Empire · 1569–1795 · Europe

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had shared monarchs since 1386, and in 1569 the Union of Lublin merged them into a single Commonwealth with one parliament, the Sejm. It was unusual for its time: kings were elected by the whole nobility, the szlachta, who made up nearly a tenth of the population, and the Warsaw Confederation of 1573 guaranteed religious toleration.

At its height it stretched from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea, and its army occupied Moscow in 1610. But the liberum veto, which let a single deputy block legislation, paralysed government, and the wars of the mid-17th century, known as the Deluge, devastated it. Weakened, it was carved up by Russia, Prussia and Austria in three partitions in 1772, 1793 and 1795, despite the reforming Constitution of 3 May 1791.

See it on the map →

Years

1569–1795

Capital

Kraków; Warsaw from 1596

Greatest extent

1619, about 1.00 million km²

Region

Europe

c. 1.0M km² after the Truce of Deulino with Russia (1618–19); Taagepera (1997) gives c. 1.1M km² for 1650