DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25050#0024
guild-members and half from merchant patriciate. The autonomy
of the city was relatively limited: still living was the memory of the
1311 rebellion, when Ladislaus the Short repealed most of the
mjt’s prerogatives; another factor was distrust towards the Ger-
man patriciate. As a symbol of the full sovereignty of his state,
Casimir the Great created in 1356 a higher court of German law
sitting in the Wawel, in order to remove the need to travel to the
appellate court in Magdeburg. Sometimes seen as directed against
the Germanized Cracow is Casimir’s decision to found a new
town, Kazimierz, south of the Wawel, across the former bed of the
Vistula River. But the founding of new towns was a common
practice when fortifications prevented further territorial expan-
sion. In 1366 a town charter was also granted to Kleparz, also
known as Florencja, on the opposite side of Cracow, across from
the St Florian Gate.
The bulk of economic activity in the city was done by
craftsmen, who gradually organized themselves into guilds, which
protected their members’ interests and specified in detail the
conditions for acquiring a profession and performing it. Also of
major importance was the salt mining in neighbouring Wieliczka
and Bochnia. Gradually improving were conditions for trade,
which was conducted along two routes which intersected in
Cracow: the south-north route from Hungary to Gdansk, and the
east-west route from the German states to the shores of the Black
Sea. Cracow merchants increased their markets with Casimir the
Great’s policy of eastward expansion and the annexation of Red
Ruthenia with Lvov. A major part of the eastern trading route was
now on Polish territory, and Cracow fiercely competed with
Wroclaw, Torun and other cities for a monopoly over it. The city
also maintained its old commercial links with Nuremberg, the
Hanseatic cities, and even with distant Flanders. In this field the
Cracow merchants enjoyed the full support of the king, who
granted a number of privileges and exemptions in an effort to
protect their interests. A significant part of financial and commer-
cial operations passed into the hands of Italians who settled in
21
of the city was relatively limited: still living was the memory of the
1311 rebellion, when Ladislaus the Short repealed most of the
mjt’s prerogatives; another factor was distrust towards the Ger-
man patriciate. As a symbol of the full sovereignty of his state,
Casimir the Great created in 1356 a higher court of German law
sitting in the Wawel, in order to remove the need to travel to the
appellate court in Magdeburg. Sometimes seen as directed against
the Germanized Cracow is Casimir’s decision to found a new
town, Kazimierz, south of the Wawel, across the former bed of the
Vistula River. But the founding of new towns was a common
practice when fortifications prevented further territorial expan-
sion. In 1366 a town charter was also granted to Kleparz, also
known as Florencja, on the opposite side of Cracow, across from
the St Florian Gate.
The bulk of economic activity in the city was done by
craftsmen, who gradually organized themselves into guilds, which
protected their members’ interests and specified in detail the
conditions for acquiring a profession and performing it. Also of
major importance was the salt mining in neighbouring Wieliczka
and Bochnia. Gradually improving were conditions for trade,
which was conducted along two routes which intersected in
Cracow: the south-north route from Hungary to Gdansk, and the
east-west route from the German states to the shores of the Black
Sea. Cracow merchants increased their markets with Casimir the
Great’s policy of eastward expansion and the annexation of Red
Ruthenia with Lvov. A major part of the eastern trading route was
now on Polish territory, and Cracow fiercely competed with
Wroclaw, Torun and other cities for a monopoly over it. The city
also maintained its old commercial links with Nuremberg, the
Hanseatic cities, and even with distant Flanders. In this field the
Cracow merchants enjoyed the full support of the king, who
granted a number of privileges and exemptions in an effort to
protect their interests. A significant part of financial and commer-
cial operations passed into the hands of Italians who settled in
21