[1791 m. gegužės 3 d. konstitucija: Abiejų Tautų Respublikos testamentas. Richard Butterwick]; [Constitution of 3 May 1791: testament of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Richard Butterwick]

ENThe 3 May Constitution provokes turbulent discussions among all the nations living in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In Poland it is still argued whether the reforms were enough to steer the state out of crisis; whereas in Lithuania we are still stuck on the entrenched question of whether the constitution is a part of the historic legacy of Poland alone, or a part of Lithuania’s historic legacy too? In Belarus and Ukraine, meanwhile, there is a negative attitude towards the 3 May Constitution, even though attempts have been made by some historians to consider the event as one of the more positive moments in their history. This makes Richard Butterwick’s book a very long-awaited contribution in the context of the discussions among historians. The publication of the monograph coincided with the 230th anniversary of the constitution, an occasion that was commemorated in both Poland and Lithuania. As the Lithuanian Institute of History, which published the Lithuanian-language edition of the book explains, the monograph came out in this anniversary year (2021) not only in English, Polish and Lithuanian, but also in Ukrainian as well.