Uwarunkowania początków rozwoju polskich kancelarii miejskich. Przykład Krakowa (do 1312 r.)
The Pre-conditions of the early stage of the development of Polish urban medieval chanceries. The case of Cracow (before 1312)

Author(s): Piotr Okniński
Subject(s): Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: writing environment; consistory; notary; writer; writing; office; books; XV-XVIII centuries; writing culture
Summary/Abstract: The subject of the origins of urban chanceries in medieval Poland is discussed using the example of sources from Cracow dating from before 1312. An early stage in the development of Cracow municipal chancery is put into context of the formation of urban self-governance and transformations of legal and written culture in the Polish lands. This chancery had early origins, going back to the 13th century, to the period of the city’s locatio. Its gradual formation is shown by the introduction of the municipal seal (c. 1283), the employment of the first municipal scribe (the earliest evidence dating from 1288–1290), by the growing numbers of urban charters (the earliest dating maybe already from 1288–1290), and, finally, by the introduction of the book of records (c. 1300). The growing political autonomy of the institutions of urban self-governance in a period of political turbulence (between the death of Duke Boleslas the Bashful in 1279 and the suppression of the urban revolt of mayor Albert in 1312), has been singled out as the main factor stimulating the development of the chancery. The growth in importance of the municipal scribal office was also a result of the vivid contacts of the city and its inhabitants with the monasteries from the area and with the court of Jan Muskata, Bishop of Cracow, which was a centre of pragmatic literacy. An acceleration of the chancery’s development is clearly visible in the period 1290–1306, when Cracow was under the control of the Bohemian kings from the Přemyslid dynasty. The intensive socio-institutional transformation of the city led to the urban revolt against the Duke Wladislas the Short.

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