:''This is an article about a historical event in Poland. For a musical band, see

The Black Heart Procession The Black Heart Procession (occasionally spelled The Blackheart Procession) is an American indie rock band from San Diego, California. History Early years The band was formed in 1997 by Pall Jenkins (Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects, Palllap ...

.''

Black procession () was a demonstration held by burghers of Polish royal cities in

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

's capital of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

on 2 December 1789, during the

Great Sejm The Great Sejm, also known as the Four-Year Sejm (Polish language, Polish: ''Sejm Wielki'' or ''Sejm Czteroletni''; Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Didysis seimas'' or ''Ketverių metų seimas'') was a Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwea ...

. It vastly contributed to the passage of a belated major urban reform. The procession that took place

on 2 December 1789 was inspired by

Hugo Kołłątaj Hugo Stumberg Kołłątaj, also spelled ''Kołłątay'' (1 April 1750 – 28 February 1812), was a prominent Polish constitutional reformer and educationalist, and one of the most prominent figures of the Enlightenment in Poland, Polish Enlighten ...

, and led by

Jan Dekert Jan Dekert or Jan Dekiert (1738 – 4 October 1790) was a Polish merchant of German descent and political activist. Starting in the 1760s, he rose to become one of the most prominent merchants in the Polish capital of Warsaw. He was an acti ...

.Czarna procesja
,

WIEM Encyklopedia WIEM Encyklopedia (full name in - "Great Interactive Multimedia Encyclopedia"; in Polish, ''wiem'' also means 'I know') is a Polish Internet encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was based on the first printed edition was released in mid-1990s (with Vo ...

, retrieved on 12 June 2008czarna procesja
, PWN Encyklopedia, retrieved on 12 June 2008 294 representatives of 141 towns under royal charter ('' miasta królewskie''), clad in black, passed peacefully (marching or in carriagesSamuel Fiszman, ''Constitution and reform in eighteenth-century Poland: the constitution of 3 May 1791'', Indiana University Press, 1997,
Google Print, p.455
/ref>) through the streets of Warsaw, from the town hall, reaching the Royal Castle (where members of the

were meeting) and getting an audience with the king

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...

. The burghers demanded similar privileges to those held by the nobles (''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

''). Their demands included the right to buy and own land estates, the right to be represented in the Polish parliament (

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

) and reforms to the urban law.The Third of May Constitution
The procession influenced the Great Sejm to create a Commission for the Cities (''Deputacja w sprawie miast''). Medal commemorating Free Royal Cities Act 1791

Medal commemorating Free Royal Cities Act 1791

Only members of the royal towns (with the notable exception of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Paweł Jasienica, ''Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów'', Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1982, , p.432) took part in the procession; the representatives of the private towns (owned by the

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s) did not. Eventually, the burghers' cause succeeded and the belated urban reform in the Commonwealth took place with the passage of the

Free Royal Cities Act The Free Royal Cities Act (, ), also known as the Law on the Cities (), was an act adopted by the Four-Year Sejm (1788–1792) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on April 18, 1791, in the run-up to the adoption of the Constitution of May 3, ...

on 18 April 1791, which became a notable amendment to the

Constitution of 3 May The Constitution of 3 May 1791, titled the Government Act, was a written constitution for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that was adopted by the Great Sejm that met between 1788 and 1792. The Commonwealth was a dual monarchy comprising t ...

. The Act granted, to the Commonwealth's townspeople, personal security, the right to acquire

landed property In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two compe ...

, and eligibility for military officers' commissions,

public office Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

s, and gave the right for

ennoblement Ennoblement 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 reg ...

References

{{reflist 1789 in Poland Political history of Warsaw Protest marches Protests in Poland Great Sejm 18th century in Warsaw