Metadata: Inventories
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Vilnius University Library
- Holding institution (official language):
- Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka
- Postal address:
- Universiteto g. 3, 01513, Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 268 7100
- Web address:
- https://biblioteka.vu.lt/
- Email:
- mb@mb.vu.lt
- Reference number:
- F4
- Title:
- Inventories
- Title (official language):
- Inventoriai
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vilnius University Library
- Date(s):
- 1501/1860
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Latin
- Extent:
- 38,673 processed items
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains various types of records related to the economic and social history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian Empire (until 1860) and encompasses the wide territory of present-day Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The records include income and expenses registers, inventories of towns and villages, foundations, grants, court trials, contracts of inns, mills lease, etc., that were issued by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the state’s administrative institutions, municipal authorities, private nobles (Radziwiłł, Sapieha), or Church organisations. The collection contains information relating to the following Jewish communities: Vilnius (Wilno), Kėdainiai (Kiejdany), Ukmergė (Wiłkomierz), Jurbarkas (Jurbork), Grodno, Brześć, Nowa Mysz, Oszmiana, Indura, Różana, Słonim, Słuck, Rzeczyca, Bobrujsk, Kobryń, dating from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 18th centuries.
The collection has numerous administrative sources such as registers and inventories, typically of estates held by noble families. The first inventory of Kodeń lands (Poland) comes from 1599, where Jews are mentioned as mills leasers (F4-(A1710)34296). An inventory from 1747 of Korzec castle and its estate contains information about Jews and their leased property such as inns and mills (F4-(A1711)34297). Another file contains the inventory of Białołówka (Ukraine) from 1751 describing its real estate, castle, inns, mills and serfs’ taxes, as well as the list of inhabitants of Białołówka, including Jews (F4-(A1665)34256). The inventory of Skuodas town and district also contains information about Jews (F4-(A1892)12128). The estate register of Łunna (Grodno district, Belarus) from 1754 contains information about the Jews living in the estate (F4-(A1405)39688). The file from 1832 contains an inventory from Zelwa county (Belarus) that was created following the confiscation of the estate of Eustachy Kajetan Sapieha. It contains information about the buildings and their owners in Zelwa (Belarus), a list of town dwellers and the taxes they paid (F4-(A953a)30611). The file related to Skuodas contains registers of Christian burghers and Jews who paid the land tax (Polish: czynsz) including a list of town dwellers and their property (F4-(A3002)12139). The collection also has a file on returned debt verification letters from the Jewish community of Vilnius from 1685-1698 and 1742-1747 (F4-(A1920)34472) etc.
Many files are related to individual or communal contracts of inns, customs, mills, etc. The file from 1600 contains Grodno custom records which mentions Jewish merchants. The Jurbarkas customs register from 1613 contains information about the possessions of Samuel Moyzeszewicz (F4-(A1700)13155a). The file from 1663 contains information about Bogusław Radziwiłł’s leased rights to the Jewish community of Słuck (F4-(A213)16749). The file contains information about the regulations of manor leasing to Wolf Izaakowicz. The file from 1707 contains information about the leased rights of the monastery of Supraśl Basilian monks to sell alcohol in nearby villages and two mills to Abraom Heber (F4-(A3897)36528). The file from 1717 contains information about rights leased to Bersk Salamoniwicz by the Basilian order to run an inn (F4-(A3897)36549). The file from 1677 includes a confirmation letter that Symon Zuszmanowicz and Aron Litmanowicz agreed on an inn lease in Supraśl volost with the Basilian order’s archimandrite (F4-(A3897)36517), etc.
A separate group of files relate to judicial matters regarding economic activities, property matters or Christian-Jewish relations that determined the Jews’ position in the towns. The file from 1666 contains information about the Kėdainiai (Kiejdany) magistrate’s appeal to the town owner accusing Jews of assaulting and killing Christian burghers (F4-(A215)16997). The file from 1663 contains a decree of the high treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with orders to pay unpaid taxes to the Jewish communities of Ukmergė, Upytė and Žemaitija districts (F4-(A213)16770). The file from 1683 contains records of a court trial between Grodno Bernardine monastery and the Jews of Grodno because of towns’ brickworks and lands (F4-(A3891)36483). The file from 1686 relates to the court trial between Kėdainiai (Kiejdany) burghers and the Jewish community who were accused of living in the town in violation of town rules that were set by the Radziwiłłs family.
The file from 1752 contains a decree of the commissar-court in the case between Joniškis (Janiszki) lantwójt and other Christian town citizens and the inn-leasers Awsiem and Zawel Hirszowicza, Sąskalnio (Soskalnskiem) and Pošupiai (Poszupski) Icik Notelewicz, who were accused of bribing convert Anton Szymkiewicz to burn the houses of lantwójt and other town-dwellers (F4-(A3903)39822). The file from 1723 contains a promissory note, in which the Jew Noachim confirms that he borrowed money from the Basilian monastery in Boruny (Belarus) and promises to return the loan. The note consists of information about the terms of the loan and contains his signature (F4-(A660)26022). The file from 1738 consists of a court summons to the elders of the Jewish community of Smorgoń (Belarus) regarding unpaid debts (F4-(A657)25576). The file from 1773 consists of excerpts of regulatory acts that shaped the Jews’ ownership of immovable property in the town (F4-(A210)16488). The file from 1773 consists of a letter in which Joachim Chudowski from Šnipiškės (Śnipiszki) agreed to return his loan to the Basilian monasteries of Nowogródek and Ławryszewo (F4-(A722)27953). The file from 1787 consists of a summons to Berk Hirszowicz from Rzeczyca (Belarus) to the land court for an unpaid debt (F4(A-770)29394). The file from 1788 consists of a summons to Abraham Jankielowicz from Żłobin (Belarus) and his lord Jan Chalecki, for an unpaid debt (F4(A-771)29481).
- Archival history:
- The collection was created by Vilnius University Library, Department of Manuscripts.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The largest part of documents in this collection is related to magnate families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and their estates, mostly the Radziwiłł and Sapieha families. The Radziwiłł family was a magnate family that played a vital role in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 15th and 18th centuries, as its members were leading figures and held the most important central and local ruling positions. The Radziwiłł family played a huge role in the formation of towns in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as they developed such towns as Nieśwież, Słuck, Kiejdany and others within their estates, all of which had large Jewish communities during the 16th-18th centuries.
The Sapieha family was magnate family that played an important role from the 16th to the 18th century. The family rose into power in the 16th century, as Lew Sapieha (1557-1633) the most well-known representative of this family, became one of the most important figures of that time. The Sapieha family owned estates in present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland, a huge private territory including towns such as Różana, Kodeń, etc.
The collection also includes documents that were issued by the Basilian monastery of Supraśl (founded in 1498), the Bernardine monastery of Grodno (founded 1494) and others, which leased inns, mills, breweries, etc. or gave loans to individual Jews or Jewish communities.
- Finding aids:
- The collection has one unfinished inventory from 1947. The main aid is the computerised catalogue of the Vilnius University library. The full catalogue is accessible at the Vilnius university library Department of Manuscripts reading room. Some of the documents are available online.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://biblioteka.vu.lt/en/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
