Artykuły wojenne Augusta III Sasa z 1749 roku

Abstract

It has been over eighty years since a collection Polish legislations and military articles from the 15th to 18th century prepared by Stanisław Kutrzeba was published by Polska Akademia Umiejętności Archiwum Komisji Historii Wojskowej. The aim of the author of this text was to continue the work of an outstanding historician by making several complements to the very volume. When it comes to the circumstances of the origin of War articles by August III there is no information in this respect. It goes beyond all doubt that they were largely modeled on earlier Military articles by August II Wettin, published for the first time in Kraków in 1697. The comparative studies of the sources available seem to show that the extension of Saxon articles published at the end of the 18th century by August II Wettin could be connected to a mutual permeation of the Saxon and Prussian law. One cannot deny the influence of some other foreign regulations unknown to us. War articles from 1749 was a part of the earlier system of the sources of the military law of the gentry Republic of Poland, namely this part that was in force in formations of the so called foreign origins. The majority of principles from War articles from 1749 concerned only soldiers and noncommissioned officers. They did not include officer crimes separately distinguished either in Prussian or Polish regulations since 1775. When it comes to the territorial scope of War articles by August III from 1749, one should assume that they were in force in the autorament of the foreign royal army. The fact of placing and finding them in the hetman’s archive of Radziwiłł Dynasty seems to prove that they were also used in the Lithuanian army.