With a Lithuanian About the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Union of Lublin (02.07.2025)
A street debate between Vitaliy Dribnytsya and a Lithuanian amateur about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the status of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the transfer of Ukrainian lands to the Polish Crown in 1569. A source for the article on self-governing Ukraine within the Commonwealth: the chronology and mechanics of the Union of Lublin, the voluntary entry of the Ruthenian nobility into the Crown, and the Lithuanian delegation’s walkout from the Sejm.
Key moments
- 02:20 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a specific form of statehood: neither a pure monarchy nor a pure republic
- 03:57 The Ruthenian nobility of Volhynia, Kyiv region and Podolia joined the Crown voluntarily, seeking electoral rights
- 11:53 Ukrainian lands under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: marriage treaties and the Battle of Blue Waters, 1362
- 16:09 The sequence of the voivodeships' transfer to the Crown in 1569: Volhynia, Kyiv, Bratslav
- 22:10 The Lithuanian delegation walks out of the Sejm of Lublin
- 24:00 Reflection: a month before the union the voivodeships were already ceded to the Crown; read Natalia Starchenko