Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The paper focuses on an extract from the treasury archive of Vilnius Lower Castle from the 1640s. The research provides new data on the sociotopography of a part of the city of Vilnius and the suburb of Antakalnis (Antokol) in 1566 and reveals the fate of some documents kept in the treasury archive after 1655, when the Russian army occupied Vilnius and a fire ravaged the archive. The extract, which is published for the first time in this article, is included in the appendix.

Vilnius Cathedral Chapter established in 1388 by the Bishop of Poznań Dobrogost was lavishly endowed by grand dukes of Lithuania already in the first decades of its existence. In the second half of the 16th century and throughout the 17th century it was also allocated multiple donations from the nobility, higher clergy and other social groups of society which significantly increased the property owned by the cathedral chapter. Although there are quite a few studies analysing the compositional structure and politics pursued by Vilnius cathedral chapter, its financial situation has hitherto not been bestowed adequate attention by historians. This article investigates the annual income received from the common property of the chapter, i.e. the mensa communis as well as demesnes, manors, and houses in Vilnius allocated to the canons from the second half of the 16th century to the 18th century. The revenues coming from the common property were used to support the canons, as well as to defray the costs of the chapter as a corporation. The research is based upon the annual income-expenditure registers compiled by capitular procurators. It should be noted, however, that these registers do not cover the whole period and contain significant chronological gaps. The research revealed that the principal and, starting with the 18th century – the only, source of income was land (manors and groups of villages (districtus, włość)). The chapter rented part of its property to individual tenants, collecting quitrent (census) from the other part through the capitular procurators and local officers (urzędnik). Strzeszyn and Kamieniec were among the most profitable, although later, due to multiple donations, the financial significance of these territories declined. Starting with the 1750s, about 16–20% of the general income would come from interest rates of other manors owned by the chapter. Until the beginning of the 17th century the rent of inns, primarily the privileged inns in Vitebsk, was a significant source of income (about 20–30% of annual income). Later, the importance of this source of income declined and in the beginning of the 18th century these inns were distributed to individual canons or prelates. A small part (about 8%) of the general income came from the residents of the capitular jurisdiction in Vilnius who paid annual quitrent. However, insolvency, frequent fires and pestilence made this source of income unreliable and in the 17th century profits were even lower. Inquiry into income-expenditure registers revealed that in most cases the cathedral chapter managed to strike a balance between income and expenditure. The steadiest period was the second half of the 16th century when in most cases income exceeded expenditure by up to 30%. The financial situation witnessed by the 17th century was least stable. It is no wonder that the financial situation of the cathedral chapter was most complex following the Deluge and the Second Northern War which befell in the middle of the century. Financial situation in the 18th century was quite steady, however, expenditure would exceed income more frequently than not.