Confederation of Thorn

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The Thorn Confederation was an association of Lutheran and Reformed nobles in Thorn in 1767 to reinforce their demands for religious freedom in Poland-Lithuania .

prehistory

For Protestants and Orthodox in Poland it was not possible at this time to use their own churches and celebrate their own services. Deviations from the Roman Catholic rite were officially still under threat of punishment.

In 1764 a new king came to the throne with Stanisław August , who had been installed by Russia and was tolerated by Prussia. The Russian Tsarina Catherine II put pressure on the Polish Sejm to grant religious freedom in Poland to non-Catholic Christians (dissidents) , but without success. She then sent Russian troops to Poland.

Thorner Confederation

On March 20, 1767, 309 Lutheran and Reformed nobles met in Thorn and formulated their demands and complaints regarding the free practice of religion. The meeting took place at the instigation and with the support of the Russian ambassador in Warsaw, Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin . It was initially under the direction of Georg Wilhelm von der Goltz .

On the same day, Orthodox nobles who did not belong to the Greek Catholic Church met in Slutsk and formulated their demands.

Other events

In June 1767, Catholic nobles met in the Radom Confederation , who ultimately joined the demands of the dissidents . On August 24th, an application by Ambassador Repnin to the Sejm to comply with the demands of the confederations failed.

On October 5th, the Sejm met again ( Repnin-Sejm ) , this time Repnin had Russian troops ordered to the gates of Warsaw. He explained very clearly the Tsarina's expectations and soon had two unruly Catholic bishops and two other nobles arrested and exiled to Kaluga in Siberia . It was decided to formally convert the Sejm into a confederation so that simple majority voting can apply. Representatives of Prussia, Russia, England, Denmark and Sweden were also involved in the deliberations.

As a result of the negotiations, a Russian-Polish treaty was concluded on February 24, 1768, which also contained other political questions. On March 5, the Sejm approved the agreement. It stipulated that Protestants and Orthodox had their own churches and other buildings and were allowed to hold their own services, questions of mixed marriages, the distance between churches and parades of different denominations and other things were agreed.

Members of the Confederation

The confederation was joined by over 300 nobles from Royal Prussia, Greater Poland and Lesser Poland, as well as several Prussian cities. Among the most important representatives and signatories of the declaration were

swell

  • Writings concerning the dissidents in Poland and their confederation in Thorn. 1767 ( Google Book )

literature