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Chancellor of Poland

Chancellor of Poland
ResidenceKraków
Warsaw
AppointerMonarch of Poland
Polish Parliament (Sejm)
Formation12th century
First holderJan?
Goswin
Final holderAntoni Sułkowski
Abolished1795

Chancellor of Poland (Polish: Kanclerz - Polish pronunciation: [ˈkant͡slɛʂ], from Latin: cancellarius) was one of the highest officials in the historic Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. This office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. A respective office also existed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 16th century. Today the office of the chancellor has been replaced by that of the Prime Minister.

The Chancellors' powers rose together with the increasing importance of written documents. In the 14th century the office of Chancellor of Kraków (Polish: Kanclerz krakowski) evolved into the Chancellor of the Crown (Polish: Kanclerz koronny) and from that period the chancellor powers were greatly increased, as they became responsible for the foreign policy of the entire Kingdom (later, the Commonwealth). The Chancellor was also supposed to ensure the legality of monarch's actions, especially whether or not they could be considered illegal in the context of pacta conventa (an early set of documents containing important laws, in some aspects resembling today's constitutions). Finally, the Chancellor was also responsible for his office, the chancellery (Polish: kancelaria). A 16th-century Polish lawyer, Jakub Przybylski, described the Chancellor as the king's hand, eye and ear, translator of his thoughts and will.

From 15th century onward there were two separate Chancellor offices, neither of them subordinate to the other: Grand Chancellor (Polish: Kanclerz wielki) and Vice-Chancellor (Polish: Podkanclerzy). In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there were four Chancellors: Grand Chancellor of the Crown (Polish: Kanclerz wielki koronny), Grand Chancellor of Lithuania (Polish: Kanclerz wielki litewski), Vice-Chancellor of the Crown (Polish: Podkanclerzy koronny), and Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania (Polish: Podkanclerzy litewski).

History

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During the times of fragmentation of Poland, each Polish prince had his own chancellor, but with the reunification of Poland, the office of Chancellor of Kraków (contemporary capital of the Kingdom of Poland) became dominant and other, local chancellors disappeared by the early 15th century. Also in the 15th century, the Chancellor's office was split into that of the Grand Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor was, however, not a subordinate of the Chancellor and his independence was specifically confirmed by the laws passed during the reign of king Alexander Jagiellon. The Sejm of 1504 confirmed the Chancellor's office as well as its powers and responsibilities for the first time, specifically stating that one person cannot hold both Chancellors' offices, and established the Grand Lithuanian Chancellor's office. The Lithuanian Vice-Chancellor was created later, in the mid-16th century

After the Union of Lublin in 1569 there were four Chancellors (one Grand Chancellor and one Vice-Chancellor for Crown, and another pair for Lithuania).

At first, the Chancellor's office was always given to an ecclesiastic person. From 1507, Sigismund I the Old decided that the title of Grand Chancellor of the Crown would be rotated between secular and ecclesiastic nobles, and at least one Chancellor (both in the Grand and Deputy pair and in the Crown and Lithuanian one after the Union of Lublin) was required to be a secular person.

Power and responsibilities

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Jan Zamoyski (1542–1605), Grand Chancellor and adviser to Stefan Batory, the third elected king of Poland.
Hugo Kołłątaj (1750–1812), Vice-Chancellor, co-author of the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

Chancellors, as most of the other offices in Poland and later, the Commonwealth, were nominated to the office for life by the King during the Sejm (Parliament) session. From the 15th and 16th centuries, after the reforms of Alexander, Sigismund I and the Union of Lublin, the power and importance of the Chancellor's office was stabilised, as a senatorial office lesser than that of the hetmans (military commanders who had, however, no right to vote in the Senate) and the Grand Marshals, but more important than that of the Grand Treasurers, Court Marshal and others.

By custom, the Grand Chancellor of the Crown directed the Commonwealth foreign policies towards the west – Western Europe and south – Ottoman Empire, while the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania the policies towards the east – Muscovy (later, the Russian Empire).

The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were responsible for the work of their chancelleries, Grand and Deputy respectively. They were supposed to be in constant contact and develop common policies, since their powers were equal. They were specifically forbidden from issuing illegal and contradictory documents, and could judge any documents contrary to the existing law 'irrelevant and without power'. In theory, the power of the Chancellors were equal. In practice, much depended on their personalities and political influence. Conflicts between Chancellors, while rare, when it occurred, could paralyse the entire country. This was the case during the conflict between Krzesław z Kurozwęk and Maciej Drzewicki between 1501 and 1503.

Among their other responsibilities were the matters of foreign policy (correspondence with other countries) and to a smaller extent, internal affairs, as they had also judiciary powers, presiding over the 'assessors' courts' (Polish: Asesoria), that were the highest appeal courts for people subjected to crown laws (i.e. not subjected to ecclesiastic or magnates courts, but when a chancellor was an ecclesiastic person, he could judge the priests of the king's court). They could judge in various cases, with the exception of when the sides had already reached a compromise or in cases of territorial disputes.

The Chancellors' offices were the chancelleries (Crown and Lithuanian respectively). Chancelleries were staffed with officials known as the chancellists (Polish: kancelista): the regent (regent kancelarii), secretaries (sekretarz in Crown)1, writers (pisarz in Lithuania, equivalent to the secretary in Crown), archivists (Polish: archiwista), metricants (Polish: metrykant) and other clerks. The Regent divided the work between the clerks. 2 secretaries (one responsible for private correspondence, the second for official) presented prepared letters to the king for his signature. Writers designed the letters; clerks readied the final drafts. No copies were made, but were instead entered in the archives – books called Metrics (Polish: Metryki), who were taken care of by the two metricans (2 in Poland and 2 in Lithuania respectively). The Metrican of the Grand Chancellor was called the Grand Metrican, one serving the Vice-Chancellor was a Minor Metrican. The Chancellery staff had no wages, just like the Chancellors, but in the middle of each reception room was the box into which all clients were supposed to deposit a varying amount of money, and nobody who planned on coming back could afford to be mean. Of much smaller importance were the local, provincial chancelleries, which mostly served as archives for copies of various documents.

Besides their official functions, the royal chancelleries functioned as a kind of semi-official, very prestigious schools. The officials of the chancelleries, who often started their work after their studies, after several years of work, often went forward in the administrative hierarchy, often reaching important posts of bishops or other ecclesiastic or secular offices. Many enlightened chancellors did not restrict the positions in their staff to nobility (szlachta), and often sponsored intelligent applicants from other social classes, not only by hiring them to the chancellery but by paying for their studies at universities in Poland and abroad. Among the most esteemed 'graduates' of chancelleries were Jan Długosz, Martin Kromer and Jan Zamoyski.

The Chancellor often gave speeches representing the royal will. The symbol of their office was the seal, which was used to seal all documents passing through his office. He also sealed documents signed by the monarch and could refuse to seal a document he considered illegal or damaging to the country (such documents had no power without his seal). When the king died, the seal was destroyed during the funeral and a new one given to him by the succeeding king. The seal's importance gave a rise to another name for the Chancellor – the sealer (Polish pieczętarz). Due to their important power the Chancellors were considered the guardians of the king and country, making sure a king's folly would not endanger the country by forcing it into an unnecessary war (among the wars prevented by the chancellors was a great crusade against the Ottoman Empire planned by King Władysław IV in the 1630s).

The chancellor's powers combined with the fact that wars required funds which were given by the Senat. The nobles (the szlachta) who controlled the Senate were usually unwilling to increase taxes and levied upon them, which meant that Poland very rarely declared wars on its own. Usually it was attacked by its neighbors, and while it repelled all attacks till the end of the 18th century, it almost never utilized any of its victories. The army was undermanned and under equipped (since usually any suggestion of bigger military budget when enemy was not on the doorstep was labeled as warmongering) and lands of Rzeczpospolita were constantly ravaged by new invasions, crippling its economy.

Other chancellors

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There were many less important chancellors in the country. There was the Chancellor of the Queen. He had much less power than other (King's) Chancellors, he guarded the queen's seal and was the second most important official of her court, after her Court Marshall. He had no right to a seat in the Senate. Even less important were the chancellors of crown princes and princesses, first introduced around the reign of Sigismund I. Then there was the chancellor of the most important of bishops, Primate of Poland, Archbishop of Gniezno. Finally some proud magnates had officials who titled themselves chancellors.

Official distinctions

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  • Kanclerz – Chancellor – various local chancellors, until late 14th to early 15th century
  • Kanclerz krakowski – Chancellor of Kraków – until the 14th century, when he superseded all other Polish local chancellors and transformed into
  • Kanclerz koronny – Chancellor of the Crown – from the 14th century until 1569. Sometimes also called Kanclerz Królestwa Polskiego – Chancellor of the Polish Kingdom
  • Kanclerz wielki koronny – Great Chancellor of the Crown – from 1569 until 1795 (end of the Commonwealth)
  • Kanclerz wielki litewski – Great Chancellor of Lithuania – as above
  • Podkanclerzy koronny – Vice-Chancellor of the Crown – as above
  • Podkanclerzy litewski – Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania – as above

List of Chancellors

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PortraitNameLifespanTerm beganTerm ended
Jan?11071112
Michał Awdaniec?11121113
Goswin?11131138
Lupus?11381145
Peandied in 115211451152
Cherubindied in 118011521172
Klemens?11721173
Stefan?11731206
Iwo Odrowążdied 21 August 122912061208
Wincenty z Niałkadied in 123212081211
Jarost?12111212
Marcin?12121213
Nankerdied in 125012131241
Wawrzęta Gutowski?12411243
Rambold?12431262
Paweł z Przemankowadied on 29 November 129212621266
Stanisław z Krakowa?12661270
Prokopdied in 129512701280
Andrzej Zarembadied in 131812801290
Wincenty?12901296
Jandied on 26 August 129612961296
Piotr Angeli?12961306
Franciszek z Krakowa?13061320
Zbigniew z Szczyrzyca?13201356
Janusz Suchywilk1310 – 5 April 138213571373
Zawisza Kurozwęckidied on 12 January 138213731379
Jan Radlicadied on 12 January 139213801386
Mikołaj Zaklikadied in 140813861404
Mikołaj Kurowski1355–141114041411
Wojciech Jastrzębiec1362–143614111423
Jan Szafraniec1363 – 28 July 143314231433
Jan Taszka Koniecpolskidied on 26 March 14551433 or 14341454
Jan Gruszczyński1405 – 8 October 147314541469
Jakub Dembiński1427 – 15 January 149014691473
Uriel Górka1435 – 21 January 149814731479
Stanisław Kurozwęcki1440–148214791482
Krzesław Kurozwęcki1440–150314831503
Jan Łaski1456 – 19 May 153115031510
Maciej Drzewicki22 February 1467 – 22 August 153515101513
Krzysztof Szydłowiecki1467–15321513 or 15151532
Jan Chojeński17 March 1486 – 11 March 153815321538
Paweł Dunin-Wolski1487–154615391540
Tomasz Sobocki1508–154715401541
Samuel Maciejowski15 January 1499 – 26 October 155015411550
Jan Ocieski1501 – 12 May 15631550 or 15521563
Walenty Dembińskidied in 158515641576
Piotr Dunin-Wolski1531–159015761578
Jan Zamoyski19 March 1542 – 3 June 160515781605
Maciej Pstrokoński1553–160916061609
Wawrzyniec Gembicki5 August 1559 – 10 February 162416091613
Feliks Kryski1562–161816131618
Stanisław Żółkiewski1547 – 7 October 162016181620
Andrzej Lipski1572 – 4 September 163116201623
Wacław Leszczyński1576 – 17 May 162816251628
Jakub Zadzik1582 – 17 March 164216281635
Tomasz Zamoyski1594 – 7 January 163816351635
Piotr Gembicki10 October 1585 – 14 July 165716351643
Jerzy Ossoliński15 December 1595 – 9 August 165016431650
Andrzej Leszczyński1608–165816501652
Stefan Koryciński1617 – 4 July 165816521658
Mikołaj Prażmowski1617 – 15 April 167316581666
Jan Leszczyński1603–167816661678
Jan Stefan Wydżga1610 – 6 September 168516781678
Jan Wielopolski1630 – 15 February 168816781688
Jerzy Albrecht Denhoff1640–170216881702
Karol Tarło1639–170217021702
Andrzej Chryzostom Załuski1650 – 12 May 171117021706
Jan Stanisław Jabłonowski1669 – 28 April 173117061709
Jan Szembekdied on 9 April 173117121731
Andrzej Stanisław Załuski2 December 1695 – 16 December 175817351746
Jan Małachowski 26 January 1698 – 25 June 176217461762
Andrzej Zamoyski12 February 1716 – 10 February 179217641767
Andrzej Młodziejowski1717–178017671780
Jan Andrzej Borch1715–178017801780
Antoni Onufry Okęcki13 June 1729 – 15 June 179317801786
Jacek Małachowski25 August 1737 – 27 March 182117861793
Antoni Sułkowski11 June 1735 – 16 April 179617931795

See also

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Notes

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  1. Secretaries in Crown and writers in Lithuania were often just an honorary title given to people for their service to the state in the areas of administration and such. The normal secretaries should not be confused with the Great Secretaries, who served as Chancellors when the Chancellors were absent, but had no right to vote in the Senat.

References

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  • Góralski, Zbigniew. "Urzędy Staropolskie" [Historic offices in Poland] (in Polish). Retrieved 5 May 2024.
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