And get rid of the liberum veto. Besides, towns and cities must be developed to allow kings to gain more direct power.Reform the Szlachta as soon as possible.
WiThe PLC was a very powerful country with probably the finest cavalry in Europe at the time and a great deal of wealth due to the its significant grain exports. It had more than enough resources to stand its ground against the powers around it, the issue was that they failed to centralize enough to take advantage of those resources before it was already too late. Hell there are even a couple of opportunities later, but it would be better if they just manage to not fall behind on centralization in the first place.
Getting rid of liberum veto, or preferably never developing that institution would not be a panaceum for Poland's many ailments. You would still need to gain the majority of nobles to want to tax themselves (tax on nobility's incomes), limit their powers (strenghtening central government), allow for their milking cows to gain more freedoms (bettering the lot of peasants), let the said cows be stolen by the king (conscription of peasants from noble lands) agree to pay more for all kinds of goods (tolls, custom taxes, excise etc), let the townsfolk rabble to think they are almost equal to nobility (more rights to the cities), lose their lucrative sinecures (turning the royal lands into something that would actually turn some real profit for the state treasury)And get rid of the liberum veto. Besides, towns and cities must be developed to allow kings to gain more direct power.
Rather conflict between nobles and king. Polish 'Noble Democracy' was not that bad initially. Absolutism under some madman (Polish version of Ivan the Terrible?) would not be any better.Honestly I think the best case for Poland would be if some foreign King gained power and committed a Stockholm Bloodbath. The Polish nobility was the main curse of the Polish state.
Rather conflict between nobles and king. Polish 'Noble Democracy' was not that bad initially. Absolutism under some madman (Polish version of Ivan the Terrible?) would not be any better.
What should be done? King has little power in PLC, so kings often used corruption to achieve their goals-they still could give officies to magnates to get their support, as result corrupt magnate cliques dominated country over time, so maybe royal powers should be even more reduced, not increased?
Another source of troubles were (usually counterproductive) attemps by kings to secure throne for candidates they choosen by trying to enforce very unpopular among nobles idea of election Vivente Rege.
Also long periods of interregnum when country was not ruled effectively where problematic. PLC would be better as either hereditary monarchy or full republic.
And achieve what? A civil war?Honestly I think the best case for Poland would be if some foreign King gained power and committed a Stockholm Bloodbath. The Polish nobility was the main curse of the Polish state.
Make the executive considerably stronger and implement an early form of separation of powers in the Union of Lublin. And make the ties between Poland and Lithuania tighter. Should solve most of the Commonwealth's internal problems.
And achieve what? A civil war?
We are not talking about 100-200 magnates or something, but rather an entire noble class. If I remember correctly, upwards of 10% of the population of the Commonwealth was considered nobility in the late 18th century.
We are not talking about 100-200 magnates or something, but rather an entire noble class. If I remember correctly, upwards of 10% of the population of the Commonwealth was considered nobility in the late 18th century.
Oh yes, indeed, but I'm not sure if the reformers would have agreed to to a mass nobility purge.But nobility doesn't mean everyone has the same view of the issues. Many of the reformers in late 18th century Poland were noblemen.
They were all noblemen, unless there was some random commoner among the priestsBut nobility doesn't mean everyone has the same view of the issues. Many of the reformers in late 18th century Poland were noblemen.
Poland had full scale of nobles, from great magnates owning multiple towns, palaces, castles and up to hundreds of villages and many tens of thousands peasants, each of those capable of buying and selling the whole Swedish upper nobility (of the Stockholm massacre period), through all kinds of upper and middle nobility that could own couple or a dozen or two villages, down to those glorified farmers and even posessionless nobilityYes but the nobles outside those magnates doesn't really matters it's not the nobles who are little more than glorified free farmers who would be target in such massacre. Also the king doesn't need to win, Poland just need for power to be consolidated behind a centralised government, so if much of the major nobility are dead and the rest end up backing some central authority out of fear of someone killing them too, that would also serve as well (this was what happened in Sweden).
They were all noblemen, unless there was some random commoner among the priests
Poland had full scale of nobles, from great magnates owning multiple towns, palaces, castles and up to hundreds of villages and many tens of thousands peasants, each of those capable of buying and selling the whole Swedish upper nobility (of the Stockholm massacre period), through all kinds of upper and middle nobility that could own couple or a dozen or two villages, down to those glorified farmers and even posessionless nobility
Well, the magnates? Well, something akin to the Red Wedding in ASOIAF could remove them.They were all noblemen, unless there was some random commoner among the priests
Poland had full scale of nobles, from great magnates owning multiple towns, palaces, castles and up to hundreds of villages and many tens of thousands peasants, each of those capable of buying and selling the whole Swedish upper nobility (of the Stockholm massacre period), through all kinds of upper and middle nobility that could own couple or a dozen or two villages, down to those glorified farmers and even posessionless nobility
Well, noble oligarchy is the worse form of government ever. For something like an oligarchy or a quasi-democracy, the ruling class must be the urban bourgeois.Absolutism is definitely not the best solution for PLC. Absolutism is good if monarch is capable, which is not guaranteed. Just look at Ivan the Terrible.
Even Peter the Great was rather lucky than great-Russia barely avoided collapse during GNW and lost bigger share of population than under Stalin.
Well, the magnates? Well, something akin to the Red Wedding in ASOIAF could remove them.
Absolutism is definitely not the best solution for PLC. Absolutism is good if monarch is capable, which is not guaranteed. Just look at Ivan the Terrible.
Even Peter the Great was rather lucky than great-Russia barely avoided collapse during GNW and lost bigger share of population than under Stalin.