DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0033
Europe. The gentry greatly increased the area of land under cultivation, at the same time excluding local
merchants from participation in this trade. The Piotrkow Statutes, passed at the end of the i 5 th century,
prohibited the burghers from owning landed property, excluded them from service in the army and repre-
sentation in the Seym. The autonomy of towns was gradually restricted. Attempts were made to eliminate
guilds altogether, and when this proved impossible, voivodes were given the right to decide the prices of
guild products, with the intention of keeping them as low as possible. This policy was in the interest of
the gentry who were the principal consumers of urban products, but of course did not favour development
of craftsmanship. The gentry's policy on tariffs was disastrous to local industry since it exempted them
from the payment of customs dues and enabled them to purchase goods abroad at prices substantially
lower than those which local tradesmen or merchants could offer. Facilities were extended to foreign
merchants bringing their wares to Poland, whereas local merchants and tradesmen were forbidden to export
their goods abroad. These ridiculous Seym regulations brought temporary short-term benefits to the gentry,
but in the long run gave rise to the ruin of the towns and undermined the country's prosperity. Urban
jurisdiction was restricted through the establishment of what was known as gentry jurisdictions, or town
districts belonging to members of the gentry and exempt from the jurisdiction of municipal authorities.
Bent on weakening the burghers and breaking their unity, the gentry granted special privileges to the more
important towns, such as Cracow, Vilna and Gdansk, which were allowed to send their representatives
to the Seym as observers; their burghers were permitted to own land, and in special circumstances could
even be raised to the gentry estate. Gdansk obtained the greatest privileges, among them the monopoly
of grain trade with the Polish gentry. Simultaneously the conviction took root among the Polish gentry
that the estate of burghers was not an honourable one. It was considered shameful for a member of the
gentry to engage in trade or industry and to hold municipal offices; a nobleman so doing risked losing
his noble status. The many wars, incursions and lootings which were the scourge of Poland in the 17th
century, the Swedish invasion in particular, contributed to the ultimate ruin of Polish towns. In that same
period the peasants' living conditions also deteriorated substantially, primarily owing to a change in the
farming practices of the gentry, the principal owners of land. Formerly, the gentry lived on rent paid
by the peasants. Now, they began farming their land themselves, endeavouring to get as large an area
as possible under cultivation. Hence the growing demand for labour, in the form of serf labour.
At the same time, craftsmanship began to develop on magnate and gentry estates. The first manufactures
owned by magnates employing village labour were formed in the 17th century. Feudal by nature, they
were not intended for profit but satisfied the needs of the magnate owner by producing goods to adorn
his attire and his residence and to serve as gifts intended to captivate friends or placate enemies. At first
there was no question of pecuniary gain; on the contrary, as a rule the running of such manufactories
necessitated the expenditure of great sums of money.
In that period, artistic crafts in Poland were characterized by a great variety of form and style. Alongside
objects manufactured at home according to West European styles and taste, and large quantities of foreign
goods imported from Italy, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Persia, the Crimea, Muscovy
and Novgorod, a national style began to develop. Known as the Sarmatian style it absorbed consecutively
Late Renaissance, Baroque, Mannerist, Rococo and Classicist elements but always retained its basic
national character.
Sarmatism was an ideological trend specific to the Commonwealth of the gentry. It abounded in con-
tradictions; it was both mythomaniacal and creative, fascinating and rapacious, at times obscurantist,
backward and overpowering. It was an ideology which moulded national awareness for the longest
period of time, since its origins date back to the end of the 1 5th century, and its epilogue came with the
neo-Sarmatism of the 19th and even 20th centuries. Sarmatism was rooted in the. erroneous conviction
that the Polish people were descended from the ancient Sarmatians, a nomadic people of Iranian origin,
closely related to the Scythians, who until the 3rd century B.C. inhabited territories between the Don and
Lower Volga. The Sarmatians were excellent fighting horsemen, armed with swords, bows and arrows.
In course of their wanderings they reached the Danube, thus coming in contact with the Roman Empire.
Hard pressed by the Goths, Huns and Slavs, in the first centuries A.D. some Sarmatian tribes recognized
the supremacy of Rome and settled in provinces along the Danube. Later, the name Sarmatia was extended
to cover territories north of Dacia, the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Seeking the origins of the Polish
people, the Polish 16th century chroniclers, Maciej of Miechow and Marcin Bielski in particular,
erroneously interpreted some Roman historians and advanced the thesis that in the first centuries A.D.
merchants from participation in this trade. The Piotrkow Statutes, passed at the end of the i 5 th century,
prohibited the burghers from owning landed property, excluded them from service in the army and repre-
sentation in the Seym. The autonomy of towns was gradually restricted. Attempts were made to eliminate
guilds altogether, and when this proved impossible, voivodes were given the right to decide the prices of
guild products, with the intention of keeping them as low as possible. This policy was in the interest of
the gentry who were the principal consumers of urban products, but of course did not favour development
of craftsmanship. The gentry's policy on tariffs was disastrous to local industry since it exempted them
from the payment of customs dues and enabled them to purchase goods abroad at prices substantially
lower than those which local tradesmen or merchants could offer. Facilities were extended to foreign
merchants bringing their wares to Poland, whereas local merchants and tradesmen were forbidden to export
their goods abroad. These ridiculous Seym regulations brought temporary short-term benefits to the gentry,
but in the long run gave rise to the ruin of the towns and undermined the country's prosperity. Urban
jurisdiction was restricted through the establishment of what was known as gentry jurisdictions, or town
districts belonging to members of the gentry and exempt from the jurisdiction of municipal authorities.
Bent on weakening the burghers and breaking their unity, the gentry granted special privileges to the more
important towns, such as Cracow, Vilna and Gdansk, which were allowed to send their representatives
to the Seym as observers; their burghers were permitted to own land, and in special circumstances could
even be raised to the gentry estate. Gdansk obtained the greatest privileges, among them the monopoly
of grain trade with the Polish gentry. Simultaneously the conviction took root among the Polish gentry
that the estate of burghers was not an honourable one. It was considered shameful for a member of the
gentry to engage in trade or industry and to hold municipal offices; a nobleman so doing risked losing
his noble status. The many wars, incursions and lootings which were the scourge of Poland in the 17th
century, the Swedish invasion in particular, contributed to the ultimate ruin of Polish towns. In that same
period the peasants' living conditions also deteriorated substantially, primarily owing to a change in the
farming practices of the gentry, the principal owners of land. Formerly, the gentry lived on rent paid
by the peasants. Now, they began farming their land themselves, endeavouring to get as large an area
as possible under cultivation. Hence the growing demand for labour, in the form of serf labour.
At the same time, craftsmanship began to develop on magnate and gentry estates. The first manufactures
owned by magnates employing village labour were formed in the 17th century. Feudal by nature, they
were not intended for profit but satisfied the needs of the magnate owner by producing goods to adorn
his attire and his residence and to serve as gifts intended to captivate friends or placate enemies. At first
there was no question of pecuniary gain; on the contrary, as a rule the running of such manufactories
necessitated the expenditure of great sums of money.
In that period, artistic crafts in Poland were characterized by a great variety of form and style. Alongside
objects manufactured at home according to West European styles and taste, and large quantities of foreign
goods imported from Italy, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Persia, the Crimea, Muscovy
and Novgorod, a national style began to develop. Known as the Sarmatian style it absorbed consecutively
Late Renaissance, Baroque, Mannerist, Rococo and Classicist elements but always retained its basic
national character.
Sarmatism was an ideological trend specific to the Commonwealth of the gentry. It abounded in con-
tradictions; it was both mythomaniacal and creative, fascinating and rapacious, at times obscurantist,
backward and overpowering. It was an ideology which moulded national awareness for the longest
period of time, since its origins date back to the end of the 1 5th century, and its epilogue came with the
neo-Sarmatism of the 19th and even 20th centuries. Sarmatism was rooted in the. erroneous conviction
that the Polish people were descended from the ancient Sarmatians, a nomadic people of Iranian origin,
closely related to the Scythians, who until the 3rd century B.C. inhabited territories between the Don and
Lower Volga. The Sarmatians were excellent fighting horsemen, armed with swords, bows and arrows.
In course of their wanderings they reached the Danube, thus coming in contact with the Roman Empire.
Hard pressed by the Goths, Huns and Slavs, in the first centuries A.D. some Sarmatian tribes recognized
the supremacy of Rome and settled in provinces along the Danube. Later, the name Sarmatia was extended
to cover territories north of Dacia, the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Seeking the origins of the Polish
people, the Polish 16th century chroniclers, Maciej of Miechow and Marcin Bielski in particular,
erroneously interpreted some Roman historians and advanced the thesis that in the first centuries A.D.