Miejskie artykuły wojskowe w nowożytnej Europie – zarys problematyki

Abstract

Military laws, taking into account the entities issuing them, can be divided into five types. These are hetman’s articles (announced by the chief commanders), royal articles (issued by the rulers), parliamentary articles (adopted by various representative bodies), confederate’s articles (self-governing announced by all soldiers) and the urban articles, created by or under the authority of the city council. The paper presents characteristics of “urban military articles.” These were the normative acts issued in the modern era directly by the city council or bodies acting under its authority. Promulgated acts were shorter than the other military articles, as in this case, military law was only complementary to the system of municipal law. These documents were primarily to ensure efficient supervision and control of the civilian municipal authorities over military troops. Civilians and private property was covered by special protection. Urban military articles imposed upon soldiers a fairly rigid moral framework, particular attention being given to the problems of alcoholism, prostitution, gambling, and even participation in urban amusements and festivities. More lenient penalties were applied in the urban military articles, which occurred the more strikingly the greater the proportion of urban citizens serving in the military. A sentence of imprisonment was provided more willingly, obviously using institutions operating in the cities.