Między Polską Piastów i Polską Jagiellonów a Rzeczpospolitą Obojga Narodów. Refleksje „anarchologiczne” i ich miejsce w rozwoju myśli historycznej Pawła Jasienicy

In March 1962, Paweł Jasienica, known chiefly for his books on the history of Poland, published an article entitled ‘Polska anarchia’ (‘Polish anarchy’). The article, which appeared in the weekly Przegląd Kulturalny, sparked off a heated debate on the sources of the anarchy into which the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to descend in the latter half of the seventeenth century. Among those who contributed to the debate were some of the leading historians of the day. Encouraged by the response to his article, Jasienica decided to expand it into a full-length book (completed in the spring of 1963). The author first presents the views expounded in the article from Przegląd Kulturalny, and then he reconstructs the debate and examines how Jasienica referred to it in his work on the anarchy. Since Jasienica’s account of the anarchy covers the period with which he was also concerned in Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów (published in English as The Commonwealth of Both Nations) - the third part of his series on the history of Poland for which he is most acclaimed - the author also attempts to compare the interpretations advanced in one work with those advanced in the other. As regards the anarchy, Jasienica traced its origin back to the reign of the last two kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty . In compliance with their commitment to securing the support of the great magnates on whom they chose to base their power, Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548) and Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572) refused to endorse political arrangements advocated by the representatives of the Lower House of Parliament. The failure to reform the country along the lines suggested by the latter group led, in the long term, to political chaos. Unlike Jasienica, according to whom the Commonwealth degenerated into anarchy because of the errors committed almost exclusively by the rulers, the academic historians, whose views were inspired by Marxism, linked the state’s political impotence with the policy pursued by the whole nobility as a class. However, as the author shows, in Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów Jasienica radically changed his views. In his later work, all responsibility for the future anarchy was shifted onto Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) and his Catholic fanaticism. In revising his interpretation of what is known as the nobles’ anarchy, Jasienica drew, at least to some extent, on works by Jarema Maciszewski and Władysław Czapliński, historians who also represented the official historiography of the Polish People’s Republic.