Daňové povinnosti banského a mincového mesta Kremnica v stredoveku
Tax Obligations of the Mining and Mint Town of Kremnica in the Middle Ages

Summary/Abstract: The first document relating to royal taxes of Kremnica dates from 1375 and mentions a sum of 600 “red” florins. Various documents from the reign of Sigismund record 300 gold florins paid twice a year. The Union of Central Slovak Mining Towns headed by Kremnica began to form from the end of the 14th century and to act together. In 1424, King Sigismund granted all the towns including Kremnica to his wife Queen Barbara, and from that time they paid their tax to the queen. As head of the Union, Kremnica was given responsibility for joint accounting at the beginning of the 16th century, but it probably already had this role from an earlier date. The mining towns paid the royal tax (taxa regia) jointly. In the documented years 1507-1518, Kremnica paid about a quarter (24.87 – 27.49%) of the tax or in absolute amounts 106 – 288.67 accounting florins. The reduction of the regular tax in comparison with the previous period can be explained by the raising of extraordinary, especially military taxes and the general impoverishment of the mining towns as a result of the declining profitability of mining. Complaints to the king about these problems were so frequent that in numerous cases taxes were not charged for long periods. The share and documentation of the regular taxes gradually declined in comparison with the irregular or special taxes (visit by monarch, military taxes – the so called subsidia etc). In these cases, the joint tax could reach several thousand florins. Kremnica’s share may have been about a quarter. As for military taxes (subsidia), the towns were often willing to pay only a small part of demanded sums. They attempted to negotiate with the king to gain a substantial reduction.

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