4                           POLAND.                      B. I.
i
and the fovereign power limited; according to
others the crown was hereditary, and its autho-
rity abfolute. But this difference of opinion
may be eafily reconciled; the^ crown feexned
hereditary from its continuance in the fame fa-
mily ; but had an ele<5Hve appearance, becaufe,
on the death of the king, his fucceffor was
formally# nominated and recognized in an af-
fembly of the nobility and clergy of the realm.
With refpeŁt to the extent of the king's autho-
rity, his power, as in the generality of feudal
governments, when exercifed by an able and en-
terprifing prince, triumphed over all controul;
but, in the hands of a weak fovereign, was eafily
refirifted by the afcendancy of a licentious and
warlike nobility.
Towards the clofe of this fecond period, 1347,
Calimir the Great reftrained the turbulence of
the principal barons, and granted certain immu-
nities to the nobles and gentry. This great mo-
narch was aware, that no other expedient could
introduce order into this kingdom, than a limi-
tation of the vaft influence poffeffed by the
f Palatines or principal nobility; and had-he
been fucceeded by a line of hereditary mo-
uarehs, probably the barons would not have re-
* Lengnich, Jus Publicum R^gni Polonise, v. I. p. 48.
f Palatinomm et judicum infiaita poteftas coercita eft, &c,
Sarnkius, p. 1141,
covered