''Vivente rege'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "with the king (still) living")

Ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages. It is used to indicate motion away from something, make comparisons, and serve various o ...

s of present participle '' vivens'' + ''rex'' is a form of monarchical election, where the monarch's successor, usually of the same

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

, is elected before the death of the incumbent. It was an important element of politics in the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

during the period when the king was elected by the nobility (the ''

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 ...

''). Some monarchs attempted to push through the elections of their chosen heirs during their lives. The ''szlachta'' resisted these attempts, on the grounds that this form of succession would lead to absolute monarchy.

References

Latin political words and phrases Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth {{Latin-vocab-stub