''Nihil novi nisi commune consensu'' ("Nothing new without the common consent") is the original

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

title of a

1505 __NOTOC__ Year 1505 ( MDV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * June 6 – The M8.2–8.8 Lo Mustang earthquake strikes Nepal, causing sev ...

act or

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

adopted by the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...

'' Sejm'' (

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

), meeting in the royal castle at

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975–1 ...

History

''Nihil novi'' effectively established " nobles' democracy" in what came to be known as the Polish "

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

r_Republic.html" ;"title="Republic.html" ;"title="r Republic">r Republic">Republic.html" ;"title="r Republic">r Republicof the Nobility". It was a major component of the evolution and eventual dominant position of the Polish parliament (Sejm). "''Nihil novi''", in this politics, political sense, is interpreted in the vernacular as "Nothing about us without us" (in Polish language, Polish, "''Nic o nas bez nas''"). The Latin expression, "''nihil novi''" ("nothing new"), had previously appeared in the

Vulgate Bible The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

phrase, "''nihil novi sub sole''" ("there is nothing new under the sun"), in ''

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...

'' 1:9.''

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...

'': "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." ''

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest an ...

'': "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

''Nihil novi''

The '' Sejms 1505 Act of ''Nihil novi nisi commune consensu'' marked an important victory for Poland's

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

over her kings. It forbade the king to issue laws without the consent of the nobility, represented by the '' Senat'' and Chamber of Deputies, except for laws governing royal cities,

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

s (''królewszczyzny''), mines,

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

s, royal

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

s, and

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

s. ''Nihil novi'' invalidated the

Privilege of Mielnik The Privilege of Mielnik () was an act promulgated on October 25, 1501, at Mielnik by Poland's King Alexander Jagiellon. It substantially expanded the powers of the Senate and the magnates, at the expense of the king. Furthermore, it ''de facto'' in ...

, which had strengthened only the

magnate The magnate term, 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, and it thus tipped the balance of power in favor of the Chamber of Deputies (the formally lower chamber of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

), where the ordinary

held sway. ''Nihil novi'' is often regarded as initiating the period in Polish history known as " Nobles' Democracy," which was but a limited democracy as only male nobility ('' szlachta'') were able to participate (the nobility constituting some ten percent of the Republic's population, still a higher eligible percentage than in much of Europe). The act of ''Nihil novi'' was signed by King

Alexander Jagiellon Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagie ...

on 30 May 1505 in a ''Sejm'' session held at the royal castle in

. That same year, the

further expanded their power by abrogating most cities' voting rights in the ''Sejm'' and by forbidding

s to leave their lands without permission from their

feudal lord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or ser ...

s, thereby firmly establishing a "second

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

" in Poland.

Text

References

Sources

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor ...

, ''God's Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes. Volume I: The Origins to 1795'', New York, Columbia University Press, 1982, . * Sebastian Piątkowski, ''Radom: zarys dziejów miasta'' (Radom: A Brief History of the City), Radom, 2000, . *

Adam Zamoyski Adam Zamoyski (born 11 January 1949) is a British historian and author. Personal life Born in New York City in 1949, Adam Stefan Zamoyski was brought up in England and educated at St Philip's Preparatory School, The Queen's College, Oxford, ...

, ''The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1994, .

External links