A rare medal in silver from the period of the January Uprising, commemorating the enfranchisement of peasants by the National Government. Marked in the Hutten-Czapski catalog with a rarity grade of R3.
Piece with a clearly preserved, intense mirror. Background with natural cuts, not affecting the overall excellent reception of the medal.
A desirable value for any collection of Polish patriots!
Obverse: shield of the coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
EQUALITY ✶ FREEDOM ✶ INDEPENDENCE ✶.
Reverse: figures of a peasant and a nobleman, at the bottom signature CH. WIENER.
POLONIA MDCCCLXIII
Silver, diameter 33 mm, weight 15.48 g
On January 22, 1863, when the January Uprising officially began (fighting in the Kampinos and other forests had begun earlier), the decree of the Provisional National Government on the enfranchisement of peasants was announced. Admittedly, this was a measure decided earlier in the context of the peasant movements, which had been going on for almost two years, but now it was one of the first to be put into effect by the Prime Minister of the Government - Stefan Bobrowski. It was parallel to the call for the entire nation to fight. On March 31, 1863, the Central Committee promulgated a decree that read:
"In view of the fact that the decree of enfranchisement of peasants of January 22 b. has not been promulgated and implemented in all localities, and landowners claiming ignorance could demand that on April 1 the owners of settlements pay the previous ransom or rent under the old regulations, the Provisional Government in elaboration of the above decree states: that it is binding on all owners of property, private, government, donation and ecclesiastical, in the Kingdom of Congress, Lithuania and Ruthenia, from the date of its issuance, and that as a result the previous ransom or rent due to heirs as of April 1 ceases. Those who do not comply with this decree, in addition to repayment of improperly collected fees, will be exposed to severe liability."
The peasants, when it fully dawned on them who had properly enfranchised them and freed them from all obligations to the manor, fully supported the uprising. They supplied everything the insurgents needed voluntarily and without any payment. They also performed intelligence service on a voluntary basis and volunteered to join the troops. There were far more volunteers than weapons, and so, for example, in the Wloclawek, Gostynin and Warsaw districts, the chiefs were forced to refuse at least a thousand men a week to join the units.
