merge into one indivi­ w it hin its borders, such as polit ical em i gr ć s or s ible, uniform body to form one natron) one pe­ set tlers seeking a better, sa jer, and happier life in ople/ one broth erły an ion. as well as common its lands . The union of Poland and the G rand councils, wbich body s hall in perpetuity bave Lithuanian Duchy was driven by th e very moti ­ one head. one k ing and one lord elected at v es which are th e guid ing prin ciple of th e Euro­ a place and time assigned by ali present and pean unification nowo These are safety an d we ll-being appearing at such elect ion. wh ere absence of dn y of societies through common effort towards th eir streng­ others shall not be s n impe dł me n c. and che eleetion th ening and development. lt is sign ificant that th e Po­ decree in th e Kingdom s hall [or ever be issued s c­ lish and Lithuanian Union was named a Republic/ res cording to el/storn of long standing in the ma tter '7. I:J>27 publieal a public thing. The new name emphasised that the unified stare was essentia llv to become a cornm on he general diet in Radom opened only good o] all its inhabitan ts . • as lat e as 30 M arch IS0S. The delay wa s ~ ~ caused by th e late arrival o] the king The Is69 union of Poland and the G rand Lithuanian l)hirnsel], wh o came from Lit hua nia to Duchy, that iS I a union of Centra l and Eas t Europe an Radom in late M arch'8. The seym ses- 0 28 peopl es, wa s a result of a Iong-lasting historical pro­ s ions continued [rorn 30 M arch to 31 M ay IS0Sj an d cess which cons isted in even clos er ties between th e th e diet its elf was not formall y concluded until 4 June rwo srates, both polit ical and lega lI a imed at a [ull IS0S' 9. The participants ha d to wait for Lithuanian no- 0 29 unif ication. U pon the firs t s tep, taken with the sratu­ bilitv an d Pruss ian dep uties, therejore, che event was te o] Krewa in J38S1 [ollowed others, producing a s ui pro longed for 8 weeks>. 0 30 ge neris harmonisation o] polit ica l institutions and laws as a necessary condi tion of political unity. The gener al The IS0S Radom seym did not become a unifi ca tion seym (diet) of Polandl Is oSI and its statuces, including event, as it was to occur only at th e Lublin diet o] Is69. the most famous N ihil novi actl played an imp ortant In early 16th centuryj uni fication of Poland and Lithu­ part in th is two-century-Iong process of unifica tion. ania was virtually imp ossible in th e face of many ob­ stacles and difficultiesl in particularl insufficient readi­ he general diet was convened to Radom ness of both th e s ta tes for a union on conditions of ful! • by the king of Poland and grand duke equa lity and partnership . O nly pro-union members of of Lithuaniaj Aleksander Jagiell011czykl the Lithuanian Grand Duchy Council arr ived in Ra­ l)in circulars and letters dispatched im­ dom in May of I S0S. T hey did not hold any authorisa­ mediately before C hristmas of IS04 '5. t ionj howeverl and did no t bring copies of th e Isor M iel­ According to the kingIs anno uncements l of which we nik union documents cO LlT1 tersigne d by the Lithuanian know fro m t he kingIs letter to the city co unc il of party. The iss ue of the union could noc chus be official- G da ńs k dated 28 ovember JS041 he intended to ca ll Iy placed on che agenda. e\'cTthelcss - \': hich is si­ a lldiet II ur do ,i'o s/l DacCd unit'crsisdomi­ gnifi;:ant - se at TS f e G Ta .d L ;[!-) ania 1 :. "'1 '1"" - - -: "- 3 e er.1 .',5 - " ros o, : M [ ,....... -- \ C T ~ , ~ ·e~ ~ t~ ~ 5•.U ;\C pcwc- \,-hi ~ ~ ha.:! ~ 0 "1 pL t e .:! .1ga i,-.s : 1 0-~ a ces passcc j --: n n3 L....I ~ L 5~~.• Th~ , i T' T) ~1..n , ~ 5 w ere rnen ­ a n d provincial se yms in the 15th century. 31 -a tioned in the w itne ss lis rs of these starurcs ". The re­ presenta tion of th e Prussian s ta re who appeared at the The genera[ diet r C on ventus genera/is ) consisted o]: Radom sessi ons was not a ut horised to deb ate the king, royal council or Senate, and province deputies J2 {:1 matters of the whole Kingdom either", Inuntii cerrsrami. These three parts of the general diet began to be known as 'eonvening es tates/ in m id-r ćth he Radom diet passed perpetual and century. The seym/s [uncticn dep ended on their coope­ • temporary sta tu tes. The former consi­ ration, or th e ability to reaeh an agreement (consen­ JJ G sted o] 26 a rt iclesv, headed by th e Ni­s us)! i.e. a compromise. Parliamentary status of [age] ­ ~ hil novi statute reading as [ollows: lcni an kings w as no doubt dominant, like in the En­ Quomam iurs commania et constitu­g[ish government structure of the king in the partia­ tiones publicae non unum. sed comsn unem populum II ment". The king could on his own, and in practiee at C "' 37 afficiunv icaque in hsc Radomiensi conventione cum the seriators/ advice, convene a sevm, open an as sem­ universi Regni nostriprsels tis. consilisriis. bsronibus bry and monitor their progress, conjirmed, that is, in et nuntiis terrerum. aequum et rationabile censuimus faet instituted resolutions with legat power. Parliamen­ ac ecis m s cs tuimus. utdeinceps futuris temporibus per­tary scatures, called cons t itut ions iconscicuciones] petais. nihilnoviconstituidebest per nos et successo­were signed with his name. He .1[50 arranged for their res nostras sine commani consilisriorum et nuntiorurn publ icari on. terrestrium eonsensu. quodfieret in prseiadicicm g ra­ vamenque Reipublicse. et damnum atque incom­~ _ ,.. Senate doubled as a royal council and [egis[ative modum cuiaslibecprivatum. adinnovstionemque body. Royal advisers were oblig atcd to form the 34 G iaris commanis et publicse [ibercstis 34. kingdom/s policies and s upport the monarch in their execution. The senate plaved an acri ve part The English translation reads: in th e legislative process by preparing bills of laws Since com monly-applied Lawand Crawn sts­together w ith the other chamber. Senators divi­ tutes sre not binding on one individual. but on ded into clergy - Catholic endowment bishops ­ th e common people. therefore. while sss embled and [ayrnen, including vo ivod es and castellans. with ali our Kingdom'S Prelsces. members of our Moreoverl senators comprised such highest roy­ C ouncil, Lords andziemskie depoties. and while dri­a l ojjicials, call ed rninisters, as the grand chancellor, ven byarreasonsble underscsnding. we enaccth.u:[rom under-chancellor, grand rnarshai, court marshal, treasu ­ now on. nothing new which migln cause bsrm andop­rer. Royal sec retaries and titular court officia ls could pression to th e Repub/ic or which mig/n be harmful a[so participate in seyrn sessions. and detrimental to any maI?; and which might te nd towardchanging the commonly-appliedlawandcom­The third 'conve ning es tate l mention ed in Nihilnovi mon libert>~ sha/fbe enactedby us andour descenda nts indudes provincia[ deputies inun t ii terrarum! of nob[e without a joint consent being s"-ven to it by our C ouncJ! estate.