Offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

This article discusses the organizational and administrative structure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ("Nobility Commonwealth" or "Commonwealth of Both Nations", in Polish: Rzeczpospolita Szlachecka or Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów; in Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika or sometimes Žečpospolita, in Belarusian: Рэч Паспалітая Абодвух Народаў) was a confederative aristocratic republic of the period 1569 – 1795, comprising the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and their fiefs. The Commonwealth was governed by the Parliament (Sejm) consisting of the King, the King-appointed Senate (Voivodes, Castellans, Ministers, Bishops) and the rest of hereditary nobility either in person or through the Lower Sejm (consisting of deputies representing their lands). The nobility's constitutional domination of the state made the King very weak and the commoners (burgesses and peasants) almost entirely unrepresented in the Commonwealth's political system.

The Commonwealth's administrative system was a pre-bureaucracy. In terms of Max Weber's tripartite classification of authority, it was, as with other contemporary monarchies, largely based on "traditional domination". There was, however, evidence of "rational-legal authority" in the nobility's respect for laws such as the Pacta conventa.

== Senatorial offices == <!--linked from Grand Treasurer of Lithuania-->

The......
Read More