Postawy polityczne biskupów na sejmach doby Rady Nieustającej
The political attiudes of bishops on Seyms during period of the Permanent Council`s

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Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the research on the political attitudes of bishops’ senators on Seyms during period of the Permanent Council’s rule (1776-1786). There are presented cleric senators’ personages and their political views on the above Seyms on the basis of analysis of sources, such as parliamentary diaries, parliamentary speeches and biographies. Bishops’ speeches are primarily related to the function of parliamentary control, ie the approval of the current business issues of such bodies as the Permanent Council, the Department of Military, the Tax Commission. Cleric senators were mostly proponents of the King in this period, but most of them did not speak often on the parliamentary forum. The position of King’s proponents was represented inter alia by senator Okęcki. No more initiative in political affairs or state affairs could be due to his dislike of the Russian ambassador. Bishops were mostly silent, hardly the activated - even if the matter directly related to the clergy, as in the famous case of Bishop Sołtyk. This group did not show greater initiative on the parliamentary forum in reform cases.

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