The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386–1795 (review)

The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795. By Daniel Stone. [A History of East Central Europe, Volume IV.] (Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2001. Pp. xvii, 374. $50.00.)

This welcome volume is an important addition to the distinguished series in which it appears. Stone's impressive accomplishment provides a treatment that is fair and balanced, one that covers politics, society, economy, and culture, and one that includes the histories of not only the Poles and Lithuanians but encompasses the numerous regions and other peoples of this multinational state. This is not only a contribution to English-language literature, but also—by virtue of its balance and perspective—one that is unmatched in any language.

Unlike many histories that have a "telescoping effect" in which the more distant past receives briefer treatment than that given to periods closer to the present, Stone's volume is remarkably even-handed with regard to chronology. The two centuries of rule by the Jagiellonian family and the first two monarchs of the Commonwealth of Both Nations (as the state was known following the Union of Lublin in 1569) are given about one-third of the volume; the Vasa period and the years of John III Sobieski (d. 1697) receive a second third; and the eighteenth century to 1795 gets the final third. The author's evenhandedness is reflected in other ways also. Although his framework is political—the reigns of each monarch are treated seriatim—there is good coverage given to social history, economic developments, and cultural accomplishments. Thus the volume as a whole provides the clear, straightforward overview that is the goal of the series as a whole.

Readers of this journal will be especially interested in the treatment Stone accords religious matters. These centuries, especially the sixteenth, were fraught with a number of crucial problems. The Reformation in Poland was especially complex. One group within society looked toward a Catholic reform that might bring about a national church independent of Rome. On the Protestant side there were numerous Lutheran adherents in the German towns along the Baltic; the nobility were increasingly committed to Calvinism; and The Bohemian Brethren had strong support in parts of the country. Moreover, Anti-Trinitarian movements were strong in both Poland and Lithuania. And finally, the religious attitude of the Polish king, Sigismund II Augustus (reg. 1548-1572) was ambiguous. Despite the seeming strength of Protestant movements by the 1570's, within seven decades Poland-Lithuania was effectively returned to Catholicism. How this transpired is generally treated clearly by Stone, though he is better at covering the Catholic recovery than analyzing the depth and content of the (non-Catholic) Reformation within the state. Stone also provides a systematic coverage of religious developments within the Orthodox community, including the Union of Brest (1596), which created the Uniate (Greek-Catholic) church, and his presentation of the variety and vicissitudes of Jewish experience between the end of the Middle Ages and the partitions is thorough and sensitive. If his treatment of the (Protestant) Reformations is less strong than his handling of other religious matters, it should nevertheless be noted that in no other English-language survey of this period in Polish-Lithuanian history (and in few in other languages) is the issue of religion more comprehensively and even-handedly treated than in this book.

There are only a few editorial and authorial lapses in the volume (in the bibliography the author is listed [p. 353] as having published his first book in 1776!). But these do not detract from the substantive contribution that Stone has made. The overall picture he presents is of an important European state with distinctive institutions and a creative political and intellectual culture. His impressive synthesis both gives us a modern, up-to-date, and reliable overview of this phenomenon and, at the same time, points the way to possible future research.