EnnoblementEnnoblement is the conferring of nobility—the induction of an individual into the noble class. Currently only a few kingdoms still grant nobility to people; among them Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Vatican. Depending on time and region, various laws have governed who could be ennobled and how. Typically, nobility was conferred on individuals who had assisted the sovereign. In some countries (e.g. France under the Ancien Régime), this degenerated into the buying of patents of nobility, whereby rich commoners (e.
Names of PolandThe ethnonyms for the Poles (people) and Poland (their country) include endonyms (the way Polish people refer to themselves and their country) and exonyms (the way other peoples refer to the Poles and their country). Endonyms and most exonyms for Poles and Poland derive from the name of the West Slavic tribe of Polans (Polanie), while in some languages the exonyms for Poland to derive from the name of another tribe – the Lendians (Lędzianie).
Russian PartitionThe Russian Partition (zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian acquisition encompassed the largest share of Poland's population, living on 463,200 km2 (178,800 sq mi) of land constituting the eastern and central territory of the former commonwealth.
Chancellor (Poland)Chancellor of Poland (Kanclerz - ˈkant͡slɛʂ, from cancellarius) was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland. This office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. A respective office also existed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 16th century. Today the office of the chancellor has been replaced by that of the Prime Minister. Chancellors' powers rose together with the increasing importance of written documents.
RzeczpospolitaRzeczpospolita (AUDPl-Rzeczpospolita.oggrzeczpo'spolita) is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of the terms rzecz "thing, matter" and pospolity "common", a calque of Latin rés pública (rés "thing" + pública "public, common"), i.e. republic, in English also rendered as commonwealth (historic) and republic (current). In modern Polish, the word rzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while any other republic is referred to in Polish as a republika, e.
Polish landed gentryPolish landed gentry (ziemiaństwo, ziemianie, from ziemia, "land") was a social group or class of hereditary landowners who held manorial estates. Historically, ziemianie consisted of hereditary nobles (szlachta) and landed commoners (kmiecie; Latin: cmethones). The Statutes of Piotrków (1496) restricted the right to hold manorial lordships to hereditary nobility. The non-nobles thus had to either sell their estates to the lords or seek a formal ennoblement for themselves (not an easy task), or had their property taken away.
FolwarkFolwark is a Polish word for a primarily serfdom-based farm and agricultural enterprise (a type of latifundium), often very large. Folwarks ( folwarki) were operated in the Crown of Poland from the 14th century, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th century and in the joint Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the second half of the 16th century. Folwarks also developed in the Commonwealth-controlled Ukrainian lands. The institution survived after the 18th-century Partitions of Poland until the early-20th century.
Lithuanian press banThe Lithuanian press ban (spaudos draudimas) was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet in force from 1865 to 1904 within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications that used Cyrillic were allowed and even encouraged. The concept arose after the failed January Uprising of 1863, taking the form of an administrative order in 1864, and was not lifted until 24 April 1904.
StarostaThe starosta "sta:rQst@ or starost (Cyrillic: старост/а, Latin: capitaneus, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. The Slavic root of starost translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has meant an official in a leadership position in a range of civic and social contexts throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
Vistula LandVistula Land, or Vistula Country, (Привислинский край, ; Kraj Nadwiślański) was the name applied to the lands of Congress Poland from 1867, following the defeats of the November Uprising (1830–1831) and January Uprising (1863–1864) as it was increasingly stripped of autonomy and incorporated into Imperial Russia. It also continued to be formally known as the Kingdom of Poland (Królestwo Polskie) until the fall of the Russian Empire. Russia lost control of the region in 1915, during the course of the First World War.
