[53] [With the gradual weakening of the royal power, which, after the extinction of the Yaghello dynasty, in 1572, was transformed into an elective office, the favorite designation for the Polish Empire came to be _Rzecz_ (pronounced _Zhech_) _Pospolita_, a literal rendering of the Latin Res _Publica_. The term comprises Poland as well as Lithuania, which, in 1569, had been united in one Empire.] [54] They are referred to in his edicts as _calumniae_. [55] [The Arian heresy, as modified and preached by Faustus Socinus (1539-1604), an Italian who settled in Poland, became a powerful factor in the Polish intellectual life of that period. Because of its liberal tendency, this doctrine appealed in particular to the educated classes, and its adherents, called Socinians, were largely recruited from the ranks of the Shlakhta. Under Sigismund III. a strong reaction set in, culminating in the law passed by the Diet of 1658, according to which all "Arians" were to leave the country within two years.] [56] [_Arendar_, also _arendator_, from medieval Latin _arrendare_, "to rent," signifies in Polish and Russian a lessee, originally of a farm, subsequently of the tavern and, as is seen in the text, other sources of revenue on the estate. These arendars being mostly Jews, the name, abbreviated in Yiddish to _randar_, came practically to mean "village Jew."] [57] [Literally, _lord_: the lord of the manor, noble landowner.] [58] There is reason to believe that he is the hero of the legendary story according to which an influential Polish Jew by the name of Saul Wahl, a favorite of Prince Radziwill, was, during an interregnum, proclaimed Polish king by the Shlakhta, and reigned for one night. [59] [See pp. 29 _et seq._ Kiev was captured by the Lithuanians in 1320, and remained, through the union of Lithuania and Poland, a part of the Polish Empire until 1654, when, together with the province of Little Russia, it was ceded to Muscovy.] [60] See p. 55. [61] [Stephen Batory instituted two supreme courts for the realm: one for the Crown, _i. e._ for Poland proper, and another for Lithuania. The former held its sessions in Lublin for Little Poland and in Piotrkov for Great Poland (see p. 164).] [62] A second edition of the book appeared in 1636. [63] [In addition to the regular Diets, which assembled every two years (see above, p. 76, n. 1), there were held also Election Diets and Coronation Diets, in connection with the election and the coronation of the new king. The former met on a field near Warsaw; the latter were held in Cracow.] [64] [Moghilev on the Dnieper, in White Russia, is to be distinguished from Moghilev on the Dniester, a town in the present Government of Podolia.] CHAPTER IV THE INNER LIFE OF POLISH JEWRY AT ITS ZENITH 1. KAHAL AUTONOMY AND THE JEWISH DIETS