the nobles and gentry who bore the real sovereignty in the
state. Seeing in the Reformation a weapon for humiliating and
plundering the church, as well as a key to a higher spiritual life,
from one motive or the other, they flocked to its standard, and, under
leadership of their greatest reformer, John Laski, organized a powerful
church.

The reign of Sigismund II [Sidenote: Sigismund II, 1548-1572] saw the
social upheaval by which the nobility finally placed the power firmly
in their own hands, and also the height of the Reformation. By a law
known as the "Execution" the assembly of nobles finally got control of
the executive as well as of the legislative branch of the government.
At the same time they, with the cordial assistance of the king, bound
the country together in a closer bond known as the Union of Lublin.
[Sidenote: 1569] Though Lithuania and Prussia struggled against
incorporation with Poland, both were forced to submit to a measure that
added power to the state and opened to the Polish nobility great
opportunity for political and economic exploitation of these lands.
Not only the king, but the magnates and the cities were put under the
heel of the ruling caste. This was an evolution opposite to that of
most European states, in which crown and bourgeoisie subdued the once
proud position of the baronage. But even here in Poland one sees the
rising influence of commerce and the money-power, in that the Polish
nobility was largely composed of small {142} gentry eager and able to
exploit the new opportunities offered by capitalism. In other
countries the old privilege of the sword gave way to the new privilege
of gold; in Poland the sword itself turned golden, at least in part;
the blade kept its keen, steel edge, but the hilt by which it was
wielded glittered yellow.

[Sidenote: Protestantism]

Unchecked though they were by laws, the Protestants soon developed a
weakness that finally proved fatal to their cause, lack of organization
and division into many mutually hostile sects. [Sidenote: 1537] The
Anabaptists of course arrived, preached, gained adherents, and were
suppressed. [Sidenote: 1548] Next came a large influx of Bohemian
Brethren, expelled from their own country and migrating to a land of
freedom, where they soon made common cause with the Lutherans.
[Sidenote: 1558] Calvinists propagated the seeds of their faith with
much success. Finally the Unitarians, led by Lelio Sozini, found a