JOHN SOBIESKI.

LOTHIAN PRIZE ESSAY

FOR

1881.

BY

EDWARD H. R. TATHAM, B.A.

BRASENOSE COLLEGE.

OXFORD:
A. THOMAS SHRIMPTON & SON, BROAD STREET.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
1881.

Strangeness of Polishhistory.The Kingdom or Republic of Poland has alwaysseemed a strange phenomenon in European history, partly fromthe aboriginal character of its population, and partly from itsexceptional constitution. The ancient Sarmatians, who occupiedthe same territory, had no share in the old Roman civilisation,but rather, by their constant irruptions upon the empire,were mainly instrumental in its downfall. Christianity wasintroduced in the tenth century; but, until recent times, noother civilising force has ever effected a permanent conquestof the country. Aboriginal character ofthe Poles,During the eight following centuries the Poles,surrounded by enemies—on the north and east by more barbaroustribes, on the south and west by a superior civilisation—wereexclusively confined to the defensive and so missed thosehumanising influences to which a conquering nation has so oftenhad to submit. As late as the eighteenth century they mighttruly be called the lineal descendants in race, in character,and almost in habits, of the hunters and shepherds of theancient North. Seen in their socialsystem.Throughout their history there were two greatclasses in the State; the so-called noble class—the heirs of thesavage in their desire for equality, and of the nomad in theirlove of freedom—and the peasant class—the descendants of captivestaken in war—whose lives and properties were at the absolutedisposal of their masters. Only in the western portion of thekingdom was there a burgher class, and this was on the same[1]political footing with the serfs. The union of two great evilsarising from such a system—licence and servitude—made thePolish constitution as disastrous as it was unique. Poland thusdiffered so widely, both socially and politically, from everyother European state, that it would be impossible to examine anyimportant period of her[4] history without explaining alike her position inEurope and some of her internal peculiarities.

European position ofPoland,Although considerably[2] larger than France,Poland took scarcely any part in the general history of Europebefore the end of the sixteenth century. Once only, just beforethe taking of Constantinople, we find her with Hungary strivingto check the advance of the Turks, when she lost in battle herking Wladislas VI. (1444). At firstinconsiderable,...