Since he was a child, he had dreamed of one thing: to become a knight of Christ. To achieve his desire to spread Christianity, he traveled to Jerusalem in 1154. The Polish prince Henry of Sandomierz (Henryk Sandomierski), however, died during another crusade against the pagan tribes of Prussia, in the north of Europe. by…
Research Centre for Polish-Lithuanian Studies in collaboration with: Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw Polish Studies, University of Cambridge The Idea of the Republic in Poland-Lithuania. A Conversation with Robert Frost Robert Frost in a conversation with Dr Stanley Bill (University of Cambridge) hosted by Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw, will discuss the second volume…
This act of union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was concluded on October 2, 1413 in the eastern city of Horodło, as a result of the compromise achieved between the incorporative strivings of the Polish side and the separatist policies of Lithuania. The act defined the…
Casimir the Great, the last Polish ruler from the Piast dynasty, died on 5 November 1370. His death and the end of the dynasty opened the possibility of starting a dynamic process which, after 16 years, finally led to the election of Władysław Jagiełło to the Polish throne. Before that, however, Louis I of Hungary,…
The first free election in Poland’s post-war history was held on June 4, 1989 and brought victory to the Solidarity movement and defeat to the governing camp. In fact, the election was only partly free, as – in accordance with the Round Table agreements jointly reached earlier that year by the democratic opposition and the…
During the reign of the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski (Stanisław II Augustus), daring attempts at internal reform were carried out in order to avert disaster for the Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth). A promising opportunity arose with the Sejm that deliberated between 1788 and 1792, as it was a “confederated Sejm”, meaning that unanimity was…
