96 JOGALIA
future of his two realms was to be determined by common assent. The second
stage was affected in an agreement signed at Horodlo in Volhynia on z October
- Here, in effect, the Polish lords and Lithuanian boyars formed themselves
into a joint estate. Among their many provisions it was agreed that matters of
concern touching both countries should be settled in joint assemblies of the
nobility, and that the Polish lords should participate in the election of the
Lithuanian Grand Duke. In this way, the strict monarchical principle, already
badly battered by the events of 1370, 1384-6, and 1401, was finally abandoned.
Most remarkable, however, was the spirit in which the agreements were
reached. It is true that the hearts of the participants of Horodlo had been
warmed by their recent victory over the Teutonic Knights and that they were all
conscious of considerable mutual advantage. The Polish nobility were obtain-
ing a permanent stake in the internal affairs of their partners: the Lithuanians
were receiving a guarantee of the separate identity of their state and its ruler.
Cynics would say that in such circumstances it is easy to be noble-minded. Even
so, noble-minded moments are a rare phenomenon, and the words of the
Preamble to the Act of Horodlo are worth noting: 'Whoever is unsupported by
the mystery of Love', it began, 'shall not achieve the Grace of salvation. .. For
by Love, laws are made, kingdoms governed, cities ordered, and the state of the
commonweal is brought to its proper goal. Whoever shall cast Love aside, shall
lose everything.'^3 In later times, when a weakened Polish-Lithuanian state
became the object of derision and the prey of stronger enemies, these words
served as a comfort and as a reminder of the high principles on which the Union
was first founded. Thus the Polish and Lithuanian nobility looked forward to
the future with confidence. To all intents and purposes, they became one nation.
Henceforth, to be 'Polish' was to be a citizen of the Polish-Lithuanian state. It
was equivalent to being British, as opposed to being English or Scottish. It did
not mean that the Poles and the Lithuanians, any more than the English or the
Scots, lost their sense of separate identity. Even that large part of the population,
who shared neither the political rights of the ruling class nor their Polish culture
or language, could take pride in the achievements of the new state. Comparisons
with neighbouring countries were not unfavourable.
The strategic security of the state was not seriously threatened. To the north,
the three kingdoms of Scandinavia were locked in alternate embraces and quar-
rels. To the east, the Mongol Empire had dissolved into its component hordes.
Novgorod was a peaceable commercial republic. The Russian principalities of
Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Ryazan, and Viatka, were small and disunited. To the
south, the Luxemburgers in Bohemia nicely offset the ambitions of their rela-
tives in Hungary. The Turks were preoccupied with the Balkans. Even after the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, they betrayed no intention of crossing the
Dniester. To the west, the Empire was in decline, the prey of its constituent prin-
cipalities. France and England were fighting the Hundred Years War. Spain was
still absorbed with the Reconquest. Italy was flourishing but fragmented. This
was an epoch without great powers. Until the rise of Moscow, of the