page_title: Union of Lublin
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Union of Lublin / Legacy
context_page_description: The Union of Lublin was signed on 1 July 1569, in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno, became a Polish–Lithuanian condominium.
  The Commonwealth was ruled by a single elected monarch who carried out the duties of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a common Senate and parliament. The Union was an evolutionary stage in the Polish–Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania's dangerous position in wars with Russia.
  Constituting a crucial event in the history of several nations, the Union of Lublin has been viewed quite differently by many historians.
context_section_description: The Union of Lublin was Sigismund's greatest achievement and his greatest failure. Although it created one of the largest states in contemporary Europe, one that endured for over 200 years, Sigismund failed to push through the reforms that would have established a workable political system. He hoped to strengthen the monarchy with the support of the lesser nobility, and to balance the power of lesser nobility and magnates. However, while all the nobility in the Commonwealth was in theory equal under the law, the political power of the magnates was not weakened significantly, and in the end they could too often bribe or coerce their lesser brethren. In addition, the royal power continued to wane, and while the neighbouring states continued to evolve into strong, centralized absolute monarchies, the Commonwealth slid with its Golden Liberty into a political anarchy that eventually cost it its very existence.
  Today's Republic of Poland considers itself a successor to the Commonwealth, whereas the pre-World War II Republic of Lithuania saw the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth mostly in a negative light.
  The original act document was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2017.
caption: Memory of the union lasted long. Painting commemorating Polish–Lithuanian union; circa 1861. The motto reads "Eternal union."
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