Privilege of King Władysław IV exempting the Armenians of Lwów from crown customs duties

WŁADYSŁAW The Fourth, by the grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, Smolensk, and Chernihiv, and also hereditary King of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals. We hereby make known by this our letter to all and each person concerned. We always adhere to the principle of increasing and augmenting the benefits and advantages of our subjects, such that if we ever understand that they have fallen into a worse situation, we ought to come to their aid without hesitation through our royal grace and benevolence, deeming it right to have regard for their affairs, from which no small benefit accrues to us and the Commonwealth. Since, however, from the frequent petitions of the elders of the Lwów Armenians and their community, who have long been established by our most illustrious predecessors, we have learned that they have currently found themselves in such a position and have so declined that they can with difficulty maintain their lives, and this is mainly for the reason and cause that, since some cities in our Kingdom have been declared free and exempt from all customs duties by virtue of crown constitutions, they take away the trading opportunities from the Lwów newcomers and become the greatest obstacle to their commerce, so much so that they can neither dispose of nor sell their goods, which they bring from distant lands with great effort and expense and at the greatest danger to their property, at a fair price, because of which they are forced to leave and change their dwellings and move elsewhere. Therefore, we, considering this together with our advisors sitting at our side, by reason of that benevolence which we owe and are accustomed to show to all our subjects, so that our cities, which are subject to our supreme governance and royal protection and are an ornament in times of peace and a salvation in times of war for the Commonwealth, do not fall into scarcity and abandonment, and do not fall into a worse state and perish due to little public benefit with great harm to the Commonwealth. We have deemed it appropriate to do this, so that to the aforementioned Armenians living within the walls in our city of Lwów, with a similar freedom that some cities in our Kingdom enjoy by virtue of the constitution, also by our royal grace – caring for the preservation of their property acquired through long time and great labor and sweat – we grant freedom and immunity from paying similar customs duties to the Commonwealth and permit them to use them, just as by this our letter we grant and permit and allow them to enjoy and use, with the reservation that they be free and exempt from all customs duties by reason of any goods and money that they will export and import to and from the Kingdom and transport with said persons, provided, however, that they be recorded in the registers by the customs officers and the notary appointed for this activity by the Grand Crown Treasurer, and that the registers be faithfully kept until a future decision at the General Crown Sejm. Concerning which we wish to make known to all and each person concerned, especially to the administrators of customs, tax collectors within the borders of our Kingdom, and those staying in any other places, and we order them to preserve and maintain the above-mentioned citizens of Lwów in that freedom and immunity mentioned and specified above, and also to ensure their preservation and maintenance, and that for this reason they do not dare to cause them any nuisance or difficulty, under penalty of losing our grace. In witness whereof, this [letter] signed by our hand we have ordered to be strengthened with the crown seal. Given in Warsaw, on the fifth day of the month of September, in the year of our Lord 1642, and in the tenth year of our reign in Poland, and the eleventh in Sweden. Władysław King [On the fold on the right:] Exemption for the Lwów Armenians living within the walls from paying customs duties. [Under the fold on the right, chancellery note:] Jan Gembicki, Crown Secretary [by his own hand] [Verso:] JH No. 2491 1642 Letter S. During the chancellorship of the father in Christ Lord Piotr Gembicki, Bishop of Przemyśl and Crown Chancellor 1642 [Other chancellery and archival notes, including a stamp: Archive of Ancient Acts of the City of Lwów] [Seal: Wax crown seal of Władysław IV in a metal case, suspended on a white-green silk cord].

VLADISLAVS Quartus Dei gratia Rex Poloniae, Magnus Dux Lithuaniae, Russiae, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Livoniae, Smolensciae, Czerniechoviaeque; Nec non Suecorum, Gothorum, Vandalorumque Haereditarius Rex. Significamus praesentibus literis nostris quorum interest universis et singulis. Eam nos semper in augendis promovendisque Subditorum Nostrorum commodis ac emolumentis tenere rationem, ut si aliquando ad deteriorem conditionem eos devenire intellexerimus, non gravatim iisdem gratia et beneficentia Nostra Regia subsidio subvenire debeamus, dignum iudicantes ut ipsorum rationibus consulamus ex quibus Nobis et Reipublicae non mediocre accedit emolumentum. Quoniam vero ex frequentibus Seniorum Armenorum Leopoliensium Communitatisque eorum supplicationibus qui sunt abantiquo fundati a Serenissimis Antecessoribus Nostris intelleximus in eam ipsos ad praesens devenisse, et delapsos esse conditionem, et difficilem rationem vitae sustentandae habeant, ex ea potissimum ratione et causa quod cum nonnullae Civitates in Regno Nostro existentes vigore Constitutionum Regni a Theloneis quibusvis liberae et immunes pronuntiatae sint, eorumdemque negotiationum rationes advenis Leopoliensibus praeripiant, et summo merexendis mercimoniis eisdem existant impedimento, adeo ut merces eorumdem quas maximis sumptibus ac impensis, summoque cum discrimine solutis et fortunarum suarum ex longinquis Regionibus transportant, relevare nec iusto pretio divendere possint, quamobrem domicilia sua deserere ac mutare et alio sese transferre cogantur. Deinde Nos cum Consiliariis Nostris ad praesens lateri Nostro assidentibus pro eo quo omnes Subditos Nostros fovere debemus et solemus affectu id pensandum considerantes, ne Civitates Nostrae quae Regimini Primario Nostro et protectioni Regiae subsunt ac Reipublicae pacis ornamenta atque belli subsidia existunt, inopia ac desolationi succumbant et parvo commodo publico in manus detrimentum Reipublicae deteriori conditioni cedescant, et intereant. Id Nobis faciendum duximus, ut memoratos Armenos in Civitate Nostra Leopoliensi intra muros degentes simili libertate qua nonnullae Civitates in Regno Nostro ex Constitutionibus gaudent ipsos quoque ex benignitate Nostra Regia conservationi fortunarum ipsorum longo tempore et multo labore atque sudore acquisitarum consulentes libertatem et immunitatem a similem solvendis Reipublicae Theloneis donaremus et gaudere permitteremus prout quidem hisce literis Nostris donamus gaudereque ac frui concedimus ac permittimus, cum ea declaratione ut ab omnium Theloneorum ratione mercium quarumque et pecuniarum quas in Regnum et extra Regnum evehent et invehent ac cum iisdem personis illas perferent ipsos contingat liberi sint atque immunes, ita tamen ut in Regestris per Theloneatores et Notarium a Magno Supremo Regni Thesaurario ad hunc actum designatum conscribantur et Registra fideliter asserventur ad futuram in Comitiis Regni Generalibus decisionem. Quod omnibus et singulis quorum interest, praesertim vero Theloneorum Administratoribus, Vectigalium Exactoribus in finibus Regni Nostri, aliisque quibusvis in locis existentibus notum esse volumus eisdemque mandamus ut supramemoratos cives Leopolienses circa eam libertatem et immunitatem superius nominatam et specificatam conservent et manu teneant, conservarique et manu teneri faciant, nec ullam eis ob eam rem quam facturi se praesumant molestiam aut difficultatem, idque pro gratia Nostra secus non facturi. In cuius rei fidem praesentes manu Nostra subscriptas Sigillo Regni communiri mandavimus. Datum Varsaviae die Quinta Mensis Septembris Anno Domini MDCXLII Regnorum vero Nostrorum Poloniae X Sueciae XI Anno. Vladislaus Rex [Na plice po prawej:] Liberas Armenis Leopoliensibus a Solutione Theloneis intra muros manentibus. [Pod plicą po prawej, nota kancelaryjna:] Jo[ann]es Gembicki Secr[etar]ius Regni M[ani] [Verso:] JH Nro 2491 1642 Litt: S. Cancellariatus Regni in Chr[ist]o P[at]ris. D[omi]ni Petri Gembicki Ep[iscop]i Premisliensis Regniq[ue] Cancellarii 1642 [Inne noty kancelaryjne i archiwalne, m.in. pieczątka: Archiwum Akt Dawnych Miasta Lwowa] [Pieczęć: Woskowa pieczęć koronna Władysława IV w metalowej puszce, zawieszona na jedwabnym sznurze biało-zielonym].