But privileges combined with ennoblement, as well as the practice of the royal chancellery, which did not want to release the former royal privilege from the king's hands, meant that the onerous path indicated by the Sejm and supported by the assemblies was avoided, and diplomas were obtained in the old way, directly from the king. In the light of the law of 1601, such a grant was considered an abuse by the nobility, so the sejmik quickly restrained itself against it, as was evident in the parliamentary instruction of 1637. 4) That, through various practices, as the point of this instruction states, people are accustomed to come to the noble jewel acquired with the blood of our ancestors, therefore the deputies will stipulate that no indigenations and nobilitations will be valid afterwards unless they have been proposed at our assemblies and the consent of all citizens has not been obtained... if they were to stand otherwise, they would have no weight. Obtaining nobility through the courts was even ruled out 5), and even actions were taken against the Sejm when, in 1641, it passed a resolution that nobility decisions should be made at the Sejm, demanding that, in accordance with the old law, they should also be decided at the Sejmiks, and only with the consent of the estates would permission be granted at the Sejm6). Therefore, in the instructions for the pcs from 1646 we read7) that the nobility and indigenats should not be allowed to participate in the sejmiks not proposed - and this request is a directive for subsequent sejmiks of this second period8). And this is what the instruction from 1650 reads: indigenations and ennoblements subject to the consent of the Council of Ministers so that the old law (sejmiks) is not derogated from; and in 1665 and 1666 it was said even more clearly: no indigenates and ennoblements that were not present at the local assemblies will be allowed9). The principle that nobility or iudigenate should be granted at the sejm only to those who have merited well and recommended by the sejmiks and the hetmans is the rule prevailing in this second period of the development of the sejmik, as we can see from the parliamentary instruction of 166910).
The victory of the nobility was not yet complete, ennoblements were always achieved without the influence of the assemblies. In any case, it must be admitted that the nobility takes advantage of its partial victory not only to strengthen the privileges it has gained, but even more for the good of the Polish government. This is evident from numerous resolutions or desiderata of the assemblies, the more interesting of which we will only quote. And so when known
') Ib. No. 201 art. 21 and No. 204 art. 19 2) Ib. 204 art. 19. •) Same year 1636 No. 200 articles 35. *) Ib. No. 204 art. 29. 5J Ib. No. 209 art. 44 «) Ib. No. 212 art. 22. ') Ib. 227 art. 21. 8) Lauda H. No. 37 art. 29. ») Ib. No. 224 art. 9 and 208 art. 34. i°) Ib. No. 272 art. 62.
XXVI
Papara and Nazaraki applied for nobility in 1662, the Wisze sejmik demands that if they want gaudere łiulo nobUitatis, they should pay 30,000 each for the army *). Likewise, in 1669, the assembly resolved to grant Pinoce nobility if he provided funds to pay the claims to the Tatar khan2). What is more, the sejmik demands in 1655, when Dziboni was admitted to the nobility, that because he had not done what he had committed to, that his ennoblement and admission to the indigenation should be annihilated and the same to others 3).