The
privileges of the szlachta (
Poland's nobility) formed a cornerstone of "
Golden Liberty" in the
Kingdom of Poland and, later, in the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of the privileges were granted between the late 14th and early 16th centuries. By the end of that period, the
szlachta had succeeded in garnering numerous privileges, empowering themselves and limiting the powers of the monarch to an extent unprecedented elsewhere in
Europe at the time.