View source for Szlachta

{{Short description|Noble class in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania}}
{{Italic title}}
{{For|the village|Szlachta, Pomeranian Voivodeship}}
[[File:Szlachta in costumes of the Voivodeships of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.PNG|upright=1.25|thumb|''Szlachta'' in costumes of the voivodeships of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]], [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in the 17th and 18th century.]]
[[File:Court of the Polish Lord during the journey in times of Augustus III the Saxon.PNG|upright=1.25|thumb|right|''Journey of a [[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania|Polish Lord]] During the Times of King [[Augustus III of Poland]]'', by [[Jan Chełmiński]], 1880.]]
[[File:Michał Kazimierz Ogiński.PNG|thumb|right|[[Michał Kazimierz Ogiński]], a nobleman from [[Enlightenment in Poland|18th century Poland and the Enlightenment]]]]

The '''''szlachta''''' ({{IPA|pl|ˈʂlaxta|x|Pl-szlachta.ogg}}; {{langx|lt|šlėkta}}; {{lit|nobility}}) , the nobles, were the [[nobility|noble]] [[estate of the realm]] 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 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,<ref name=epwn/> which was exercising [[szlachta's privileges|political rights and power]].<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate">{{cite encyclopedia  
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Ivor Norman Richard
 | author-link1 = Norman Davies
 | last2 = Dawson
 | first2 = Andrew Hutchinson
 | last3 = Jasiewicz
 | first3 = Krzysztof
 | author-link3 = :pl:Krzysztof Jasiewicz
 | last4 = Kondracki
 | first4 = Jerzy Aleksander
 | author-link4 = :pl:Jerzy Kondracki
 | last5 = Wandycz
 | first5 = Piotr Stefan
 | author-link5 = Piotr S. Wandycz
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | title = Poland
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth
 | access-date = 24 April 2021
 | date = 2 June 2017
 | page = 15
 | quote = Ranging from the poorest landless yeomen to the great magnates, the szlachta insisted on the equality of all its members. As a political nation it was more numerous (8–10 percent) than the electorate of most European states even in the early 19th century.}}</ref><ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste">{{cite journal
| last1 = Hutton
| first1 = Richard Holt
| author-link1 = Richard Holt Hutton
| last2 = Bagehot
| first2 = Walter
| author-link2 = Walter Bagehot
| date = January 1864
| title = The Races of the Old World
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4u4RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA484
| journal = [[National Review (1855)|National Review]]
| location = London, England
| publisher = Robson and Levey
| access-date = 9 Oct 2014
| pages = 484
| quote = "These remark exactly express the view which we entertain in regard to the population of Poland. There we find an aristocracy of equals resting upon a basis of serfage, an upper caste drawing the rents of the land, monopolising the government, and composing the army of the country, and who, in the course of long centuries, have imparted much of their own spirit and ideas, and, with the license of a gay aristocracy, not a little of their blood also, to the subordinate population."
}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-can-be-king">{{cite book
 | last = Ross
 | first = M.
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fqxDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51
 | title = A history of Poland from its foundation as a state to the present time; including a full account of the recent patriotic struggle to re-establish its independence. To which is prefixed, a descriptive view of the country, its natural history, cities and towns, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants
 | year = 1835
 | publisher = Pattison and Ross
 | location = Newcastle upon Tyne, England
 | page = 51
 | chapter = A Descriptive View of Poland: Character, Manners, and Customs of the Poles
 | quote = Once admitted within the pale of nobility, every honour of the state, and even the kingly office, was open, there being a perfect equality of civil rights.}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-equality">{{cite journal
| last = Skwarczyński
| first = Paweł
| date = June 1956
| title = The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century
| jstor = 4204744
| journal = [[The Slavonic and East European Review]]
| location = Salisbury House, Station Road, [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire county]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
| publisher = [[Modern Humanities Research Association]]
| volume = 34
| issue = 83
| page = 299
| quote = As the knights owned their land, there was no room or need for any intermediaries between them and the king. All of them were equal before the king; but they were not king's tenants, and the king was not their overlord. Their relationship to the king was not feudal, i.e., based on feudal dependence, but rather it was regulated by public law. ... From the fact that the knights were equal before the king, the theory of equality was evolved, which later became one of the important features of the constitution.}}</ref><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures">{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/24 24]
 | quote = Polish society had evolved from clannish structures, and the introduction of Christianity and all that went with it did not alter these significantly. The feudal system which regulated society all over Europe was never introduced into Poland, and this fact cannot be stressed too heavily.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/24
 }}</ref><ref name="only-szlachta-are-citizens">{{cite book
| last = Struve
| first = Kai
| editor-last = Wawrzeniuk
| editor-first = Piotr
| editor-link = Piotr Wawrzeniuk
| chapter-url = https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:214737/FULLTEXT01.pdf
| type = History
| title = SOCIETAL CHANGE AND IDEOLOGICAL FORMATION AMONG THE RURAL POPULATION OF THE BALTIC AREA 1880-1939
| chapter = Citizenship and National Identity: the Peasants of Galicia during the 19th Century
| year = 2008
| publisher = [[Södertörn University|Södertörns högskola]]
| location = [[Flemingsberg]], [[Huddinge Municipality|Huddinge municipality]], [[Stockholm County|Stockholm county]], [[Sweden|KINGDOM OF SWEDEN]]
| isbn = 978-91-85139-11-8
| pages = 76–77
| quote = A deep division between enserfed peasants and gentry landowners had developed in the early modern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The noble estate, the szlachta, monopolized the political rights and consequently only the szlachta, as constituted by the Commonwealth's sovereign, according to the early modern understanding of the concept, as well as the Polish nation and its members, were considered to be citizens.}}</ref> Szlachta as a class differed substantially from the [[Feudalism|feudal nobility]] of [[Western Europe]].<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system"/> The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the [[March Constitution (Poland)|March Constitution]].<ref name=epwn>[https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/;4019673 "Szlachta. Szlachta w Polsce"], ''Encyklopedia PWN''</ref>

The origins of the ''szlachta'' are obscure and the subject of several theories.<ref name="davies--norman">{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Norman|title=God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume I - The Origins to 1795|title-link=God's Playground|date=1982|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|isbn=0-231-05351-7|author-link=Norman Davies}}</ref>{{rp|207}} The ''szlachta'' secured [[Golden Liberty|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<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|211}} 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 [[Elected monarch|electing the monarch]] and filling honorary and [[Curia regis#Poland|advisory roles at court]] that would later evolve into the upper legislative chamber, the [[Senate of Poland|Senate]]. The ''szlachta'' [[Royal elections in Poland|electorate]]<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /> also took part in the government of the Commonwealth via the lower legislative chamber of the [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Sejm (bicameral national parliament)]], composed of representatives elected at local ''[[sejmik]]s'' (local ''szlachta'' 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]]'', ''[[Voivodeships of Poland|marshal of voivodeship]]'', [[Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|castellan]], and ''[[Starosta (Poland)|starosta]]''.<ref name="góralski--zbigniew">{{Cite book
 | last = Góralski
 | first = Zbigniew
 | title = Urzędy i godności w dawnej Polsce
 | publisher = LSW
 | date = 1998
 | isbn = 83-205-4533-1}} (Pol.)</ref>

In 1413, following a series of tentative [[personal union]]s between the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] and the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]], the existing [[Lithuanian nobility|Lithuanian]] and [[Ruthenian nobility|Ruthenian nobilities]] formally joined the ''szlachta''.<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|211}} 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, membership in the ''szlachta'' grew to encompass around 8% to 15% of Polish-Lithuanian society, which made the membership an [[Royal elections in Poland|electorate]] that was several times larger than most noble classes in other countries; by contrast, nobles in Italy and France encompassed 1% during the [[early modern period]].<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |url= |title=Early Modern European Society |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-415-15865-7 |edition=3rd |location=New Haven and London |pages=107 |language=en}}</ref>

Despite often enormous differences in wealth and political influence, few distinctions in law existed between the [[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania|great magnates]] and lesser ''szlachta''.<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /> The juridic principle of ''szlachta'' equality existed because ''szlachta'' land titles were [[allod]]ial,<ref name="szlachta--allodial">{{cite journal
| last = Skwarczyński
| first = Paweł
| date = June 1956
| title = The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century
| jstor = 4204744
| journal = [[The Slavonic and East European Review]]
| location = Salisbury House, Station Road, [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire county]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
| publisher = [[Modern Humanities Research Association]]
| volume = 34
| issue = 83
| page = 298
| quote = The resistance to the royal policy was so strong however that by far the greater part of the land was held by the knights as [[allod]]ial, not as feudal property, which is in striking contrast to the land conditions in England.}}</ref> not [[Feudalism|feudal]], involving no requirement of feudal service to a [[Homage (feudal)|liege Lord]].<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /> Unlike [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarchs]] who eventually took reign in most other European countries, the Polish king was not an [[Autocracy|autocrat]] and not the szlachta's overlord.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski-allod">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| title = It's Time to End the Myth That Polish Immigrants Were Peasants
| last = [[Topór coat of arms|Topór]]-Jakubowski
| first = Theodore
| website = West European Grand Priory, International Order of St Stanislas
| publisher = Order of St Stanislas
| location = Croxteth House, Liverpool, Lancashire county, Merseyside, North West England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020704093315/http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| archive-date = 4 July 2002
| access-date = 24 April 2021
| quote = 1. The right to hold [[Allod|outright ownership of land]] - not as a [[fief]], conditional upon service to the [[Homage (feudal)|liege Lord]], but absolutely in perpetuity unless sold.}}</ref> During the three successive [[Partitions of Poland]] between 1772 and 1795, most of the ''szlachta'' began to lose legal privileges and social status, while ''szlachta'' elites became part of the nobilities of the three partitioning powers.

== History ==

=== Etymology ===
In Polish, a nobleman is called a "''szlachcic''" and a noblewoman a "''szlachcianka''".

The Polish term ''szlachta'' derived from the [[Old High German]] word ''slahta''. In modern German ''Geschlecht'' – which originally came from the [[Proto-Germanic]] *''slagiz'', "blow", "strike", and shares the [[Anglo-Saxon]] root for "slaughter", or the verb "to slug" – means "breeding" or "gender".{{cn|date=August 2025}}

17th-century Poles assumed ''szlachta'' came from the German ''schlachten'', "to slaughter" or "to butcher", and was therefore related to the German word for battle, ''Schlacht''. Some early Polish historians thought the term might have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, [[Lech, Czech, and Rus'|Lech]], mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. The szlachta traced their descent from Lech, who allegedly founded the Polish kingdom in about the fifth century.<ref name="races-old-world">{{cite journal
| last1 = Hutton
| first1 = Richard Holt
| author-link1 = Richard Holt Hutton
| last2 = Bagehot
| first2 = Walter
| author-link2 = Walter Bagehot
| date = January 1864
| title = The Races of the Old World
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4u4RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA482
| journal = [[National Review (1855)|National Review]]
| location = London, England
| publisher = Robson and Levey
| access-date = 9 Oct 2014
}}</ref>{{rp|482}}

The Polish term ''szlachta'' designated the formalized, hereditary<ref name="szacki--inherited--1995">{{cite book
 | last = Szacki
 | first = Jerzy Ryszard
 | author-link = Jerzy Szacki
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gU6_JbBHkXoC&pg=PA48
 | title = LIBERALISM AFTER COMMUNISM
 | year = 1995
 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]]
 | location = Budapest, Hungary
 | pages = 48
 | quote = ... the Polish nobility was a closed group (apart from a few exceptions, many of which were contrary to the law), in which membership was inherited.| isbn = 9781858660165
 }}</ref> [[aristocracy]]<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /> of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which constituted the nation itself, and ruled without competition.<ref name="dmowski-szlachta-the-nation">{{cite book
 | last = Dmowski
 | first = Roman Stanisław
 | author-link = Roman Dmowski
 | editor-last = Duff
 | editor-first = James Duff
 | editor-link = James Duff Duff
 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
 | title = RUSSIAN REALITIES AND PROBLEMS
 | year = 1917
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | location = Cambridge
 | page = 116
 | chapter = Poland Old and New
 | quote = In the past the nobility in Poland constituted the nation itself. It ruled the country without competition on the part of any other class, the middle class being small in numbers and wealth, and the peasants being [[Serfdom|serfs]].}}</ref><ref name="polish-peasant-not-belong-to-polish-nation">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | pages = 116–117
 | quote = The Polish peasant in the past was a very humble member of the Polish community – in fact he scarcely belonged to it at all. He had for 350 years no civic rights whatever. He was the serf of his master. It was only the easy-going and patriarchal relations between squire and peasant that made life tolerable for the latter.}}</ref><ref name="only-szlachta-are-citizens" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002">{{cite periodical
 | last = Jakubowski
 | first = Theodore
 | editor-last = Suligowski
 | editor-first = Leonard Joseph
 | title = Claiming Inherited Noble Status
 | periodical= White Eagle: Journal of the Polish Nobility Association Foundation
 | date = Spring–Summer 2002
 | page = 5
 | location = Baltimore, MD
 | url = http://pnaf.us/pdfs/white-eagle-spring-summer-2002.pdf
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170412052147/http://pnaf.us/pdfs/white-eagle-spring-summer-2002.pdf
 | archive-date = 12 April 2017
 | quote = ... the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of Two Nations (from 1385 until the Third Partition of 1795) paralleled the Roman Empire in that -- whether we like it or not -- full rights of citizenship were limited to the governing elite, called szlachta in Polish ... It is not truly correct to consider the szlachta a class; they actually were more like a caste, the military caste, as in Hindu society.}}</ref><ref name="krasinski--szlachta-are-poland">{{cite web
 |last = Gliński
 |first = Mikołaj
 |title = Slavery vs. Serfdom, or Was Poland a Colonial Empire?
 |date = 8 October 2015
 |website = Culture.pl
 |location = [[Warsaw]], [[Poland|POLAND]], EU
 |url = http://culture.pl/en/article/slavery-vs-serfdom-or-was-poland-a-colonial-empire
 |access-date = 23 June 2017
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20170624062330/http://culture.pl/en/article/slavery-vs-serfdom-or-was-poland-a-colonial-empire
 |archive-date = 24 June 2017
 |quote = The boundaries between nobility and peasants (and other social groups) persisted well into the 19th and 20th centuries. A shocking proof of how terribly effective this Sarmatian ideology was, can be found in a personal letter of [[Zygmunt Krasiński]], one of the three greatest Polish Romantic poets in the 19th century (and a descendant of an aristocratic family). In the mid-19th century Krasiński wrote to his English friend Henry Reeve: 'Believe me and rest assured that apart from aristocracy there's nothing in Poland: no talent, no bright minds, nor sense of sacrifice. Our third state [bourgeoisie] is nonsense; our peasants are machines. Only we [szlachta] are Poland.'
 }}</ref> In official Latin documents of the old [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Commonwealth]], the hereditary szlachta were referred to as "''nobilitas''" from the Latin term,{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}. Until the second half of the 19th century, the Polish term ''{{linktext|obywatel}}'' (which now means "citizen") could be used as a synonym for szlachta landlords.<ref name="szlachta-equals-citizen">{{cite book
| last = Struve
| first = Kai
| editor-last = Wawrzeniuk
| editor-first = Piotr
| editor-link = Piotr Wawrzeniuk
| chapter-url = https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:214737/FULLTEXT01.pdf
| type = History
| title = SOCIETAL CHANGE AND IDEOLOGICAL FORMATION AMONG THE RURAL POPULATION OF THE BALTIC AREA 1880-1939
| chapter = Citizenship and National Identity: the Peasants of Galicia during the 19th Century
| year = 2008
| publisher = [[Södertörn University|Södertörns högskola]]
| location = [[Flemingsberg]], [[Huddinge Municipality|Huddinge municipality]], [[Stockholm County|Stockholm county]], [[Sweden|KINGDOM OF SWEDEN]]
| isbn = 978-91-85139-11-8
| page = 77
| quote = The fact that the Polish term obywatel ("citizen") could be used as a synonym for gentry landlords until the second half of the 19th century shows how strong this concept was within Polish culture.}}</ref>

Today the word ''szlachta'' simply translates as "nobility". In its broadest sense, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods and [[baron]]ial titles granted by other European monarchs, including the [[Holy See]]. Occasionally, 19th-century landowners of commoner descent were referred to as ''szlachta'' by courtesy or error, when they owned manorial estates, but were not in fact noble by birth. ''Szlachta'' also denotes the Ruthenian and Lithuanian nobility from before the old Commonwealth.

In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of "''szlachta''" as "gentry" rather than "nobility".<ref>{{Cite book
 | last = Michener
 | first = James Albert
 | author-link = James A. Michener
 | title = POLAND
 | publisher = [[Random House]]; New York City, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
 | date = 1983
 | isbn = 0-394-53189-2
 | quote = Minor nobility: Linguistically, this category causes trouble. Some Polish writers refer to 'gentry', which doesn't quite sound right in English. Whereas some European writers use the term 'petty nobility' [analogously to ''[[Petite bourgeoisie]]''], but the adjective has unfortunate connotations.| title-link = Poland (novel)
 }}</ref><ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility">{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55 55]
 | quote = One cannot substitute the terms 'nobility' or 'gentry' for szlachta because it had little in common with those classes in other European countries either in origin, composition or outlook.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last = Davies
 | first = Norman
 | author-link = Norman Davies
 | title = GOD'S PLAYGROUND: A HISTORY OF POLAND, VOLUME I - THE ORIGINS TO 1795
 | year = 1982
 | isbn = 0-231-05351-7
 | publisher = [[Columbia University Press]]
 | location = New York City
 | page = 206
 | quote = For the sake of precision therefore, it is essential that szlachta should be translated as 'Nobility', szlachcic as 'nobleman', and stan szlachecki as 'the noble estate'.}}</ref> This mistaken practice began due to the inferior economic status of many ''szlachta'' members compared to that of the nobility in other European countries (see also [[Gentry#Two principal estates of the realm|Estates of the Realm]] ''regarding wealth and nobility'').<ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste">{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55 55]
 | quote = A more apt analogy might perhaps be made with the [[Rajput]]s of northern India. ... unlike any other gentry in Europe, the szlachta was not limited by nor did it depend for its status on either wealth, or land, or royal writ. It was defined by its function, that of a warrior caste.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/57 57–58]
 | quote = While land provided the majority with a livelihood, it was not the only or even the predominant source of wealth for the magnates, whose estates were not large by the standards of the barons of England or the great lords of France. ... The magnates only started accumulating property on a large scale at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/57
 }}</ref> The ''szlachta'' included those rich and powerful enough to be [[Polish magnate|great magnates]] down to the impoverished with an aristocratic lineage, but with no land, no castle, no money, no village, and no subject peasants.<ref>{{Cite book
 | last = Michener
 | first = James Albert
 | author-link = James A. Michener
 | title = POLAND
 | publisher = [[Random House]]; New York City
 | date = 1983
 | isbn = 0-394-53189-2
 | quote = Minor nobility: ... The category includes men almost rich and powerful enough to be magnates, and all intervening levels down to the roving rascal with no castle, no money, no village, no peasants, one horse and pride unbounded.| title-link = Poland (novel)
 }}</ref>  Historian M.Ross wrote in 1835: "At least 60,000 families belong to this class, of which, however, only about 100 are wealthy; all the rest are poor."<ref name="szlachta-poor">{{cite book
 | last = Ross (of Durham)
 | first = M.
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fqxDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51
 | title = A history of Poland from its foundation as a state to the present time; including a full account of the recent patriotic struggle to re-establish its independence. To which is prefixed, a descriptive view of the country, its natural history, cities and towns, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants
 | year = 1835
 | publisher = Pattison and Ross
 | location = Newcastle upon Tyne, England
 | page = 51
 | chapter = A Descriptive View of Poland: Character, Manners, and Customs of the Poles
 | quote = At least 60,000 families belong to this class [szlachta], of which, however, only about 100 are wealthy; all the rest are poor.}}</ref>

A few exceptionally wealthy and powerful szlachta members constituted the ''magnateria'' and were known as [[magnate]]s ([[magnates of Poland and Lithuania]]).

{{Clear}}

=== Composition ===
[[File:Jan_Matejko_-_Upadek_Polski_(Reytan).jpg|upright=1.50|thumb|Szlachcic [[Sejmik|sejmik representative]] [[Tadeusz Rejtan]] (lower right), with szlachta [[Republicanism|republican]] right of ending any [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Senate (Sejm)]] session and nullifying any legislation passed (''[[Liberum veto]]''), defying [[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[Prussia]]n, and [[Austria]]n [[Autocracy|autocratic might]] to cease legalization of the [[First Partition of Poland]], by halting the [[Partition Sejm]]'s exit from the Senate chamber on 30 September 1773, in effect proclaiming, ''"Murder me, not Poland."'' Painting by [[Jan Matejko]], 1866]]
[[Adam Zamoyski]] argues that the szlachta were not exactly the same as the European [[nobility]] nor a [[Landed gentry|gentry]],<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /> as the szlachta fundamentally differed in law, rights, political power, origin, and composition from the [[Feudalism|feudal nobility]] of Western Europe.<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system">{{cite book
| last = Dmowski
| first = Roman Stanisław
| author-link = Roman Dmowski
| editor-last = Duff
| editor-first = James Duff
| editor-link = James Duff Duff
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
| title = RUSSIAN REALITIES & PROBLEMS
| year = 1917
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| pages = 91–92
| chapter = Poland, Old And New
| quote = This military class was subdivided into clans, the members of each clan being bound together by strong ties of solidarity. Each clan had its name and crest. The Polish nobility, which sprang from this military class and which derived its family names from its landed properties (in the fifteenth century), had no family crests, of which there was only a limited number. Each of these bore a name which had been the old word of call of the clan. In many instances, one crest belonged to more than a hundred families. The clan system survived in this way throughout the whole of Polish history. It is evident that the warrior class in Poland had quite a different origin and a different legal and social position from that of the feudal nobility of Western Europe.}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-rule">{{cite book
| last = Boswell
| first = Alexander Bruce
| author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA66
| format = GOOGLE EBOOK
| title = POLAND AND THE POLES
| year = 1919
| publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
| location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
| pages = 66–67
| quote = But the Parliament was at best a clumsy body, as the deputies were not free agents, but were bound by their mandates from the real sovereign bodies, the local Diets or Sejmiki. The representative of a Sejmik had the right of vetoing all legislation in the Sejm, since he spoke for a whole province or tribe.}}</ref> The szlachta did not rank below the king,<ref name="szlachta-can-be-king" /> as the szlachta's relationship to the Polish king was not feudal. The szlachta stood as equals before the king.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> The king was not an [[Autocracy|autocrat]], nor the szlachta's overlord, as szlachta land was in [[allod]]ium, not [[Feudal land tenure in England|feudal tenure]].<ref name="szlachta--allodial" /> Feudal dependence upon a Polish king did not exist for the szlachta<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> and earlier in history some high-ranking szlachta ([[magnate]]s) descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of [[Piast dynasty|Piast realms]] and constantly sought to undermine Piast authority.<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|75, 76}}

In 1459 [[Ostroróg family|Ostroróg]] presented a memorandum to the [[Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland|Sejm (parliament)]], submitting [[palatine]]s, or [[Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], receive the title of [[prince]]. Sons of a prince were to receive titles of [[count]]s and [[baron]]s. [[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.<ref name="szlachta-reject-titles-of-nobility">{{cite journal
| last = Skwarczyński
| first = Paweł
| date = June 1956
| title = The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century
| jstor = 4204744
| journal = [[The Slavonic and East European Review]]
| location = Salisbury House, Station Road, [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire county]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
| publisher = [[Modern Humanities Research Association]]
| volume = 34
| issue = 83
| page = 302
| quote = In 1459 [[Ostroróg family|Ostroróg]] submitted a memorandum to the parliament (sejm), suggesting that the [[Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|palatines, or provincial governors]], should be given the title of prince and their sons the titles of barons and counts. The title of count was suggested by him for a [[Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|castellanus]]. But all these suggestions were not accepted. The composition of the king's council provides another distinction between the system in Poland and regular feudal systems elsewhere.}}</ref>

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.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /><ref name="szlachta-can-be-king" /> The [[republicanism]] of [[ancient Rome]] was the szlachta's ideal.<ref name="szlachta-roman-republicanism">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 47
 | quote = ... through all modern Polish history it was Roman republicanism that formed the ideal of the republican gentry. The Roman precedent was even quoted to justify serfdom, which was a modified form of [[Slavery in ancient Rome|Roman slavery]].}}</ref><ref name="roman-empire">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Ivor Norman Richard
 | author-link1 = Norman Davies
 | last2 = Dawson
 | first2 = Andrew Hutchinson
 | last3 = Jasiewicz
 | first3 = Krzysztof
 | author-link3 = :pl:Krzysztof Jasiewicz
 | last4 = Kondracki
 | first4 = Jerzy Aleksander
 | author-link4 = :pl:Jerzy Kondracki
 | last5 = Wandycz
 | first5 = Piotr Stefan
 | author-link5 = Piotr S. Wandycz
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | title = Poland
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth
 | access-date = 4 June 2017
 | date = 2 June 2017
 | page = 15
 | quote = Throughout most of Europe the medieval system of [[Estates of the realm|estates]] evolved into [[Absolute monarchy|absolutism]], but in the Commonwealth it led to a szlachta democracy inspired by the ideals of [[ancient Rome]], to which parallels were constantly drawn.}}</ref><ref name="szlachta-dictate-like-roman-senate">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 67
 | quote = Poland was the great power of East Central Europe, and the [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish Sejm]] dictated to the [[Kresy|East]] as despotically as the [[Roman Senate]] itself.}}</ref><ref name="okolski-ancient-romans">{{cite journal
 | last = Milewska-Waźbińska
 | first = Barbara
 | editor1-last = Sosnowski
 | editor1-first = Miłosz
 | url = http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-47ad7632-fb82-47ff-a88d-3ebf4845ea16
 | title = Latin as the Language of Social Communication of the Polish Nobility (Based on the Latin Heraldic Work by Szymon Okolski)
 | journal = The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
 | publisher = [[Kórnik Library]] of the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]]
 | location = [[Poznań]]
 | date = 2013
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170608095553/http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-47ad7632-fb82-47ff-a88d-3ebf4845ea16
 | archive-date = 8 June 2017
 | access-date = 8 June 2017
 | quote = The article highlights the role of Latin as the language of communication of the nobility living in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the beginning discusses the concept 'latinitas', which meant not only the correct Latin, but also pointed to the ideological content of antiquity passed through the language of the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]]. ... We studied Latin armorial 'Orbis Polonus' by [[Szymon Okolski|Simon Okolski]] (Cracow 1641-1645). ... It concludes that Okolski consciously wrote his work in the language of the ancient Romans.}}</ref><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /> Poland was known as the [[Most Serene Republic]] of Poland, Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} The szlachta, not as a feudal nobility or gentry,<ref name="zamoyski-not-gentry-not-nobility" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system" /><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /> but as an electorate,<ref name="szlachta-an-electorate" /> and an [[aristocracy]] and warrior [[caste]],<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /><ref name="races-old-world--caste">{{cite journal
| last1 = Hutton
| first1 = Richard Holt
| author-link1 = Richard Holt Hutton
| last2 = Bagehot
| first2 = Walter
| author-link2 = Walter Bagehot
| date = January 1864
| title = The Races of the Old World
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4u4RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA484
| journal = [[National Review (1855)|National Review]]
| location = London, England
| publisher = Robson and Levey
| pages = 484
| access-date = 9 Oct 2014
| quote = ".... there we find an exact counterpart of Polish society: the dominant settlers establishing themselves as an upper caste, all politically equal among themselves, and holding the lands (or more frequently, simply drawing the rents) of the country."
}}</ref><ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="szacki--caste--1995">{{cite book
 | last = Szacki
 | first = Jerzy Ryszard
 | author-link = Jerzy Szacki
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gU6_JbBHkXoC&pg=PA46
 | title = LIBERALISM AFTER COMMUNISM
 | year = 1995
 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]]
 | location = Budapest, Central Hungary region, HUNGARY, EU
 | pages = 45–46
 | quote = [[Aleksander Świętochowski]], on the other hand, wrote as follows: 'If from the deeds of the Polish nobility we took away excesses and the exclusiveness of caste, ...'| isbn = 9781858660165
 }}</ref> with no feudal dependence on a king,<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> exercised [[Liberum veto|supreme political power over that republic]]<ref name="szlachta-rule" /> and [[Royal elections in Poland|elected kings]] as servants of a republic the szlachta regarded as the embodiment of their rights.<ref name="szlachta-rights-embodied-in-republic">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 = Davies
 | first1 = Ivor Norman Richard
 | author-link1 = Norman Davies
 | last2 = Dawson
 | first2 = Andrew Hutchinson
 | last3 = Jasiewicz
 | first3 = Krzysztof
 | author-link3 = :pl:Krzysztof Jasiewicz
 | last4 = Kondracki
 | first4 = Jerzy Aleksander
 | author-link4 = :pl:Jerzy Kondracki
 | last5 = Wandycz
 | first5 = Piotr Stefan
 | author-link5 = Piotr S. Wandycz
 | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 | title = Poland
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth
 | access-date = 24 April 2021
 | date = 2 June 2017
 | page = 15
 | quote = The Commonwealth gradually came to be dominated by the szlachta, which regarded the state as an embodiment of its rights and privileges.}}</ref>

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.<ref>[[Jolanta Sikorska-Kulesza]], [http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku.pdf ''Deklasacja drobnej szlachty na Litwie i Białorusi w XIX wieku''] Warsaw, Oficyna Wydawnicza "Ajaks". 1995. p.14. [accessed 2018-11-2]. This monograph describes how during the 19th century the mass of "local" szlachta in the western borderlands of the Russian Empire were subjected to downward mobility and rank poverty through tsarist bureaucracy and a policy of social degradation</ref> See "[[#Szlachta categories|Szlachta categories]]" for more.

=== Origins ===
{{See also|History of Poland during the Piast dynasty}}

==== Poland ====
[[File:Chlop w dybach biernat z lublina zywot ezopa fryga krakow 1578.jpg|thumb|A Polish peasant in [[stocks]] in a 16th-century Polish woodcut]]
[[File:Lachus I (Benoît Farjat).jpg|thumb|upright=0.72|Lech I]]
The origins of the szlachta, while ancient, have always been considered obscure.<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|207}} As a result, its members often referred to it as ''odwieczna'' (perennial).<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|207}} Two popular historical theories about its origins have been put forward by its members and early historians and chroniclers. The first theory involved a presumed descent from the ancient Iranian tribe known as [[Sarmatian]]s, who in the 2nd century AD, occupied lands in [[Eastern Europe]], and the [[Middle East]]. The second theory involved a presumed szlachta descent from [[Japheth]], one of [[Noah]]'s sons. By contrast, the peasantry were said to be the offspring of another son of Noah, [[Ham, son of Noah|Ham]] — and hence subject to bondage under the [[Curse of Ham]]. The Jews were considered the offspring of [[Shem]].<ref name="colin" /><ref name="davies1" /><ref name="Bondage to the dead: Poland and the memory of the Holocaust" /> Other fanciful theories included its foundation by [[Julius Caesar]], [[Alexander the Great]], or regional leaders who had not mixed their bloodlines with those of 'slaves, prisoners, or aliens'.<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|207}}<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|208}}

Another theory describes its derivation from a non-[[Slavs|Slavic]] [[warrior]] class,<ref name="sarmatians--sulimirski">{{cite journal
| last = Sulimirski
| first = Tadeusz
| author-link = Tadeusz Sulimirski
| date = Winter 1964
| title = Sarmatians in the Polish Past
| jstor = 25776522
| journal = [[The Polish Review]]
| location = Champaign, Champaign county, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
| publisher = [[University of Illinois Press]] on behalf of the [[Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America]]
| volume = 9
| issue = 1
| pages = 13–66
}}</ref>{{rp|42, 64–66}} forming a distinct element known as the [[Lechites|Lechici]]/Lekhi (''Lechitów'')<ref>{{cite book
| last1 = Niesiecki S.J.
| first1 = Kasper
| author-link1 = Kasper Niesiecki
| last2 = de Bobrowicz
| first2 = Jan Nepomucen
| author-link2 = Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz
| orig-date = 1728
| date = 1846
| title = HERBARZ POLSKI
| edition = 3rd?
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JH_RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA430
| format = online book
| language = pl
| volume = I.
| page = 430
| location = Leipzig, Saxony, GERMANY
| publisher = [[Breitkopf & Härtel]]
| access-date = 13 Oct 2014
| quote = Miano Szlachty, pochodzi od Lechitów (The name of the nobility, derived from the [[Lechites]]).
}}</ref><ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}} within the ancient Polonic tribal groupings ([[Gentry#The historical background of social stratification in the Western world|Indo-European caste systems]]). Similar to [[Nazism|Nazi]] racial ideology, which dictated the Polish elite were largely [[Master race|Nordic]]<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Lukas
 | first = Richard C.
 | author-link = Richard C. Lukas
 | title = Did the children cry? Hitler's war against Jewish and Polish children, 1939-1945
 | chapter = Chapter IV. Germanization; Part I
 | date = 1 July 2001
 | location = New York
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | chapter-url = http://www.projectinposterum.org/docs/lucas2.htm
 | type = Online excerpt from book
 | isbn = 978-0781808705
 | access-date = 17 August 2018
 | quote = The same bizarre logic was applied to the Polish intelligentsia, who led the Polish resistance movement. To the Nazis, these leaders were largely [[Master race|Nordic]] which enabled them 'To be active in contrast to the fatalistic Slavonic elements.' The implication was obvious: If the Polish elite were re-Germanized, then the mass of Polish people would be denied a dynamic leadership class.
 | url-access = registration
 | url = https://archive.org/details/didchildrencryhi0000luka
 }}</ref> (the szlachta [[Boreyko coat of arms]] heralds a [[swastika]]), this hypothesis states this upper class was not of Slavonic extraction<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}} and was of a different origin than the Slavonic peasants ([[:pl:Kmieć|''kmiecie''; Latin: ''cmethones'']])<ref>{{cite book
| last1 = Niesiecki S.J.
| first1 = Kasper
| author-link1 = Kasper Niesiecki
| last2 = de Bobrowicz
| first2 = Jan Nepomucen
| author-link2 = Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz
| orig-date = 1728
| date = 1846
| title = HERBARZ POLSKI
| edition = 3rd?
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JH_RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA430
| format = online book
| language = pl
| volume = I.
| page = 430
| location = Leipzig, Saxony, GERMANY
| publisher = [[Breitkopf & Härtel]]
| access-date = 13 Oct 2014
| quote = Kmiecie czyli lud pospolity wolny (Kmiecie is the common free people), ...
}}</ref><ref name="kmiecie--guzowski">{{cite journal
| last = Guzowski
| first = Piotr
| date = 1 May 2014
| title = Village court records and peasant credit in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Poland
| url = https://www.academia.edu/7481437
| journal = Continuity and Change
| location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| volume = 29
| issue = 1
| pages = 118
| doi = 10.1017/S0268416014000101
| s2cid = 145766720
| access-date = 9 Oct 2014
| quote = The most important and the most numerous section of the peasantry in late medieval and early modern Poland was the kmiecie (Latin: cmethones), full peasant holders of hereditary farms with an average size in the region under study of half a mansus, which was equivalent to eight [[hectare]]s. Farms belonging to kmiecie were largely self-sufficient, although some of them were, to varying extents, engaged in production for the market. Other, less numerous, sections of the peasantry were the zagrodnicy (Latin: ortulani), or smallholders, and the ogrodnicy, or cottagers, who farmed small plots of land. These two categories of peasants were not able to support themselves and their families from their land, so they earned extra money as hired labourers on their landlords' land, or that of the kmiecie. Apart from the holders of large or small farms, Polish villages were also inhabited by so-called komornicy, landless lodgers who earned wages locally. This group included village craftsmen, while the wealthiest kmiecie included millers and innkeepers.}}</ref> over which they ruled.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}}

In old Poland, there were two nations – szlachta and peasants.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | title = A History of Polish Serfdom. Theses and Antitheses
 | last = Kuligowski
 | first = Waldemar Tadeusz
 | date = 2 February 2017
 | website = Czas Kultury
 | page = 116
 | access-date = 6 April 2020
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200406222122/http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | archive-date = 6 April 2020
 | language = en
 | quote = In Poland two, near-nations appeared – nobles and peasants, and between them there was a Jewish wall.}}</ref> The szlachta were differentiated from the rural population.<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Jastrzębiec-Czajkowski
 | first = Leszek Jan
 | title = Niektóre dane z historii slachty i herbu
 | work = Ornatowski.com
 | publisher = Artur Ornatowski
 | url = http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | access-date = 9 Oct 2014
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305045021/http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | archive-date = 5 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last = Dmowski
 | first = Roman Stanisław
 | author-link = Roman Dmowski
 | editor-last = Duff
 | editor-first = James Duff
 | editor-link = James Duff Duff
 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
 | title = RUSSIAN REALITIES & PROBLEMS
 | year = 1917
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
 | page = 91
 | chapter = Poland, Old And New
 | quote = The population consists of free [[Husbandman|husbandmen]] and slaves. Above them there is a class of warriors, very strong numerically, from which the ruler chooses his officials.}}</ref> In harshly stratified and [[Elitism|elitist]] Polish society,<ref name="krasinski--szlachta-are-poland" /><ref name="only-szlachta-are-citizens" /><ref name="peasants-not-want-polish-state">{{cite book
| last = Struve
| first = Kai
| editor-last = Wawrzeniuk
| editor-first = Piotr
| editor-link = Piotr Wawrzeniuk
| chapter-url = https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:214737/FULLTEXT01.pdf
| type = History
| title = SOCIETAL CHANGE AND IDEOLOGICAL FORMATION AMONG THE RURAL POPULATION OF THE BALTIC AREA 1880-1939
| chapter = Citizenship and National Identity: the Peasants of Galicia during the 19th Century
| year = 2008
| publisher = [[Södertörn University|Södertörns högskola]]
| location = [[Flemingsberg]], [[Huddinge Municipality|Huddinge municipality]], [[Stockholm County|Stockholm county]], [[Sweden|KINGDOM OF SWEDEN]]
| isbn = 978-91-85139-11-8
| page = 78
| quote = The peasants feared the reestablishment of a Polish state because they expected it to be the state of their landlords. Their memory of independent Poland, conveyed from one generation to the next, was one of landlord wilfulness and a lack of rights.}}</ref> the szlachta's sense of distinction led to practices that in later periods would be characterized as racism.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Davies
 | first = Norman |author-link=Norman Davies
 | title = GOD'S PLAYGROUND: A HISTORY OF POLAND, VOLUME 1: THE ORIGINS TO 1795
 | year = 1982
 | isbn = 0231053517
 | publisher = [[Columbia University Press]]
 | location = New York City, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
 | page = 233
 | quote = The nobleman's belief in the exclusive quality of his own estate led to practices which nowadays could only be described as an expression of Racism.| title-link = God's Playground
 }}</ref> [[Wacław Potocki]], herbu [[Srzeniawa coat of arms|Śreniawa]] (1621–1696), proclaimed [[:pl:Chłopi|peasants]] "by nature" are "chained to the land and plow," that even an educated peasant would always remain a peasant, because "it is impossible to transform a [[dog]] into a [[lynx]]."<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Jastrzębiec-Czajkowski
 | first = Leszek Jan
 | title = Niektóre dane z historii slachty i herbu
 | work = Ornatowski.com
 | location = Warsaw
 | publisher = Artur Ornatowski
 | url = http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | access-date = 22 August 2018
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305045021/http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | archive-date = 5 March 2016
 | quote=Podobnie głosił [[Wacław Potocki]] h. [[Srzeniawa coat of arms|Śreniawa]], że [[:pl:Chłopi|chłopi]] 'z natury' są 'sprawieni do ziemi i do pługa', że nawet wykształcony chłop zawsze pozostanie chłopem, bo 'niepodobna przerobić psa na rysia'; ... ([[Wacław Potocki]], herbu [[Srzeniawa coat of arms|Śreniawa]], proclaimed [[:pl:Chłopi|peasants]] 'by nature' are 'chained to the land and plow,' that even an educated peasant would always remain a peasant, because 'it is impossible to transform a [[dog]] into a [[lynx]].')}}</ref> The szlachta were noble in the [[Aryan]] (see ''[[Alans]]'') sense -- "noble" in contrast to the people over whom they ruled after coming into contact with them.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}}

The szlachta traced their descent from [[Lech, Czech, and Rus|Lech/Lekh]], who allegedly founded the Polish kingdom in about the fifth century.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}} [[Lechia]] was the name of Poland in antiquity, and the szlachta's own name for themselves was [[Lechites|Lechici]]/Lekhi.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}} [[Richard Holt Hutton]] argued an exact counterpart of szlachta society was the system of tenure of southern India—an aristocracy of equality—settled as conquerors among a separate race.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|484}} Some elements of the Polish state paralleled the [[Roman Empire]]<ref name="roman-empire" /><ref name="szlachta-roman-republicanism" /> in that full rights of citizenship were limited to the szlachta.<ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="polish-peasant-not-belong-to-polish-nation" /> According to British historian {{ill|Alexander Bruce Boswell|pl}}, the 16th-century szlachta ideal was a [[Polis|Greek polis]]—a body of citizens, a small merchant class, and a multitude of laborers.<ref name="szlachta-aristocratic-greek-city-state">{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA66
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 66
 | quote = Their ideal was that of a Greek city State—a body of citizens, a small trading class, and a mass of labourers.}}</ref> The laborers consisted of peasants in [[serfdom]].<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Ross
 | first = M.
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fqxDAAAAYAAJ
 | title = A history of Poland from its foundation as a state to the present time; including a full account of the recent patriotic struggle to re-establish its independence. To which is prefixed, a descriptive view of the country, its natural history, cities and towns, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants
 | year = 1835
 | publisher = PATTISON AND ROSS
 | location = Newcastle upon Tyne
 | page = 55
 | chapter = A Descriptive View of Poland: Character, Manners, and Customs of the Poles
 | quote = The peasants of Poland, as in all feudal countries, were serfs, or slaves; and the value of an estate was not estimated from its extent, but from the number of peasants, who were transferred, like cattle, from one master to another.}}</ref> The szlachta had the exclusive right to enter the clergy until the time of the [[Partitions of Poland|three partitions of Poland–Lithuania]],<ref name="topor-jakubowski-clergy-szlachta-exclusive-right">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| title = It's Time to End the Myth That Polish Immigrants Were Peasants
| last = [[Topór coat of arms|Topór]]-Jakubowski
| first = Theodore
| website = West European Grand Priory, International Order of St Stanislas
| publisher = Order of St Stanislas
| location = Croxteth House, Liverpool, Lancashire county, Merseyside, North West England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020704093315/http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| archive-date = 4 July 2002
| access-date = 24 April 2021
| quote = I would also like to add, for myself, that the szlachta possessed the exclusive right to enter the clergy up until the time of the three partitions.}}</ref> and the szlachta and clergy believed they were genetically superior to peasants.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | title = A History of Polish Serfdom. Theses and Antitheses
 | last = Kuligowski
 | first = Waldemar Tadeusz
 | date = 2 February 2017
 | website = Czas Kultury
 | location = [[Poznań]]
 | page = 116
 | access-date = 6 April 2020
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200406222122/http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | archive-date = 6 April 2020
 | language = en
 | quote = To distance itself from the peasants, the nobility (and clergy) cultivated a belief in their genetic superiority over the peasants.}}</ref> The szlachta regarded peasants as a lower species.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | title = A History of Polish Serfdom. Theses and Antitheses
 | last = Kuligowski
 | first = Waldemar Tadeusz
 | date = 2 February 2017
 | website = Czas Kultury
 | location = [[Poznań]]
 | page = 118
 | access-date = 6 April 2020
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200406222122/http://czaskultury.pl/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WKuligowski_AHistoryOfPolishSerfdom_CzasKultury_3_2016.pdf
 | archive-date = 6 April 2020
 | language = en
 | quote = Nobility does not enter, or does so very unwillingly, into marriages with serfs, regarding them as a lower species.}}</ref> Quoting Bishop of Poznań, [[Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki|Wawrzyniec Goślicki, herbu Grzymała]] (between 1530 and 1540–1607):

<blockquote>
"The kingdome of Polonia doth also consist of the said three sortes, that is, the king, nobility and people. But it is to be noted, that this word people includeth only knights and gentlemen. ... The gentlemen of Polonia doe represent the popular state, for in them consisteth a great part of the government, and they are as a Seminarie from whence Councellors and Kinges are taken."<ref>{{cite book
| last = Frost
| first = Robert I.
| author-link = Robert I. Frost
| editor1-last = Leonhard
| editor1-first = Jörn
| editor1-link = Jörn Leonhard
| editor2-last = Wieland
| editor2-first = Christian
| title = WHAT MAKES THE NOBILITY NOBLE?: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SIXTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
| chapter = Nobility, Citizenship and Corporate Decision-Making in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1454-1795
| date = 23 June 2011
| publisher = [[Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht]]
| location = [[Göttingen]], [[Göttingen (district)|Göttingen district]], [[Lower Saxony]], [[Germany|GERMANY]]
| isbn = 978-3525310410
| pages = 148–149
| quote = 'The kingdome of Polonia doth also consist of the said three sortes, that is, the king, nobility and people. But it is to be noted, that this word people includeth only knights and gentlemen.' This limitation of political rights to the szlachta, Goślicki argued, meant that the system was more balanced and virtuous since it was based on the best elements of society: ... 'The gentlemen of Polonia doe represent the popular state, for in them consisteth a great part of the government, and they are as a Seminarie from whence Councellors and Kinges are taken.'}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{Clear}}

===== Military caste and aristocracy =====
[[File:Zbroja 1514.JPG|upright=0.78|thumb|Polish armor from the [[Battle of Orsha]], 1514]]
[[File:Bolesław I Wysoki.PNG|thumb|right|upright|[[Bolesław I the Tall|Bolesław I the Tall (1127–1201)]] with heraldic shield, by [[Jan Matejko]]]]
The social status of szlachta is compared with [[caste]],<ref name="szacki--caste--1995" /> a military caste, similar to castes in [[Hindu]] society.<ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /> In the year 1244, [[Bolesław I of Masovia|Bolesław, Duke of Masovia]], identified members of the [[knight]]s' clan as members of a ''genealogia:''{{huh|date=April 2025|reason=something is messed up either in translation or in Wikipedian's undertanding of the source. Sources must be checked}}

<blockquote>
"I received my good servitors [Raciborz and Albert] from the land of [[Greater Poland|[Great] Poland]], and from the clan [''genealogia''] called [[Jelita coat of arms|Jelito]], with my well-disposed knowledge [i.e., consent and encouragement] and the cry [''vocitatio''], [that is], the ''godło,'' [by the name of] ''Nagody,'' and I established them in the said land of mine, [[Masovia]], [on the military tenure described elsewhere in the charter]."
</blockquote>

The documentation regarding Raciborz and Albert's tenure is the earliest surviving of the use of the clan name and cry defining the honorable status of Polish knights. The names of knightly ''genealogiae'' only came to be associated with heraldic devices later in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period. The Polish clan name and cry ritualized the ''ius militare,'' i.e., the power to command an army; and they had been used sometime before 1244 to define knightly status. {{Harv|Górecki|1992|pp=183–185}}.

<blockquote>
"In Poland, the Radwanice were noted relatively early (1274) as the descendants of [[Radwan coat of arms|Radwan]], a knight [more properly a "rycerz" from the German "[[ritter]]"] active a few decades earlier. ..."<ref name="radwan">[[:pl:Janusz Bieniak|Janusz Bieniak]], "Knight Clans in Medieval Poland," in [[:pl:Antoni Gąsiorowski (ur. 1932)|Antoni Gąsiorowski]] (ed.), THE POLISH NOBILITY IN THE MIDDLE AGES: ANTHOLOGIES, [[Ossolineum|Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]]; Wrocław, POLAND, EU; 1984, page 154.</ref><ref name="radwan-family-line">{{cite book
 | last = Okolski
 | first = Szymon
|author-link=Szymon Okolski
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eKBMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA564
 | section= RADWAN alias WIRBOW.
 | title= Orbis Polonus
 | date = 1643
 | publisher = Franciscus Caesarius
 | location = [[Kraków]]
 | volume = II
 | page = 564
 | archive-date = 8 June 2017
 | access-date = 8 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20170608065310/https://books.google.nl/books?id=eKBMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA564&redir_esc=y%23v=onepage&q&f=false
 | language = la
 | quote = LINEA FAMILIAE RADWAN}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[Escutcheon (heraldry)|Escutcheons]] and [[Coat of arms|hereditary coats of arms]] with eminent privileges attached is an honor derived from the ancient Germans. Where Germans did not inhabit, and where German customs were unknown, no such thing existed.<ref>{{cite book
 |last = Hobbes
 |first = Thomas
 |author-link = Thomas Hobbes
 |title = LEVIATHAN
 |chapter = Chapter X. Of Power, Worth, Dignity, Honour and Worthiness; To Honour and Dishonour
 |year = 1651
 |location = [[Andrew Crooke and William Cooke|Andrew Crooke's]] Shop, Sign of the Green Dragon, [[St Paul's Cathedral]] Churchyard, [[Ludgate Hill]], [[London]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
 |publisher = [[Andrew Crooke and William Cooke|ANDREW CROOKE]]
 |chapter-format = website
 |chapter-url = https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3207/3207-h/3207-h.htm
 |type = Online eBook
 |access-date = 17 August 2018
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20131117220000/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3207/3207-h/3207-h.htm
 |archive-date = 2013-11-17
 |quote = Scutchions, and coats of Armes haereditary, where they have any eminent Priviledges, are Honourable; otherwise not: for their Power consisteth either in such Priviledges, or in Riches, or some such thing as is equally honoured in other men. This kind of Honour, commonly called Gentry, has been derived from the Antient Germans. For there never was any such thing known, where the German Customes were unknown. Nor is it now any where in use, where the Germans have not inhabited.
 |url-status = live
}}</ref> The usage of heraldry in Poland was brought in by knights arriving from [[Silesia]], [[Lusatia]], [[Meissen]], and [[Bohemia]]. Migrations from here were the most frequent, and the time period was the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jelinska-Marchal
| first = D.
| editor1-last = Judycki
| editor1-first = Z.
| title = THE POLISH ARMORIAL POLANAIS
| year = 1988
| location = [[Château-Thierry]], [[Aisne|Aisne department]], [[Hauts-de-France|Hauts-de-France region]], [[France|FRANCE]]
| publisher = Albi Corvi
| page = 11
| isbn = 978-2907771009}}</ref> However, unlike other European [[chivalry]], coats of arms were associated with Polish knights' clans' (''genealogiae'') names and war cries (''godło''), where heraldic devices came to be held in common by entire clans, fighting in regiments.<ref name="zamoyski-whole-clans">{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55 55]
 | quote = Polish coats of arms are utterly unlike those of European chivalry, and were held in common by whole clans which fought as regiments.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/55
 }}</ref><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /><ref name="dmowski-clan-system" /> {{Harv|Górecki|1992|pp=183–185}}.

Around the 14th century, there was little difference between knights and the ''szlachta'' in Poland. Members of the szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country (''[[pospolite ruszenie]]''), thereby becoming within the kingdom a military caste<ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /> and [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]]<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /> with political power and extensive rights secured.<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="szlachta--allodial" /><ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /> Inclusion in the warrior caste was almost exclusively based on inheritance.<ref name="szacki--inherited--1995" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--1998">{{cite periodical
 | last = Jakubowski
 | first = Theodore
 | editor-last = Suligowski
 | editor-first = Leonard Joseph
 | title = 15th-Century Polish Nobility in the 21st Century
 | periodical= White Eagle: Journal of the Polish Nobility Association Foundation
 | date=Spring–Summer 1998
 | page = 9
 | location = Baltimore, MD
 | url = http://pnaf.us/pdfs/white-eagle-spring-summer-1998.pdf
 | quote = Membership in the Polish szlachta was hereditary. ... (and the family knighthood, rycerstwo, in itself) ... The paramount principle regarding Polish nobility is that it was hereditary. ... one Rudolf Lambert had successfully proven his right to hereditary knighthood (szlachectwo) ... He [Nikodem Tadeusz] was also Marshal of the Knighthood (using the word rycerz and not szlachcic ...)}}</ref>

Concerning the early Polish tribes, geography contributed to long-standing traditions. The Polish tribes were internalized and organized around a unifying religious cult, governed by the ''[[Veche|wiec]]'', an assembly of free tribesmen. Later, when safety required power to be consolidated, an elected prince was chosen to govern. The election privilege was usually limited to elites.<ref name="bardach202627" />

The tribes were ruled by clans ([[:pl:Ród|''ród'']]) consisting of people related by blood or marriage and theoretically descending from a common ancestor,<ref name="radwan-family-line" /> giving the ród/clan a highly developed sense of solidarity. (See ''[[gens]]''.) The ''[[starosta]]'' (or ''starszyna'') had judicial and military power over the ród/clan, although this power was often exercised with an assembly of elders. Strongholds called ''[[Gord (Slavic settlement)|grόd]]'' were built where the religious cult was powerful, where trials were conducted, and where clans gathered in the face of danger. The ''opole'' was the territory occupied by a single tribe. {{Harv|Manteuffel|1982|p=44}} The family unit of a tribe is called the ''rodzina'', while a collection of tribes is a [[:pl:Plemię|''plemię'']].

[[Mieszko I of Poland]] (c. 935 – 25 May 992) established an elite knightly retinue from within his army, which he depended upon for success in uniting the [[Lechites|Lekhitic]] tribes and preserving the unity of his state. Documented proof exists of Mieszko I's successors utilizing such a retinue, as well.

Another group of knights were granted land in [[allod]]ium, not [[Feudal land tenure in England|feudal tenure]],<ref name="szlachta--allodial" /> by the prince, allowing them the economic ability to serve the prince militarily. A Polish warrior belonging to the military caste<ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /> living at the time prior to the 15th century was referred to as a "rycerz", very roughly equivalent to the English "knight", the critical difference being the status of "rycerz" was almost strictly hereditary;<ref name="szacki--inherited--1995" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--1998" /> the group of all such warriors was known as the "rycerstwo".<ref name="topor-jakubowski--1998" /> Representing the wealthier families of Poland and itinerant knights from abroad seeking their fortunes, this other group of rycerstwo, which became the szlachta ("szlachta" becomes the proper term for Polish [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]]<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /> beginning about the 15th century), gradually formed apart from Mieszko I's and his successors' elite retinues. This rycerstwo/[[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]]<ref name="races-old-world--aristocracy--caste" /> secured more rights granting them favored status. They were absolved from particular burdens and obligations under ducal law, resulting in the belief only rycerstwo (those combining military prowess with high/aristocratic birth) could serve as officials in state administration.

Select rycerstwo were distinguished above the other rycerstwo, because they descended from past tribal dynasties, or because early [[Piast dynasty|Piasts']] endowments made them select beneficiaries. These rycerstwo of great wealth were called ''możni'' ("the powerful ones"). They had the same political status and status in law as the rycerstwo from which they all originated<ref name="dmowski-magnates-szlachta">{{cite book
 | last = Dmowski
 | first = Roman Stanisław
 | author-link = Roman Dmowski
 | editor-last = Duff
 | editor-first = James Duff
 | editor-link = James Duff Duff
 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
 | title = RUSSIAN REALITIES & PROBLEMS
 | year = 1917
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
 | page = 94
 | chapter = Poland, Old And New
 | quote = But between the gentry and the magnates there was only a difference of wealth and culture. Both belonged directly to the same class of the community, both were members of the same clans, and the gentry by its social character was destined rather to co-operate with the magnates than to struggle against them. And, as both those elements occupied the same legal position, the power wrested from the king by the magnates became legally an acquisition of the whole of the nobility, ...}}</ref> and to which they would return were their wealth lost. {{Harv|Manteuffel|1982|pp=148–149}}

[[Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth|The Period of Division (1138–1314)]], which included nearly 200 years of fragmentation and which stemmed from [[Bolesław III]]'s division of Poland among his sons, was the genesis of the political structure where the powerful landowning szlachta (''możni'', both ecclesiastical and lay), whose land was in allodium, not feudal tenure,<ref name="szlachta--allodial" /><ref name="szlachta-equality" /> were economically elevated above the rycerstwo they originated from. The prior political structure was one of Polish tribes united into the historic Polish nation under a state ruled by the [[Piast dynasty]], this dynasty appearing circa 850 A.D.

Some ''możni'' descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of Piast realms,<ref name="szlachta-equality" /><ref name="szlachta--allodial" /> even though the Piasts attempted to deprive them of their independence. These ''możni'' constantly sought to [[Bolesław III Wrymouth#Fight against Sieciech|undermine princely authority]].<ref name="davies--norman" />{{rp|75, 76}} In [[Gallus Anonymus|Gall Anonym's]] chronicle, there is noted the nobility's alarm when the [[Count palatine|Palatine]] [[Sieciech]] "elevated those of a lower class over those who were noble born" entrusting them with state offices. {{Harv|Manteuffel|1982|p=149}}

==== Lithuania ====
{{Main|Lithuanian nobility}}
[[File:Jogaila (Władysław II).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jogaila (Władysław II)]]]]
In [[Lithuania Propria]] and in [[Samogitia]], prior to the creation of the [[Kingdom of Lithuania]] by [[Mindaugas]], nobles were called ''die beste leuten'' in [[German language|German]] sources. In Lithuanian, nobles were named ''ponai''. The higher nobility were named ''kunigai'' or ''kunigaikščiai'' (dukes) — a loanword from Scandinavian ''[[konung]]''. They were the established local leaders and warlords. During the development of the state, they gradually became subordinated to higher dukes, and later to the [[King of Lithuania]]. Because of Lithuanian expansion into the lands of [[Ruthenia]] in the middle of the 14th century, a new term for nobility appeared — ''bajorai'', from [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]] ''бояре''. This word is used to this day in Lithuania to refer to nobility in general, including those from abroad.

After the [[Union of Horodło]], the Lithuanian nobility acquired equal status with its Polish counterparts. Over time they became increasingly [[Polonized]], although they did preserve their [[nation]]al consciousness, and in most cases recognition of their Lithuanian family roots. In the 16th century, some of the Lithuanian nobility claimed that they were descended from the Romans, and that the [[Lithuanian language]] was derived from Latin. This led to a conundrum: Polish nobility claimed its own ancestry from [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] tribes, but Sarmatians were considered enemies of the Romans. Thus, a new Roman-Sarmatian theory was created. Strong cultural ties with Polish nobility led to a new term for Lithuanian nobility appearing in the 16th century — ''šlėkta'', a direct loanword from Polish ''szlachta''. Recently, Lithuanian linguists advocated dropping the usage of this Polish loanword.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kiaupienė |first=Jūratė |author-link=Jūratė Kiaupienė |year=2003 |title="Mes, Lietuva": Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės bajorija XVI a. |trans-title="We the Lithuania": nobility of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 16th c. |language=lt |publisher=Kronta |isbn=9955-595-08-6 |page=64}}</ref>

The process of [[Polonization]] took place over a lengthy period. At first only the leading members of the nobility were involved. Gradually the wider population became affected. Major effects on the lesser Lithuanian nobility occurred after various sanctions were imposed by the [[Russian Empire]], such as removing ''Lithuania'' from the names of the ''Gubernyas'' shortly after the [[November Uprising]].<ref name="Ochmański">{{cite book |last=Ochmański |first=Jerzy |title=The National Idea in Lithuania from the 16th to the First Half of the 19th Century: The Problem of Cultural-Linguistic Differentiation |publisher=Mickiewicz University |year=1986 |location=Poznań}}</ref> After the [[January Uprising]] the sanctions went further, and Russian officials began to intensify [[Lithuanian press ban#Origins and legal basis|Russification]], and [[Lithuanian press ban|banned the printing of books in Lithuanian]].

==== Ruthenia ====
{{Main|Ruthenian nobility}}
After the principalities of [[Halych]] and [[Volhynia]] became integrated with the Grand Duchy, [[Ruthenia]]'s nobility gradually rendered loyalty to the multilingual and cultural [[melting pot]] that was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Many noble Ruthenian families intermarried with Lithuanians.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The rights of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] nobles were nominally equal to those enjoyed by the Polish and Lithuanian nobility, but they were put under cultural pressure to convert to Catholicism.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} It was a policy that was greatly eased in 1596 by the [[Union of Brest]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} See, for example, the careers of Senator [[Adam Kisiel]] and [[Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

==Origins of szlachta surnames==
{{Main|Polish surnames}}

[[File:Epitafium--jana-z-ujazdu--circa-1450.jpg|thumb|[[Epitaph]] of szlachcic John of [[Ujazd, Opole Voivodeship|Ujazd]] sealed with the [[Srzeniawa coat of arms]] by unknown artist. It is located at the church of [[w:Czchów|Czchów]], [[w:Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795)|Kraków Voivodeship]], [[w:Lesser Poland|Lesser Poland province]], [[w:Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]]; 1450.]]
[[File:Polish knights 1228-1333.PNG|thumb|Szlachta 1228–1333]]

The Proto-Slavic suffix "-ьskъ" means "characteristic of", "typical of".
This suffix exists in Polish as "-ski" (feminine: "-ska"). It's attached to surnames derived from a person's occupation, characteristics, patronymic surnames, or toponymic surnames (from a person's place of residence, birth or family origin).
<ref name="hoffman--william">William F. Hoffman, "POLISH SURNAMES: ORIGINS AND MEANINGS" (Chicago, Cook county, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.: [http://www.pgsa.org/ POLISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA], 1993). </ref>{{rp|157}}  In antiquity, the szlachta used topographic surnames to identify themselves.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Dmowski
 | first = Roman Stanisław
 | author-link = Roman Dmowski
 | editor-last = Duff
 | editor-first = James Duff
 | editor-link = James Duff Duff
 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/RussianRealitiesAndProblems
 | title = RUSSIAN REALITIES & PROBLEMS
 | year = 1917
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | location = Cambridge, East of England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
 | page = 91
 | chapter = Poland, Old And New
 | quote = The Polish nobility, which sprang from this military class and which derived its family names from its landed properties (in the fifteenth century), ...}}</ref> The expression "[[German nobility#Nobiliary particles|z]]" (meaning "from" sometimes "at") plus the name of one's [[Inheritance|patrimony]] or [[Estate (land)|estate]] (dominion) carried the same prestige as "de" in French names such as "de Châtellerault", and "[[von]]" or "[[German nobility#Nobiliary particles|zu]]" in German names such as [[German nobility#Nobiliary particles|"von Weizsäcker" or "zu Rhein"]].<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 109
 | quote = Later on each family began to take the name of some village or town, with the addition of -ski, which is the Polish equivalent for the French de or German von.}}</ref> For example, the family name of counts Litwiccy (Litwicki<ref>{{Cite book |last=ks. Dariusz Pater |title=Kapliczki Matki Bożej w Ziemi Przysuskiej znakiem pobożności maryjnej. |publisher=KONTRAST |year=2010 |isbn=978-83-930803-0-4 |pages=214–216 |language=Polish}}</ref>) was formed with the patronymic suffix -ic from the ethnic name Litwa, i.e. Lithuania, 'nation of Lithuanians'. It refers to the early modern empire of Central Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth  (1569–1648). In Polish "z Dąbrówki" and "Dąbrowski" mean the same thing: "of, from Dąbrówka."<ref name="hoffman--william" />{{rp|60}} More precisely, "z Dąbrówki" means owning the patrimony or estate Dąbrówka, not necessarily originating from. Almost all the surnames of genuine Polish szlachta can be traced back to a patrimony or locality, despite time scattering most families far from their original home. John of [[Zamość]] called himself John [[House of Zamoyski|Zamoyski]], Stephen of [[Potok, Staszów County|Potok]] called himself [[House of Potocki|Potocki]].<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 109
 | quote = Thus John of [[Zamość]] called himself John [[House of Zamoyski|Zamoyski]], Stephen of [[Potok, Staszów County|Potok]] called himself [[House of Potocki|Potocki]]. Although time has scattered most families far from their original home, nearly all the names of the genuinely Polish szlachta can be traced back to some locality.}}</ref>

At least since the 17th century the surnames/[[Roman naming conventions#Cognomen|cognomens]] of szlachta families became fixed and were inherited by following generations, remaining in that form until today. Prior to that time, a member of the family<ref name="radwan-family-line" /> would simply use his Christian name (e.g., Jakub, Jan, Mikołaj, etc.), and the name of the coat of arms common to all members of his clan.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 109
 | quote = Originally a member of the Polish szlachta used simply his Christian name, and the title of the coat of arms which was common to all the members of his clan.}}</ref> A member of the family would be identified as, for example, "Jakub z Dąbrówki",<ref name="boniecki">{{cite journal
 | last = [[:pl:Adam Boniecki (heraldyk)|Boniecki]] ([[Fredro (Bończa)|Fredro]]-Boniecki), herbu [[Bończa coat of arms|Bończa]]
 | first = Adam Józef Feliks
 | year = 1901
 | title = DĄBROWSCY h. RADWAN z Dąbrówki
 | journal = Herbarz Polski - Część I.; Wiadomości Historyczno-Genealogiczne O Rodach Szlacheckich.
 | volume = IV.
 | page = 147
 | location = [[Warsaw]], [[Warsaw Governorate|Warsaw governorate]], [[Vistula Land|Vistula land (Russian POLAND)]], [[Russian Empire|RUSSIAN EMPIRE]]
 | publisher = [[:pl:Gebethner i Wolff|Gebethner i Wolff]]
 | format = online book
 | url = https://polona.pl/item/10355910/159/
 | quote = DĄBROWSCY h. RADWAN z Dąbrówki pod Piasecznem, w ziemi warszawskiej, w różnych stronach osiedli, przeważnie w ziemi rożańskiej. Przydomek ich "Żądło". Żyjący w połowie XV-go wieku Jakub z Dąbrówki, ...}}</ref> herbu Radwan, (Jacob to/at Dąbrówki of the knights' clan [[Radwan coat of arms]]), or "Jakub z Dąbrówki, Żądło ([[cognomen]])<ref name="zadlo-cognomen">{{cite book
 | last = Okolski
 | first = Szymon
|author-link=Szymon Okolski
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eKBMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA572
 | section= RADWAN alias WIRBOW.
 | title= Orbis Polonus
 | date = 1643
 | publisher = Franciscus Caesarius
 | location = [[Kraków]]
 | volume = II
 | page = 572
 | archive-date = 8 June 2017
 | access-date = 8 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20170608064839/https://books.google.nl/books?id=eKBMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA572&redir_esc=y%23v=onepage&q&f=false
 | language = la
 | quote = Dąbrowfcij, cognominati Zedlowie ...}}</ref> (later a przydomek/nickname/[[agnomen]]), herbu Radwan" (Jacob to/at [owning] Dąbrówki with the distinguishing name Żądło of the knights' clan [[Radwan coat of arms]]), or "Jakub Żądło,<ref name="zadlo-cognomen" /> herbu Radwan".

The Polish state paralleled the [[Roman Empire]]<ref name="roman-empire" /> in that full rights of citizenship were limited to the szlachta.<ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /> The szlachta in [[Poland]], where Latin was written and spoken far and wide,<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | format = GOOGLE EBOOK
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NEW YORK]], U.S.A.
 | page = 47
 | quote = The use of the Latin language was universal in Poland well into the eighteenth century, and many words from Latin have been assimilated by the Polish language and have added to its vocabulary and its expressiveness.}}</ref> used the [[Roman naming conventions#Tria nomina|Roman naming convention of the tria nomina (praenomen, nomen, and cognomen)]]<ref name="okolski-ancient-romans" /> to distinguish Polish citizens/szlachta from [[Peasant#Medieval European peasants|the peasantry]]<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mikmichalowickilite2-161212085641/95/dwr-dbrowskich-w-michaowicach-nowe-ycie-dworu-wystawa-6-1024.jpg?cb=1481533068
 | title = DWÓR DĄBROWSKICH W MICHAŁOWICACH - "Nowe życie dworu" (wystawa)
 | date = 12 December 2016
 | publisher = [[Małopolska Institute of Culture]]
 | location = [[Kraków]]
 | work = [[SlideShare]]
 | access-date = 5 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170605081455/https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mikmichalowickilite2-161212085641/95/dwr-dbrowskich-w-michaowicach-nowe-ycie-dworu-wystawa-6-1024.jpg?cb=1481533068
 | archive-date = 5 June 2017
 | language = pl
 | trans-title = DĄBROWSKI MANOR/MANSION IN MICHAŁOWICE - New Life of the Manor/Mansion (Exhibition)
}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2022}}</ref> and foreigners, hence why multiple surnames are associated with many Polish coat of arms.

Example – Jakub: Radwan Żądło-Dąbrowski<ref name="minakowski">{{cite web
 | last = Minakowska
 | first = Maria Jadwiga
 | author-link = Maria Minakowska
 | title = Żądło-Dąbrowski z Dąbrówki h. Radwan
 | website = Genealogia Potomków Sejmu Wielkiego
 | location = Kraków, POLAND, EU
 | publisher = Dr Minakowska Publikacje Elektroniczne
 | url = http://wielcy.pl/boniecki/en/art/4/261.xml
 | access-date = 21 July 2018
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190906175928/http://wielcy.pl/boniecki/en/art/4/261.xml
 | archive-date = 6 September 2019}}</ref> (sometimes Jakub: Radwan Dąbrowski-Żądło)

'''[[Roman naming conventions#Praenomen|Praenomen]]'''

Jakub

'''[[Roman naming conventions#Nomen|Nomen]]''' (nomen gentile—name of the [[gens]]<ref name="radwan-family-line" />/[[:pl:Ród|ród]] or knights' clan):

[[Radwan coat of arms|Radwan]]<ref name="radwan" />

'''[[Roman naming conventions#Cognomen|Cognomen]]''' (name of the family branch/[[sept]] within the [[Radwan coat of arms|Radwan]] gens):

For example—Braniecki, Dąbrowski,<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mikmichalowickilite2-161212085641/95/dwr-dbrowskich-w-michaowicach-nowe-ycie-dworu-wystawa-4-1024.jpg?cb=1481533068
 | title = DWÓR DĄBROWSKICH W MICHAŁOWICACH - "Nowe życie dworu" (wystawa)
 | date = 12 December 2016
 | publisher = [[Małopolska Institute of Culture]]
 | location = [[Kraków]], [[Kraków County|Kraków county]], [[Lesser Poland Voivodeship|Lesser Poland voivodeship]], Southern Poland, POLAND
 | work = [[SlideShare]]
 | access-date = 3 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170603191440/https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mikmichalowickilite2-161212085641/95/dwr-dbrowskich-w-michaowicach-nowe-ycie-dworu-wystawa-4-1024.jpg?cb=1481533068
 | archive-date = 3 June 2017
 | language = pl
 | trans-title = DĄBROWSKI MANOR/MANSION IN MICHAŁOWICE - New Life of the Manor/Mansion (Exhibition)
 | quote = Photographs from the family archive of Jan Majewski; Tadeusz Żądło Dąbrowski [herbu Radwan]...}}</ref> Czcikowski, Dostojewski, Górski, Nicki, [[House of Zebrzydowski|Zebrzydowski]], etc.

'''[[Agnomen]]''' (nickname, Polish {{linktext|przydomek}}):

Żądło (prior to the 17th century, was a [[Roman naming conventions#Cognomen|cognomen]]<ref name="zadlo-cognomen" />)

[[Bartosz Paprocki]] gives an example of the Rościszewski family taking different surnames from the names of various patrimonies or estates they owned. The branch of the Rościszewski family that settled in Chrapunia became the Chrapunski family, the branch of the Rościszewski family that settled in Strykwina became the Strykwinski family, and the branch of the Rościszewski family that settled in Borkow became known as the Borkowski family. Each family shared a common ancestor and belonged to the same knights' clan, so they bore the same coat of arms as the Rościszewski family.<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Bajer
 | first = Piotr Paweł
 | url = http://podolska.neostrada.pl/teksty/heraldry.htm
 | title = POLISH NOBILITY AND ITS HERALDRY: AN INTRODUCTION
 | publisher = podolska.neostrada.pl
 | location = [[Warsaw]], [[Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian voivodeship]], POLAND
 | access-date = 5 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160504225306/http://podolska.neostrada.pl/teksty/heraldry.htm
 | archive-date = 4 May 2016
 | quote = This peculiarity may be best illustrated by the example given by Paprocki [50] who mentions the Rosciszewski family which took a surname different from the names of the land properties it had owned. Those of the Rosciszewski family who settled in Chrapunia became known as Chrapunskis; those who settled in Strykwina were known as Strykwinskis; and those who settled in Borkow became known as Borkowskis. Since they shared a common ancestor and belonged to the same clan - they were entitled to bear the same arms as Rosciszewskis.}}</ref>

Each knights' clan/gens/ród had its [[List of coats of arms of Polish nobility|coat of arms]], and there were only a limited number. Almost without exception, there were no family coat of arms.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Zamoyski
 | first = Adam
|author-link=Adam Zamoyski
 | title = The Polish Way: A Thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture
 | orig-date = 1987
 | year = 1998
 | edition = Fourth Printing
 | isbn = 0-7818-0200-8
 | publisher = [[Hippocrene Books]]
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/54 54]
 | quote = Fig. 4 A selection of Polish coats-of-arms. These were never personal to the bearers; each was borne by all members of the family, and often by dozens of families of different names which may or may not have shared their origins.
 | url = https://archive.org/details/polishwaythousan00zamo/page/54
 }}</ref> Each coat of arms bore a name, the clan's call word. In most instances, the coat of arms belonged to many families within the clan.<ref name="zamoyski-whole-clans" /> The Polish state paralleled the Roman Empire,<ref name="roman-empire" /><ref name="okolski-ancient-romans" /> and the szlachta had a different origin and structure in law than Western Europe's feudal nobility.<ref name="zamoyski-clannish-structures" /> The clan/gens/ród system survived the whole of Polish history.<ref name="dmowski-clan-system" />

=== Heraldry ===
{{Main|Polish heraldry}}
[[File:Gelre Folio 53v.jpg|right|thumb|220px|[[List of Polish nobility coats of arms images|Polish coats of arms]] in the [[Gelre Armorial]] (compiled before 1396), among them [[Leliwa coat of arms]], [[Ogończyk coat of arms]], [[Ostoja coat of arms]] ([[Clan Ostoja|Ostoja knights' clan]]), [[Nałęcz coat of arms]].]]
{{Commons category|Coats of arms of families of Poland}}
[[Coat of arms|Coats of arms]] were very important to the szlachta. Its heraldic system evolved together with neighbouring states in [[Central Europe]], while differing in many ways from the heraldry of other European countries. Polish Knighthood had its counterparts, links and roots in [[Bohemia]], e.g. [[Poraj coat of arms]] and in [[Germany]], e.g. [[Junosza coat of arms]].

Families who had a common origin would also share a coat of arms. They would also share their crest with families adopted into the clan. Sometimes unrelated families would be falsely attributed to a clan on the basis of similarity of crests. Some noble families inaccurately claimed clan membership. The number of coats of arms in this system was comparatively low and did not exceed 200 in the late Middle Ages. There were 40,000 in the late 18th century.

At the [[Union of Horodło]], forty-seven families of Catholic Lithuanian lords and boyars were adopted by Polish szlachta families and allowed to use Polish coats of arms.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frost|first1=Robert I.|title=The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania: The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, 1385-1569|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=115}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Marian|first1=Biskup|chapter=Polish Diplomacy during the Angewin and Jagiellonian Era (1370-1572): X-XX C|title=The History of Polish Diplomacy: X-XX C|date=2005|publisher=Sejm Publishing Office|page=79}}</ref>

==== Heritability ====
The tradition of differentiating between a coat of arms and a [[Lozenge (heraldry)|lozenge]] granted to women, did not develop in Poland. By the 17th century, invariably, men and women inherited a coat of arms from their father.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} When mixed marriages developed after the partitions, that is between commoners and members of the nobility, as a courtesy, children could claim a coat of arms from their [[distaff]] side, but this was only tolerated and could not be passed on to the next generation. The [[brisure]] was rarely used. All children would inherit the coat of arms and title of their father. This partly accounts for the relatively large proportion of Polish families who had claim to a coat of arms by the 18th century. Another factor was the arrival of titled foreign settlers, especially from the German lands and the Habsburg Empire.

Illegitimate children could adopt the mother's surname and title by the consent of the mother's father, but would sometimes be adopted and raised by the natural father's family, thereby acquiring the father's surname, though not the title or arms.

{{Clear}}

== Ennoblement ==

=== Kingdom of Poland ===
The number of lawfully granted ennoblements ([[naturalization]])<ref name="only-szlachta-are-citizens" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" /><ref name="szlachta-equals-citizen" /><ref name="dmowski-szlachta-the-nation" /><ref name="polish-peasant-not-belong-to-polish-nation" /><ref name="peasants-not-want-polish-state" /> after the 15th century was minimal.

In the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] and later in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], ennoblement (''nobilitacja'') may be equated with an individual given legal status as a ''szlachcic'' member of the Polish nobility. Initially, this privilege could be granted by the monarch, but from 1641 onward, this right was reserved for the [[sejm]]. Most often the individual being ennobled would join an existing noble szlachta clan and assume the undifferentiated [[Polish heraldry|coat of arms]] of that clan.

According to [[heraldic]] sources, the total number of lawful ennoblements issued between the 14th century and the mid-18th century is estimated at 800.<ref name="czajkowski" /><ref name="pudlowski" /> This is an average of only about two ennoblements per year, or only 0.000,000,14 – 0.000,001 of the historical population. Compare: [[historical demography of Poland]]. [[Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne]], when trying to obtain Polish noble status, supposedly said in 1784, ''"It is easier to become a duke in Germany, than to be counted among Polish nobles."''<ref name="bajer--polish-noble--2012">{{cite book
 | last = Bajer
 | first = Peter Paul
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kzJf9HTGK2kC&pg=PA315
 | title = SCOTS IN THE POLISH–LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH, 16TH TO 18TH CENTURIES: THE FORMATION AND DISAPPEARANCE OF AN ETHNIC GROUP
 | year = 2012
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers]]
 | location = Leiden, South Holland province, NETHERLANDS, EU
 | pages = 315
 | quote = In 1784, Prince Charles de Ligne from Belgium, who was trying to obtain Polish noble status, supposedly said, 'It is easier to become a duke in Germany, than to be counted among Polish nobles,' quoted in Kulikowski, Heraldyka szlachecka, 27.| isbn = 978-9004212473
 }}</ref><ref name="bajer--piot-pawel--polish-nobility">{{cite web
 | last = Bajer
 | first = Piotr Paweł
 | url = http://podolska.neostrada.pl/teksty/heraldry.htm
 | title = POLISH NOBILITY AND ITS HERALDRY: AN INTRODUCTION
 | publisher = podolska.neostrada.pl
 | location = [[Warsaw]], [[Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian voivodeship]], POLAND
 | access-date = 5 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160504225306/http://podolska.neostrada.pl/teksty/heraldry.htm
 | archive-date = 4 May 2016
 | quote = It should not be difficult to understand then, why prince Charles de Ligne from Belgium, who in 1784 was trying to receive the Polish nobility status, supposedly commented that: It is easier to become duke in Germany, then to be counted among Polish nobles [34]. Indeed, from the moment of the prohibition of private adoptions, Polish nobility became a closed cast &#91;[[caste]]&#93; ...}}</ref>

The close of the late 18th century (see below) was a period in which a definite increase<ref name="czajkowski" /><ref name="pudlowski" /> in the number of ennoblements can be noted. This can most readily be explained in terms of the ongoing decline and eventual collapse of the Commonwealth and the resulting need for soldiers and other military leaders (see: [[Partitions of Poland]], King [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]]).

==== Estimated number of ennoblements ====
According to [[heraldic]] sources 1,600 is the total estimated number of all lawful ennoblements throughout the history of Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 14th century onward (half of which were performed in the final years of the late 18th century).<ref name="czajkowski" /><ref name="pudlowski" />

Types of ennoblement:
* [[Adopcja herbowa]] – The "old way" of ennoblement, popular in the 14th century, connected with adoption into an existing szlachta clan by an act of the king. The king granted a fragment of his own coat of arms establishing an alliance with the king's family, or a knight performed an adoption under their coat of arms, which required the confirmation of the king.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jelinska-Marchal
| first = D.
| editor1-last = Judycki
| editor1-first = Z.
| title = THE POLISH ARMORIAL POLANAIS
| year = 1988
| location = [[Château-Thierry]], [[Aisne|Aisne department]], [[Hauts-de-France|Hauts-de-France region]], [[France|FRANCE]]
| publisher = Albi Corvi
| page = 12
| isbn = 978-2907771009
| quote = In its primary form it was a nobiliary adoption effected by the king (who granted a fragment of his own arms testifying thus an alliance with his family) or by the knight's family who practiced an adoption under their arms, which had to be confirmed by the king.}}</ref> This form of ennoblement was abolished in the 17th century.
* [[Skartabellat]] – Introduced by [[Pacta conventa (Poland)|pacta conventa]] of the 17th century (since 1669), this was ennoblement into a sort of "conditional" or "graduated nobility" status. Skartabels could not hold public offices or be members of the Sejm, but after three generations, the descendants of these families would "mature" to full szlachta status. In 1775 another requirement was imposed – they had to acquire a landed estate.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jelinska-Marchal
| first = D.
| editor1-last = Judycki
| editor1-first = Z.
| title = THE POLISH ARMORIAL POLANAIS
| year = 1988
| location = [[Château-Thierry]], [[Aisne|Aisne department]], [[Hauts-de-France|Hauts-de-France region]], [[France|FRANCE]]
| publisher = Albi Corvi
| page = 12
| isbn = 978-2907771009
| quote = Since 1669 those who acquired the title of nobility were granted only a 'skartabellat' - that means a limited nobility conferred on foreigners - the title which limited a right to hold offices and to fulfill the duties of deputies up to the third generation only. In 1775 another obligation was imposed on them - they had to possess (to acquire) the real properties.}}</ref>
* [[Indygenat]] – from the Latin expression, ''indigenatus'', recognition of foreign noble status. A foreign noble, after acquiring indygenat status, received all privileges of a Polish szlachcic. In Polish history, 413 foreign noble families were recognized. Prior to the 17th century this was done by the King and [[Sejm]], after the 17th century it was done only by the Sejm.
* "secret ennoblement" – This was of questionable legal status and was often not recognized by many szlachta members. It was typically granted by the elected monarch without the required legal approval of the Sejm.

=== Grand Duchy of Lithuania ===
In the late 14th century, in the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], [[Vytautas the Great]] reformed the Grand Duchy's army: instead of calling all men to arms, he created forces comprising professional warriors—''[[bajorai]]'' ("nobles"; see the [[cognate]] "''[[boyar]]''"). As there were not enough nobles, Vytautas trained suitable men, relieving them of labor on the land and of other duties; for their [[military service]] to the Grand Duke, they were granted land that was worked by hired men ([[veldamas|veldam]]s). The newly formed noble families generally took up, as their [[family name]]s, the [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] pagan [[given name]]s of their ennobled ancestors; this was the case with the [[Goštautai]], [[Radvilos]], [[Astikai]], [[Kęsgailos]] and others. These families were granted their [[coats of arms]] under the [[Union of Horodlo]] (1413).

In 1506, King [[Sigismund I the Old]] confirmed the position of the [[Lithuanian Council of Lords]] in state politics and limited entry into the [[nobility]].

{{Clear}}

== Privileges ==
{{main|Szlachta's privileges}}

Specific rights of the szlachta included:
[[File:Bellotto Election of Stanislas Augustus.jpg|thumb|''[[The Election of Stanisław August]]'']]
# The right to hold outright ownership of land ([[Allod]])<ref name="szlachta--allodial" />—not as a fief, conditional upon service to the liege Lord,<ref name="szlachta-equality" /> but absolutely in perpetuity unless sold. The szlachta had a monopoly on land. Peasants did not own land.<ref>{{cite web
 |title = FOLWARK SZLACHECKI I CHŁOPI W POLSCE XVI WIEKU
 |work = cpx.republika.pl
 |location = POLAND
 |url = http://cpx.republika.pl:80/sytuacja.htm
 |access-date = 22 August 2018
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171203100415/http://cpx.republika.pl/sytuacja.htm
 |archive-date = 2017-12-03
 |quote = Posiadanie ziemi * Ziemia na której gospodarowali chłopi nie stanowiła ich własności. Jej rzeczywistym właścicielem był pan określonych dóbr: król, zwykły szlachcic lub kościół. Chłop był więc tylko użytkownikiem ziemi. Zwyczajowo było to użytkowanie dziedziczne - przekazywane na męskich potomków. Pan wsi mógł zawsze jednak usunąć chłopa z gospodarstwa. (The plot of land on which the peasants lived and resided was not their property. The owner was a particular estate: king, nobleman, or church. Therefore, the peasant was only a land user. Land use and residence was hereditary - the use transmitted to male descendants. However, the village master could always evict the peasant from the plot of land.)
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| last = Skwarczyński
| first = Paweł
| date = June 1956
| title = The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century
| jstor = 4204744
| journal = [[The Slavonic and East European Review]]
| location = Salisbury House, Station Road, [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire county]], [[England|ENGLAND]]
| publisher = [[Modern Humanities Research Association]]
| volume = 34
| issue = 83
| page = 299
| quote = The knights, except in the few cases already referred to, possessed full ownership of their land, and the peasant small-holders, apart from an insignificant minority, were tenants, to whom the system of feudal tenure applied.}}</ref> See ''[[Polish landed gentry|Polish landed gentry (Ziemiaństwo)]]''.
# The right to join in political and military assemblies of the regional nobility.
# The right to form independent administrative councils for their locality.
# The right to [[Royal elections in Poland|cast a vote for Polish Kings]].
# The right to travel freely anywhere in the old Commonwealth of the Polish and Lithuanian nobility; or outside it, as foreign policy dictated.
# The right to demand information from Crown offices.
# The right to spiritual semi-independence from the clergy.
# The right to interdict, in suitable ways, the passage of foreigners and townsmen through their territories.
# The right of priority over the courts of the peasantry.
# Special rights in Polish courts, including freedom from [[arbitrary arrest and detention|arbitrary arrest]] and freedom from corporal punishment.
# The right to sell their military or administrative services.
# Heraldic rights.
# The right to receive higher pay when involved in the "[[pospolite ruszenie]]" (mobilization of all population for defense of the nation).
# Educational rights
# The right of importing duty-free goods often.
# The exclusive right to enter the clergy until the time of the [[Partitions of Poland|three partitions of Poland]].
# The right to try their peasants for major offences (reduced to minor offences only, after the 1760s).<ref name="topor-jakubowski-szlachta-rights">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| title = It's Time to End the Myth That Polish Immigrants Were Peasants
| last = [[Topór coat of arms|Topór]]-Jakubowski
| first = Theodore
| website = West European Grand Priory, International Order of St Stanislas
| publisher = Order of St Stanislas
| location = Croxteth House, Liverpool, Lancashire county, Merseyside, North West England, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020704093315/http://www.ststanislas.org/papers/american_nob.htm
| archive-date = 4 July 2002
| access-date = 24 April 2021
}}</ref>
[[File:Franciszek Salezy Potocki 111.PNG|thumb|right|upright|[[Franciszek Salezy Potocki]], wearing the [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]].]]
[[File:Samuel_Zborowski_%C5%9Bmier%C4%87.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Samuel Zborowski]] on his way to his execution, 26 May 1584. Sketch by [[Jan Matejko]], 1860]]
Significant legislative changes in the status of the szlachta, as defined by Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries, consist of its 1374 exemption from the land tax, a 1425 guarantee against the 'arbitrary arrests and/or seizure of property' of its members, a 1454 requirement that military forces and new taxes be approved by provincial [[Sejm]]s, and statutes issued between 1496 and 1611 that prescribed the rights of commoners.<ref name="ian" />

=== Real and false nobles ===
Nobles were born into a [[noble family]], or [[Heraldic adoption|adopted into a noble clan by an act of the King]] (this was abolished in 1633). The rarest way of achieving szlachta status was through [[ennoblement]] ([[naturalization]]) by a king or [[Sejm]] for reasons such as bravery in combat, service to the state, etc. There were claims some nobles were, in fact, usurpers who were commoners that moved to another part of the country and falsely claimed noble status.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} In the first half of the 16th century, hundreds of such "false nobles" were denounced by {{ill|Hieronim Nekanda Trepka|pl}} (1550–1630) in his ''"Liber generationis plebeanorum (Liber chamorum)"'', or ''"Book of [[Plebeian]] Genealogy ([[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham's]] Book)"''. Peasants were considered descendants of Ham, the son of Noah subject to bondage under the [[Curse of Ham]]. The law forbade commoners holding landed estates and promised such estates as a reward to denouncers. Trepka was himself an impoverished nobleman who lived a town dweller's life and documented hundreds of such false claims hoping to take over one of the usurped estates. He does not seem to have succeeded in his quest despite his employment as the king's secretary.<ref>Leszczyński, R. ''Osobowość autora - wartość dzieła'', [w] Walerian Nekanda Trepka, ''Liber generationis plebeanorum'' (''Liber chamorum''), wyd. 2, opracował, [[Wrocław]] - [[Warsaw]] - [[Kraków]] 1995, p. 6-7.</ref> Many sejms issued decrees over the centuries in an attempt to resolve this issue, but with little success. It is unknown what percentage of the Polish nobility came from the 'lower orders' of society, but there are historians who claim nobles of such base origins formed a 'significant' element of the szlachta.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}}

Self-promotion and aggrandizement were not confined to commoners. Often, members of the lower szlachta sought further ennoblement from foreign, therefore less verifiable, sources. That is, they might acquire by legitimate means or otherwise, such as by purchase, one of a selection of foreign titles ranging from [[Baron]], [[Marchese]], [[Freiherr]] to [[Count|Comte]], all readily translatable into the Polish ''[[Hrabia]]''. Alternatively, they would simply appropriate a title by conferring it upon themselves. An example of this is cited in the case of the last descendant of the [[Andrzej Ciechanowiecki|Ciechanowiecki family]], who managed to restore a genuinely old [[Comital]] title, but whose actual origins are shrouded in 18th-century mystery.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Andrzej Rachuba |title=Panowie z Ciechanowa |journal=Kronika Zamkowa |page=33 |date=2010 |url=http://mazowsze.hist.pl/16/Kronika_Zamkowa/356/2010/12307/ |access-date=2018-11-30 |archive-date=2018-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201005539/http://mazowsze.hist.pl/16/Kronika_Zamkowa/356/2010/12307/ |url-status=dead }} In Polish with an English summary. The author shows it is likely a Ciechanowiecki ancestor either received a fashionable noble title in exchange for money while travelling on ''the Grand Tour'' in Western Europe or, simply "conferred it upon himself" to hark back to a former higher status. [retrieved 2018.11.30.]</ref>

=== Accretion of sovereignty to the szlachta ===
The szlachta secured many rights not secured to the nobility of other countries. Over time, each new monarch ceded to them further privileges. Those privileges became the basis of the ''[[Golden Liberty]]'' in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite having a king, Poland was considered the 'nobility's [[Rzeczpospolita|Commonwealth]]' because [[Royal elections in Poland]] were in the hands of members of a hereditary class. Poland was therefore the domain of this class, and not that of the king or the ruling [[dynasty]]. This arose in part because of the extinction of male heirs in the original royal dynasties: first, the [[Piasts]], then the [[Jagiellons]]. As a result, the nobility took it upon itself to choose "the Polish king" from among the dynasties' [[Matrilineality|matrilinial]] descendants.

Poland's successive kings granted privileges to the nobility upon their election to the throne – the privileges having been specified in the king-elect's [[Pacta conventa (Poland)|Pacta conventa]] – and at other times, in exchange for ''[[ad hoc]]'' leave to raise an extraordinary tax or a ''[[pospolite ruszenie]]'', a military call up. Poland's nobility thus accumulated a growing array of privileges and immunities.

In 1355 in [[Buda]] King [[Casimir III the Great]]<!--or Louis the Hungarian? sources vary! needs verification!--> issued the first country-wide privilege for the nobility, in exchange for their agreeing that if Casimir had no male heirs, the throne would pass to his nephew, [[Louis I of Hungary]]. Casimir further decreed that the nobility would no longer be subject to 'extraordinary' taxes or have to use their own funds for foreign military expeditions. Casimir also promised that when the royal court toured, the king and the court would cover all expenses, instead of requiring facilities to be provided by the local nobility.

==== Privilege of Koszyce and others ====
In 1374 [[Louis I of Hungary|King Louis of Hungary]] approved the [[Privilege of Koszyce]] (''przywilej koszycki'') to guarantee the Polish throne for his daughter, [[Jadwiga of Poland|Jadwiga]]. He broadened the definition of membership of the nobility and exempted the entire class from all but one tax (''łanowy'') a limit of 2 [[Groschen|grosz]]es per ''łan'' of land, [[Old Polish units of measurement]]. In addition, the King's right to raise taxes was effectively abolished: no new taxes would be levied without the agreement of the nobility. Henceforth, [[Offices in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth#District offices|district offices]] were also reserved exclusively for local nobility, as the Privilege of Koszyce forbade the king to grant official posts and major Polish castles to foreign knights. Finally, the privilege obliged the king to pay [[indemnity|indemnities]] to nobles injured or taken captive during a war outside Polish borders.

In 1422 [[Władysław II Jagiełło|King Władysław II Jagiełło]] was constrained by the Privilege of Czerwińsk (''przywilej czerwiński''), which established the inviolability of nobles' property. Their estates could not be confiscated except upon the verdict of a court. It also made him cede some jurisdiction over [[fiscal policy]] to the [[Privy council|Royal Council]], later, the [[Senate of Poland]], including the right to [[mint (coin)|mint coinage]].

In 1430, with the Privileges of [[Jedlnia]], confirmed at [[Kraków]] in 1433, Polish: ''przywileje jedlneńsko-krakowskie'', based partially on his earlier [[Brześć Kujawski]] privilege (25 April 1425), King Władysław II Jagiełło granted the nobility a guarantee against arbitrary arrest, similar to the English [[Magna Carta]]'s [[habeas corpus]], known from its own Latin name as "[[neminem captivabimus]] nisi jure victum". Henceforth, no member of the nobility could be imprisoned without a [[arrest warrant|warrant]] from a court of justice. The king could neither punish nor imprison any noble on a whim. King Władysław's ''[[quid pro quo]]'' for the [[easement]] was the nobles' guarantee that the throne would be inherited by one of his sons, who would be bound to honour the privileges granted earlier to the nobility. On 2 May 1447 the same king issued the ''[[Wilno Pact]], or Wilno Privilege'', which gave the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuanian]] [[boyar]]s the same rights as those already secured by the Polish ''szlachta''.

In 1454, [[Kazimierz IV Jagiellon|King Casimir IV]] granted the [[Nieszawa Statutes]] – Polish: ''statuty cerkwicko-nieszawskie'', clarifying the legal basis of [[voivodship]] [[sejmik]]s – local parliaments. The king could [[promulgation|promulgate]] new laws, raise taxes, or call for a mass military call up ''pospolite ruszenie'', only with the consent of the sejmiks, and the nobility were protected from judicial abuses. The Nieszawa Statutes also curbed the power of the magnates, as the Sejm, the national parliament, had the right to elect many officials, including judges, [[Voivode|voivods]] and [[castellan]]s. These privileges were demanded by the ''szlachta'' in exchange for their participation in the [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–66)|Thirteen Years' War]].

==== First Royal Election ====
The first "[[Royal elections in Poland|free election]]" (Polish: ''wolna elekcja'') of a king took place in 1492. In fact, some earlier Polish kings had been elected with help from assemblies such as those that put [[Casimir II of Poland|Casimir II]] on the throne, thereby setting a precedent for free elections. Only [[senator]]s voted in the 1492 free election, which was won by [[John I Albert]]. For the duration of the [[Jagiellonian Dynasty]], only members of that royal family were considered for election. Later, there would be no restrictions on the choice of candidates.

In 1493 the Sejm, began meeting every two years at [[Piotrków Trybunalski|Piotrków]]. It comprised two chambers:
* a [[Senate|Senat]]e of 81 [[bishop]]s and [[Offices in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth#Senatorial offices|other dignitaries]]
* a Chamber of Deputies of 54 deputies representing their respective domains.
The numbers of senators and deputies later increased.

On 26 April 1496 King [[John I Albert]] granted the [[Privilege of Piotrków]]. The [[Statutes of Piotrków]] increased the nobility's [[feudal]] power over [[serfs]]. It bound the peasant to the land, and only one son though not the eldest, was permitted to leave the village. Townsfolk ''mieszczaństwo'' were prohibited from owning land. Positions in the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church]] hierarchy were restricted to nobles.

On 23 October 1501, the [[Polish–Lithuanian union]] was reformed by the [[Union of Mielnik]]. It was there that the tradition of a [[coronation Sejm]] was founded. Here again, the lesser nobility, lesser in wealth only – not in rank – attempted to reduce the power of the Magnates with a law that made them [[impeachment|impeachable]] before the Senate for [[malfeasance]]. However, the [[Act of Mielnik]] of 25 October did more to strengthen the Magnate-dominated [[Senate of Poland]] than the lesser nobility. Nobles as a whole were given the right to disobey the King or his representatives — ''non praestanda oboedientia'', and to form [[konfederacja|confederations]], armed opposition against the king or state officials if the nobles found that the law or their legitimate privileges were being infringed.
[[File:Potęga Rzeczypospolitej u zenitu. Złota wolność. Elekcja R.P. 1573.jpg|thumb|right|''The Commonwealth's Power at Its Zenith, [[Golden Liberty]], the [[Royal elections in Poland|Election]] of 1573''. Painting by [[Jan Matejko]]]]

On 3 May 1505 King [[Alexander I Jagiellon]] granted the Act of ''[[Nihil novi]] nisi commune consensu'' – "I accept nothing new except by common consent". This forbade the king to pass new laws without the consent of the representatives of the nobility in the assembled Sejm, thus greatly strengthening the nobility's powers. Essentially, this act marked the transfer of legislative power from the king to the Sejm. It also marks the beginning of the [[First Rzeczpospolita]], the period of a ''szlachta''-run "Commonwealth".

In 1520 the Act of Bydgoszcz granted the Sejm the right to convene every four years, with or without the king's permission. At about that time the ''Executionist Movement'', seeking to oversee law enforcement, began to take shape. Its members sought to curb the power of the Magnates at the Sejm and to strengthen the power of the monarch. In 1562 at the Sejm in Piotrków they forced the Magnates to return many leased [[Krolewszczyzna|crown lands]] to the king, and the king to create a standing army [[wojsko kwarciane]]. One of the most famous members of this movement was [[Jan Zamoyski]].

==== End of the Jagiellonian dynasty ====
[[File:Anjou 1570louvre.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Henry III of France|Henry of Valois]], first elected monarch of Poland-Lithuania]]
Until the death of [[Sigismund II Augustus]], the last king of the [[Jagiellonian]] dynasty, all monarchs had to be elected from within the royal family. However, from 1573, practically any Polish noble or foreigner of royal blood could potentially become a [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish–Lithuanian]] monarch. Every newly elected king was supposed to sign two documents: the ''[[Pacta conventa (Poland)|Pacta conventa]]'', the king's "pre-election pact", and the ''[[Henrican articles]]'', named after the first freely elected king, [[Henry III of France|Henry of Valois]]. The latter document was a virtual ''Polish constitution'' and contained the basic laws of the Commonwealth:
* Free election of kings
* [[Religious freedom in Poland|Religious tolerance]]
* The Sejm to meet every two years
* Foreign policy controlled by the Sejm
* A royal advisory council chosen by the Sejm
* Official posts restricted to Polish and Lithuanian nobles
* Taxes and monopolies set up by the Sejm only
* Nobles' right to disobey the Monarch should s/he break any of these laws.

In 1578 king, [[Stefan Batory]], created the [[Crown Tribunal]] to reduce the enormous pressure on the [[Court (royal)|Royal Court]]. This placed much of the monarch's juridical power in the hands of the elected szlachta deputies, further strengthening the nobility as a class. In 1581 the Crown Tribunal was joined by a counterpart in Lithuania, the [[Lithuanian Tribunal]].

===Magnate oligarchy===
[[File:Polish magnates 1697-1795.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.53|[[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania]]. Drawing by [[Jan Matejko]], circa 1893]]
{{main|Magnates of Poland and Lithuania}}
For many centuries, wealthy and powerful members of the szlachta sought to gain legal privileges over their peers. In 1459 [[Ostroróg family|Ostroróg]] presented a memorandum to the [[Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland|Sejm (parliament)]], submitting [[palatine]]s, or [[Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], receive the title of [[prince]]. Sons of the prince were to receive titles of [[count]]s and [[baron]]s. [[Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] were to receive the title of count. All these submissions were rejected.<ref name="szlachta-reject-titles-of-nobility" />

Few szlachta were wealthy enough to be known as Magnates, ''karmazyni'', the "[[Crimson]]s" – from the crimson colour of their boots. A true Magnate had to be able to trace his ancestry for many generations and own at least 20 villages or estates. He also had to hold high [[offices in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|office in the Commonwealth]].{{Citation needed|reason=Some historians estimate the number of Magnates as 1% of the szlachta's total|date=November 2018}}. Thus, out of about one million szlachta, only 200–300 persons could be classed as Magnates with country-wide possessions and influence. Of these some 30–40 were considered as having significant impact on Poland's politics. Magnates often received gifts from monarchs, which greatly increased their wealth. Although such gifts were only temporary [[lease]]s, often the Magnates never returned them. This gave rise in the 16th century, to a self-policing trend by the szlachta, known as the ''ruch egzekucji praw'' — movement for the enforcement of the law – against usurping Magnates to force them to return leased lands back to their rightful owner, the monarch.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

One of the most important victories of the Magnates was the late 16th century right to create ''[[Ordynacja]]s'', similar to [[Fee tail]]s under English law, which ensured that a family which gained landed wealth could more easily preserve it. The ''Ordynacjas'' that belonged to families such as the [[Radziwiłł]], [[Zamoyski]], [[Potocki]] or [[Lubomirski]]s often rivalled the estates of the king and were important power bases for them.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

The difference between the ''magnateria'' and the rest of the szlachta was primarily one of wealth and life-style, as both belonged to the same legally defined class being members of the same clans. Consequently, any power wrested from the king by the magnates was consequently trickled down to the entirety of the szlachta. This often meant the rest of the szlachta tended to cooperate with the magnates rather than struggle against them.<ref name="dmowski-magnates-szlachta" />

=== Szlachta loss of influence ===
[[File:Galician slaughter in 1846.PNG|thumb|right|[[Galician slaughter|The Peasant Uprising of 1846]], the largest [[peasant uprising]] against ''szlachta'' rulership on Polish lands in the 19th century.]] The notion of the szlachta's accrued sovereignty ended in 1795 with the final [[Partitions of Poland]], and until 1918 their legal status was dependent on the policies of the [[Russian Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] or the [[Habsburg monarchy]].<ref>Kieniewicz, Jan. (2017). "THE JAGIELLONIAN IDEA AND THE PROJECT FOR THE FUTURE", ''[[Politeja]]'', 6 (51) http://akademicka.pl/ebooks/free/40819e1fff1cbd6d9bee7d2a75425cd1.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721023144/http://www.akademicka.pl/ebooks/free/40819e1fff1cbd6d9bee7d2a75425cd1.pdf|date=2018-07-21}} Retrieved 2018-11-11.</ref>

In the 1840s [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] reduced 64,000 of lesser szlachta to a particular commoner status known as ''[[odnodvortsy]]'' (literally "single-householders").<ref>Richard Pipes, Russia under the old regime, page 181</ref> Despite this, 62.8% of all Russia's nobles were Polish szlachta in 1858 and still 46.1% in 1897.<ref>Seymour Becker, Nobility and Privilege in late Imperial Russia, page 182</ref>
[[Polish serfdom|Serfdom]] was abolished in Russian Poland on 19 February 1864. It was deliberately enacted with the aim of ruining the szlachta. Only in the [[Russian Partition]] did peasants pay the market price for land redemption, the average for the rest of the [[Russian Empire]] was 34% above the market rates. All land taken from Polish peasants since 1846 was to be returned to them without redemption payments. The ex-serfs could only sell land to other peasants, not szlachta. 90% of the ex-serfs in the empire who actually gained land after 1861 lived in the 8 western provinces. Along with [[Romania]], Polish landless or domestic serfs were the only ones to be given land after serfdom was abolished.<ref>The End of the Old Order in Rural Europe, Jerome Blum, page 391.</ref> All this was to punish the szlachta's role in the uprisings of 1830 and 1863.
By 1864 80% of szlachta were ''déclassé'' – downward social mobility. One quarter of petty nobles were worse off than the average serf. While 48.9% of the land in Russian Poland was in peasant hands, nobles still held onto 46%.<ref>Norman Davies, God's playground, pages 182 and 188</ref>

In the [[Second Polish Republic]] the privileges of the nobility were legally abolished by the [[March Constitution (Poland)|March Constitution]] in 1921 and as such not reinstated by any succeeding [[Poland|Polish]] law.
<!--
probably some mistake: All szlachta privileges were finally abolished after the [[Second World War]] under the [[communism|communist]] regime of the [[People's Republic of Poland]].
-->

== Culture ==
=== Sarmatism ===
{{main|Sarmatism}}
[[file:Jan Zamoyski.PNG|thumb|[[Jan Zamoyski]], [[Hetman]], [[Chancellor (Poland)|Grand Crown Chancellor]] and a representative of [[Sarmatism]] ]]
The ''szlachta''{{'}}s prevalent ideology, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, was manifested in its adoption of "Sarmatism", a word derived from the legend that its origins reached back to the ancient tribe of an Iranic people, the [[Sarmatians]]. This nostalgic belief system embracing chivalry and courtliness became an important part of ''szlachta'' culture and affected all aspects of their lives. It was popularized by poets who exalted traditional village life, peace and pacifism. It was also manifested in oriental-style apparel, the ''[[żupan]]'', ''[[kontusz]]'', ''[[sukmana]]'', ''[[pas kontuszowy]]'', ''[[Delia (clothing)|delia]]'' and made the [[scimitar]]-like ''[[szabla]]'' a near-obligatory item of everyday ''szlachta'' apparel. Sarmatism served to integrate a nobility of disparate provenance, as it sought to create a sense of national unity and pride in the szlachta's "[[Golden Liberty]]" ''złota wolność''. It was marked furthermore by a linguistic affectation among the ''szlachta'' of mixing Polish and Latin vocabulary, producing a form of Polish [[Dog Latin]] peppered with "[[Macaronic language|macaronism]]s" in everyday conversation.<ref>Wasko, Andrzej. (2006) "Sarmatism or the Enlightenment, The Dilemma of Polish Culture". ''The Sarmatian Review''. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/497/wasko.html. Retrieved 2018-11-12.</ref>

=== Gastronomy ===
{{Main|Polish cuisine}}
[[File:Wierusz-Kowalski Dożynki 1910.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Dożynki]]'' by [[Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski]], 1910]]
The szlachta, no less than the rest of the population, placed a particular accent on food. It was at the centre of courtly and estate entertaining and in good times, at the heart of village life. During the Age of Enlightenment, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski emulated the French [[Salon (gathering)|Salons]] by holding his famed [[Thursday Lunches]] for intellectuals and artists, drawn chiefly from the szlachta.<ref>Michniewski, A. " "Do czwartku", Zabawy Przyjemne i Pożyteczne 1772", v. 12, p. 1. Ed. [[Jan Kott|J. Kott]] in ''Poezja polska wieku Oświecenia'', Warsaw. 1954 and 1956</ref> His ''Wednesday Lunches'' were gatherings for policy makers in science, education and politics.

There was a tradition, particularly in [[Mazovia]], kept until the 20th century, of estate owners laying on a festive banquet at the completion of [[harvest]] for their staff, known as ''[[Dożynki]]'', as a way of expressing an acknowledgment of their work. It was equivalent to a [[harvest festival]]. Polish food varied according to region, as elsewhere in Europe, and was influenced by settlers, especially [[Jewish cuisine]], and occupying armies.<ref name="Strybel-350">Robert Strybel, Maria Strybel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UtA6-pyGJmMC&pg=PA321 ''Polish Heritage Cookery''] (''Wildfowl and Game''). [[Hippocrene Books]]. 2005.</ref><ref>[[Maria Dembińska]], William Woys Weaver. ''Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past''. [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]. 1999.</ref>

=== Hunting ===
[[File:PolishHound-MlChPl-OKSANA-ZOstregoBoru-wl.JoannaZembrzuska 3.JPG|thumb|left|[[Ogar Polski]]]]
[[File:Wojciech Kossak - Elżbieta Potocka.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Elżbieta Potocka by [[Wojciech Kossak]]]]
[[File:PolishScenthound2BRANKA Herbu Weszynos Wl E.Ziolek.JPG|thumb|left|"Brach", [[Polish Hunting Dog]]]]
One of the favourite szlachta pastimes was hunting (''łowiectwo'').<ref>Szymańska, Aleksandra (2018) "Sezon myśliwski we dworze". ''Rolniczy Magazyn Elektroniczny''. Centralna Biblioteka Rolnicza im. Michała Oczapowskiego. (in Polish) https://rme.cbr.net.pl/index.php/archiwum-rme/53-wrzesien-pazdziernik-nr-45/kultura-i-tradycje-ludowe/85-sezon-mysliwski-we-dworze [retrieved 2018-11-10]</ref> Before the formation of Poland as a state, hunting was accessible to everyone. With the introduction of rulers and rules, big game, generically ''zwierzyna'': [[Aurochs]], [[European bison|bison]], deer and boar became the preserve of kings and princes on penalty of [[Poaching|poacher]]s' death. From the 13th century on the king would appoint a high-ranking courtier to the role of Master of the Hunt, ''[[Łowczy]]''. In time, the penalties for poaching were commuted to fines and from around the 14th century, landowners acquired the right to hunt on their land. Small game, foxes, hare, badger and stoat etc. were 'fair game' to all comers. Hunting became one of the most popular social activities of the szlachta until the partitions, when different sets of restrictions in the three territories were introduced. This was with a view to curbing social interaction among the subject Poles.<ref>Cheda, Jacek. (2010) Łowiectwo i jego rola w życiu społecznym Wielkiej Brytanii i Polski. ''Civitas Hominibus'': rocznik filozoficzno-spoleczny, 5. 91-105. (in Polish) [http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Civitas_Hominibus_rocznik_filozoficzno_spoleczny/Civitas_Hominibus_rocznik_filozoficzno_spoleczny-r2010-t5/Civitas_Hominibus_rocznik_filozoficzno_spoleczny-r2010-t5-s91-105/Civitas_Hominibus_rocznik_filozoficzno_spoleczny-r2010-t5-s91-105.pdf] See p.94. [Retrieved 2018-11-19] This is a comparison of hunting as a social activity in Great Britain and Poland.</ref> Over the centuries, at least two breeds of specialist hounds were bred in Poland. One was the [[Polish Hunting Dog]], the ''brach''. The other was the [[Ogar Polski]]. [[Count Xavier Branicki]] was so nostalgic about Polish hunting, that when he settled in France in the mid 19th century, and restored his estate at the [[Chateau de Montresor]], he ordered a brace of Ogar Polski hounds from the Polish breeder and ''szlachcic'', Piotr Orda.<ref>{{cite web|language=pl|title=Historia Ogara Polskiego|url=http://klubogarapolskiego.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=71|access-date=2018-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316072343/http://klubogarapolskiego.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=71|archive-date=2017-03-16}} retrieved 2015-11-24.</ref>

=== Women as purveyors of culture ===
High-born women in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth exerted political and cultural influence throughout history in their own country and abroad, as queens, princesses and the wives or widows of magnates. Their cultural activities came into sharper relief in the 18th century with their hosting of [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] in the French manner. They went on to publish as translators and writers and as facilitators of educational and social projects.<ref>Bogucka Maria. ''Women in Early Modern Polish Society, Against the European Background''. London: Routledge, 2017. {{ISBN|1351871994}}, 9781351871990</ref>
[[File:Barbara sangushkivna.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Barbara Sanguszko, philanthropist, writer and salon hostess at [[Poddębice]]. Oil by [[Marcello Bacciarelli]]]]
Notable women members of the szlachta who exerted political and/or cultural influence include:
* [[Queen Jadwiga]] (1373 ог 1374–1399)
* [[Bona Sforza]] (1494-1557), second wife of [[Sigismund I the Old]]
* [[Zofia Lubomirska]]
* [[Anna Jabłonowska]]
* [[Elżbieta Izabela Lubomirska|Elzbieta Lubomirska]]
* [[Eleonora Czartoryska]]
* [[Izabela Czartoryska]]
* [[Barbara Sanguszko]] (1718–1791), poet, translator and moralist
* [[Tekla Teresa Lubienska]] (1767–1810), poet, playwright and translator

{{Clear}}

== Demographics and stratification ==
The szlachta differed in many respects from the nobility in other countries. The most important difference was that, while in most European countries the nobility lost power as the ruler strove for [[absolute monarchy]], in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth a reverse process occurred: the nobility actually gained power at the expense of the king, and enabled the [[political system]] to evolve into an [[oligarchy]].

Szlachta members were also proportionately more numerous than their equivalents in all other European countries, constituting 6–12% of the entire population.<ref name="Frost" />{{Ref label|a|a|none}} By contrast, nobles in other European countries, except for Spain, amounted to a mere 1–3%. Most of the szlachta were "minor nobles" or [[Smallholding|smallholders]]. In Lithuania the minor nobility made up to 3/4 of the total szlachta population.{{page needed|date=May 2017}}<ref name="Sikorska">{{Cite web |url=http://repozytorium.lectorium.pl/bitstream/handle/item/832/J.Sikorska-Deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=Polityka caratu wobec drobnej szlachty przed powstaniem listopadowym |access-date=2019-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103015126/https://repozytorium.lectorium.pl/bitstream/handle/item/832/J.Sikorska-Deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-date=2018-11-03 }}</ref> By the mid-16th century the szlachta class consisted of at least 500,000 persons (some 25,000 families).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bajer|first1=Peter Paul|editor1-last=Unger|editor1-first=Richard|title=Britain and Poland-Lithuania: Contact and Comparison from the Middle Ages to 1795|url=https://archive.org/details/britainpolandlit00unge|url-access=limited|date=2008|pages=[https://archive.org/details/britainpolandlit00unge/page/n375 331]|chapter=Scotsmen and the Polish nobility from the sixteenth century to eighteenth century|publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004166233 }}</ref><ref name="Frost" /> Polish historian [[Tadeusz Korzon]] carried out an estimation of the social structure of Poland based on the documents of 1770–1780s, such as tax registers, partial censuses, etc. His estimate for the number of ''szlachta'' was 725,000 of total population 8.8 million. For comparison with other social classes, Christian clergy counted 50,000, Christian ''mieszczaństwo'' ([[burgher (social class)|burgher]]s) counted  500,000, peasants of various categories (''{{ill|włościanie|pl|Włościanin}}''): 6.4 million, Jews (the fast growing group), e.g., 750,000 in 1764 and  900,000 in 1790. Korzon counted Armenians, Tatars, Greeks, and Russian ''[[raskolnik]]s'' as separate social groups, totaling 250,000-300,000.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_75stIZO7WAC&dq=tytu%C5%82y+arystokratyczne+w+polsce&pg=PA72| title = ''Historia gospozarcza Polski''| year = 2010| publisher = Key Text Wydawnictwo| isbn = 9788387251710}}</ref>

The proportion of nobles in the population varied across regions. In the 16th century, the highest proportion of nobles lived in the [[Płock Voivodeship (1495–1793)|Płock Voivodeship]] (24,6%) and in [[Podlachia]] (26,7%), while Galicia had numerically the largest szlachta population.<ref name="zsz" /> In districts, such as [[Wizna Land|Wizna]] and [[Łomża Land|Łomża]], the szlachta constituted nearly half of the population. Regions with the lowest percentage of nobles were the [[Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795)|Kraków Voivodeship]] with (1,7%), [[Royal Prussia]] with (3%) and the [[Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793)|Sieradz Voivodeship]] with 4,6%.<ref name="Mika">{{cite book|last1=Choińska-Mika|first1=Jolanta|title=Między społeczeństwem szlacheckim, a władzą. Problemy komunikacji społeczności lokalne — władza w epoce Jana Kazimierza|date=2002|publisher=Neriton|pages=20–21|url=http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/miedzy_spoleczenstwem_szlacheckim_a_wladza/miedzy_spoleczenstwem_szlacheckim_a_wladza.pdf}}</ref> Before the [[Union of Lublin]], inequality among nobles in terms of wealth and power was far greater in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania than in the Polish Kingdom. The further south and east one went, the more the territory was dominated by magnate families and other nobles.<ref name="Frost"/> In the Lithuanian and Ruthenian palatinates, poor nobles were more likely to rent smallholdings from magnates than to own land themselves.<ref name="Lukowski">{{cite book|last1=Lukowski|first1=Jerzy|title=Liberty's Folly: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Eighteenth Century 1697-1795|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|pages=13}}</ref>

[[File:Stamps of Lithuania, 2014-21.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Prince [[Konstanty Ostrogski]] on a Lithuanian commemorative stamp]]

It has been said that the ruling elites were the only socio-political milieu to whom a sense of national consciousness could be attributed. All szlachta members, irrespective of their cultural/ethnic background, were regarded as belonging to a single "political nation" within the Commonwealth. Arguably, a common culture, the Catholic religion and the Polish language were seen as the main unifying factors in the dual state.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Petronis|first1=Vytautas|title=Constructing Lithuania: Ethnic Mapping in Tsarist Russia, ca. 1800-1914|date=2007|publisher=Stockholm University Press|page=18}}</ref> Prior to the Partitions there was said to have been no Polish national identity as such. Only szlachta members, irrespective of their ethnicity or culture of origin, were considered as "Poles".<ref name="Struve">{{cite web| url = http://www.diva-portal.se/smash/get/diva2:214737/FULLTEXT01.pdf| title = Citizenship and National Identity: the Peasants of Galicia during the 19th Century}}</ref><ref>Stauter-Halsted, Keely The Nation in the Village. The Genesis of Peasant National Identity in Austrian Poland, 1848–1914 (Ithaca 2001)</ref><ref>Jan Molenda Chłopi – naród – niepodległość. Kształtowanie się postaw narodowych i obywatelskich chłopów w Galicji i Królestwie Polskim w przededniu odrodzenia Polski (Warsaw 1999)</ref>

Despite [[Polonization|Polonisation]] in Lithuania and [[Ruthenia]] in the 17th-18th centuries, a large part of the lower szlachta managed to retain their cultural identity in various ways.{{page needed|date=May 2017}}<ref>Михайлов Грушевський Українська шляхта в Галичині на переломі XVI і XVII в.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/6515/file.pdf| title = Вячеслав Липинський УКРАЇНА НА ПЕРЕЛОМІ 1657—1659.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://uamoderna.com/images/archiv/21/UM-21-Pavlyshyn.pdf| title = ''Олег Павлишин'' Дилема ідентичності, або історія про те, як "латинники" (не) стали українцями/поляками (Галичина, середина XIX – перша половина XX ст.)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://mue.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2009/301.pdf| title = ПОЛЬОВІ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ ЕТНОСОЦІАЛЬНОГО РОЗВИТКУ ДРІбНОЇ ШЛЯХТИ ГАЛИЧИНИ ВПРОДОВЖ ХІХ – НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ| access-date = 2017-05-02| archive-date = 2021-10-22| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211022082353/http://mue.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2009/301.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref> Due to poverty most of the local szlachta had never had access to formal education nor to Polish language teaching and hence could not be expected to self-identify as ''Poles''.<ref name="Sikorska" /><ref>{{cite web| url = http://mue.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2009/187.pdf| title = ПОЛЯКИ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО ПРАВОбЕРЕЖЖЯ: ДО ПРОбЛЕМИ АСИМІЛЯЦІЇ| access-date = 2017-05-06| archive-date = 2015-05-10| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150510005213/http://mue.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2009/187.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref> It was common even for wealthy and in practice Polonised szlachta members still to refer to themselves as Lithuanian, ''Litwin'' or Ruthenian, ''Rusyn''.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://etalpykla.lituanistikadb.lt/fedora/get/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2011~1367188778422/DS.002.2.01.ARTIC| title = POLACY I LITWINI}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Although born a Lithuanian and a Lithuanian I shall die, I must use the Polish idiom in my homeland.|author=[[Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–1655)|Janusz Radziwiłł]] |source=in letter to his brother [[Krzysztof Radziwiłł|Krzysztof]]<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.pan.poznan.pl/nauki/N_211_01_Tazbir.pdf| title = Język polski a tożsamość narodowa| access-date = 2017-07-21| archive-date = 2019-02-14| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190214150448/http://www.pan.poznan.pl/nauki/N_211_01_Tazbir.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref> }}

According to Polish estimates from the 1930s, 300,000 members of the common nobles ''s'' ''zlachta zagrodowa'' – inhabited the [[Outer Subcarpathia|subcarpathian]] region of the [[Second Polish Republic]] out of 800,000 in the whole country. 90% of them were Ukrainian-speaking and 80% were Ukrainian [[Greek Catholic Church|Greek Catholics]].<ref name="zsz">{{cite web|last1=Tomaszewski|first1=Patryk|title=Zarys działalności Związku Szlachty Zagrodowej w latach 1938-1939|url=https://konserwatyzm.pl/artykul/1683/zarys-dzialalnosci-zwiazku-szlachty-zagrodowej-w-latach-1938-1939/|website=konserwatyzm.pl|access-date=5 May 2017|language=pl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517233633/http://konserwatyzm.pl/artykul/1683/zarys-dzialalnosci-zwiazku-szlachty-zagrodowej-w-latach-1938-1939/|archive-date=17 May 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In other parts of Ukraine with a significant szlachta population, such as the [[Bar, Vinnytsia Oblast|Bar]] or the [[Ovruch|Ovruch region]]s, the situation was similar despite [[Russification]] and earlier Polonization.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://iht.univ.kiev.ua/library/ks/1892/pdf/kievskaya-starina-1892-2-B-(5309-5326).pdf| title = Барская околичная шляхта до к. XVIII в.}}</ref><ref>Грушевський М. С. Барська околична шляхта до к[інця] XVIII ст. : Етнографічний нарис / М. С. Грушевський // Грушевський, Михайло Сергійович. Твори: у 50 т. / М. С. Грушевський; редкол.: П. Сохань (голов. ред.), І. Гирич та ін. – Львів: Видавництво "Світ". – 2003. Т. 5. Т. 5. – C. 323 - 336</ref><ref>Тимошенко В. У лещатах двоглавого орла (Овруцька околична шляхта ХІХ – на початок ХХ ст.) / В.Тимошенко // Українознавство. – К., 2009 – No 2. – С. 55–59.</ref> As an example:

{{Blockquote|text=... The first official records of the Chopovsky family, as clan members of the [[Korwin coat of arms]], date back to mid-XVII century. As the Chopovsky family multiplied, by 1861 they were already 3063 souls of both sexes. They were considered szlachta members, but neither their way of life nor their clothing distinguished them from the neighbouring peasants, except that they were more prosperous and possessed more of their own land [...]. When [[Uniates]] began joining the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox church]] in 1839 - The Russian government liquidated the [[Uniate church]] after the [[Polotsk]] Convocation - 43 souls of both sexes switched to the Roman faith, while the rest of the Chopovsky (86%) returned to Orthodoxy. The Heraldic Office of the Russian Senate declined to certify the Chopovsky family's noble status, but the land remained theirs. The exception were the Prokopenko-Chopovsky branch of the family who were received into the Russian nobility in 1858,<ref>{{cite book |first= Ivan |last= Feshchenko-Chopivsky |work= Chronicle of my life. Memoirs of the Minister of the Central Rada and the Directorate |url= http://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Yaremenko_Maksym/Richpospolytska_shliakhta_u_Kyievo-Mohylianskii_akademii.pdf |title= РІЧПОСПОЛИТСЬКА ШЛЯХТА У КИЄВО-МОГИЛЯНСЬКІЙ АКАДЕМІЇ XVIII ст. |trans-title= ichpospolytska shliakhta u Kyievo-Mohylianskii akademii |via= shron1.chtyvo.org.ua }}</ref>}}

[[File:Bacciarelli Blue Marquise.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Elżbieta Czartoryska (1736–1816)|Elżbieta Czartoryska]] as [[Marcello Bacciarelli|Bacciarelli]]'s ''Blue Marquise'']] [[File:Simmler szlachcic.jpg|thumb|right|upright|''Polish Nobleman with a Parrot'', by [[Józef Simmler]], 1859.]]

However the era of sovereign rule by the szlachta ended earlier than in other countries, excluding France, in 1795 (see [[Partitions of Poland]]). Since then their legitimacy and fate depended on the legislation and policies of the [[Russian Empire]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and [[Habsburg monarchy]]. Their privileges became increasingly limited, and were ultimately dissolved by the [[March Constitution (Poland)|March Constitution of Poland]] in 1921.

There were a number of avenues to upward social mobility and the attainment of nobility. The szlachta was not rigidly exclusive or closed as a class, but according to [[heraldic]] sources, the total number of legal ennoblements issued between the 14th and mid-18th century, is estimated at 800.<ref name="czajkowski" /><ref name="pudlowski" /> This is an average of about two ennoblements per year.

According to two English journalists [[Richard Holt Hutton]] and [[Walter Bagehot]] writing on the subject in 1864,

{{blockquote|text=The condition of the country at the present day shows that the population consisted of two different peoples, between whom there was an impassable barrier. There is the Sliachta, or caste of nobles (the descendants of [[Lechites|Lekh]]), on the one hand, and the serfs or peasantry, who constitute the bulk of the population, on the other.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|483–484}}}}

and

{{blockquote|text=... the Statute of 1633 completed the slavery of the other classes, by proclaiming the principle that 'the air enslaves the man,' in virtue of which every peasant who had lived for a year upon the estate of a noble was held to be his property. Nowhere in history - nowhere in the world - do we ever see a homogeneous nation organise itself in a form like that which has prevailed from the earliest times in Poland. But where there has been an intrusion of a dominant people, or settlers, who have not fused into the original population, there we find an exact counterpart of Polish society: the dominant settlers establishing themselves as an upper caste, all politically equal among themselves, and holding the lands (or, more frequently, simply drawing the rents) of the country.<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|483}}}}

Sociologist and historian, [[Jerzy Szacki|Jerzy Ryszard Szacki]] said in this context,

{{blockquote|text=... the Polish nobility was a closed group (apart from a few exceptions, many of which were contrary to the law), in which membership was inherited.<ref name="szacki--inherited--1995" />}}
Others assert the szlachta were not a [[social class]], but a [[caste]], among them, historian [[Adam Zamoyski]],

{{blockquote|text=A more apt analogy might perhaps be made with the [[Rajput]]s of northern India. ... unlike any other gentry in Europe, the szlachta was not limited by nor did it depend for its status on either wealth, or land, or royal writ. It was defined by its function, that of a warrior caste.<ref name="zamoyski-warrior-caste" /><ref name="topor-jakubowski--2002" />}}
Jerzy Szacki continues,

{{blockquote|text=While [[Aleksander Świętochowski]] wrote: 'If from the deeds of the Polish nobility we took away excesses and the exclusiveness of caste, ...'.<ref name="szacki--caste--1995" />}}

Low-born individuals, including [[townsfolk]] ''mieszczanie'', [[peasant]]s ''chłopi'', but not Jews ''Żydzi'', could and did rise to official [[ennoblement]] in Commonwealth society, although [[Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne]], while trying to obtain Polish noble status, is supposed to have said in 1784,

{{blockquote|text=It is easier to become a duke in Germany, than to be counted among Polish nobles.<ref name="bajer--polish-noble--2012" /><ref name="bajer--piot-pawel--polish-nobility" />}}
[[File:Konstanty Aleksandrowicz - Portrait of Karol Stanislaw Radziwill - MNK I-220 (165375).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Karol Stanisław "Panie Kochanku" Radziwiłł|Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł]], the richest noble of his time.]]
[[File:Antoni Protazy Potocki.PNG|thumb|right|upright|[[Antoni Protazy Potocki]], banker and industrialist, a pioneer of Polish [[capitalism]].]]
According to [[heraldic]] sources 1,600 is the total estimated number of all legal ennoblements throughout the history of Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 14th century onward, half of which were enacted in the final years of the late 18th century.<ref name="czajkowski" /><ref name="pudlowski" /> Hutton and Bagehot,

{{blockquote|text=... for the barrier of exclusion was partly thrown down in the last days of the monarchy ....<ref name="races-old-world" />{{rp|482}}}}

Each ''szlachcic'' was said to hold enormous potential influence over the country's politics, far greater than that enjoyed by the citizens of modern democratic countries. Between 1652 and 1791, any nobleman could potentially nullify all the proceedings of a given ''sejm'' or ''sejmik'' by exercising his individual right of ''[[liberum veto]]'' – Latin for "I do not allow" – except in the case of a [[confederated sejm]] or confederated sejmik.

In old Poland, a nobleman could only marry a noblewoman, as intermarriage between "castes" was fraught with difficulties<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Davies
 | first = Norman
 | author-link = Norman Davies
 | title = GOD'S PLAYGROUND: A HISTORY OF POLAND, VOLUME I - THE ORIGINS TO 1795
 | year = 1982
 | isbn = 0-231-05351-7
 | publisher = [[Columbia University Press]]
 | location = New York City, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
 | page = 203
 | quote = Social mobility between the estates was fraught with obstacles.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last = Boswell
 | first = Alexander Bruce
 | author-link = :pl:Alexander Bruce Boswell
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=loBDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47
 | title = POLAND AND THE POLES
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = [[Dodd, Mead and Company]]
 | location = [[New York City]]
 | page = 47
 | quote = It made the Polish gentleman more remote from the peasant, to whom he was not only a master, but a foreign, somewhat exotic, neighbour. The civilization of the manor, even allowing for social and cultural differences, had very little in common with the life of the cottage.}}</ref> ({{linktext|endogamy}}); but, children of a legitimate marriage followed the condition of the father, never the mother, therefore, only the father transmitted his nobility to his children.<ref>{{cite web
|first=Thomas
 |last=Aquinas
 | author-link = Thomas Aquinas
 | title = SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: SUPPLEMENT TO THE THIRD PART (SUPPLEMENTUM TERTIÆ PARTIS): QUESTION 52. THE IMPEDIMENT OF THE CONDITION OF SLAVERY
 |date=1265–1274
 | publisher = Thomas Aquinas
 | website = newadvent.org
 | location = [[Santa Sabina]], [[Aventine Hill]], [[Ripa (rione of Rome)|Ripa rione (ward)]], [[Rome]], [[Lazio|Lazio region]], [[Italy|ITALY]]; [[University of Paris]], [[Paris]]
 | url = http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5052.htm
 | access-date = 6 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170507201232/http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5052.htm
 | archive-date = 7 May 2017
 | quote = Now slavery is a condition of the body, since a slave is to the master a kind of instrument in working; wherefore children follow the mother in freedom and bondage; whereas in matters pertaining to dignity as proceeding from a thing's form, they follow the father, for instance in honors, franchise, inheritance and so forth. The canons are in agreement with this (cap. Liberi, 32, qu. iv, in gloss.: cap. Inducens, De natis ex libero ventre) as also the law of Moses (Exodus 21). ... It is because the son derives honor from his father rather than from his mother that in the genealogies of Scripture, and according to common custom, children are named after their father rather than from their mother. But in matters relating to slavery they follow the mother by preference.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | title = An Introduction to The Polish Nobility Association Foundation
 | website = Polish Nobility Association Foundation
 | url = http://pnaf.us/pnaf-history.html
 | access-date = 24 June 2017
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161029165305/http://pnaf.us/pnaf-history.html
 | archive-date = 29 October 2016
 | quote = In ancient times, the nobility was the ruling class of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with the exclusive right to enjoy full citizenship. Nobility was hereditary in the male line, and the knight's shield was an outward sign of this.}}</ref> See ''[[patrilineality]]''. A noble woman married to a commoner could not transmit her nobility to her husband and their children. Any individual could attain ennoblement (''{{lang|pl|nobilitacja}}'') for special services to the state. A foreign noble might be naturalized as a Polish noble through the mechanism called the ''[[Indygenat]]'', certified by the king. Later, from 1641, it could only be done by a [[general sejm]]. By the eighteenth century all these trends contributed to the great increase in the proportion of szlachta in the total population.

In theory all szlachta members were social equals and were formally legal peers. Those who held civic appointments were more privileged but their roles were not hereditary. Those who held honorary appointments were superior in the hierarchy but these positions were only granted for a lifetime. Some tenancies became hereditary and went with both privilege and title. Nobles who were not direct [[Lessee]]s of the Crown but held land from other lords were only peers "de iure". The poorest enjoyed the same rights as the wealthiest magnate. The exceptions were a few symbolically privileged families such as the Radziwiłł, Lubomirski and [[Czartoryski]], who held honorary aristocratic titles bestowed by foreign courts and recognised in Poland which granted them use of titles such as "Prince" or "[[Count]]". See also [[The Princely Houses of Poland]]. All other szlachta simply addressed each other by their given name or as "Brother, Sir" ''Panie bracie'' or the feminine equivalent. The other forms of address would be "Illustrious and Magnificent Lord", "Magnificent Lord", "Generous Lord" or "Noble Lord" in descending order, or simply "His/Her Grace Lord/Lady".

The notion that all Polish nobles were social equals, regardless of their financial status or offices held, is enshrined in a traditional Polish [[adage]]:

{{poemquote|''Szlachcic na zagrodzie''
''równy wojewodzie.''}}
renderable in English:
{{poemquote|"The noble on the [[croft (land)|croft]]
is the [[voivode]]'s equal."}}
or, preserving the Polish original's [[rhyme]] scheme:
{{poemquote|"The noble behind his garden wall
is the province governor's equal."}}

{{Clear}}

=== Szlachta categories ===
<gallery widths=200px packed=no>
File:150913_Garden_of_the_Branicki_Palace_in_Białystok_-_02.jpg|Magnate palace: [[Branicki Palace, Białystok|Branicki family palace]]
File:Żądło-Dąbrowski_z_Dąbrówki_Herbu_(Coat_of_Arms)_Radwan_Family_Manor_in_Michałowice_Village,_POLAND.jpg|Middle nobility manor house ([[Manor houses of Polish nobility|dwór]]): [[Dąbrowski Manor in Michałowice|Żądło-Dąbrowski family manor]]
File:Gerson Before the manor.jpg|Lesser szlachta/nobility homestead ([[Manor houses of Polish nobility|dwór]])
</gallery>
The nobility were divided by wealth into:
* [[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania|magnates]], the wealthiest class: owners of vast lands, towns, many villages, and thousands of peasants
* middle nobility (''średnia szlachta''): owners of one or more villages, often bearing official titles, or deputies from ''[[sejmik]]s'' (regional sejms) to the general ''[[Sejm]]''
* [[petty nobility]] (''drobna szlachta''): owners of part of a village or of no land at all, they were often referred to by a variety of colourful Polish terms, including:
** ''{{ill|szlachta zaściankowa|pl}}'' – from ''[[zaścianek]]'', poorer members of the szlachta settled together in related families in one village, ''neighborhood/village nobility''.[[File:Poor-polish-nobleman--17th-century--by--kielisinski--kajetan-wincenty--1841.jpg|thumb|200px|Poor ''szlachtic'' with the only proud possession: ''[[karabela]]'']]
** ''szaraczkowa'' – ''grey nobility'', from their grey, [[wool]]len, undyed [[żupan]]s
** ''okoliczna'' – ''local nobility'', similar to ''zaściankowa''
** ''zagrodowa'' – from ''zagroda'', a [[croft (land)|croft]], often little more than a peasant's dwelling<ref name=porozb/>
** ''zagonowa'' – from ''zagon'', a small unit of land measure, ''hide nobility''
** ''cząstkowa'' – ''partial'', owners of only part of a single village<ref name=porozb>Jakub Wojas, [https://kurierhistoryczny.pl/artykul/porozbiorowa-szlachecka-drobnica,162 "Porozbiorowa szlachecka drobnica"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421055615/https://kurierhistoryczny.pl/artykul/porozbiorowa-szlachecka-drobnica,162 |date=2021-04-21 }}</ref>
** ''panek'' – little ''pan'' (i.e., lordling), term used in [[Kashubia|Kaszuby]], the Kashubian region, also one of the legal terms for legally separated lower nobility in late medieval and early modern Poland
** ''hreczkosiej'' – ''[[buckwheat]] sower'' <!--more or less--> – those who had to work their fields themselves because they had no peasants.
** szlachta  służebna – petty nobility who possessed land on the condition of military service (mainly of Ruthenian origin, in Eastern Poland)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ornatowski.com/archiwum/historia/szlachta-zagrodowa-w-polsce-poludniowo-wschodniej/|title=Szlachta zagrodowa w Polsce południowo-wschodniej.|website=Ornatowski.com}}</ref><ref name=deklas>[[Jolanta Sikorska-Kulesza]], [http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku/deklasacja_drobnej_szlachty_na_litwie_i_bialorusi_w_XIX_wieku.pdf "Deklasacja drobnej szlachty na Litwie i Białorusi w XIX wieku "]</ref>
** [[quit-rent]] szlachta (''szlachta czynszowa'') – a class of impoverished szlachta who rented estates in the vast lands of magnates (predominantly in Ruthenian lands) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genealogia.okiem.pl/glossary/glossary.php?word=szlachta%20czynszowa|title = Polska Encyklopedia Historyczno-Genealogiczna}}</ref><ref>[[Immanuel Wallerstein]], The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600–1750, With a New Prologue, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kWWn6N1bQwoC&pg=PA143 p.143], 2011, {{ISBN|0520267583}}</ref>
** szlachta poddańcza – a step below the quit-rent szlachta: they required to work for the landlord who allotted them some land.<ref name=porozb/>
** ''[[barefoot szlachta]]'' (''gołota szlachecka'', ''szlachta-gołota''), i.e., the landless szlachta, who neither owned or rented land; the poorest szlachta considered the "lowest of the high."<ref>[https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/;3906567 gołota szlachecka]</ref>
** ''brukowa'' – town-street nobility: landless ''szlachta'' who earned a living in towns like other townsfolk<ref name=porozb/>

[[Polish landed gentry]] – ''ziemianie'', or ''ziemiaństwo'' – was a social class of landowners with manorial estates. The vast majority were ''szlachta'', including  lesser nobility, and owned at least part of a village. Since titular [[Lord of the manor|manorial lordships]] were also open to burgers of certain privileged [[royal city in Poland|cities with royal charters]], not all landed gentry had hereditary noble status. The term ''ziemiaństwo'' was also applied to wealthier landed peasants.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Magnates, as owners of vast lands, generally were considered a separate social class.

Landless ''szlachta'' were sometimes excluded from taking part in ''[[sejmik]]s''.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w-nvAAAAMAAJ&q=sejmiki%20also%20excluded| title = p.25| year = 1977| publisher = Polski Instytut Historyczny.}}</ref> Its political rights were removed altogether by the [[Constitution of 3 May 1791]]. The purpose of the move was to eliminate the purchases of ''szlachta-gołota'' voices in sejmiks by magnates to use them, e.g., in voting or in executing ''[[liberum veto]]''.<ref>[https://www.polskatradycja.pl/historia-polski/wydarzenia/konstytucja-3-maja.html "Konstytucja 3 maja -1791 r."], ''Polska Tradycyja''</ref>

''Półpanek'' ("half-lord"); also podpanek/pidpanek ("sub-lord") in [[Podolia]] and Ukrainian accent<ref>{{cite web| url = http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra/plain-content?id=7352| title = Lwów i Wilno / &#91;publ. by J. Godlewski&#93;. (1948) nr 98}}</ref> – a derogatory term for a petty ''szlachcic'' pretending to be wealthy.

In the [[Russian Partition]] of Poland, [[Tsar Nicholas I]] signed a ukase on 19 October 1831, titled "On the Division and Disposition of Nobility in the [[Western Krai|Western Governorates]]", which required those claiming noble status to provide evidence to the Russian [[Office of Heraldry]]. The result was a drastic decrease in the number of petty ''szlachta'', who were demoted into [[estates of the realm]] required to pay taxes.<ref name="deklas" />

== See also ==
* [[List of Polish titled nobility]]
* [[List of szlachta|List of ''szlachta'']]
* [[Lithuanian nobility]]
* [[Polish heraldry]]
* [[Polish landed gentry]] (''Ziemiaństwo'')
* [[Polish name]]
* [[Silva rerum]]
* [[Ukrainian nobility from Galicia]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Refbegin}}

''a.''{{Note label|a|a|none}} Estimates of the proportion of szlachta vary widely: 10–12% of the total population of historic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y8GNIp42ysC From Da to Yes: Understanding the East Europeans]'', p. 51, Yale Richmond, 1995</ref> around 8%<ref>{{cite web| url = http://rcin.org.pl/Content/12493/WA303_4510_KH113-r2006-R113-nr1_Kwartalnik-Hist%2003%20Grzeskowiak-Krwawicz.pdf| title = STAROPOLSKA KONCEPCJA WOLNOŚCI I JEJ EWOLUCJA W MYŚLI POLITYCZNEJ XVIII W. p. 61}}</ref> of the total population in 1791 (up from 6.6% in the 16th century){{citation needed|date=April 2017}} or 6–8%.<ref name="Frost">{{cite book|last1=Robert|first1=Frost|editor1-last=Leonhard|editor1-first=Jörn|editor2-last=Wieland|editor2-first=Christian|title=What Makes the Nobility Noble?: Comparative Perspectives from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century|date=2011|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|pages=142, 144|chapter="Ut unusquisque qui vellet, ad illum venire possit". Nobility, Citizenship and Corporate Decision-making in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1454-1795}}</ref>
{{Refend}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="bardach202627">Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodorski, and Michal Pietrzak, ''Historia panstwa i prawa polskiego'' (Warsaw: Paristwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987), p.20, 26-27</ref>

<ref name="Bondage to the dead: Poland and the memory of the Holocaust">{{cite book|title=Bondage to the dead: Poland and the memory of the Holocaust|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQkFY9Uj7ZgC&q=szlachta+japet+ham&pg=PA5|page=5|first=Michael C.|last=Steinlauf|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2729-6|year=1997}}</ref>

<ref name="colin">{{cite book|title=British identities before nationalism: ethnicity and nationhood in the Atlantic world, 1600–1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lz0JwL5jHCgC&q=Cursed+Ham+szlachta&pg=PA29|first=Colin|last=Kidd|year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=29|isbn=978-0-521-62403-9}}</ref>

<ref name="czajkowski">{{cite web
 | url = http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | title = Niektóre dane z historii szlachty i herbu
 | language = pl
 | last = Jastrzębiec-Czajkowski
 | first = Leszek Jan
 | work = Ornatowski.com
 | location = Warsaw
 | publisher = Artur Ornatowski
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305045021/http://www.ornatowski.com/lib/zhistoriiszlachty.htm
 | archive-date = 5 March 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="davies1">{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Davies|title=God's Playground: A History of Poland; Volume I: The Origins to 1795|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1982|pages=161–163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07vm4vmWPqsC&q=szlachta+davies+clouded+mystery&pg=PA161|access-date=2010-09-22|isbn=978-0-231-05351-8}}</ref>

<ref name="ian">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Eh9KQTrOckC&q=polish+lithuanian+nobility+szlachta&pg=PA144|title=A history of eastern Europe: crisis and change|author=Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1998|pages=144–145|isbn=978-0-415-16111-4}}</ref>

<ref name="pudlowski">[[Mówią wieki]], number 5, [https://web.archive.org/web/20030514131154/http://www.anai.org/Conferenza%20europea/abstracts/pudlowski.htm Leszek Pudłowski], 1988</ref>
}}

== General bibliography ==
* [[Aleksander Brückner]], ''[[Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego]]'' (Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language), first edition, Kraków, Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, 1927 (9th edition, Warsaw, Wiedza Powszechna, 2000).
* {{in lang|en}} {{Cite book | last=Górecki | first=Piotr | title=Economy, Society, and Lordship in Medieval Poland: 1100-1250 | publisher=Holmes and Meier Publishers, Inc.
 | place=New York, NEW YORK | year=1992 | oclc=25787903 | isbn=0-8419-1318-8 }}
* {{Citation
 | last=Manteuffel
 | first=Tadeusz
 | author-link=Tadeusz Manteuffel
 | title=The Formation of the Polish State: The Period of Ducal Rule, 963–1194
 | place=Detroit, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
 | publisher=Wayne State University Press
 | year=1982
 | isbn=978-0-8143-1682-5
}}.
* Żernicki-Szeliga Emilian v., ''Der Polnische Adel und die demselben hinzugetretenen andersländischen Adelsfamilien, General-Verzeichnis''. Published by Verlag v. Henri Grand. Hamburg 1900. https://archive.org/details/derpolnischeade00szegoog (Ger). This is a reasonably modern and comprehensive list of 3000 Polish and settler szlachta families and their crests, sourced from, among others, Niesiecki, Paprocki and Boniecki. 598 pages. Accessed 2018-11-02.

== External links ==
{{commons category|Nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth}}
* [http://www.nobility.by/ Association of the Belarusian Nobility]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080115234513/http://www.bajorusajunga.lt/en/index.html Association of Lithuanian Nobility]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161112212830/https://www.msz.gov.pl/resource/49da65c5-9917-40de-b542-5c89751cacf6:JCR "Central European Superpower"] by Henryk Litwin, ''Business Ukraine Magazine'' (bunews.com.ua), 2016 (PDF file).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120716203137/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/staff/Szlachta.html CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 1180-1572: The Inexorable Political Rise of the ''szlachta'']
* [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/ Digital Library of Wielkpolska]
* [http://www.sejm-wielki.pl/en.php Descendants of the Great Sejm (genealogies of the most important Polish families)]
* [https://culture.pl/en/article/the-elegant-downfall-of-the-polish-sarmatians The Elegant Downfall of the Polish Sarmatians] by Wojciech Zembaty on Culture.pl
* {{cite web|title = Ennoblement|url= https://www.lyczkowski.net/en/handbooks/list-of-gentry/ennoblement.html}} Alphabetical Lists of ennobled persons in Polish-Litvan Commonwealth during 1569-1792 {{in lang|en}}
* {{cite web|title = Noble naturalization|url= https://www.lyczkowski.net/en/handbooks/list-of-gentry/indygenat.html}} Alphabetical Lists of naturalized non-citizens in Polish-Litvan Commonwealth during 1569-1792 {{in lang|en}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120314183242/http://www.polishnobles.com/ The Polish Aristocracy: The Titled Families of Poland by Rafal Heydel-Mankoo]
* [https://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/PolNobility.html The Polish Nobility] by Margaret: [[Odrowąż coat of arms|Odrowąż]]-Sypniewska, née Knight
* [http://www.szlachta.org.pl/en/ The Polish Nobility Association]
* [http://pnaf.us/ Polish Nobility Association Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230144351/http://pnaf.us/ |date=2010-12-30 }}
* {{cite web|author= J. Lyčkoŭski|title = Szlachta|url= https://www.lyczkowski.net/pl/informator/rejestr-szlachty/szlachta.html}} (Alphabetical Lists) {{in lang|pl}}

{{European nobility}}
{{Nobility by nation}}
{{Polish CoA}}

[[Category:Polish nobility| ]]
[[Category:Ruthenian nobility of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth| ]]
[[Category:Lithuanian nobility| ]]
[[Category:Ukrainian nobility| ]]
[[Category:Social class in Poland]]