Rokosz

A Rokosz was originally a meeting of all members of the Polish szlachta, not only the members of the Sejm. The term found its way into the Polish language about Hungary, where similar meetings were held and Rakos were called.

Over time, the term Rokosz became a term for an armed rebellion of the nobility of Poland-Lithuania against the king to defend threatened privileges. The nobles who gathered at a Rokosz could form a confederation ( Konfederacja ).

The institution of Rokosz, in its later sense headed, to resist from the medieval law from the royal power. The Rokosz derived its authority from the law to the king to refuse to follow, as it had been defined in the privilege of Mielnik ( przywilej Mielnicki of 23 October 1501) and later in the Articuli Henriciani 1573. The best known are the Rokosze chicken war in the 16th and the Zebrzydowski rebellion in the 17th century. The Repnine Sejm of 1767/1768 upheld the right of szlachta to form a Rokosz as cardinal law.