Preliminary Programme

One of the most significant state incomes in Polish Crown in the 16th and 17th centuries were extraordinary taxes. Usually those were established each time by parliament with the agreement of nobility and collected by the tax collectors. Money from those taxes were then settled up by local assemblies of nobility (sejmiki) and sent to the royal treasury. Although the 2nd half of 16th century is mostly recognized as a high pick of centralization of fiscal system of the Polish state, the nobility gained more and more influence over it. In the 17th century the whole system was slowly collapsing, as the local assemblies played an increasingly important role in governing the state. To examine the whole process of switching the responsibility for the fiscal matters of the state from parliament to the assemblies, we need firstly to analyse the system during the time it was functioning most effectively. That is why the aim of this paper is, on one hand, to examine the system of collecting extraordinary taxes in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) in 1563-1613 and, on the other, to analyse the influence of nobility on it. This could be observed on various phases of collecting the taxes: from appealing to the parliaments constitutions, through their acceptance (or not) by local assemblies, collecting the taxes, to settling accounts with tax collectors, the state treasurer and parliament. The whole procedure of tax collection was strictly connected with the administrative structure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as many institutions and people were involved in it. Among them were offices of governors of crown demesne (starostowie), local assemblies of nobility and personnel directly responsible for tax collecting (tax collectors, subcollectors, scribes, and stewards). In this paper analyses of the role of each institution and function in the tax collecting system were provided in order to present their significance for influencing the system by nobility. Expanding this kind of research, especially by comparing it with analogical studies focused on the 17th century or on other territories of the state, will contribute in our understanding of the process of decentralizing the fiscal system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. (Show less)

The main purpose of the paper is to study the role of Catholic clergy in the system of royal and state revenue in the Kingdom of Poland under Jagiellonian rule. It will focus on the extraordinary contributions paid by the clergy, amount of the land tax paid by Catholic Church institutions and internal diversity within ecclesiastical hierarchy with regard to poll-tax. The sources on which the study is based include: tax registers, registers of Church contribution and taxation parliamentary acts. (Show less)

The military change in late medieval and early modern periods led to an evolution of fiscal administration. Its political and administrative consequences, while not as substantial, are also evident. This theory draws on the concept of "military revolution", albeit it differs from its most common interpretations by focusing less on technology and tactics, and more on the finances. While the significance of the two former areas will be acknowledged, it's the economy, treasury, and financial affairs that will be the central subject of the paper.
The paper will involve a reconstruction of revenue and expenditure of the monarch and the state. In late Middle Ages, the royal and public treasuries were not yet officially separate in neither Poland nor Lithuania. When it was finally formalized in the early modern period, the rulers would oftentimes transfer the cash from their private reserves into the public treasury. Because of this fact, both sectors must be studied. So do the transfers between the Polish and Lithuanian treasuries. The financial exchange between the two states was especially important in the time of war (for instance the First Northern War). Much attention will be devoted to military expenditure and sources of military funding during various crises – lease of crown lands, profits from royal salt mines and tariffs, etc. (Show less)

The main aim of the paper is to study the loan amounts, types of credit instruments, conditions and costs of credit handling, prosopographical identification of the Grand Dukes and public creditors (magnates, burghers, merchants, Jewish bankers). Of paramount importance will be quantitative, prosopographical and geographical description of the system of loans secured on ducal estates. We will check whether credit taken to cover the financial needs of the state took the form of high-interest short-term loans or low-interest long-term loans. Of special interest will also be the market for state debt. (Show less)

The main aim of this paper is divided into two parts. First will be connected with the reconstruction of the customs network for the whole Polish Crown in the second half of the 16th century. The reconstruction will be based on the preserved to our times customs rolls, revisions of the kings’ estates, and documents included into the Crown Metric which was a huge series of the books under the strict control of the Polish state officials at this time. Second aim will be devoted to the analysis based on the abovementioned spatial database which will include all source data. The main research questions are: How the income to the Crown’s treasury from custom was changing through time (from ca. 1560s. until the beginnings of the 17th century)?, What kind of good were moving through different parts of the Polish Crown? Are there any relations between the merchant mentions in customs rolls and the dates of the fairs? I will try also to answer the question how the road system of the Crown was changing across the time through the prism of the customs data. (Show less)