„Na zapłatę ludziom wojewódzkim”. Finansowanie chorągwi policyjnej województw poznańskiego i kaliskiego w latach 1734–1767
“For the Payment to Provincial People”. Financing of the Police Squadron of the Poznań and Kalisz Provinces in 1734–1767

Summary/Abstract: Referring to the account of the Liber Pontifi calis describing the attempts of the Lombard King Desiderius to get Pope Hadrian I to anoint Charlemagne’s nephews as kings of the Franks, the article addresses the importance of the ritual of royal anointing in legitimising the power of the first Carolingian monarchs. It demonstrates how the Carolingian and papal courts perceived the anointing ceremony and the Pope’s participation in it in the second half of the eighth and the early ninth century, and what content was associated with it in the practice of political actions. The article aims to present the fi nancing of the police unit (called in Polish: chorągiew) of the sejmik authorities in the provinces of Poznań and Kalisz. The squadron operated between 1734 and 1767 and was fi nanced by the taxes on the sale and service of alcoholic beverages (the first one called in Polish czopowe and the second szelężne). These reflections are based mainly on excellently preserved treasury sources from the archives of the Poznań Treasury Commission (assignations, receipts, registers, and accounts), which are unique compared to other sejmik treasuries throughout the whole Commonwealth. Their analysis made it possible to obtain important information on how local fi nances were managed, when the police unit received funds, and how the political and economic situation in the provinces affected its fate. It should be emphasised that such thorough research on fi nancing the so-called ‘county armies’ has not been possible before.

• Details
• Contents