Sejmik oszmiański jako forum walki politycznej w drugiej połowie XVII w.

Abstract

The subject of the article is functioning of the Oshmyany sejmik in the second half of the 17th century. Although in the Lithuanian symbolic hierarchy it took the second place, immediately after the Vilna sejmik, it cannot be counted among “upper” assemblies, playing a key role in the struggle for political domination. The analysis of property structure demonstrated that on the territory of the Ashmyany district of that time there were no magnate estates, and a strong position was held by the so-called “middle” nobility. It affected directly the political relations. In the area dominated a relative balance of power between the main parties, even though, of course, in the period of the so-called hegemony the Pac family sporadically gained an advantage, and later also the Sapieha family. Local political leaders, although connected with strict clientele ties with the most prominent Lithuanian politicians of that period, often tried to preserve independence, and sometimes even made surprising turns and changed their political “colours.” Also the Ashmiany nobility could manifest their subjectivity and stand up against the Lithuanian “oligarchs” – either the Pac family in 1672, or much more decidedly, during the bloody confrontation with the Sapiehas in 1700. Translated by Stefan Kubiak