Sprawa Andrzeja Piotrowskiego na sejmie grodzieńskim 1718 roku i jej polityczne okoliczności
The case of Andrzej Piotrowski at the Grodno sejm of 1718 and its political background

Summary/Abstract: In the first half of the 18th century Protestant nobles were virtually excluded from the politicallife of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A precedent had been set 1718 with the removalof a deputy of the Wieluń Land, the Reformed Andrzej Piotrowski, from the lower house of thePolish-Lithuanian parliament. Until the Four-Year Sejm (1789-92) the Protestant communityhad no political representation in the Commonwealth, not even a nominal one. The text presentsAndrzej Piotrowski, his descent, family ties and activity in defence of the rights of the Protes-tants in Greater Poland, as well as on a broader, nationwide stage. After a reconstruction of thecourse of events, that had led to the said removal of Piotrowski from the sejm 1718, the authoranalyses their political background. His theses is that after 1717 all efforts of the Protestant com-munity for the defence of Piotrowski and the political rights of the Protestant nobility seeking aidof the royal court were doomed to failure. Augustus II and his political collaborators defendedthe resolutions of the sejm of 1717 against attacks of the opposition supported by Russia, byappealing to the public opinion. Therefore, the court could not afford to openly back up the de-mands of the dissidents, as it would risk a conflict with the Catholic episcopate and a major partof the Catholic nobility. The result was that the interest of the non-Catholic nobles fell victim tothe defence of reformatory and anti-Russian politics of Augustus II.

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