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The Polish-Lithuanian identity describes individuals and groups with histories in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or with close connections to its culture. This federation, formally established by the 1569 Union of Lublin between the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state founded on the binding powers of national identity and shared culture rather than ethnicity or religious affiliation.〔 The term Polish-Lithuanian has been used to describe various groups residing in the Commonwealth, including those that did not share the Polish or Lithuanian ethnicity nor their pre-dominant Christian (Roman Catholic) faith.〔 Many famous figures from Lithuanian and Polish history, such as Adam Mickiewicz, Józef Piłsudski, and Czesław Miłosz, identified themselves with this Polish-Lithuanian, multicultural, identity. The usage of "Polish-Lithuanian" in this context can be potentially confusing, particularly as the term is often abbreviated to just "Polish", or misinterpreted at being a simple mix of the 20th century nationalistic usage of the term Polish and Lithuanian,〔〔 as depending on the context it may include numerous ethnic groups that inhabited the Commonwealth. ==16th-18th centuries== Self-identifications during the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth often made use of the Latin 'gens-natione' construct (familial or ethnic origin combined with a national identity). The construct was used by the elite inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, by the Ruthenian (Ukrainian and Belarusian) elites, and in Prussia. Religious affiliation was sometimes added, leading to self-identifications such as ''Natione Polonus, gente Ruthenus''; ''Natione Polonus, gente Prussicus''; or ''Natione Polonus, gente Ruthenus, origine Judaeus''. (The Latin phrasing reflects the use of that language as a neutral lingua franca, which continued into the 18th century.) The Commonwealth’s nobility (''Szlachta'') were also bound together during this era by a widespread belief in Sarmatism that transcended ethnic identifications. This origin myth posited that the Commonwealth’s noble class stemmed from a group of warriors from Scythia, that its members were racially distinct from and superior to the other inhabitants of the area, and that various features of the Commonwealth displayed its superiority. Lithuanian, Prussian, and Livonian elites were considered Sarmatian as well as Poles. The Ruthenian nobility of the Commonwealth subscribed to Sarmatism to some extent as well, as part of a Sarmatian branch known as “Roxolanians.” Similarly, non-noble inhabitants saw no contradiction in describing themselves as "a Pole, and a Lithuanian as well." The Lublin Union of 1569 initiated voluntary Polonization of the Lithuanian upper classes, including an increasing use of the Polish language, although they retained a strong sense of Lithuanian identity. Those who identified themselves as ''gente Lithuanus, natione Polonus'' ("a Lithuanian person of the Polish nation") were distinguished by their accent, customs, and cuisine, and did not perceive the categories as mutually exclusive. A diminishing portion of Lithuanian nobility and most of the rural population in the territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania continued to use the Lithuanian language, especially in Samogitia, a practice that reached its nadir in the 18th century, and increased during the 19th-century Lithuanian National Revival. Till the Revival, Lithuanian language had no agreed upon written form and no significant literature, and was rarely heard in the Grand Duchy's capital of Vilnius (Wilno).〔 The adjectival term Polish-Lithuanian has been used to describe groups residing in the Commonwealth that did not share the Polish or Lithuanian ethnicity nor their pre-dominant Christian (Roman Catholic) faith,〔 for example in description of the Lipka Tatars, a Muslim community,〔 and a significant Jewish community,.〔 Orthodox and Uniate communities also played a role in the Commonwealth's history.〔 German minority, heavily represented in the towns (burghers), particularly in the Royal Prussia region, was another group with ties to that culture ("Natione Polonus-gente Prussicus"). Many Prussians from that region identified themselves not as Germans nor Poles, but as the citizens of the multicultural Commonwealth.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Polish-Lithuanian identity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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