Chernigov and Severian Lands in the Political Thought of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before the Middle 17th сentury

Abstract

In 1503, Muscovy acquired the Smolensk and the Chernigov and Severian lands from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) following the war. The substantial loss became for Vilna one of the factors that induced it to ally with Poland and form a union state –the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Even before the unification took place, there were vigorous debates among diplomats and intellectuals on what grounds their state should require to return the land. It was in this period when Muscovy’s seizure of the territories was conceptualized as a dishonest act in breach of international agreements. As a result, when Warsaw managed to reconquer the Smolensk and Chernigov-Severian lands, it began to define them as “rekuperowane” which meant “regained from the enemy”. The terminology became embedded both in political journalism and official documents of the state. For example, the term “ziemie rekuperowane” was already used in the sejm constitutions (official documents of the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), although the lands were not yet officially integrated. To ensure a more effective incorporation of the new lands, Warsaw granted the Magdeburg rights to many cities in the region, and the document itself also emphasized that these cities and lands were successfully recovered from the hands of the adversary.