Besides his native Romania conquered with the sword,
Poland was the first domino marble to fall to the Mihai-style National Revolution.
Poland-Lithuania (Sarmatia)
30 November 1603, Warsaw
King
Sigismund III Vasa (37 years old, widowed in 1598) marries Mihai's daughter,
Domnița Florica (17 years old), who has converted to the Catholic faith the previous day.
21 December 1603, Warsaw
Florica is crowned Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania. She assumes the regnal name of Queen
Flora (Krolowa Flora / Flora Regina).
Queen Flora
Perhaps inheriting her father's propensity for foreign languages, Flora quickly learned both Polish and Lithuanian (she already knew some Latin). By the end of the following year, she was able to converse in Polish to the delight of her subjects.
Flora was an active queen and became a good Pole and a good Catholic. She toured the whole country several times, befriended many wives of Polish nobles and was respected by most of her subjects, except for a handful of dectractors.
The short lived enmity against the queen was based on several factors:
1. She was an Orthodox who converted to Catholicism only before the marriage.
2. She was not of royal blood, but merely the daughter of a Voivode, himself of dubious extraction.
3. She gave birth to
Crown Prince Karol only about 8 months after the wedding and the baby did not seem at all premature.
4. She was interested in politics and frequently discussed matters of state with the King and the members of the Sejm. It was speculated that she had an inordinate influence upon the King and the policies of the Polish State. There were even some rumours about her being a Romanian spy!
In the following years, her beauty and delightful personality made the gossip slowly wither away and she is now remembered as one of the most influential and beloved Polish Queens.
2-7 January 1604, Sejm, Warsaw
What happened in the Sejm of the Commonwealth in the first week of 1604 was endlessly debated by the Polish and international historians. Called
The Glorious Revolution by some and
Sigismund's Coup d'Etat by others, it was the first of the
National Revolutions From Above after the original one engineered by Mihai in Romania.
What distinguishes it from the rest of the
National Revolutions From Above was the singular fact that it was
almost completely bloodless.
Surely influenced by Mihai, Sigismund called the Sejm for 2 January and perplexed the Szlachta by talking almost non-stop for more than six hours.
He emphasized the following points, using lots of examples and parables, for everybody to understand and comply:
- The
National Consciousness of the Romanians, based upon unity of
language,
religion and
tradition, despite their former lack of political unity.
- The overwhelming success of
Mihai's National Policy and the
meteoric rise of Romania.
- The fact that smaller countries like Romania or Sweden, with one third and respectively one tenth of the Commonwealth's population had larger and perhaps stronger armies. The King explained that by their
internal cohesiveness, states based on only one
language,
ethnicity,
religion and
culture, but also highlighted the strength of the more
centralized state and the issue of
military conscription.
- The
potentially perilious position of the Commonwealth which although
large,
rich and
powerful, totally lacked
ethnic,
religious,
linguistic and
cultural unity, a powerful
centralized state apparatus and bureaucracy, a
large and cohesive army, in short the lack of a
Nation and its
Nation State.
- The fact that the
momentuos victory in the Tatar War was only possible because of the help of a
Nation State, Romania. Four centuries of relentless Asiatic invasions had been stopped forever in a matter of months, to say nothing of the conquest of the Steppe and of the valuable Black Sea Littoral.
Then he suggested the advantages:
- Future Northern and Eastern continuous
expansion of the Commonwealth.
- Vast
enrichment of the country and its citizens.
- More
land to be colonized.
-
Safety from any possible invasion.
-
End of internal strife and dissent.
-
Ease of governance.
Finally, he proposed what he saw to be the obvious solutions:
- Massive
strenghtening of State apparatus and bureaucracy.
- Abolition of the
Liberum Veto. ("As I am speaking, we are being invaded by the Swedes. What if one of you, paid by the enemy, vetoes the raising of an army to defend the country?")
- Forging a common
National Consciousness based on the
Sarmatian Idea.
- Terminating the system of vassals and directly annexing
Prussia,
Livonia and the
Zaporogian Host.
-
Administrative and political unification of the State into a new Unitary National State.
- Gradually making the Catholic religion
mandatory for everyone all over the Commonwealth.
- Creating a
common language for all the Commonwealth, based on words common in Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian dialects. Do not force any adult to learn and use it, but teach it in schools and use it in the mass media and administration.
- Annex
Swedish Estonia, but refrain from any further annexations
for the time being. Modernize and integrate the
existing territories first, before attempting to acquire more land and assimilate foreign people. Only afterwards embark on a
slow and continuous policy of territorial expansion combined with the
integration of the newly acquired lands and
assimilation of their people into the Commonwealth Nation.
- Create a very large army based upon
general conscription in order to quickly prosecute the
War with Sweden to a
victorious conclusion. Again,
do not annex Sweden as it is extremely different
racially,
linguistically and
religiously and therefore
impossible to assimilate.
Somehow, despite the odds, Sigismund won the debate.
Most of his proposals were accepted and implemented either immediately or during the following years.
1604-1611, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
1. Abolition of Liberum Veto
All
Ordinary Laws are passed with a simple majority.
The
Basal Laws are passed with a two thirds majority.
During the following years, the
Basal Laws were congregated into the first
Constitution of the Commonwealth and the first such document in the whole World.
2. General Conscription in time of war
About one million men answer the call, creating by far the greatest army in Europe.
Hundreds of thousands march North. Prussia and Livonia are annexed to the Commonwealth without any shot being fired, the mere display of force being overwhelming.
3. Conclusion of the Swedish War
The Swedes evacuate Polish Estonia and Swedish Estonia without a fight.
The Commonwealth invades Swedish Finland where Sigismund is welcomed by the Finns who remained loyal to him and not to the usurper Charles.
The feable and inexperienced Commonwealth Navy is destroyed later by the much stronger Swedish Navy. Any hope of invading Sweden proper is dashed.
4. Peace with Sweden
- Sigismund officially relinquishes the Crown of Sweden and recognizes Charles IX as King of Sweden.
- Sweden cedes
Estonia and
Finland. Estonia is directly annexed to the Commonwealth and united with Polish Estonia. Finland is organized as an
autonomous province.
5. Reform of the State
- Poland, Lithuania, Prussia, Livonia, Estonia and the Zaporigian Host as distinct territorial entities
are abolished. All territory is divided into small Voivodeships.
- Various laws
strenghen the central authority of the State, represented by the King and the Sejm. An efficient
State Bureaucracy is formed.
- The
Sarmatian idea, already popular among the Szlachta, gets the full backing of the State.
- A
Sarmatian Language, the first
constructed language in history is proposed. It largely fails, less than 10% of the population speaking it at the time of its greatest acceptance. Today it has around one million speakers.
- The
Catholic Faith is
strongly encouraged by the State. All Nobles are
required to be Catholics in order to keep their privileges.
- The
Zaporogian Cossacks are dispersed by the army. Their specific lifestyle largely vanishes during the following decades.
- The
Ruthenian Orthodox Church is separated from Constantinople and
united with Rome. It becomes the
Ruthenian Eastern Catholic Church. Those who oppose the union are silenced.
- Finally, on 1 June 1611, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth changes its name in
Sarmatia (
Sarmacja).
6. Religious Persecutions
Between 1607 and 1610, Poland-Lithuania attempted to convert its non-Catholic population with mixed results:
- Tatar Muslims (30% converted, 10% killed, 60% expelled to Crimea)
- Jews (4% converted, 96% expelled, mainly to Russia)
- Non-German Protestants (80% converted, 5% killed, 15% expelled to Germany and Scandinavia)
- German Protestants (7% converted, 3% killed, 90% expelled to Germany)
- Ruthenian Orthodox (12% converted, 72% united with Rome, 8% killed, 8% escaped to Russia)
By 1611 the Commonwealth was almost completely Catholic (except the unsincere converts obviously)
1612-1619, Intervention in the Russian Civil War
Sarmatia invaded Russia three times in a span of seven years, in order to support various factions or pretenders to the Russian Throne.
The purpose was not to occupy or annex Russia but to prolong the unrest as much as possible in order to further weaken Russia.
Several regions were annexed though:
-
Ingria, to cut Russia from the Baltic Sea and get a land connection to Finland. Ingria was actually attached to Finland, not to Sarmatia proper.
-
Smolensk and
Severia, in order to get a
shorter and cleaner border.
- The
Azov Sea Steppe between the Kalmius and the Don (the area annexed by Russia from the Tatars in 1603), to cut Russia from the Black Sea.
Since then, Sarmatia and Russia have remained sworn enemies.
They would fight countless wars in the ensuing centuries.
No real and comprehensive reconciliation ever happened.
1613-1615, Intervention in the German War
The Sarmatian Intervention was rather short and inconsequential.
It ended with
status quo ante bellum.
Note: More details in the Chapter about Germany.
In 1622, Sarmatia had only one friendly neighbour: Romania.
