Crown of the Kingdom of Poland

The development of the concept of corona regni in Poland[edit]

The concept of corona regni appeared earliest in the early 12th century in England. In the thirteenth century, when it was well-formed, the term corona regni Angliae denoted non-transferable and imperishable royal dignity, power and rights, primarily the king's judicial power, but also the state as such, also understood as a defined territory, including lost lands.^[7] In the 14th century, the concept of the Crown standing above the King emerged; the King had no right to infringe on the rights of the Crown and deplete its possessions. The crown, hitherto the crown jewel, becomes a self-contained and permanent legal entity.^[8] Similar processes have occurred in other European countries.


In France, the term appears a little later, and refers primarily to the royal domain, but also to the lands of royal vassals. This is of particular importance in the process of incorporation of fief lands into the royal domain. The principle of non-transferablity and imperishability of the crown's rights, served in the 14th century to cancel many land grants in the previous period.^[9] The concept of corona regni appears in many kingdoms of Europe, in each in a slightly different sense, related to local specifics. In Aragon, for example, the Crown is basically a common name for a range of kingdoms and territories linked virtually only by the person of a common ruler, the King of Aragon.^[10]


For Poland, however, the most important is the emergence of the concept of corona regni in Hungary, where it happens already at the end of the 12th century. Originally, it is primarily the concept of the kingdom as a territorial entity, directly related to the Arpad dynasty, as heirs to the crown of St. Stephen and his descendants.^[11] The separation occurs in the period of the Anjou, who derive their authority from the diet's acceptance of succession in the female line.^[12] The key point, however, is the accession to the throne and the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg, when there is a clear separation of the Holy Crown of the Kingdom from the person of the King, when the Hungarian estates clearly declare that the ruler has obligations to the Crown, which they will demand to be respected.^[13] Over the course of the 15th century in Hungary, the Crown acquires a distinct legal personality, standing above the king and the estates and becoming the de facto sovereign. What distinguishes Hungary from other countries is that the concept of corona regni there is inseparably linked to the physically existing royal jewel, the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen, which thereby acquires a unique significance.^[14]


In Bohemia, the emergence of the concept of corona regni comes relatively late, as in the mid-14th century, and is primarily associated with the territorial expansion of the state and the drive to consolidate it. Above all, the loss of the Bohemian kings of the Luxembourg dynasty's hopes for the throne of Poland gave rise to the need to unite the Silesian principalities with the Bohemian throne. In 1348 Charles IV established the feudal organization of the state and introduced the notions of corona regni Bohemiae, into which the Silesian and Upper Lusatian lands were incorporated as directly dependent on it. Thus, they were henceforth bound not only to the person of the King, but to the perpetual Crown.^[15] Later, the development of estate representation, resistance to Wenceslaus IV's desire to diminish its importance, and finally the period of interregnums and the Hussite wars, led to the formation of the Crown as standing above the king and the estates.^[16]