Sharing Political Space: The Royal Court and the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

In 1667, Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro, political thinker and senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, argued that fewer sejms should be held to prevent the royal court's corruption of the szlachta from the lower chamber. He feared that envoys, tempted by a political career in the ambit of the court, would seek royal patronage and neglect their local and military responsibilities. This article thinks Fredro's concerns through spatially, considering how the blurring of parliamentary and courtly spaces was manifest at Wawel in Kraków and the royal palace in Warsaw, the royal residences where sejms took place. Limited space necessitated improvisation to facilitate the political processes of parliamentary monarchy. There were occasions when parliamentary activity spilled over into the royal apartments, which could be used as breakout rooms for ‘private discussion’, the work of commissions or deputations, and, crucially, by the king seeking to manage parliamentary conflict away from the public forum of sejm. This was vital given that the system was based on common consent, rather than a majority vote. At the same time, parliamentary space could be used for the entertainments and displays of royal favour associated with the royal court. Furthermore, parliamentary debates were open and public, meaning that courtiers were able to come in and out of parliamentary spaces, exerting influence over parliamentarians. The Polish-Lithuanian monarchy was parliamentary, but this article shows how its sejm was monarchical. To an extent, the king could manage parliamentary processes through the use of space and tempt the szlachta to strive for his favour. Drawing on Fredro's writings and parliamentary and szlachta diaries, which include accounts of the king hosting ‘convivial sessions’ in parliament, this article provides a new perspective on the entangled nature of courtly and parliamentary cultures in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.