Pomoc finansowa protestanckiego Gdańska dla współwyznawców w kraju i zagranicą w XVII i XVIII wieku
Financial Support of Protestant Gdańsk for Fellow Believers in Poland and Abroad in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Summary/Abstract: In 1557 Gdańsk officially accepted Reformation and defended its religious autonomy throughout the modern period. The Counter-Reform of the Catholic Church, lasting from the end of the sixteenth century, significantly limited the scope of Protestantism both in the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in various European countries. Thanks to its unique economic and political position in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Gdańsk served as one of the most important centres financing or supporting Lutheran communities not only in Poland and Europe, but also in Turkey and overseas colonies. The money was raised during public collections, or possibly transferred from the city budget. The article, based on archival sources, gathers examples of aid given to fellow believers by the inhabitants of Gdańsk and analyses the ways of raising money.

• Details
• Contents