Article:Jewish Trade in Poland: Difference between revisions

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|Content=The fundamental shape of Jewish life in general in Poland, and Jewish mercantile life in particular was first determined in a privilege given to the Jews of Kalisz by Prince Bolesław the Pious in 1264.  That was later expanded and granted to the Jews in Wielkopolska in 1333 and in the regions of Kraków, Sandomierz, and Lviv in 1367 by King Kazimierz Wielki.  He also granted a third general privilege to the Jews living in all the cities of his kingdom in 1364.
|Content=The fundamental shape of Jewish life in general in Poland, and Jewish mercantile life in particular was first determined in a privilege given to the Jews of Kalisz by Prince Bolesław the Pious in 1264.  That was later expanded and granted to the Jews in Wielkopolska in 1333 and in the regions of Kraków, Sandomierz, and Lviv in 1367 by King Kazimierz Wielki.  He also granted a third general privilege to the Jews living in all the cities of his kingdom in 1364.


The Jews’ economic activity mentioned in these privileges was moneylending, their major business in the Middle Ages.  The privileges’ importance for the development of Jewish trade lay more in their establishment of the Jews as a legally recognized urban group, parallel to the Christian burghers.  According to the so-called Magdeburg Law which determined every aspect of urban life, the region of the town within its walls was a monopoly zone controlled by the Christian burghers, who therefore had the right to exclude the Jews from economic life.  The Polish privileges, on the other hand, established the Jews as a second urban population providing income to the Crown, so giving them royal support in their economic lives.   
The Jews’ economic activity mentioned in these privileges was moneylending, their major business in the Middle Ages.  The privileges’ importance for the development of Jewish trade lay more in their establishment of the Jews as a legally recognized urban group, parallel to the Christian burghers.  According to the so-called [[Term:Magdeburg Law]] Magdeburg Law which determined every aspect of urban life, the region of the town within its walls was a monopoly zone controlled by the Christian burghers, who therefore had the right to exclude the Jews from economic life.  The Polish privileges, on the other hand, established the Jews as a second urban population providing income to the Crown, so giving them royal support in their economic lives.   


This set up a tension between the two already hostile groups which was almost impossible to resolve satisfactorily.  It could play out in different ways: in Lviv in 1356, the King, disregarding the complaints of the Christian burghers, expanded the urban groups he favored to include not only Jews, but Armenians, Muslims, and Ruthenians, too; while at the end of the fifteenth century, the Kraków town council, with royal support, first restricted Jewish trade and then forced the Jews to move out of the city and settle in neighboring Kazimierz.  
This set up a tension between the two already hostile groups which was almost impossible to resolve satisfactorily.  It could play out in different ways: in Lviv in 1356, the King, disregarding the complaints of the Christian burghers, expanded the urban groups he favored to include not only Jews, but Armenians, Muslims, and Ruthenians, too; while at the end of the fifteenth century, the Kraków town council, with royal support, first restricted Jewish trade and then forced the Jews to move out of the city and settle in neighboring Kazimierz.  

Revision as of 14:53, 27 August 2025


 Title: Jewish Trade in Poland

 Author(s): Adam Teller

 Topic(s): Topic:Economics

 
 
 Extension(s): Extension:Fairs in Future Galicia in the Pre-Partitions Age


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