Fnd Kanclerz (Polish for Chancellor, from latin:castellanus) was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland, which functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Chancellors powers risen together with the increasing importance of the written documents. In the 14th century the office of Chancellor of Kraków (ancient Polish capital) (Polish: "Kanclerz krakowski") evolved into the Chancellor of the Crown (Polish: "Kanclerz koronny") and from that period the chancellor powers were greatly increased, as they became responsible for the foreign policy of the entire Kingdom (later, the Commonwealth). Chancellor was also supposed to ensure the legality of monarch actions, especially if they are not illegal in the context of pacta conventa (an early set of documents containing important laws, in some aspects resembling today's constitutions). Finally, Chancellor was also responsible for his office, the chancellery (Polish: kancelaria). In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there were for Chancellors: Great Chancellor of the Crown (Polish: Kanclerz wielki koronny), Great Chancellor of Lithuania, (Polish: Kanclerz wielki litewski), Deputy Chancellor of the Crown (Polish Podkanclerzy koronny) and Deputy Chancellor of Lithuania (Podkanclerzy litewski).
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History
During the times of fragmentation of Poland, each Polish prince had his own chancellor, but with the reunification of Poland, the office of Chancellor of Kraków became dominant and others, local chancellors dissapeared by early 15th century. After the Union of Lublin in 1569 the office was doubled (into Crown - Poland proper - and Lithuanian chancellors) and the office of the Deputy Chancellor (Polish: Podkanclerz) was created (also doubled, one for Crown, one for Lithuania), thus resulting in four Chancellors.
At first, the Chancellor office was always given to the ecclesiastic person. From 1507, the title of Great Crown Chancellor was rotated between secular and ecclesiastic nobles, and after the Union of Lublin at least one Chancellor (both in the Great and Deputy pair and Crown Lithuanian one) was required to be a secular person.
Power and responsibilities
By custom, the Greater Chancellor of the Crown directed the Commonwealth foreign policies towards the Western Europe, and the Greater Chancellor of the Lithuania the policies towards Muscovy (later, the Russian Empire).
Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor (who was not a direct subordinate of the chancellor) were responsible for the work of their chancelleries, respectively Greater and Minor one. They were supposed to be in constant contact and develop common policies. Among their responsibilities were the foreign and internal affairs. They had also judiciary powers, leading so called ‘assessors’ courts’ (Polish: Asesoria), that were the highest appeal courts for people subjected to crowns laws (i.e. not subjected to ecclesiastic or magnates courts).
The Chancellors offices were the Chancelleries (respectively Crown and Lithuanian, Greater and Minor ones). Chancelleries were staffed with offcials known as the chancellists (Polish: kancelista): the regent, secretaries, writers, clerks and [metricant]]s (Polish: metrykant). Regent divided the work between the clerks. 2 secretaries (one responsible for private correspondence, second for official) presented the ready letters to the king for his signature. Writers designed the letters, clerks readied the final drafts. No copies were made, but instead they were written into the books called Metrics (Polish: Metryki), who were taken care by the two metricans (respectively 2 in Poland and 2 in Lithuania). Metrican of Great Chancellor was called the Great Metrican, the one serving Deputy Chancellor was a Minor Metrican. The staff of Chancellery had no wage, just like the Chancellors, but in the middle of each reception room was the box into which all clients were supposed to deposit a varying amount of money, and nobody who planned on coming back could afford to be mean.
Chancellor often gave speeches representing the royal will. The symbol of their office was the seal, which was used to seal all documents passing through his office. He also sealed documents signed by the monarch and could refuse to seal a document he considered illegal or damaging to the country (such documents had no power without his seal). When the king died, the seal was destroyed during funeral and new one given to him by the succeeding king. The seal importance gave a rise to another name of the Chancellor - the sealer (Polish pieczętarz). Due to their imporant power the Chancellors were considered the guardians of the king and country, making sure the kings folly would not endanger the country by forcing it into an unnecessary war (among the wars prevented by the chancellors was the the great crusade against the Ottoman Empire planned by Wladyslaw IV Waza in 1630s).
The chancellor powers combined with the fact that wars required funds which were given by the Senat. The nobles (the szlachta) who controlled the Senate were usually unwilling to increase taxes and levvied upon them, which meant that Poland very rarely declared wars on its own. Usually it was attacked by its neighbors, and while it repelled all attacks till the end of 18th century, it almost never utilised any of its victories. The army was undermanned and under equipped (since usually any suggestion of bigger military budget when enemy was not on the doorstep was labeled as warmongering) and lands of Rzeczpospolita were constantly ravaged by new invasions, crippling its economy.
List of kanclerzs
- Kanclerz - Chanceller - various local chancellors, until late 14/early 15th centiry
- Kanclerz krakowski - Chancellor of Kraków - until 14th century, when he superceeded all other Polish local chancellors and transformed into
- Kanclerz koronny - Chancellor of the Crown - from 14th century until 1569. Sometimes also called Kanclerz Królestwa Polskiego - Chancellor of the Polish Kingdom'
- Kanclerz wielki koronny - Great Chancellor of the Crown - from 1659 until 1795 (end of Commonwealth)
- Kanclerz wielki litewski - Great Chancellor of Lithuania - as above
- Podkanclerzy koronny - Deputy Chancellor of the Crown - as above
- Podkanclerzy litewski - Deputy Chancellor of Lithuania - as above
See also
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