Contract
Chapter 4 focuses on the contracts imposed on rulers in elective monarchies, which made their position on the throne conditional. The Polish-Lithuanian conditions, known as the Henrician articles (or the pacta conventa) were significantly more complex than those used in Transylvania in the 1570s and 1580s; only in the seventeenth century did the latter become similarly elaborate. Moreover, the Transylvanian conditions were mostly negative promises (i.e. to abstain from abusing power or infringing the liberties of citizens), whereas the Polish-Lithuanian ones included positive ones as well (to bring financial, strategic, or military aid, and to resolve certain domestic issues). The chapter analyses the extent to which Stephen BĂĄthory observed his electoral contract during his Transylvanian and Polish-Lithuanian reigns, particularly the interdiction of hereditary succession, religious peace, and the right of disobedience.