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How Lithuanian was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Not very, frankly.

Sources:

‘How Firm was the Polish-Lithuanian Federation?’ by Joseph Jakstas

‘The Problem of Unity in the Polish-Lithuanian State’ by Oswald P. Backus

A Concise History of Poland by Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadski

A Concise History of the Baltic States by Andrejs Plakans

When discussing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth it's common to use Poland as a shorthand for it.

Part of this is out of ease but part of it is also because common imagery from Poland-Lithuania is overwhelmingly associated with Poland.

Getting carved up by your Russian and German speaking neighbours?

This raises the question, just how Lithuanian was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

Now there are many metrics you can use to determine just how Lithuanian the Commonwealth was, and of course this varied over time but perhaps it's easiest to simply look at a map of the territory.

So, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided into several constituent lands.

The 2 main ones were the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The Commonwealth also had separately administered puppet fiefdoms, the Duchy of Courland, the Duchy of Livonia, and most notably the Duchy of Prussia.

So in terms of territory, as we can see, the Kingdom of Poland was dominant if not overwhelmingly so.

Although you should know that this was only because Lithuania ceded this territory to them at the creation of the Commonwealth.

The population of Poland-Lithuania at the turn of the 16th century was just over 7.5 million people.

By the time it reached its peak in 1618 it was about 11 million.

The Kingdom of Poland was the larger of the 2 halves and was home to about 6 million people at its peak, of which 4 million were Polish.

In the Lithuanian half of the Commonwealth there were about 3 million people, of which about 1 million were Lithuanian.

Now as you'll have noticed, that means that Lithuanians were a minority within not only the Commonwealth but within their own half of it.

And in terms of ethnic composition, the Commonwealth looked like this, with the Polish being the largest group, followed by Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Germans and then Jews.

It would seem then at its height the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was only about 10% Lithuanian.

But this doesn't answer the question fully since surely the Lithuanians were overrepresented in the ruling and wealthy classes right?

Polish was an official language of the Commonwealth along with German, Latin, Hebrew and of course Lithuanian.

Oh wait no, Lithuanian wasn't actually an official language, that was Ruthenian.

In fact, none of the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had spoken Lithuanian for over 100 years at this point.

So Lithuanians were over-represented in the nobility and the merchant classes, but since the union had begun they were increasingly sidelined.

In fact, much of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was subject to pollinisation, that is, being made to become Polish culturally and Lithuanians largely weren't seen as equals.

This was made worse by the fact that the Grand Duchy took on the administrative methods of the Polish Kingdom, and that there were many in Lithuania that embraced the Polish way of doing things.

In importance Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy, was seen as secondary to the Polish capital Krakow.

Young Lithuanian nobles would learn Polish, marry into Polish families and disregard their old way of life in order to better their social standing.

That's not to say that all Lithuanians embraced this, the Grand Duchy was still a separate legal entity and the Lithuanians had their own military units too.

Units from the Grand Duchy made up about a third of the Commonwealth's military strength and Lithuanians as well as Poles led troops into battle.

And whilst there were Lithuanians within the famed Wingtusars, they were overwhelmingly Polish.

As such, it can safely be said that despite being a whole half of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Commonwealth wasn't all too Lithuanian.

At its height, Lithuanians made up roughly a tenth of the Commonwealth's population, and over time the Lithuanian lands became ever more sidelined by its governing authorities.

All of this combined with the Polish half holding the superior royal title, hosting the capital, being much more urbanised and being home to the world famous Wingter Sars, it's unsurprising that we associate the Commonwealth with Poland, and in fact this view is an accurate 1.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with extra thanks to my patrons that you see on screen now.

And a special thanks to James Bizonette, David Archaeologist, Azarka Flash, Party Boyko, Rob Waterhouse, Yashar N.

Naman, Chris Wicker, Miles Bailey-Brandgaard, Michael Reynolds, Gustav Swan, Toon Rick, Onion Duck, Maggie Pakskowski, Winston Cawood, Vassili Aravidis, Anthony Beckett, Adam Harvey, Ike, Sky Chappell and the Amusement Park Ives.


Speaker 0: When discussing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth it's common to use Poland as a shorthand for it. Part of this is out of ease but part of it is also because common imagery from Poland-Lithuania is overwhelmingly associated with Poland. The winged Hussars? Polish. The Liberum veto?

Polish. Getting carved up by your Russian and German speaking neighbours? Polish. This raises the question, just how Lithuanian was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Now there are many metrics you can use to determine just how Lithuanian the Commonwealth was, and of course this varied over time but perhaps it's easiest to simply look at a map of the territory.

So, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided into several constituent lands. The 2 main ones were the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Commonwealth also had separately administered puppet fiefdoms, the Duchy of Courland, the Duchy of Livonia, and most notably the Duchy of Prussia. So in terms of territory, as we can see, the Kingdom of Poland was dominant if not overwhelmingly so. Although you should know that this was only because Lithuania ceded this territory to them at the creation of the Commonwealth.

The population of Poland-Lithuania at the turn of the 16th century was just over 7.5 million people. By the time it reached its peak in 1618 it was about 11 million. The Kingdom of Poland was the larger of the 2 halves and was home to about 6 million people at its peak, of which 4 million were Polish. In the Lithuanian half of the Commonwealth there were about 3 million people, of which about 1 million were Lithuanian. Now as you'll have noticed, that means that Lithuanians were a minority within not only the Commonwealth but within their own half of it.

And in terms of ethnic composition, the Commonwealth looked like this, with the Polish being the largest group, followed by Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Germans and then Jews. It would seem then at its height the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was only about 10% Lithuanian. But this doesn't answer the question fully since surely the Lithuanians were overrepresented in the ruling and wealthy classes right? Well sort of. Let's look at language.

Polish was an official language of the Commonwealth along with German, Latin, Hebrew and of course Lithuanian. Oh wait no, Lithuanian wasn't actually an official language, that was Ruthenian. In fact, none of the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had spoken Lithuanian for over 100 years at this point. So Lithuanians were over-represented in the nobility and the merchant classes, but since the union had begun they were increasingly sidelined. In fact, much of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was subject to pollinisation, that is, being made to become Polish culturally and Lithuanians largely weren't seen as equals.

This was made worse by the fact that the Grand Duchy took on the administrative methods of the Polish Kingdom, and that there were many in Lithuania that embraced the Polish way of doing things. In importance Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy, was seen as secondary to the Polish capital Krakow. Young Lithuanian nobles would learn Polish, marry into Polish families and disregard their old way of life in order to better their social standing. That's not to say that all Lithuanians embraced this, the Grand Duchy was still a separate legal entity and the Lithuanians had their own military units too. Units from the Grand Duchy made up about a third of the Commonwealth's military strength and Lithuanians as well as Poles led troops into battle.

And whilst there were Lithuanians within the famed Wingtusars, they were overwhelmingly Polish. As such, it can safely be said that despite being a whole half of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Commonwealth wasn't all too Lithuanian. At its height, Lithuanians made up roughly a tenth of the Commonwealth's population, and over time the Lithuanian lands became ever more sidelined by its governing authorities. All of this combined with the Polish half holding the superior royal title, hosting the capital, being much more urbanised and being home to the world famous Wingter Sars, it's unsurprising that we associate the Commonwealth with Poland, and in fact this view is an accurate 1. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with extra thanks to my patrons that you see on screen now.

And a special thanks to James Bizonette, David Archaeologist, Azarka Flash, Party Boyko, Rob Waterhouse, Yashar N. Naman, Chris Wicker, Miles Bailey-Brandgaard, Michael Reynolds, Gustav Swan, Toon Rick, Onion Duck, Maggie Pakskowski, Winston Cawood, Vassili Aravidis, Anthony Beckett, Adam Harvey, Ike, Sky Chappell and the Amusement Park Ives. You

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How Lithuanian was Poland Lithuania? (Short Animated Documentary)