Adaptacja polskich wzorców ustrojowych w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim na przykładzie kształtowania się litewskiej rady wielkoksiążęcej w XV wieku

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Lenkija (Lenkijos karalystė. Kingdom of Poland. Poland); 15 amžius; Lietuvos didysis kunigaikštis; Politinės institucijos; Ponų taryba; Valdymo formos; Forms of government; Grand Duke of Lithuania; Lithuanian Council; Lithuanian Council of Lords; Lithuanian XV c. history; Polish Kingdom; Political Institution.

ENIt has already been accepted that after concluding a union with Poland, and especially after 1413, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania started a very dynamic process of adapting Polish forms of government, which gradually replaced Ruthenian and Teutonic influences. However, most historians focus their attention mainly on social and legal aspects, disregarding the question of the system of government and transformation of governmental institutions. In Lithuania, governmental institutions as other spheres of political and social life underwent many changes forced by time, the historical process and the coexistence with the Kingdom of Poland. The Grand Duke of Lithuania had at his disposal a Council, which was totally dependent on him at the beginning of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, and which was different from the King’s Council in Poland. In the 15th century the Council evolved to become an institution of power with an established composition, privileges and a form of operating. However, towards the end of the 15th century, about a hundred years after the Union, the Lithuanian Council had not become similar to the Polish Council.On the contrary, the differences between the two deepened although both of them had undergone the same process institutionalisation, that is the evolution from a loose and informal assembly into a body functioning according to principles established by law. In the case of the Polish Council, it was the process of its transformation into the higher chamber of the Polish parliament (the Senate). The Lithuanian Council, however, as a result of faster changes, had become the sole estate representation, an institution of a proto-parliamentary character. Having studied particular stages of the evolution of the Lithuanian Council into the Council of Lords, that is a governmental institution, the author can confirm the thesis by Stanisław Kutrzeba about the implementation of the Polish system of government in Lithuania. One has to bear in mind, however, that the implementation did not consist in copying the Polish political system. It meant adapting certain patterns to Lithuanian conditions in such a way as to accelerate, not disturb, the evolution of the estate central governmental institutions. [From the publication]