Podatki miejskie a księgowość w Głównym Mieście Gdańsku w późnym średniowieczu
Urban taxes and bookkeeping in the Main City of Gdańsk in the late Middle Ages

Author(s): Marcin Grulkowski
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 article analyses the multistage procedures of tax collection in the Main City of Gdańsk during the 14th and 15th centuries. The complex character of these procedures is illustrated by three examples of urban taxes: the predial rent, the property tax (the so-called szos), and ‘pound duty’. The first two taxes were typical for urban settlements, although the szos was imposed only occasionally (in 1377/1378, 1416 and 1443). The ‘pound duty’ was originally collected for the needs of the Hanse, but later became a local tax. At the turn of the 14th and the 15th century, the Order of the Teutonic Knights took over control of this tax. A by-product of the collection procedures was the complex and vast documentation that was produced in the subsequent stages. Various kinds of tax records, such as primary registers, intermediary notes on wax tablets, lists of debtors, and financial statements, have been analysed.

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