Rokosz

(Polish; literally, “rebellion” or “mutiny”), in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a confederation of the szlachta (nobility) directed against the king. The legal basis of the szlachta’s right to form a rokosz was the right to refuse obedience to the king (non praestanda oboedientia) as established in the Henrician Articles of 1573 and the Pacta Conventa. One of the most important rokosze was led by M. Zebrzydowski against Sigismund III in 1606 and 1607.