Alexander Jagiellonian

Alexander Jagiellonian (1461-1506), the son of Casimir Jagiellonian, crowned grand duke of Lithuania in 1492 and king of Poland in 1501. At the beginning of his reign, he issued the so-called Mielnik privileges, by which the Senate under the monarch's chairmanship was granted the exclusive right to take decisions on state matters. This caused sharp protests of the gentry who well remembered Alexander's predecessors pro-gentry policy. The gentry were against one person holding more than one dignity and in favour of the participation of the lower chamber in government. This last privilege was granted by the Constitution Nihil Novi, adopted by the Seym in Radom in 1505. This meant that from then on no new law could be adopted without the joint consent of the Senate and Deputies. This was the beginning of the system called gentry democracy in Polish history. [art]