# The Forgotten Polish Republican: Wawrzyniec Goślicki and the Rights of a Free Commonwealth

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/portraits-of-liberty/the-forgotten-polish-republican-wawrzyniec-go-licki-and-the-rights-of-a-free-commonwealth>

**By** Walker Haskins

**Published:** December 9, 2025

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Long before the American and French Revolutions, a Polish bishop wrote one of Europe’s most radical defenses of limited government and the moral equality of citizens. In this episode, Walker Haskins discusses Wawrzyniec Goślicki’s _The Accomplished Senator_.

In the late sixteenth century, Wawrzyniec Goślicki authored _De Optimo Senatore_ (_The Accomplished Senator_), a bold argument for a politics grounded in natural law, civic virtue, and the constitutional liberties of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Joined by Walker Haskins, our editor for intellectual history, Paul Meany, covers Goślicki’s career as a bishop, diplomat, and political theorist. They discuss Goślicki’s vision of checks on executive power and his rejection of arbitrary rule.

You can also [watch](https://youtu.be/j5TYv0thbuY?si=SYbWPl8SxNqdy7MN) this episode on our YouTube channel!

[Embedded content](https://youtu.be/j5TYv0thbuY)