A rokosz () originally was a gathering of all the Polish ''

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 ...

'' (nobility), not merely of deputies, for a ''

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' ...

''. The term was introduced to the

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, where analogous gatherings took place at a field called Rákos. With time, "rokosz" came to signify an armed, semi-legal rebellion by the szlachta of the

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 ...

against the king, in the name of defending threatened liberties. The nobles who gathered for a ''rokosz'' formed a "

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

".Juliusz Bardach, Bogusław Leśnodorski, and Michał Pietrzak, ''Historia państwa i prawa polskiego'' (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987, p.225-226) The institution of the rokosz, in the latter sense, derived from the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

right to resist royal power. The rokosz took its authority from the right to refuse obedience to the king, as stipulated in the Privilege of Mielnik (''przywilej mielnicki'', signed October 23, 1501) and later in the

Henrician Articles The Henrician Articles or King Henry's Articles (; ; ) were a constitution in the form of a permanent agreement made in 1573 between the "Polish nation" (the szlachta, or nobility, of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and a newly-elected Pol ...

of 1573. Two of the best-known rokoszes are the 17th-century Zebrzydowski Rebellion and the 16th-century

Chicken War Chicken War or Hen War () is the colloquial name for a 1537 anti-Jagiellon dynasty, royalist and anti-Absolute monarchy, absolutist ''rokosz'' (rebellion) by the Poland, Polish nobility. The derisive name was coined by the ''Magnates of Poland a ...

References

Rebellions in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth {{Poland-hist-stub

See also

References