Talk:Sejmik

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[edit] Questions

provincial (in every voivodship). In practice, they were the most important ones - why?

We also need to expand on history behind Sejmiks - i.e. what legal acts made them possible, and when did they end? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 14:38, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The term "sejm" comes from an Old Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. The General Sejm, first convoked by the king in 1493, evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings (sejmiks), which apparently had arisen without benefit of formal legal acts.

I presume "pl.," as used by you, means "Polish." Unfortunately, in general English usage this abbreviation means "plural." Hence in the present context I either skip the explanation or write it out in full: "Polish." Logologist 06:14, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] membership

what we need most of all is to know who was eligible to vote and/or serve in these assemblies, and what proportion of the populace were they

All nobles could participate in Sejmiks. There might have been some rules about regions - i.e. one should go to his regional Sejmik - but I am not so sure about this, same for functions - could a noble from different district be elected to another Sejmik? Proportions, which varied from province to province, was on average 10% in the entire PLCommonwealth (10% of PLC was nobility). Perhaps 5% since women could not vote, and I am not sure if we should ajdust it somehow for children (never heard about any age census rule, need to read up on this).--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus ^Talk 17:28, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

Update - it is all written in the article already, dear anon: the nihil novi act from 1505 decided that only szlachta from given region can participate in the regional Sejmik. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus ^Talk 18:43, 26 May 2005 (UTC)