Pacification sejm in 1673 High military wages for the war with Ottoman Empire

The sejm was convened by the king Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki [King Michael I] on 17 November 1672. The pre-sejm sejmiks were held in December 1672. The Sejm began its sessions on 4 January and lasted until 8 April 1673. Stefan Czarniecki, the Crown Field Scriptor, was elected the marshal. The Sejm constituted a continuation of the confederation, formed by the Great Crown nobility, the supporters of king Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, in Gołąb, on 16 October 1672. The monarch signed the act of the confederation on 10 November 1672. It was directed against anti-royal opposition, suspected of plotting to organise a dethronement, led by the Great Crown Hetman, John Sobieski. In response to the acts of the pro-court faction, Sobieski formed a confederation of the Crown army in Szczebrzeszyn on 23 November 1672. Such state of affairs posed a threat of a civil war. The sessions of the Gołąb confederation, resumed on 4 January 1673, which members largely came to Warsaw, took form of a sejm. Its subject matter were issues leading to bringing peace to the internal conflict. On 12 March 1673 both confederations were disbanded by signing the appeasement act, finishing the open conflict between the court, supported by pro-royal nobility and the opposition magnate faction, so called “grumblers”. The agreement was reached in the face of danger, as in 1672 the Commonwealth was invaded by the Ottoman Turks. As a result of a series of disgraceful defeats in fights against the Turkish forces, the Commonwealth was forced to sign the Treaty of Buchach (on 18 October 1672), in which the Commonwealth ceded territory of Podolia Voivodship and the southern Ukraine (Bratslav and Kiev Voivodships) to the Ottomans and agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 22000 thalers. The sejm never ratified the Treaty of Buchach. However, high taxes were adopted and passed: excise tax, general tariff and poll tax, all intended to provide for the 50000 man army, being prepared for the next war with the Ottoman Turkey.

See: L. A. Wierzbicki, O zgodę w Rzeczypospolitej. Zjazd warszawski i sejm pacyfikacyjny 1673 roku, [On agreement in Commonwealth, congress in Warsaw and pacification sejm in 1673] Lublin 2005; H. Olszewski, Sejm Rzeczypospolitej epoki oligarchii (1652-1763). Prawo-praktyka-teoria-programy [Sejm of the Commonwealth in the oligarchy era (1652-1763). Law-practice-theory-programs], Poznań 1966; W. Czapliński, Sejm w latach 1587-1696 [1587-1696 Sejm], in: Historia sejmu polskiego [The history of Polish sejm], t. 1, Warszawa 1984, red. J. Michalski, s. 217-299. Ustawodawstwo see. Volumina legum, Wyd. J. Ohryzko, t. 5, Petersburg 1860, s. 87-187.