Books
Period
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
1569–1795 CE
The Union of Lublin in 1569 created a federated Commonwealth joining the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under an elected monarch and a shared parliament. Its territories included much of present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine and contained Polish, Lithuanian, Ruthenian, Jewish, Armenian, German, Tatar and other communities.
The political system gave extensive privileges to the nobility while limiting central royal authority. Religious diversity, large estates and regional legal traditions coexisted with severe social inequalities, particularly for peasants and subject communities. The Commonwealth fought repeated wars with Muscovy, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire, Crimean Tatars and internal rebels.
It provides the parent setting for Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy and On the Field of Glory.
Related people for Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Alexander I of Russia1777–1825 Bohdan Khmelnytsky1595–1657 Catherine the Great1729–1796 Izabela Czartoryska1746–1835 Jeremi Wiśniowiecki1612–1651 John II Casimir Vasa1609–1672 John III Sobieski1629–1696 Kara Mustafa Pasha1634–1683 Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d’Arquien1641–1716 Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki1640–1673 Stanisław August Poniatowski1732–1798
Non-Fiction
3 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.
