History.— The history of the district of Posen, comprehending great part of the cradle of the old kingdom of Poland, including its most ancient capital (Gnesen), falls properly within the scope of the article Poland (?.».). Its political connexion with Prussia began in 1772, when the districts to the north of the Netze fell to the share of that power in the first partition of Poland. The rest followed in 1793, and was united with the Netze district to form the province of South Prussia. After the peace of Tilsit Posen was incorporated with the grand-duchy of Warsaw, but in 1815 it reverted to Prussia under the style of the “grand-duchy of Posen.” In 1848 the Polish inhabitants of the province revolted and had to be put down by force; and a thoroughly harmonious union of the two elements of the population is still unattained.

The tide of German immigration into Posen began at an early period and flowed very strongly in the 13th and following centuries. The industrious German settlers were heartily welcomed by the Polish nobles and were the founders of most of the towns, in which they lived after their own customs and were governed by their own laws. They established the few manufactures of which the district can boast, introduced the cultivation of hops, reclaimed the waste soil, and did much to improve agriculture generally. In the 16th century Protestantism was widely diffused by their means. À strong reaction, however, set in in the following century, and persecution of the Protestants went hand in hand with the ravages of war in hastening the political, intellectual, and agricultural decline of the territory. By the 18th century the burghers had sunk to the level of “städtische Bauern,” or peasants with municipal privileges, and poverty and misery were widely spread. The Prussian rule, in spite of many defects, proved so beneficial that even Napoleon was compelled to praise it.

Posen contains a numerous Polish noblesse, many of the members of which are very poor. A double transformation is going on in the ownership of the ground, the large estates passing into the hands of the peasants and Polish proprietors giving place to German. A few years ago between 60 and 70 per cent, of the soil was occupied by “latifundia,” while at present it is pretty equally divided between those and peasant holdings. In the four years 1878-81, inclusive, the land in the possession of Germans increased at the expense of Polish landowners by upwards of 100,000 acres. The peasantfarmers are generally deeply in debt, partly owing to the educational and communal burdens, but mainly owing to the pernicious custom of “Leibgedinge,” according to which an able-bodied man in the prime of life will give up his holding in return for an annuity from his successor. In some instances two annuitants of this kind are found living on the same small patch of ground iu addition to the actual cultivator.

POSEN (Polish, Poznan), capital of the above province, the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop, and the headquarters of a corps of the German army, is situated at the confluence of the Cybina and Warthe, 150 miles to the east of Berlin and 90 miles to the north of Breslau. It is a fortress of the first rank and of great strategic importance; the works consist of a citadel and inner line of bastions, and an outer circle of twelve detached forts. The principal part of the town lies on the west bank of the Warthe, and comprises the so-called Altstadt and the well-built modern quarter that has sprung up under the Prussian régime. On the other bank is the Wallischei, a poor district inhabited by Poles. Among the older buildings none calls for remark except the town-house, a quaint specimen of the Slavonic adaptation of Romanesque forms. The chief modern buildings are the various military and public offices, the law courts, the theatre, the real school, and the Raczynski library. The churches are devoid of architectural interest, but the cathedral contains numerous interesting objects of art, including two bronze-gilt statues of the first Christian kings of Poland, by Rauch. The manufactures of Posen are multifarious enough, including machinery, carriages, tobacco, copper boilers and vats, military requisites, chemicals, <tc.; but there is nothing that can be called a staple industry. A lively trade is carried on in the agricultural products of Russia and Poland, and several well-attended fairs and markets are held. In 1880 Posen contained 65,713 inhabitants, including 35,725 Roman Catholics, 22,869 Protestants, and 7063 Jews. The German inhabitants are at present considerably more numerous than the Poles, though it would seem that the latter have increased in a greater ratio since 1875. The Jewish element is stronger here (10 ’ 7 per cent.) than in any other town in Germany. The garrison consists of 7000 men.

Posen, one of the oldest towns in Poland and the residence of some of the early Polish princes, became the seat of a Christian bishop towards the end of the 10th century. The original settlement was on the east bank of the Warthe, but the new or German town, established on the west bank about the year 1250, soon became the more important half of the doable city. Posen was a royal free town, and was directly represented in the Polish diet down to 1733. In the Middle Ages it became a great depot of the trade between Germany and the west of Europe on the one hand and Poland and Russia on the other. Numerous foreign merchants took up their abode here, including a strong colony of Scotsmen, who exported raw produce to Edinburgh. The town attained the climax of its prosperity in the 16th century, when its population is variously estimated at from 30,000 to 80,000. The intolerance shown to the Protestants, the troubles of the Thirty Years’ War, the visitation of the plague, and other causes, however, soon conspired to change the state of affairs, and in the 18th century the town had only 5000 inhabitants. New life was infused into it on its annexation by Prussia at the second partition of Poland, and since then its progress has been limited only by its position as a fortress. The relations of the German and Polish elements of the population continue to be somewhat strained.