Metadata: Records of the City of Krakow. The Municipal Tribunal [Magisterial Court] records of Krakow (Scabinalia Cracoviensia)
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- National Archives in Krakow
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie
- Postal address:
- ul. Sienna 16, 30–960 Kraków
- Phone number:
- (+48 12) 422 40 94; (+48 12) 4212790; (+48 12) 421 68 81
- Web address:
- http://ank.gov.pl/
- Email:
- sekretariat@ank.gov.pl
- Reference number:
- PL 29/33
- Title:
- Records of the City of Krakow. The Municipal Tribunal [Magisterial Court] records of Krakow (Scabinalia Cracoviensia)
- Title (official language):
- Akta miasta Krakowa. Księgi ławnicze krakowskie (Scabinalia Cracoviensia)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Magisterial Court of the City of Krakow
- Date(s):
- 1300/1796
- Language:
- Latin
- Polish
- Extent:
- 88 large volumes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of municipal tribunal registers forms part of a larger collection of the records of the City of Krakow.
The core part of the municipal tribunal registers is composed of civil law-related entries, of which the most important were sale and purchase deeds, donations and transfers of real estate. Records of loans and debts, liens and pledges and last wills were also numerous.
Initially the Jews in Krakow made their entries in the registers by recording the deeds related to real estate, loans and pledges or liens. The municipal tribunal registers comprise a number of mentions of Jewish properties or those situated in platea Judeorum (in the Jewish street); some items specify the names of Jews dwelling in Krakow, including converts.
After 1500 Kazimierz grew to become the main Jewish hub. Its residents could submit petitions and make entries in the tribunal’s registers; these registers became somewhat less important in the later period, with mentions of Jewish properties or of location in the Jewish street supplemented by other sources of information, some of them more plentiful. Brief records were also replaced by more detailed ones. There are numerous mentions of last wills or property inventory lists of Krakow burghers, which report on pecuniary or commercial debts or other debts and liabilities contracted from Jews; larger contracts are not as frequently mentioned. The entries are found in large (and indeed large-format) registers (the records are of 300 to 500 running pages, fair copies several hundred pages each), of which there are several.
Jewish-related elements probably appear in all peer registers; so far they have been found in the Scabinalia Cracoviensia. The record contains these quantities for each date range: 3 (1390-97); 4 (1408-16), 5 (1419-30), 6 (1431-40); 7 (1447-59), 8 (1459-76), 9 (1500-13), 10 (1513-28), 11 (1528-38), 12 (1538-42), 13 (1542-47), 14 (1548-52), 15 (1552-57), 16 (1557-60), 17 (1560-64), 18 (1564-69), 19 (1569-74), 20 (1574-79), 21 (1579-83), 22 (1583-85), 23 (1586-88), 24 (1588-91), 25 (1591-94), 26 (1594-96), 27 (1597-1600), 28 (1600-03), 29 (1603-06), 30 (1607-10), 31 (1610-14), 32 (1614-19), 33 (1620-24), 34 (1625-31), 35 (1631-37), 36 (1637-42), 37 (1643-49), 38 (1650-60), 39 (1661-73), 40 (1674-88), 41 (1689-1705), 42 (1706-21), 43 (1706-21), 44 (1730-40), 45 (1747-55), 46 (1747-63), 47 (1755-75), 48 (1759-67), 49 (1763-74), 50 (1775-77), 52 (1777-88), 53 (1778-85), 55 (1781-93), 56 (1781-94), 57 (1786-94), 58 (1788-96), 59 (1788-90), 60 (1794-96), 61 (1796), 62 (1580-1691).
- Archival history:
- This register, being the earliest preserved municipal book of Krakow, comprises entries of the magisterial court and some made by the council. The registers were kept at the chancellery and town hall and began to be categorised at an undetermined time. In order to draw up fair copies, a chancellery of auxiliary municipal tribunal registers was set up. Wars and municipal officials’ habit of borrowing copies of registers to use at home were among the factors in the registers’ having partly perished. In the 19th century they were kept in several places simultaneously. The archive was gradually organised in the 19th century, with the original volumes (including a series of the tribunal (assessors’ and aldermen’s) registers) being restored. Whilst the missing fair copies (inducts) were complemented by records, years-long gaps could not be completely filled. A few volumes that were found at a later date have been included in the collection.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Krakow was organised into the Magdeburg municipal system after 1257. The local government included the wójt (vogt or mayor) – the office was initially hereditary and later appointed by the voivode on behalf of the king – an elective (later a life) council and the ława or bench (of aldermen and assessors), which made up the municipal tribunal or magisterial court). The distribution of responsibilities was neither strict nor consistent. Headed by the wójt, the tribunal administered justice, but from the 16th century criminal cases were taken over by the council along with other cases of higher relevance. The bench mainly accepted entries in its registers, particularly with respect to non-contentious civil cases. The aldermen or assessors were appointed by the council from the 16th century onward.
- Subject terms:
- Financial matters
- Legal records
- Real estate
- System of arrangement:
-
The Scabinalia Cracoviensia fond consists of several series of registers (books):
Ms. 1–62, Municipal Tribunal/Bench registers: the years 1300–75, 1376–97, 1416–1796.
Ms. 63–68, Asistiones (terms): 1530, 1541, 1554, 1578.
Ms. 67–68, Deposita: 1562–7, 1590–1590 (deposits submitted to the care of the authorities).
Ms. 69–82, Protocolla inscriptionum (records of inscriptions), 1649–96.
Ms. 317–322, Protocolla controversiarum (records of contentious/litigious cases), 1638–46, 1650–3, 1661, 1673, 1676–88.
- Access, restrictions:
- If a copy (microfilm, scan, photocopy) of a document exists, this is what will be made available. Older microfilms are of poor quality. Access to the originals requires the consent of the Director.
- Finding aids:
-
Inventory available online.
Information (several hundreds records) on this collection can be found online at http://www.uj.edu.pl/web/judaiki (Akta Miasta Krakowa; Scabinalia Cracoviensia, Scab. Crac.)
Also see:
Katalog Archiwum Aktów Dawnych Miasta Krakowa. II. Kraków. Rękopisy. Nr 1-3568, Kraków 1915, s. 1-11.
Żydzi w średniowiecznym Krakowie. Wypisy z ksiąg miejskich krakowskich. The Jews in mediaeval Cracow. Selected records from Cracow Municipal Books, prepared by Bożena Wyrozumska, Kraków 1995.
Najstarsze księgi i rachunki miasta Krakowa od r. 1300 do 1400, F. Piekosiński i J. Szujski, Kraków 1878.
Księgi ławnicze krakowskie 1365–1376 i 1390 –1397, S. Krzyżanowski, Kraków 1904.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Author of the description:
- Janusz S. Dąbrowski; Kraków; 2015
