Abstrakt: | The author of the article deals with the issue of corruption in the Republic of Poland between
the 17th and 18th centuries. He starts with a definition of the notion of corruption and the spheres
of life it covered. Subsequently, he makes an attempt to counteract corruption aiming at eliminating
it from a social and political life. Despite all these attempts, it turned out to be impossible to
eliminate corruption so tightly connected especially with a political life of the Polish-Lithuanian
country. The issues of committed abuses during the parliamentary session and actions taken by
the city, the representatives of which used corruption to realize their postulates in the Parliament
are described. It also presents the examples of corrupting the rulers of the Republic of Poland, as
well as its closest co-workers. One should notice that both the kings and the court used the same
methods in their realization of political conceptions. Corruption actions taken by the foreign governments
aiming at paralysing the Polish-Lithuanian politics and weakening the position of the
country were regarded as especially dangerous for the Republic of Poland. The actions of corrupting
the clerks making the foreign diplomats know many secrets of the Republic of Poland were
alarming. The dissolution of the Parliament, paid by the foreign governments aiming at a political
and military weakening of the Republic of Poland, and, thus, making it impossible to conduct the
reform of the country had a tragic influence on the political history. Finally, the article also presents
the issue of a political corruption functioning in during the interregnum when the associates in the
battle for the Polish crown were being recruited by means of money. |