Financial Obligations of the City of Gdańsk to King Casimir IV Jagiellon and His Successors in the Light of the 1468–1516 Ledger Book

Abstract

In 1468, a new account book was opened at Gdańsk’s city chancery to keep a record of payments made in connection with the financial obligations imposed on the city by Casimir IV Jagiellon, the King of Poland (1447–1492). These obligations took the form of rent, which, in accordance with a royal privilege of June 1454, Gdańsk (Danzig) was to pay to the king and his successors, in recognition of the monarch’s authority and sovereignty. The rent was set at 2,000 Hungarian florins, to be paid in two equal instalments — 1,000 florins on the Feast of St John the Baptist (24 June) and 1,000 florins on Christmas Day (25 December). Gdańsk was awarded two further privileges in 1455, when the king granted the city the right to draft its own set of laws and the right to levy taxes, and later, during the visit made by Casimir IV in May 1457, yet more privileges were bestowed on the city (on 15 and 25 May), uniting the Old, Main and New Towns, as well as the Osiek district, under a single council, and affording the city a wide range of commercial rights and freedoms regarding maritime policy. Casimir ennobled the Gdańsk coat-of-arms (two silver crosses set against a red background) by introducing a gold crown above the two crosses (Simson, 1913; Biskup, 1952, pp. 67–132; Możejko, 2004, pp. 16–21; Możejko, 2008, pp. 17–18). These privileges came about as a consequence of the king’s decision to incorporate Prussia, including Gdańsk, into Poland in March 1454, which in turn led to the Polish-Teutonic conflict known as the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) (Biskup, 1967).