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Belarus Belorussia, Poland, and Catholicism
The Union of Krevo (1385), which joined Poland and the
Grand
Duchy in a confederation, hinged on Lithuanian Grand Duke
Jogaila's conversion from paganism to Roman Catholicism
and his
subsequent marriage to twelve-year-old Queen Jadwiga of
Poland.
Thus he became Wladyslaw II Jagiello, king of Poland.
Poland and
Lithuania were later united into a single state, the
PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, by the Union of Lublin (1569).
When Roman Catholicism became the official religion of
Lithuania shortly after Jagiello's conversion, the
Lithuanian and
Belorussian nobilities began converting from Orthodoxy to
Catholicism and assimilating Polish culture (including the
language), a process accelerated by the Union of Lublin.
As a
result, the Belorussian peasantry was ruled by those who
shared
neither their language nor its religion, Eastern
Orthodoxy.
The Union of Brest (1596), which united the Roman
Catholic
Church with the part of the Orthodox Church that was
within the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was viewed favorably by
both the
Polish king, Sigismund III, and a
number of Orthodox bishops, clergy, and faithful. The new
Uniate Church (see Glossary)
acknowledged the supremacy of the
Roman
Catholic pope and accepted articles of Roman Catholic
religious
doctrine. In return, the Uniate Church retained its
traditional
Orthodox rites and customs as well as a measure of
autonomy in
nondoctrinal matters; it was also given the same rights
and
privileges as the Roman Catholic Church. However, fear of
the new
church's becoming Latinized and
Polonized (see Glossary)
caused
many of the Orthodox faithful to reject the union, and the
Orthodox Church continued to exist alongside the Uniate
Church in
an often bitter struggle.
In the aftermath of the Union of Brest, both civil and
religious authorities persecuted the Orthodox Church and
supported the Uniates in their takeover of Orthodox
property.
Social conditions deteriorated, there was a large-scale
revolt
against Polish landowners in 1648-54 (coinciding with the
Khmel'nyts'kyi rebellion in Ukraine), and many
Belorussians fled
to the Ukrainian steppes to join the
Cossacks (see Glossary).
There was little economic development in Belorussian
lands, and
the vast majority of the Belorussian population lived on
subsistence agriculture.
Data as of June 1995
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