the Protestant nobility were stripped of all their political rights, which were only reinstated to them in 1768. Though a small number of Huguenots settled in Poland at the end of the 17th century (Gdańsk, Warsaw), the numbers dwindled. By 1768, the number of Reformed churches has dwindled to 40 from 500 by 1591. In 1768, under pressure from Orthodox Russia and Protestant Prussia, the Polish Diet reluctantly reinstated political rights to the Polish nobility, as well as granting nearly full freedom of worship and religion — only the prohibition of abjuring from Catholicism was maintained. Under the enlightened king Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764–95), the Calvinists quickly began to rebuild themselves from ruins. New churches in Poznań, Piaski etc. were constructed. In the capital Warsaw, a new congregation organised itself and erected a new church (1776). This congregation had a multicultural outlook, as apart from Polish nobles it consisted of merchants of Scottish, English, Swiss, Huguenot, Dutch and German origin. Services were held in Polish, German and French. Church organisation also consolidated and in 1777, in the Lesser Poland's congregation of Sielec, a union was signed between the Polish Reformed and Lutherans, and the Union of Sandomir was once again reaffirmed. A common consistory was established with six members, in equal number from the Calvinists and Lutherans, two being clergy, two being burghers and two being nobles. Though this union was short-lived (dissolved in 1782), the Protestants in Poland continued to grow and expand, especially in Warsaw, whose congregation soon overshadowed any other church centre. This optimistic period was cut short by the three Partitions of Poland by Prussia, Russia and Austria (1772, 1793, 1795) which led to the disappearance of Poland for over a century from the map of Europe. The Polish Reformed without Poland (1795–1918) The beginnings were not easy. The Greater Poland Brethren was incorporated in 1817 to the Prussian Evangelical Union Church as a separate district (Kirchenprovinz Posen, i.e. ecclesiastical province of Posen) but without any autonomy. Between 1829 and 1853, Bishop Carl Andreas Wilhelm Freymark (1785–1855) led the Posen ecclesiastical province as general superintendent. Under constant pressure from the Prussian government by the mid-19th century, the United Church abandoned Polish in its liturgy and most of the old Calvinist nobles chose to convert to Catholicism rather than to become Germans. In Austria too, the parishes were incorporated to the Evangelical Church of Augsburg and Helvetian