Talk:Nobility privileges in Poland
 | A fact from Nobility privileges in Poland appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 27 April 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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Significance
editNorman Davies notes that the empowerment of szlachta can be seen as the precursor to the parlimentary, democratic ideals of Great Britain and the United States." I can't see how this could be an accurate precis of Norman Davies' summary! I have substituted
- The empowerment of the szlachta and the incremental limitation of monarchic power in Poland can be seen as parallel to the guarantees made to the barons in Magna Carta, the precursor to the parliamentary ideals of Great Britain and the United States, within which genuine democracy has evolved. In contrast with the centralizing of power during the 15th century by the so-called "New Monarchs" of Western Europe, the empowerment of the szlachta can be interpreted as a centripetal movement, to localized aristocratic power and a weak central state, which "had become merely an institution stripped of all substance", as Fernand Braudel remarked.<ref>Braudel, ''Civilization & Capitalism: The Perspective of the World'', 1984:54.</ref>.
Is there any disagreement that this is the mainstream assessment? --Wetman (talk) 17:42, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
- It seems fine, but I don't see what was wrong with the Davies summary. Why do you think it was wrong? I don't have the book with me ATM to verify it, but I'd prefer for this to be kept unless it is shown to be incorrect. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me 21:04, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
"Democracy"?
editThe Statue of Warta (1423) declared that all nobles are equal. This must be the basis for the odd statements "...empowerment of the sejmiks marked the beginning of the Polish nobles' democracy (seeGolden Liberty)" and "The year 1505 marked another milestone in the development of the nobles' democracy, as Aleksander Jagiellończyk signed a privilege burying the Mielnik one, the constitution of the principle of nihil novi". The "nobles' democracy"? A "democracy" that introduced serfdom is an odd "democracy" in Western contexts. Liberty from royal control is a liberty only in the medieval sense of the word, that of a privilege.--Wetman (talk) 17:54, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
- Not sure what you are getting at, but democracy and serfdom is no different then democracy and slavery, something US practiced for close to a century. Add another century for the enfranchisement of women. PS. See also history of democracy - it did not begin or belong solely to "the West".--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me 20:57, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
Suggestions
editG'day, I've finished copy editing the article now. Sorry it took so long. I had originally been going to assess it for B class, but probably can't now due to the number of edits I've done. I have a couple of suggestions for possible improvements:
- expand the lead a little more;
- incorporate the single sentence Genesis section either into the lead, or the Development section. (Either that or expand that section into a full paragraph of two or three sentences).
Anyway, good work so far. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 08:22, 28 July 2012 (UTC)
Renaming to "...in Poland and Lithuania"
editThe current title of the article is incorrect and also not impartial as per Wikipedia policy. I encourage administrators to rename. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.57.254.95 (talk) 12:05, 10 February 2022 (UTC)