Jewish Toll Collectors in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Jewish Toll Collectors in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to show the Jewish involvement in the tolln collection in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The following aspects are explored: the legal position, the financial involvement, and conditions of the everyday work of the Jewish toll collectors, as well as the conflicts connected with this profession. The author based her research upon mostly unknown primary sources, including Lithuanian Treasury documents and different court acts. Upon examination of those sources it becomes clear that the Jews played a significant role in the tax collection in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in that period. What is more, not only members of the economic elite were involved in the cooperation with the state treasury.

• Details
• Contents