Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/107

 The election of kings, which played so unfortunate a part in the later history of the Polish kingdom, was also a mediaeval institution introduced from Western Europe, which in Poland attained to a stage of extreme development.

The influence of Western ideas and institutions was shown chiefly in the formation of the Polish nobility and its political rôle. Towards the end of the mediaeval period the close communion of Poland with feudal Europe resulted in undermining the despotic rule of the Piasts. The wealthy magnates began to regard their position as being similar to that of the dukes and barons of the feudal West, and they opposed themselves to the power of the princes. On the other hand, the very numerous and mostly poor military class succeeded in securing in Poland the position of Western knighthood. The division of Poland was very favourable to these changes, for weak princes, waging wars against each other, were obliged to reckon with the powerful lords in their dominions. When Poland, in the fourteenth century, was again re-united under the last rulers of the Piast dynasty, the kings, in spite of their despotic tendencies, did not attain to the unlimited power of the early Piasts: they were obliged to consult the great lords in state affairs. In the end of the fourteenth century the last Piast died childless and the successor to his throne, Louis d'Anjou of Hungary, wanted to assure the crown of Poland to his daughter. The law did not admit of succession in the female line, and he succeeded in accomplishing his plan at the cost of great concessions to the magnates and of renouncing the most essential attributes of the crown.