Confirmation of the exemption of the city of Lviv from the obligation of providing transport services (podwody) by King Sigismund II Augustus

SIGISMUND AUGUST, by the grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, etc., lord and heir. We hereby announce to all and each person concerned by this letter: That whereas the illustrious proconsul and consuls of our city of Lviv were summoned before our presence by our triple order, or writ, at the request of the instigator of our treasury affairs, on the grounds that, contrary to the constitution and ordinance passed at the General Sejm of the Kingdom in Warsaw, they did not pay or contribute to our treasury and exchequer the monetary contribution for transport services, that is, three parts of the public tax called the single 'szos', withheld for three years, to the no small detriment of our treasury, and to hear how, for such audacity, they are to be sentenced to pay our treasury a specified amount of the said withheld taxes, as well as be condemned to other penalties and damages resulting therefrom, as is more fully contained in the said writ. Then, on the date specified in the same writ, these our Lviv burghers appeared before us at the current General Sejm of the Kingdom in Lublin through the illustrious Jerzy Werner and Jan Zaleski, councilors, and Stanisław Anserm, scribe of Lviv, their envoys and plenipotentiaries, and presented the privilege of the once of blessed [?] memory Władysław, King of Poland, by virtue of which they were exempted and freed from all transport services for all time. In the continuous use and peaceful possession of this same privilege and freedom, the said burghers have always been maintained until now, which they legally proved before us with valid and authentic reasons. Furthermore, although by the Warsaw constitution all freedoms from transport services were abolished for all cities, yet because the city of Lviv itself lies close to the borders of the Kingdom and for this reason is exposed to frequent enemy dangers and sieges, to the repelling and containment of which it is forced to bear great costs and expenses, they therefore beseeched us that, regardless of the Warsaw constitution, in accordance with this privilege of the once divine Władysław, which they had peacefully enjoyed in past times without any [?] dispute, we might deign to preserve, protect, and maintain them according to our royal benevolence. We, therefore, considering that nothing so commends any ruler and nothing gains him greater goodwill among the peoples subject to him, and greater glory and fame among almost all nations, as the just administration of the Republic, which consists in the inviolable preservation of many rights and freedoms, and having fully examined the privilege of the once divine Władysław and those immunities of theirs, in the possession and continuous use of which they were maintained by our predecessors until now, and also having weighed in our mind the reasons cited both by the instigator of our treasury and by the councilors and our Lviv burghers, by our royal will and generosity, with the justice of the matter itself requiring it, at this current Sejm of the Kingdom in Lublin we have deemed it proper to rule and hereby rule that these illustrious mayor and councilors and the entire city of Lviv, present and future, are free and exempt from paying, giving, and contributing, and from all monetary levies on account of any transport services due to us and our successors for any reason, so that they are not to be obliged or compelled to provide other money or horses on account of transport service contributions by us, our chamberlains, or anyone else in our name. As we are satisfied [?], by this our decree we declare them for all time free and exempt from this duty, contribution, and burdens, from which they were freed by the said privilege of the divine Władysław, establishing that those former freedoms from transport services of our city of Lviv, graciously and for certain reasons granted by our ancestors, shall have force and permanence, and never henceforth shall any constitutions to be passed in the future contrary to this be able to harm their above-written freedoms; for this reason, we also release our sued Lviv burghers forever from the writ, legal assault, and the case by means of this our decree. In witness and more evident testimony of which, our seal has been affixed to this. Given in Lublin at the General Sejm of the Kingdom, on the twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine, and the fortieth year of our reign. Sigismund August, the King signed with his own hand. [On the reverse:] ARCHIVE OF ANCIENT ACTS OF THE CITY OF LVIV No. 547 from bundle 164. 1569 Decree of Sigismund August regarding freedom from transport services. J Acts of the Kingdom Of. 1

[Inicjał i tytulatura majuskułą:] SIGISMVNDVS AVGVSTVS Dei gra[tia] Rex Poloniæ magnus Dux Lithuaniæ Russiæ Prussiæ Masoviæ Samogitiæ etc. dominus et hæres Significamus præsentibus literis n[ost]ris quorum in[te]rest vniuersis et singulis. Q[uo]d cu[m] famati Proconsul et Consules ciuitatis n[ost]r[a]e Leopoliensis, trina ma[n] dati siue citationis n[ost]r[a]e ad instanciam instigatoris causarum fisci n[ost]ri in præsentiam n[ost]ram vocati e[ss]ent. Ideo quia ipsi contraveniendo constitutioni atq[ue] ordinationi in conuentu Regni generali Varsouien[si] laudatæ contributionem pecuniariam Podwoda rum tres partes videlicet exactionis publicæ schosz Simple vocatæ per triennium retenta ad tesaurum et fiscum n[ost]rum non soluerint nec intulerint in damnum non mediocre fisci n[ost]ri ad videndumq[ue] eos ob h[uius]m[od]i temeritatem in summa definita retentarum prædictarum exactionum fisco n[ost]ro applicari et in aliis poenis damnisq[ue] inde subsequutis condemnari decerni veluti ea reliqua in ciuatione præfata latius continentur. Interim itaq[ue] e Citatione huiusmodi præfixo d[omi]ni ciues ipsi n[ost]ri Leopolien[ses] per fa matos Georgium Vvemer, Joannem Zaleskj Consultis stanislaum Ansermum Notarium Leopoliensem nuncios et plenipotentes suos coram nobis in præsenti conuentione Regni generali Lublinensi comparerent, Priuilegium olim S[an]ct[æ] [?] f[elicis?] m[emoriae] Vla dislai Poloniae Regis quo ab vniuersis Podwodis temporibus perpetuis exempti et liberati sunt exhibuerunt: In cuius quidem priuilegij et libertatis continuo vsu ac pacifica po[sse]ssione dicti ciues semper hactenus conseruati fuerant quod rationibus iustis et autenticis legitime coram nobis comprobaverunt, porro licet constitutione Qvarssouien[si] omnes libertates Podwodarum vniuersis ciuitatibus sunt sublatæ tamen quoniam ciuitas ipsa Leopoliensis prope fines Regni existat atq[ue] ob eam rem pe riculis hostilibus et oppugnationibus crebris exposita sit ad quas propellendas et propulsandas multos sumptus et impensas vt faciat necesse est. Itaq[ue] supplicauerunt nobis vt illos non obstante constitutione Warsouien[si] secundum hoc priuilegium diui olim Vladislai quo conuexuis temporibus siner[?]la controuersia pacifice vsi sunt, conseruari foueri atq[ue] manu tenere pro n[ost]ra Regia clementia dignaremur. Nos igitur animaduertentes nil esse quod magis quemuis Principem commendet, quodq[ue] illi apud subiectos sibi populos maiorem beneuolentiam et apud omnes prope gentes ampliorem laudem et gloriam conciliet, quam iustiq[ue] quam in legibus et libertatibus multis integre conseruandis consistit. Reipublicæ admini stratio, atq[ue] examinato plene diui olim Vladislai priuilegio illisq[ue] immunitatibus eorum in quorum vsu ac continua po[sse]ssione a prædecessoribus n[ost]ris huc usq[ue] conseruati fuerunt, et perpensis apud animum n[ost]r[u]m tum instigatoris fisci n[ost]ri qua ctiam Consulu[m] et ciuium n[ost]rorum Leopoliensium adductis rationibus de voluntate et munificentia n[ost]ra Regia postulante id ipsius rei æquitate: In hoc conuentu Regni præsenti Lublinen[si] decernendu[m] duximus, decernimusq[ue] præsentibus ipsos fa consulem et consules totamq[ue] ciuitatem n[r]am Leopoliensen nunc et in posterum exi[st]en[tibus] a solutione datione et contributione ac quauis pecuniaria exactione Podwodarum quorumcumq[ue] nobis et successoribus n[ost]ris quacunq[ue] r[ati]o[n]e pertinentibus, liberos et immunes ita vt neq[ue] ad alias pecunias neq[ue] ad equos dandos r[ati]o[n]e contributionis Podwodarum a nobis Cubicularijsq[ue] n[ost]ris aut a quocunq[ue] alio nomine n[ost]ro exigi teneantur et astringantur. Prout decreto n[ost]ro p[ræsen]ti[?] contentus eosde[m] liberos et immunes ab hac seruitute et contributione oneribusq[ue] Caquibus priuilegio præfato diui wladislai exempti sunt pronunciamus perpetuis temporibus decernen[tes] eas libertates priores a Podwodis ciuitatis n[ost]r[a]e Leopolien[sis] ab an cessoribus n[ost]ris benigne et ex certis rationibus conceßas vim et robur habituras nec deinceps ullo vnquam tempore constitutionis aliquas in contrarium laudandas libertatibus illorum suprascriptis obstare posse, ex ea q[uo]q[ue] r[ati]one citatos ci ues n[ost]ros Leopolien[ses] liberos a citatione impetitione et a causa jacimus in perpetuum hoc decreto n[ost]ro mediante. In cuius rei fidem testimoniumq[ue] euidencius sigillum n[ost]r[u]m præsentibus est subimpressum. Datu[m] Lublini in conuentione Regni generali, die vigesima quinta Maii Anno domini Millesimo quingentesimo sexagesimo nono Regni vero n[ost]ri Quadragesimo. [Podpis własnoręczny:] Sigismundus Augustus Rex s[ub]s[cripsit] [Verso:] [Ślad pieczęci lakowej/tuszu archiwalnego:] ARCHIWUM AKT DAWNYCH MIASTA LWOWA [Inskrypcje z różnych epok:] No 547 ex Fasc. 164. 1569 Decretum super libertate Podwodarum Sigis: Augusti J Acta R[e]gni Of. 1