Ambassadors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the 1740 Parliament of the Republic of Both Nations

Abstract

The article discusses the local parliamentary (sejmik) elections of ambassadors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the 1740 Parliament (Seimas) of the Republic of Both Nations shedding light on the turf war of the country’s nobility (the Radziwills, the Oginskis, the Sapiehas and the Czartoryskis). It offers an overview of the belonging of the elected sejmik representatives to various groups of the nobility and instructions given to the ambassadors reflecting the internal political life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania viewed the internal structures of the Republic of Both Nations as a place to seek favourable decisions for themselves, which meant that a priority task for them was to promote their next of kin and to have them elected as representatives in spite of the underlying purpose of the Seimas and sejmiks. The article is based on an assumption that the turf wars of the nobility weakened the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Republic of Both Nations.