Procesy urbanizacyjne w województwie krakowskim w XVI–XVIII wieku. Nowe możliwości badań
Urbanization Processes in the Krakow Voivodeship in the 16th–18th Centuries. New Research Opportunities

Summary/Abstract: The article showcases new proposals for research on the urbanization processes of Krakow Voivodeship (province) between the 16th and 18th centuries referred to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a whole. The possible methods of study have been specified for an area where an urban network had already been formed. It comprised some 80 towns, mostly moderate in size, with a variety of functions. The period under discussion is crucial for the functioning of Polish urban areas due to the predominance of the manorial farm system relying on serfdom and corvée. Population exchange mechanisms are addressed against a broader background of social history. It is proposed that analyses of the urbanization of the voivodeship should be linked to its central hub – the Krakow urban complex. The discussion also extends to the criteria underlying the formulation of the study questionnaire. A relational database created on the basis of mass sources would cover the population of Krakow and successively other towns in the voivodeship, selected according to their functions. Such procedure makes it possible to demonstrate the migration trends across the voivodeship in a long-term historical process.

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