Royal Elections in Poland - Procedure

Procedure

Three special sejms handled the process of the royal election in the interregnum period. Those were:

• Convocation sejm (Sejm konwokacyjny). This Sejm was called upon a death or abdication of a king by the Primate of Poland. The deputies would focus on establishing the dates and any special rules for the election (in particular, preparation of pacta conventa, bills of privileges to be sworn by the king), and screening the candidates. This sejm was to last two weeks.
• Election sejm (Sejm elekcyjny), during which the nobility voted for the candidate to the throne. This sejm was open to all members of the nobility who desired to attend it, and as such they often gathered much larger number of attendees than the regular sejms. The exact numbers of attendees have never been recorded, and are estimated to vary from 10,000 to over 100,000; the usual numbers tended to be towards the lower end of the scale, around 10,000-15,000. Subsequently the voting could last days (in 1573 it was recorded that it took four days). Th entire sejm was to last six weeks. To handle the increased numbers, those Sejms would be held in Wola, then a village nearby Warsaw. Royal candidates themselves would be barred from attending this sejm, but were allowed to sent representatives. Attending nobles would have discussed their preferences before attending the election sejm, during local sejmiks sessions, but often matters came to a heated debate that would last days, and on occasions, led to fights and battles. Norman Davies notes that "in 1764, when only thirteen electors were killed, it was said that the Election was unusually quiet."
• Coronation sejm (Sejm koronacyjny). This sejm was held in Kraków, where the coronation ceremony was traditionally held by the Primate, who relinquished his powers to the chosen king. This sejm was to last two weeks. During the coronation sejm, the king-elect undertook various ceremonies and formalities, such as swearing an oath to uphold the pacta conventa and Henrician Articles. The coronation itself would take place in the Wawel Cathedral. The two exceptions were the Warsaw coronations of Stanisław Leszczyński and Stanisław August Poniatowski, both of which took place in Warsaw.