Sarmatism

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Stanisław Antoni Szczuka in the Kontusz , the traditional men's clothing of the Polish landed nobility

As Sarmatism is generally referred to the culture of the Polish nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries. The starting point is the self-designation of the small nobility ( Szlachta ) and the magnates , who traced their origins back to the Sarmatian people .

Linked to this was the struggle for special class privileges and a clear - also denominational - demarcation from neighboring peoples. With this constructed past, the leading representatives of the aristocracy wanted to secure their exclusive right to rule in the aristocratic republic as well as their unlimited personal freedom legally stipulated in the Liberum veto , also and especially against the king they elected . Sarmatism as an idealized value model found its way into the fine arts, architecture, literature and everyday culture. Critics of this concept, who made it at least partly responsible for the decline of the dual state and the partitions of the late 18th century, accused the nobles of megalomania, a lack of tolerance for those who think and believe differently, and class egoism. However, that changed with the end of the dual state of Poland-Lithuania in the years from 1788 to 1794, a little too late for any major political and cultural change.

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