Lublin, Union of. A union agreement between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, signed on 1 July 1569 at a joint assembly of Lithuanian and Polish deputies in Lublin. The treaty gave birth to a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with a common elected monarch combining the offices of the Polish king and the Lithuanian grand duke, a common diet and senate, a joint foreign policy, and one monetary system. The Grand Duchy preserved its autonomy with its own laws, government, administration, courts, army, and finances. The treaty was signed by Lithuania at a time when it needed Polish help in its war against Muscovy. For Poland the treaty provided a means of acquiring some Lithuanian territory. Under the treaty Poland (the Polish crown) obtained the Ukrainian territories of Podlachia, Volhynia, Podilia, the Bratslav region, and the Kyiv region. The nobility of those territories were given the same rights and privileges as the Polish nobility. The Grand Duchy retained, apart from Lithuanian territory, Belarus and the Berestia land and Pynsk region. Thus the union gave Poland control over a large part of Ukrainian territory, where it proceeded to subjugate and exploit the indigenous population.
Dnevnik Liublinskogo seima 1569 goda: Soedinenie Velikogo Kniazhestva Litovskogo s Korolevstvom Pol’skim (Saint Petersburg 1869)
Kutrzeba, S.; Semkowicz, W. (eds). Akta unii Polski z Litwą 1385–1791 (Cracow 1932)
[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]
Encyclopedia of Ukraine