♦Monarchy generally becomes elective.♦ The authority of the king was originally absolute, but in a nation of fierce warriors he was easily controlled by armed assemblies of his subjects. His consulting them, though at first only a mark of favour, was soon looked upon as a right; and in course of time they even claimed the disposal of his dignity. Two great dynasties successively reigned in Poland. During the first, founded by Piast, a native Pole (850-1386), the dignity was hereditary; during the second, that of Jagellon (1386-1573), though in practice hereditary, it was in theory elective. ♦Election of the king.♦ After the latter period the whole nobility met in arms to elect a king, and, though a relation of the old line was preferred, he was considered to have no claim. This assembling of the Pospolite, as it was called, was in an emergency the prerogative of the king, and during an interregnum of the Primate, the Archbishop of Guesna, who acted as interrex. The election was not legal unless it was unanimous; and when this was accomplished, seldom without violence, the republic imposed upon the new monarch a contract styled “pacta conventa,” the conditions of which he swore faithfully to observe. ♦His privileges.♦ His privileges were few. He always presided in the national assembly, and he might if he chose command[7] the army. But his most important function was the appointment of officers of state. These are said to have amounted in all branches to the astounding number of 20,000; ♦The Senate.♦ but only the most important, about 140, composed the Senate, which was the middle estate of the realm and the real executive.