After the Battle of Cecora. Ordinary Sejm in Warsaw. 1620.

The Sejm was convoked as a short-term assembly on July 27th 1620. Pre-Sejm Sejmiks (local assemblies) were convened in September and October 1620. The Sejm began debating on November 3rd 1620, junior castellan of Inowrocław Jakub Szczawiński elected Speaker. Debates focused chiefly on home affairs associated with multiple threats arising from the war in Germany (then in progress) King Sigismund joined indirectly by dispatching Elear light cavalry conscripts to assist the emperor. The Sejm debated primarily in view of the loss suffered by troops of the Republic during their mission to Moldavia, and Lord Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski’s death during the retreat from the Battle of Cecora. Issues of defence, foreign policy, vacancies, elimination of groups of idle troops prowling across the Republic, and levy en masse earmarked for reforming were discussed. The Prussian fiefdom was debated. Envoys from Silesia and Mecklenburg were received. Incidents during the assembly involved an attempt on King Sigismund III’s life by Michał Piekarski. The Sejm concluded on December 11th 1620.

See: J. Pietrzak, Po Cecorze i podczas wojny chocimskiej. Sejmy z lat 1620 i 1621 (After Cecora and during the War of Khotyn. Sejms of the Years 1620 and 1621), Wrocław 1983; W. Czapliński, Sejm w latach 1587-1696 (Sejm in the Years 1587-1696), in: Historia sejmu polskiego (History of the Polish Sejm), vol. 1, Warsaw 1984, ed. J. Michalski, pp. 217-299; E. Opaliński, Sejm srebrnego wieku 1587-1652. Między głosowaniem większościowym a liberum veto (The Sejm of the Silver Age 1587-1652. Between the Majority Vote and the Liberum Veto), Warsaw 2001. For legislation, see Volumina Constitutionum, vol. 3 part 1, prepared for print by S. Grodziski, M. Kwiecień, A. Karabowicz, foreword by W. Uruszczak, Warsaw 2010, pp. 254-294.