Konfederacja generalna warszawska: proces uchwalenia i jej legitymizacja
The General Warsaw Confederation: The Adoption and Legitimization

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the circumstances of the adoption of the Warsaw General Confederation at the Convocation and Election Sejms in 1573. The main aim is to reconstruct the list of persons who signed the document on 29 January. This made it possible to carry out a spatial analysis, which showed that, although general consent was obtained, several provinces did not join the confederation for various reasons (Kraków and probably Kyiv and Bracław voivodships). It was therefore necessary to present the document again at the Electoral Sejm. The legislative action taken at that time was unusual in that the act was not re-enacted, but was supplemented by the acceptance of the nobility from the areas that had so far abstained. This was necessary because the nobility in the provinces which had hitherto fully accepted the provisions of the confederation, would not consent to the act again due to the active work of the Roman Catholic episcopate, (the Płock and Mazovian voivodships). Thus, the document of May 1573 imitated the act drawn up at the beginning of the year, both in content, date, place and type of assembly, as well as the persons who gave their consent to the document ensuring internal peace in the Commonwealth during the interregnum. In these two stages, one of the most important documents in force in the Commonwealth of the Nobility was created, and the next stage was their oath by the King, the whole procedure being repeated in each interregnum.

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