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1

Quarters in the Municipal Authority System in Late Medieval Prussian Towns

100%

Czaja R.

Acta Poloniae Historica

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2019

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vol. 119

PL

The article seeks to comparatively analyse the functions implemented in the Late Middle Ages by quarters in the main towns or cities of Prussia, including Rechtstadt Danzig (Main City of Gdańsk), Altstadt Königsberg (Old Town of Königsberg [today Kaliningrad]), Braunsberg (Braniewo), Altstadt Thorn (Toruń), and Kulm (Chełmno). Special attention is placed on answering the question of how the quarters participated in the municipal authority structures and the relationships between town councils and the commons. Quarters in Prussian towns developed since the fifteenth century, somewhat later than in East Central European towns. Establishment of these units was based on several premises: organisation of fiscal accountancy, fire safety concerns, military purposes, and town councils’ strivings to reinforce control over the dwellers. Influenced by the city revolts at the beginning of the fifteenth and in the sixteenth century, town councils took efforts to create a system of mobilisation and communication with the inhabitants that would work without the intermediation of guilds (as in Elbing [Elbląg], Danzig, and Thorn). Subordination of the older quarters to the municipal authorities caused, moreover, that in the face of internal or external threat, the community appeared as a community ruled by town councillors.

2

Władztwo rady i gmina w reprezentacji dużych miast pruskich w średniowieczu

72%

Czaja R.

Przegląd Zachodniopomorski

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2016

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issue 1

27-39

EN

The purpose of the article has been to analyse the way the big Prussian towns presented their own political organisation and especially the form they exercised their power. The author attempts to answer the question to which extent the presented image took into consideration the contribution of the citizens’ community in the control over the town and in the creation of the governing bodies, and to which extent the town was presented as a community under the control of the Council. The basis for the conclusions were written sources. The author has proved that until the beginning of the 16th century the town was represented as a community of its citizens, acting directly in corpore and through its administrative and judicial bodies. The fact that at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries the regime in big Prussian towns became soviet in its character caused that also in the representation of the town the control of the council over the commune was started to be emphasised. In spite of the monopolising of power by the merchant oligarchy and in spite of the regime reality the town was presented as a community whose citizens participated in making laws and decisions in the interests of the common good. That was the model of communal power that was especially emphasised in times of internal conflict and external threats. Yet, unlike the homogenous community of commune civitatis or dy bürger algemeyne that appeared in the sources from the 13th century and the first half of 14th century the late Middle Ages commune seems to have been a diversified community created by various professional groups (merchants, artisans) and it acted through different bodies: a council, courts of law, guilds.

XX

Celem artykułu jest analiza przedstawiania przez wielkie miasta pruskie własnej organizacjipolitycznej, w szczególności zaś formy sprawowania władzy. Autor podejmujepróbę odpowiedzi na pytanie, w jakim stopniu konstruowany obraz własny uwzględniałudział wspólnoty obywateli w rządzeniu miastem i kreowaniu organów władzy,a w jakim przedstawiano miasto jako wspólnotę podlegającą władztwu rady. Podstawąwniosków są źródła pisane. Autor wykazuje, że do początku XIV wieku miasto reprezentowałosię jako wspólnota obywateli, działająca bezpośrednio in corpore oraz zapośrednictwem swoich organów administracyjnych i sądowych. Wykształcenie się naprzełomie XIII/XIV wieku w dużych miastach pruskich ustroju radzieckiego sprawiło,że także w reprezentacji miasta zaczęto artykułować władztwo rady nad komuną. Mimomonopolizacji władzy w mieście przez oligarchię kupiecką, wbrew realiom ustrojowym,miasto przedstawiało się jako wspólnota, której obywatele uczestniczą w stanowieniuprawa i podejmowaniu decyzji w interesie dobra wspólnego. Taki model władzy komunalnejeksponowano szczególnie w czasach zagrożenia zewnętrznego oraz konfliktówwewnętrznych. W odróżnieniu jednak od jednolitej wspólnoty commune civitatis lubdy bürger algemeyne pojawiającej się w źródłach z XIII i I połowy XIV wieku, komunapóźnośredniowieczna prezentuje się jako społeczność zróżnicowana, tworzona przezróżne grupy zawodowe (kupców, rzemieślników) i działająca za pośrednictwem różnychorganów: rady, ławy sądowej, cechów.

3

Prussian Registers of the Proscribed/Outlaws as a Source for Research on Violence in Everyday Life of a Town in the Late Middle Ages

58%

Jeziorski P. A.

Zapiski Historyczne

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2019

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vol. 84

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issue 3

7-29

EN

The main purpose of the presented text is an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of the registers of outlaws established in late medieval Prussian cities for the research on the issue of the presence of violence in the everyday life of Prussia’s inhabitants. The primary sources used in the article consisted of preserved registers from Prussian cities governed according to the rules of the Chełmno law (Bartoszyce, Chełmno, the New Town of Toruń) or the Lübeck law (the Old Town of Braniewo, Elbląg). The starting point for further analysis was the discussion of the basic differences between proscription (administrative coercion and procedural measure, aimed at forcing the accused to appear before the court) and banishment (temporary or lifelong exile from a specific territory). What the author also addresses in the text is the question: how the proscription, by the virtue of the Lübeck law, acquired a much more repressive character (exhibiting features typical of punishment). Subsequently, the characteristics of the preserved Prussian registers of outlaws (14th–16th centuries) were analyzed in terms of their usefulness for research. Attention was drawn to the shortcomings of these primary sources, primarily to their incompleteness (to a greater or lesser extent); the reasons for this situation were presented as well. Given these shortcomings, an attempt was made to demonstrate the usefulness of the preserved registers in historical investigations. It was pointed out that they could be used for research, e.g. on the origins of conflicts among specific socio-professional groups, the character of women’s participation in acts of violence, or the attitude of municipal authorities towards cases of violence against representatives of the social margin. The article also refers to forms of verbal aggression and physical violence, also with the use of dangerous tools.

4

Prussian Registers of the Proscribed/Outlaws as a Source for Research on Violence in Everyday Life of a Town in the Late Middle Ages

58%

Jeziorski P. A.

|

EN

The main purpose of the presented text is an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of the registers of outlaws established in late medieval Prussian cities for the research on the issue of the presence of violence in the everyday life of Prussia’s inhabitants. The primary sources used in the article consisted of preserved registers from Prussian cities governed according to the rules of the Chełmno law (Bartoszyce, Chełmno, the New Town of Toruń) or the Lübeck law (the Old Town of Braniewo, Elbląg). The starting point for further analysis was the discussion of the basic differences between proscription (administrative coercion and procedural measure, aimed at forcing the accused to appear before the court) and banishment (temporary or lifelong exile from a specific territory). What the author also addresses in the text is the question: how the proscription, by the virtue of the Lübeck law, acquired a much more repressive character (exhibiting features typical of punishment). Subsequently, the characteristics of the preserved Prussian registers of outlaws (14th–16th centuries) were analyzed in terms of their usefulness for research. Attention was drawn to the shortcomings of these primary sources, primarily to their incompleteness (to a greater or lesser extent); the reasons for this situation were presented as well. Given these shortcomings, an attempt was made to demonstrate the usefulness of the preserved registers in historical investigations. It was pointed out that they could be used for research, e.g. on the origins of conflicts among specific socio-professional groups, the character of women’s participation in acts of violence, or the attitude of municipal authorities towards cases of violence against representatives of the social margin. The article also refers to forms of verbal aggression and physical violence, also with the use of dangerous tools.

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1 Acta Poloniae Historica

1 Przegląd Zachodniopomorski

1 Zapiski Historyczne

2 Czaja R.

2 Jeziorski P. A.

2 2019

1 2016

Quarters in the Municipal Authority System in Late Medieval Prussian Towns

Władztwo rady i gmina w reprezentacji dużych miast pruskich w średniowieczu

Prussian Registers of the Proscribed/Outlaws as a Source for Research on Violence in Everyday Life of a Town in the Late Middle Ages

Prussian Registers of the Proscribed/Outlaws as a Source for Research on Violence in Everyday Life of a Town in the Late Middle Ages