Metadata: Vilnius butchers' guild
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo g. 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 970
- Title:
- Vilnius butchers' guild
- Title (official language):
- Vilniaus miesto mėsininkų cechas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vilnius butchers' guild
- Date(s):
- 1536/1894
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Latin
- Extent:
- 119 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains the materials of the Vilnius Butchers' Guild including privileges issued by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John II Casimir Vasa in the second half of the 17th century, court decisions and proceedings referring to the guild and its members, financial documents and minutes of the guild. The collection contains some Jewish-related records. A file from 1667 contains a privilege regulating relations between Jews and Christians granted by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John II Casimir Vasa (inventory 1, file 2). A file from 1724 includes declarations by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Augustus II the Strong regarding legal disputes between the Jewish Kahal in Vilna and the local guilds of butchers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, tanners and more (inventory 1, file 96). The disputes arose around financial claims. The documents in the file also mention similar judicial conflicts that arose between Jewish individuals in the city and these guilds.
- Archival history:
- In the late 19th century the records of the Vilnius Butchers' Guild were handed over to a special depository of various administrative institutions in Vilnius Governorate located in a former Franciscan Monastery in Vilnius. Later, materials of the depository formed the basis for the State Archive in Vilnius (Archiwum Panstwowe w Wilnie) established after World War I by Polish authorities.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Vilnius Butchers' Guild was established in 1596, when the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund III Vasa granted privilege and approved the statute of the guild. The guild was subordinated to the magistrate, and from 1812 to the Vilnius Provincial Board. In 1893 the guild was abolished by the order of the Vilnius Provincial Board.
King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John II was elected to the throne during the Khmelnitsky Rising which was followed by the Russo-Polish War. In the aftermath of the occupation of Vilnius by the Russian army in 1655, the Jewish population numbered only about 400 people, representing roughly 10 percent of the total population. Anti-Jewish activity by local artisan guilds and tensions between Jews and non-Jews forced Jews to seek renewal of their privilege several times.
- Access points: locations:
- Vilnius
- Subject terms:
- Guilds
- Jewish-Christian relations
- Privileges
- Professions
- Professions--Crafts
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory that is arranged in chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available on the website on the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin; Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People; 2021