Lazarz Mojzeszowicz - an Example of a Jewish Career in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Mid-seventeenth Century

• Authors: Ciesla M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The biography of Lazarz Mojzeszowicz, a Jewish broker and royal secretary active during the mid-seventeenth century in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was reconstructed upon the basis of documents from the Radziwill archive in Warsaw as well as Metryka Litewska. Lazarz Mojzeszowicz inaugurated his career alongside his older brother and father at the court of Krzysztof Radziwill during the 1620s, when he fulfilled predominantly the function of a banker and real estate leaseholder. During the early 1630s, after Krzysztof Radziwill came to terms with the monarch, Mojzeszowicz concentrated on co-operating with the royal treasury. In 1632 Zygmunt III granted him the post of royal secretary and broker, an appointment subsequently confirmed by Wladyslaw IV and Jan Kazimierz. In his capacity as the king's broker, Mojzeszowicz was directly subjected to royal jurisdiction and exempt from all custom duties and taxes. The foremost branch of his activity consisted of leasing state revenues; from the mid-1620s to the early 1660s he leased Lithuanian customs, tolls and taxes (czopowe and Jewish poglówne). Consequently, he managed to amass a considerable fortune, to win a high social position, and to exert a certain political impact at the royal court. Mojzeszowicz acted as the protector of numerous Jewish kahals in the Grand Duchy and co-operated with the Lithuanian Waadem. His career came to a dramatic and sudden halt after an assault carried out by Stefan Oborski in 1656. The presented portrayal of Lazarz Mojzeszowicz accentuates the most important feature characteristic for the royal factors-Hofjuden in the Commonwealth - the ability to combine the activity pursued at the royal court with serving a local magnate; in both cases, the career was based on family connections.

Keywords

EN

GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA; JEWISH KAHALS; LAZARZ MOJZESZOWICZ; METRYKA LITEWSKA; ROYAL FACTOR

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historyczny
• Year: 2005
• Volume: 112
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 5-30
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Ciesla M.

• M. Ciesla, Instytut Historii PAN, ul. Rynek Starego Miasta 29/31, 00-272 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01583473