Free Royal Election

______________________________SUBSCRIBE ...... Free election was the election of individual kings, rather than of dynasties, to the Polish throne between 1572 and 1791, when "free election" was abolished by the Constitution of May 3, 1791. In 1572 Poland's Jagiellon dynasty became extinct upon the death, without a successor, of King Zygmunt II August. During the ensuing interregnum, anxiety for the safety of the Commonwealth eventually led to agreements among the political classes that, pending election of a new king, supreme authority would be exercised by the Roman Catholic primate, acting as interrex; that confederations of nobility would assume power in the country's respective regions; and that, by the "Warsaw Confederation" of 1573, peace would be maintained among the realm's various religions. The most important decision, however, was that the next king would be chosen by election, whose terms were finally established at a convocation sejm (sejm konwokacyjny) in 1573. On the initiative of southern-Polish nobles, supported by the future Crown (i.e., Polish) great chancellor and hetman Jan Zamoyski, the election would be by all male nobles who assembled for the purpose. The nobles voted by province (voivodship) in the presence of deputies, who conveyed the votes to the senate: the choice of king was announced by the senate's marshal and solemnized by the primate. Prior to the abolition of "free elections," 13 were held in Poland, resulting in the elevation of the following kings: - Henry de Valois (1573-1574) - Ann Jagiellon (1575-1596) - Stefan Bathory (1576-1586) - Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632) - Władysław IV Vasa (1632-1648) - John II Casimir Vasa (1648-1668) - Michał Wiśniowiecki (1669-1673) - Jan III Sobieski (1674-1696) - August II the Strong (1697-1706) - Stanisław Leszczyński (1704-1709) - August II the Strong (1709-1733) - Stanisław Leszczyński(1733-1736) - August III the Saxon (1733-1763) - Stanisław August Poniatowski(1764-1795)