The Polish-Lithuanian Monarchy in European Context, c. 1500-1795
Edited by Richard Butterwick

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was, according to legend, a picturesque backwater ruled by an anarchic and selfish nobility that reduced its monarchy to impotence, and was duly partitioned in 1772-95 by its three 'absolutist' neighbours; Russia, Prussia and Austria. The emphasis historians now place on the limitations of 'composite monarchies' in early modern Europe prompts us to reconsider the extent to with Poland-Lithuania diverged from its neighbours.

This collection assesses the institutions and idea of monarchy within the Commonwealth's mixed from of government. The lively and challenging contributions, some more 'revisionist' than others, range from the formation of a joint Polish-Lithuanian monarchy in the sixteenth century to the transformations begun under an 'enlightened monarchy', but tragically cut short by the partitions, in the late eighteenth century. Notable features are the perspectives from the Lithuanian and Prussian components of the confederal and multinational Commonwealth, and the emphasis throughout on international comparisons.

The book includes a chronology of Polish-Lithuanian Monarchs, a genealogical table, a gazetteer, and four maps.

". . . accessible to the general reader. . . a rich and readable volume of scholarship. . ."
International History Review

RICHARD BUTTERWICK is Lecturer in Modern European History at the Queen's University of Belfast. He is the author of Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanislaw August Poniatowski, 1732-1798 and articles on the monarchy, political thought and the Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Poland-Lithuania.

Publishing House: Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2001
Hardcover book measuring 5.75" x 8.75"
271 pages, maps, table, gazetteer, chronology, glossary, index
English Language Version

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