THE NOBLEMAN'S PARADISE 167Lithuanians had gradually adopted Polish laws and customs. But their own
highly specific social structures left an enduring mark. In contrast to the Polish
szlachta, the Lithuanian nobles had been closely dependent on the ruler, the
Grand Duke, and at the same time were split into a number of overlying strata.
They had enjoyed no tradition of immunities either as individuals or as an estate,
and in return for their land were used to paying personal homage, either to the
Grand Duke or to their immediate superior. They served in the army without
limit, offered the dziakel or 'tribute in kind', and provided a wide range of ser-
vices from hay-making to fortress repair. At the top of the social scale, a few
powerful families like the Ostrogski, the Radziwill, or the Sapieha, boasted the
title of Kniaz or 'Prince'. The greatest of these ruled entire regions in virtual sov-
ereignty, in the style of marcher lords. The lesser families held their baronies in
fief from the Grand Duke. At the bottom of the scale, the broad mass of depend-
ent nobles with the title of boyar (warrior) varied from families of considerable
fortune to domestic servants or petty mercenary nobles. In the middle, lay a
group bearing the title of pan or 'lord', who benefited from special privileges
with respect to military duty. Some of these, such as the Kiezgajllo, rose to posi-
tions indistinguishable from those of the princes. Under Grand Duke Witold
(1401-30), who sought to centralize the Lithuanian state and even to have him-
self crowned as king, the waywardness of the greater nobility was sharply
pruned. Princely titles were limited either to lifelong tenure, or to strict male
descent. New awards were largely confined to Muscovite defectors. At the same
time, the corporate sense of a noble estate was being widened and strengthened.
In 1387, the boyars were granted the right of property in their family estates, and
the personal freedom to marry without their lord's consent. In 1413, at Horodlo,
the right of property was extended to their feudal holdings. Catholic boyars were
invited to join the Polish heraldic clans. From 1434, both the princes and boyars
were treated as a common estate for purpose of political privilege bargaining,
and in 1447 established their claim to parity with the szlachta.
Even so, the princes contrived to maintain a measure of their supremacy.
They took control of the process of 'clan adoption' which, in marked contrast
to its egalitarian function in Poland, became an instrument for perpetuating the
old practice of homage in a new guise. They took special hold over the
Ruthenian nobility, whose Orthodoxy became a definite disability. They pre-
served their jurisdictional independence right up to the Second Lithuanian
Statute of 1566, which they conceded in a vain attempt to stem the boyars' desire
to accept the impending constitutional union with Poland. When the Union of
Lublin finally established the principle of legal equality not only between the
Polish and Lithuanian nobility but also amongst the Lithuanian nobles them-
selves, the princely families were not seriously shaken. They passed straight to
the forefront of the Republic's magnateria — equal before the law, but very
unequal in political, social, and economic influence.
The career of Prince Mikolaj Radziwill the 'Red' (1512-84) amply illustrates
the power and wealth to which the magnates aspired. As brother to the