THE KING, THE NOBILITY, AND THEIR REPRESENTATION. LAND DEPUTIES IN POLAND UNTIL THE YEAR 1453.

Creating the principles on which the parliamentary representation of the Polish nobility was delegated to the general assemblies/sejms was a lengthy process that has not yet been sufficiently studied. This results from the dearth of primary sources concerning the subject. A new source illuminating this problem is a report by a Teutonic informant from early December 1432, according to which King Władysław Jagiełło called for representatives of the nobility in a noble clan-territorial form ("two from each noble clan from each land") to a general assembly/sejm in Cracow, which was to begin on 25 December of that year. It cannot be ruled out that a similar form of representation of the ordinary nobility was imposed by the king as early as the first half of the 20s of the 15th century. Contrary to the opinion of some researchers, land deputies did not attend the coronation assembly/sejm of Władysław III in July 1434. On the other hand, we come across land deputies (nuncii terrarum) during the general assembly/sejm in Cracow in October 1435. However, they were not delegated on a noble clan-territorial basis, but were most likely elected at land assemblies/sejmiks from among persons of high authority in the local noble communities. We come across another case of applying the noble clan-territorial principle at the beginning of the reign of Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, who called for two representatives of each knightly clan (presumably from each land) to the general assembly/sejm of Parczew in June 1453. However, this was met with protests; the Polish nobility at the time considered it to be ideal for all representatives of this social group to have the right to participate in general assembly/sejms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]