250 ANARCHIA
that point on, the nobles of each province met together at frequent intervals to
conduct their own political and legislative business, and to consider the royal
policy. When, in the course of time, the general Sejm and the Crown Tribunal
were established, each of the dietines appointed representatives to pursue its
interests in the activities of the central legislature and judiciary. By the sixteenth
century, four types of session were held, sometimes successively, sometimes sep-
arately. The sejmik poselski was called to elect two 'envoys' (posel)* to transmit
the 'instructions' of the province's nobility to the Sejm; the sejmik deputacki
elected two 'deputies' (deputat) to serve on the Crown Tribunal; the sejmik rela-
cyjny met to consider reports and recommendations from the Sejm and to take
appropriate action; the sejmik gospodarski, or 'economic session', met to
administer the trade and finance of the province, and to execute the resolutions
of the Sejm in relation to taxes, military service, and land-holding. In this last
function, the dietine was assisted by a number of professional administrative
officers, headed by the subdelegat, whose job was to run everyday business in
the intervals between sessions. At the end of its deliberations, the dietine passed
its lauda or 'resolutions', which carried the full authority of law within the area
of its competence. These resolutions did not require the royal assent.
From this, it is important to recognize that the nobility regarded themselves
as the supreme authority in the state, and considered the dietines to form the
senior branch of the legislative process. The business of the central government
occupied only one part of their deliberations, and not necessarily the most
important one. They received the proposals of the King, of Sejm, or of the
officers-of-state, with strong reservations as to their own competence, and did
not feel bound to obey or to conform. Their envoys were expected to stick
closely to their instructions and were required on oath to swear 'to Almighty
God, Three-in-One, that I shall defend our freedom, and to admit no laws
which are contrary to the instructions.'
In November 1585, for example, the nobility of the palatinate of Cracow were
summoned to their traditional point of assembly in the parish church of
Proszowice, sixteen miles to the east of the old capital. Some six weeks before,
a 'uniwersal' or circular writ had been sent by the King to the Palatine, Andrzej
Teczynski, asking them to assemble on 8 November and to offer their advice on
the disturbances which were shaking the country. In the previous year, the
forces of the Chancellor of the Crown, Jan Zamoyski, had seized an outlawed
nobleman, Samuel Zborowski, and executed him in the market-place at
Cracow. Since the victim had openly circulated in the Republic for four years
before his capture, and had served as a captain of cavalry in the recent cam-
paigns against Muscovy, his death was widely interpreted as an act of private
* In Polish, the word posel is used both for 'ambassador' and for a member of the Diet. It can-
not be translated into English as 'deputy' because it would clash with the office of 'deputy
to the Tribunal', whilst other possibilities such as 'representative', 'congressman', or 'MP',
are inappropriate, 'Envoy' seems to be the nearest literal equivalent, but used in the sense of
'delegate'.