Nominacje senatorskie na sejmach Rzeczypospolitej w latach 1661–1679

Abstract

In the 1660s and 1670s, the Senate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of between 146 and 150 members. Appointments to senatorial offices could only be made by the King, and some of them took place during Sejm sessions. There were three types of nominations for senatorial offices. The first concerned those who entered the Senate. The second referred to those who sat in the Senate and who advanced in the senatorial hierarchy. The third referred to senators who were additionally granted a second senatorial office. During the 1661–1679 Sejm sessions discussed here, senatorial appointments were usually announced right at the beginning of the session, just after the King’s proposal or the senators’ votes, but many times such decisions were also taken at the end of the Sejm. Most senatorial appointments were made at the coronation Sejm, which inaugurated the proper reign of the King-elect (the Sejms of 1669 and 1676). At the Sejm sessions discussed here, which were held in the 1660s and 1670s, 113 people were nominated for senatorial offices.