The treaty of horodlo - 1413

The Treaty of Horodło was the third successive unification treaty, after the earlier treaties of Krewo (1385), Vilno and Radom (1401). The Treaty was signed on the 2 October 1413 in Horodło °n the river Bug, during a solemn convention of the monarchs of Poland and Lithuania - Jagiełło and Witold. Three separate acts had been signed. The first, written down jointly by Jagiełło and Witold, confirmed the de facto personal and not incorporative character of the union. For Lithuania was to have been ruled by a separate ruler [subordinated to the Polish king], and the country was to have been treated as a separate state. Following the Polish model, the Lithuanian boyars were granted numerous privileges, whereas 47 Lithuanian families of Catholic provenance became adopted by the Polish families and were allowed to use the same coat-of-arms as the Polish families. In their separate document, the Lithuanian boyars declared allegiance to the Polish Crown and pledged to elect to the throne of the Grand Duchy only this candidate who would be approved by the Polish king and the Polish nobility. In tum, the Polish nobles in their separate act confirmed the heraldic adoption of the 47 Lithuanian families. Although some resolutions contained in the Treaty were annulled by the willful election [carried out without consulting the Poles] of Kazimierz Jagiellończyk to the Lithuanian throne [ 1440], yet those fragments of the Treaty concerning the social and political issues, particularly those relating to the emancipation of the boyars with the Polish gentry, proved to have a more long- lasting effect.