LVIV ACCOUNT BOOK AS A SOURSE FOR THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF THE TOWN IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 15TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the elder town’s income-expenditure book which is considered as a source for the social stratification of the city of Lviv from 1404 to 1414. The main problems which are stated from the analysis of the book’s registries (registrum) connected to the citizen’s status and their occupation. It is also revealed the peculiarities of the connections between the city authorities and inhabitants. The account registries of the book exposed the average quantity of the dwellers who were obliged to pay a different kind of taxes, especially a szos which was levied from the citizens who had the property. Additionally, it showed that the registrum of the book could also be interpreted not only as an economic constituent of Lviv in the 15th century but also as a source for the depiction of the various spheres of citizen lives. For instance, the taxes registers provided a broad range of communities which were engaged in merchantry, craftsmanship, renovation work, and light manufacturing. We could find in the sources their titles, names, and sort of occupation. Notably, most of the citizens who were involved in a different kind of work received from the town’s government encouragement in the form of monetary payments and another benefit. The texts of the registries at the book have also shown capitulary of the middle ages Lviv streets. According to this, my presumption was stated to account how many dwellers had lived at the one the street and even if they did how it is calculated due to the average amount of Lviv’s citizens. Forasmuch as the Polish historian Stanislaw Kutrzeba idea was stated that at the beginning of the 15th century it was at least 2481 citizens of Lviv.