Law of Patronage

The Size and Geography of the Royal Patronage in the Chełm Diocese during the Reign of King Sigismund III Vasa

The article is an attempt at presenting the size and distribution of the king’s patronage in  Poland with a special emphasis on the situation in the Chełm diocese. Zygmunt III Vasa (1588-1632) had the right of patronage from which the right of presenting a candidate  for  benefices  (the  right  of presentation)  issued with  respect to  the  most important  Church offices  in Poland. This first of all concerned the benefices  of  higher  categories  that  gave  a  considerable income.
Zygmunt III was the patron of all the bishoprics in Poland as well as  of  the  important  prebends in cathedral and collegiate chapters. The cathedral chapters in the Lvov province, established mostly in the 14th and 15th centuries are characterized by  a  considerably  higher degree of participation of the king’s patronage than the chapters in the old  dioceses  in  the  Gniezno province. Also a big part  of  the  parishes  (25.4%  in  the  Chełm  diocese)  were  under the protection of the king and his officials.
In the case of the cathedral chapters  of  the  Gniezno  province  the  number  of  prebends  under the king’s patronage was smaller than of those under the bishop’s one, whereas in the case of parishes the king’s patronage was smaller than the nobility’s  one.  Only  in  a  few  situations can one come across the king’s right of patronage with respect to lower benefices, eg. hospital provostries.
The benefices under the king’s patronage in Poland were connected with  the  ruler’s  ownership. Hence their distribution resulted both from political events (the shape of political borders, wars) and from the social-economic situation (the  course  of  settlement  process,  economic attractiveness) of particular areas which influenced  the  possession  structure  and  defined the percentage of crown lands in the total area of land.
The distribution  of the king’s  patronage in the Chełm  diocese in that  period can  be defined  as regular (1-2 royal churches in a deanery). It usually included old towns in  which  parish  churches were founded as the first ones in the diocese.
During the more  than four  centuries of  the Chełm  diecese’s  existence the  participation of  the king’s patronage gradually decreased in favour of that  of  the  nobility  and  clergy.  A  detailed analysis of the changes in the Chełm diocese shows that in the  years  1588-1632  21  churches were first built or renovated, of which  only  three  were  connected  with  royal  ownership. The question remains  open  if  this  process  was  typical  of  this  one  diocese,  or  of all the dioceses in Poland.