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History of the Commonwealth
Husaria: the Commonwealth's "tanks"
Nobel Laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz
Online Store: Polish and Polish- American Designs
Polish names
Lech and the White Eagle
Czestochowa: Poland's Fort McHenry
| "Whereas in our Common Wealth [sic] there is no small disagreement in the matter of the Christian faith, and in order to prevent that any harmful contention should arise from this, as we see clearly taking place in other kingdoms, we swear to each other... that albeit we are dissidentes in religione, we will keep the peace between ourselves, and that we will not, for the sake of our various faith and difference of church, either shed blood or confiscate property, deny favour, imprison or banish, and that furthermore we will not aid or abet any power or office which strives to this in any way whatsoever..." An act of the Sejm in 1573 (the Confederation of Warsaw), per Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way, 90-91. |
Imagine a United-States-that-might-have-been, with many of the freedoms and civil rights that were instituted by the Founding Fathers. Foremost among these were freedom of speech, freedom of religion (in an era that was rife with religious wars, Inquisitions, and persecutions), and protections against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, and property. Now suppose this country had many amazing innovations in medicine and military science, a couple of which were rediscovered only in the twentieth century.
Such an entity existed from about 1386 through 1795. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth stretched from the Baltic Sea almost to the Black Sea. It included not only modern Poland and Lithuania but also Belarus and Ukraine. History might have been very different if the Partitions of Poland had not destroyed this country almost immediately after the birth of the United States.
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Commonwealth. Technical and
Political Innovations Other sites
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Husaria:
the Commonwealth's
"Tanks" Other sites |
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Laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz The Trilogy and its lessons for the United States Other sites
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Pan and Panna were the polite mode of address for a member (male/female respectively) of the Polish-Lithuanian gentry (szlachta). While now construed as the equivalent of Mr. or Ms. (as Japan's San suffix is today), it previously meant a member of the gentry or nobility, just as only the samurai were called "San" ("honorable") in feudal Japan. One translation of the title Pan Wolodyjowski is the rather-bland "Mr. Wolodyjowski" but "Sir Wolodyjowski" (as in a knight's title) is more accurate. J is pronounced Y. Jan ("Yan") = John, Jerzy ("Yerzy") = George, Jadwiga ("Yadwiga") = Hedwig. |
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According to legend, a Polish duke named Lech was hunting when he came across an eagle's nest. He wanted to take the eggs (or fledglings) and he climbed up to get them. The mother eagle, however, threatened him with her beak and talons. Lech drew his dagger and fought the white eagle, but he soon felt admiration of the bird's defense of her children's liberty and shame for his attack upon it. Duke Lech gave up his assault on the eagle's nest and turned to see the land of Poland stretching out below him. He asked himself if he would defend that land as the eagle had defended her nest, and that is how the white eagle became the emblem of Poland. "The White Eagle has always been on the banners of Poland and when, as has occured many times in history, Poland has been attacked, her sons have defended her no less bravely than the eagle who long ago shed her blood in the defence of freedom." (http://www.ststanislas.org/poland/whiteeagle.html) |
The Swedes' failure to capture the fortified monastery of Jasna
Gora outside Czestochowa marked the turning point of the Deluge (their
invasion of Poland in 1655). According to Henryk Sienkiewicz's The Deluge, the monks sang hymns and played religious music in the midst of the bombardment, to the dismay of the Swedish attackers who thought their guns would level the fortress or at least persuade its defenders to capitulate. The innovation of setting patriotic lyrics to drinking songs during such events did not come along for another 157 years although, had Pan Jan Onufry Zagloba been there, I'm sure he'd have improvised something along those lines.
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Holidays:
February 4: Kosciuszko Day
March 6: Pulaski Day