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The Town Police and Police Regulations in Poland from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century

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Suproniuk J.

Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych

2006

vol. 66

25-88

The article discusses the introduction of increasingly expanded and detailed regulations relating to security and order in 13th century European towns, concerning predominantly curfews, the carrying of arms, and gambling. This process was discernible also in Polish towns, where the local regulations frequently, and with great precision, described the norms of the behaviour and conduct. In order to control the town population, execute the decisions of the town regulations, and supervise safety, municipal councils established assorted subordinate offices, including the town guard. The emergence of professional town services was the consequence of the progress of the medieval town. By absorbing immigrants arriving from various lands, the town could no longer rely on family ties, guild organisations or religious institutions. The municipal council took over control and the right to resort to violence in relation to the population. The range of the duties and competence of the town services assumed shape slowly. Representatives of the security apparatus comprised the actual police force involved in controlling the streets, the market square, and municipal fortifications, intervening in cases of clashes and brawls, as well as protecting the town hall and the city gates. It also fulfilled the function of a “trade” police, supervising the prices, weight, and quality of commodities, a 'fire service', controlling the equipment used for extinguishing fires, and prisonfunctionaries, escorting and guarding the inmates. The relatively small number of the services in question testify to the insufficient structural development of town offices. The seasonal nature of the work, the small remuneration, contacts with criminals, and felonies committed in the course of service affected the low social prestige of the representatives of the order-keeping services. Nonetheless, they remained a steady element of the model of security in the mediaeval and modern town, whose components included city regulations, municipal fortifications, and the order-keeping services. Upon certain occasions, this model was expanded by the confederations of towns.

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1 Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych

1 Suproniuk J.

1 2006

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The Town Police and Police Regulations in Poland from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century