Podwójna obsada urzędów ziemskich, urzędy „tytularne”/ „nielegalne” w Rzeczypospolitej w XVII–XVIII w.
Double Manning of Landed Offices, “Titular”/“Illegal” Offices in Poland in the 17th–18th Centuries

A Few Introductory Remarks

Summary/Abstract: In the literature of the subject matter the king was presented as the only administrator of landed offices in Poland. Thanks to it, he could win the support of people, conciliate enemies and truly rule the country. Noblemen strove to get the titles since they raised the prestige and somehow substituted aristocratic titles, reserved for the small group of princes of the blood (descendants of the Rurik dynasty and Gediminas dynasty) and the Radziwiłłs [Radvilas] family. From the 16th century onwards more and more often there took place cases of double appointments for the same office. Usually such appointments occurred when the former bearer of the office had been sentenced to infamy or when noblemen at the dietine had recognized him not to be indigenous. The latter case shows the scrutinizing role of dietines in relation to landed offices. It was usually dietines that resolved the issue which appointee held the office ‘legally’, and which ‘illegally’. The collapse of the significance of dietines in the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century entailed numerous “illegal” and “titular” appointments. The latter were granted from the lands which permanently (Livonia, Chernihiv, Smolensk) or temporarily (Bratslav) had ceased to be part of Poland. However, it must be underlined once again that dietines were in a position to control the legality of holding the offices. In the second half of the 18th century official registers of people holding landed offices were published; they emphasized the “legitimizing” role of dietines.

• Details
• Contents