Subtitle:

The birth of communal town : political structures, spatial framework and economic bases of Cracow in the thirteenth century

Contributor:

Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla

Publisher:

Instytut Historii PAN

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Description:

Wydanie I. ; 204 pages ; 21 cm ; Based on doctoral thesis (Wydział Historyczny, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2016). ; Bibliography (pages 148-186). Indexes. ; Summary in English

Abstract:

This study presents the process of formation of a municipality in Cracow in the thirteenth century. The author defines the title communal town in reference to the definition of so-called Western city formulated by Max Weber. According to this popular concept, the most important distinction between the Western (or Occidental) and Eastern (or Oriental) city is its political autonomy. Usually, the Polish literature on the subject indicates as the actual opening of the process of forming a municipality in Cracow the suppression of the so-called rebellion of Mayor Albert of 1311–1312, or a rebellion of Cracow townsmen against Duke Władysław I the Short. It was accepted that only the abolition of hereditary mayoralty after the suppression of Mayor Albert’s mutiny made it possible to politically strengthen the position of Cracow self-government, that is the municipal council. Contrary to this stance, the author argues that the rebellion of 1311–1312 marked the final rather than initial date of the first, dimly lit by the sources, stage of the formation of communal town in Cracow. The first germs of Cracow self-governing community were established as early as the first half of the thirteenth century, and their consolidation was made when the town was chartered under the Magdeburg Law in 1257. The development of the urban community accelerated at times of weakened supreme authority in Lesser Poland (Małopolska) region in the last quarter of the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, and was brought to an abrupt halt due to consolidation of territorial power by Duke Władysław the Short. The title transformations were interpreted from three mutually complementary perspectives. Chapter one discusses the crystallisation in Cracow of an urban community as a legal political entity with its own judicial and self-governing system, with definite political aspirations. Chapter two presents the process of territorial shaping of chartered community, with clearly defined borders and its own characteristic church topography and urban tissue. Chapter three is devoted to the genesis of the communal town as a peculiar “enterprise”, that is the centre of autonomous commercial and manufacturing activities, the centre of capital concentration, and an institutions with its own wealth and fiscal system. The last chapter reconstructs the course and consequences of Mayor Albert’s rebellion. The author demonstrates that the suppression of the revolt resulted not only in the breaking of communal aspirations of Cracow burghers but also determined Cracow place within the socio-political structures of the Polish monarchy for a long time.

Detailed Resource Type:

Book

Resource Identifier:

oai:rcin.org.pl:140007 ; 978-83-65880-54-3

Source:

IH PAN, call no. I.10933 ; IH PAN, call no. I.10932 Podr. ; IH PAN, call no. I.10935 SHG Kraków ; IH PAN, call no. I.10934 SHG Poznań ; click here to follow the link

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Access:

Open