Source catalogue

The Duke of Opole and Lord of Ruthenia, Władysław Opolczyk, grants to the Bishop of Kiev, Jakub, and after his death to the Church of St. John the Baptist in Lviv and the Basilians, an abandoned canonical manor and urban plots. The granted properties are simultaneously exempted from all taxes, burdens, and duties to the city of Lviv.

King Władysław Jagiełło grants his customs officer, Wołczko the Jew from Lwów, a hereditary village headship in the village of Werbiż, along with two free hides of land, an inn, and a mill. The document further transfers the entire village from Polish and Ruthenian law to German (Środa) law, exempting its inhabitants from the jurisdiction of land courts.

Jan of Oleśnica, Marshal of the Kingdom of Poland, resolves a dispute over customs revenues in the village of Werbiż, confirming the rights of the Lviv customs officer Wolczek and restoring him to their possession. He also orders Teodoryk Buczacki, his relatives, and the local peasants to cease further obstacles in the collection of tolls.

King Władysław III orders the officials of the Ruthenian lands to publicly announce the prohibition of merchants bypassing Lwów and to forbid the nobility from unlawfully collecting new customs duties. Those who resist are to be punished by the confiscation of transported goods and arrest.

King Casimir Jagiellon orders the officials of the Ruthenian lands to forbid merchants from bypassing Lviv via new routes and to stop the nobility from arbitrarily collecting customs duties. Those violating these orders are to be arrested along with their transported goods, which are to be forfeited to the burghers of Lviv.

The Dukes of Masovia, Siemowit VI and Władysław II, grant Father Stanisław, chaplain of the abandoned Holy Spirit church in the suburbs of Busk, an endowment consisting of an annual monetary sum from the Busk customs, furs, wood, and customs exemptions. The document orders local officials to respect and pay the designated benefits on time.

King Casimir IV Jagiellon permits the knight Jan of Sienna to redeem the royal village of Szaniów in the Lwów district from the hands of the noble Jan Dawidowski. The monarch pledges the village to Jan of Sienna for the redemption amount, guaranteeing its peaceful possession until the sum is fully repaid by the crown.

King Casimir IV Jagiellon confirms that the tribute (cyza) enacted by the authorities and inhabitants of Lwów for the urgent needs of the state and the Prussian war is voluntary and limited to one year. The monarch pledges on his royal word that this levy will not become a permanent obligation nor infringe in any way upon the city's privileges and liberties.

King Sigismund I grants the cathedral chapter in Lviv permission to purchase, under the right of 'wyderkauf' (redeemable rent), an annual rent worth up to four hundred marks from landed or urban estates to support the clergy. The property acquired in this manner is perpetually exempted from the obligation of all military expeditions.

King Sigismund I grants permission to Master Michael, notary of Lviv, to purchase a third part of the Baker's Mill in the Lviv suburb for the sum of fifty marks. He records this amount for him, along with the right to collect one-third of the mill's income, with the obligation to bear one-third of the repair costs.

King Sigismund I the Old confirms the privilege of King Casimir IV Jagiellon from 1472, which established two annual fairs in Lwów for the feasts of the Holy Trinity and St. Agnes. The document regulates detailed trade rights, the staple right, customs duties, grazing of merchant cattle, and judicial jurisdiction over merchants.

King Sigismund I the Old, at the General Sejm in Piotrków, settles a dispute between the burghers of Lviv and the Jews, introducing an ordinance limiting the commercial activities of Lviv and suburban Jews. The document prohibits them, among other things, from home-based and itinerant trade, forbids the sale of spices and silk, and strictly regulates the trade in cloth, wax, hides, and oxen.

King Sigismund I authorizes the authorities of Lviv to collect a fee of half a grosz from every wagon of refugees seeking shelter in the city from enemy invasions. The funds obtained are to cover the costs of cleaning the city of mud and filth and repairing the city walls, ramparts, and moats.

The judge and deputy judge of the Kraków land court certify the decree of King Sigismund I resolving a dispute between customs officers and merchants regarding routes for driving cattle and transporting goods from Ruthenia, Podolia, Volhynia, and Moldavia. According to the judgment, cattle and goods from Ruthenia, Podolia, and Moldavia must be directed through Lwów, Gródek, and Przemyśl to Sandomierz, while those from Volhynia through Lublin and Radom, under penalty of confiscation.

King Sigismund I the Old, at the request of the Lviv city authorities, moves the annual fair from the Feast of the Holy Trinity to the Feast of Saint Margaret, exempting arriving merchants from customs duties. At the same time, he confirms the holding of the fair on the Feast of Saint Agnes, maintaining the existing obligation to pay customs duties.

King Sigismund I the Old cancels a former record of King Władysław for one hundred marks and grants Dobrogost Pełka forty marks, which are to be paid to him by the tenant of the royal village of Kozłów, Maciej, the castellan (wojski) of Żydaczów. The paid sum of forty marks is simultaneously added to the pledge sums secured for Maciej on the same village.

King Sigismund I the Old orders royal and municipal officials to assist Lviv burghers in detaining merchants who bypass the Lviv staple right. He prohibits the illegal transport of oxen, wax, and other goods from Ruthenia and Podolia, bypassing Lviv and the due customs duties, under penalty of financial sanctions.

King Sigismund I the Old grants in perpetuity to the canons of the metropolitan church in Lviv the third measure of the royal mill near the Halych Gate. The document simultaneously defines the obligations of the chapter and the starosta regarding the costs of repair and maintenance of the mill.

King Sigismund I the Old, considering the location of Lwów on the threatened borderland and the merits of the local craftsmen in defending the city walls, exempts the Lwów guilds from the general order of dissolution of brotherhoods in the Crown and solemnly confirms all their existing rights, statutes, and privileges.

King Sigismund I the Old forbids the authorities of Lviv from opening the city gates at night at the request of the nobility and magnates due to war threats on the borderlands, allowing exceptions only in cases of urgent and supreme state necessity. At the same time, he forbids anyone from pressuring the city councilors under threat of severe royal penalties.

King Sigismund I the Old confirms to the mayor and councilors of the city of Lviv the exclusive right to elect and appoint city intermediaries and interpreters (known as 'mejlerze' and interpreters) in accordance with ancient custom. The monarch forbids royal officials from interfering with this municipal prerogative under any pretext.

Archbishop of Lviv Piotr Starzechowski performs an oblation and transsumption of a document by Primate Jan Latalski containing a brief of Pope Paul III from 1538. The act confirms the exemption of mendicant friars in the Kingdom of Poland from the jurisdiction of diocesan bishops and prohibits the violation of their privileges.

King Sigismund I the Old, at the general sejm in Kraków, approves and renews for the mayor, councilors, and citizens of Lwów all existing rights, privileges, liberties, immunities, and customs granted to the city by previous monarchs and by himself.

King Sigismund I the Old confirms the privileges exempting the burghers and inhabitants of Lwów from the jurisdiction of noble, land, and castle courts. All their cases are to be heard exclusively before the proper municipal court of Magdeburg Law, under penalty of nullity of any other judgments.

King Sigismund II Augustus exempts the Armenians of Lwów from the jurisdiction of all land and castle courts, placing them exclusively under the jurisdiction of the wójt (advocatus) and Armenian elders judging according to Armenian law. All appeals from this court are reserved exclusively for the royal court.

King Sigismund II Augustus confirms the privilege of King Władysław Jagiełło from 1433, granting the village of Wierzbiąż in the Lviv district, along with all benefits, forests along the Dniester, and customs duties, to the canons of the Lviv Cathedral Chapter founded by him. The document guarantees the Chapter perpetual possession of these goods and the right to build dams and ponds.

Piotr Barzy, Castellan of Przemyśl and General Starosta of Lviv, issues to the Metropolitan Chapter in Lviv an authenticated extract from the Lviv castle court records of 1510. It confirms the disposal of the suburban Ważny mill by Barbara the miller and her son Erasmus to the Chapter for the sum of 300 marks.

King Sigismund II Augustus exempts the Lviv burghers affected by a recent city fire from all fees, taxes, and contributions for a period of eight years, to facilitate the rebuilding of their homes and the restoration of Lviv's former splendor. At the same time, he orders the tax collectors of the Ruthenian lands to strictly observe this relief under penalty of royal disfavor.

King Stephen Báthory resolves a dispute between the nobility of the Ruthenian Voivodeship and the magistrate of Lwów, annulling the incorporation of the suburban villages of Zubrza and Sichów into the Magdeburg law and subjecting disputes regarding their lands and military obligations to the land law (ius terrestre). Simultaneously, the monarch confirms the jurisdiction of municipal law and the royal court over the burghers, municipal officials, and their urban properties.

King Sigismund III Vasa incorporates the provostry in Busk into the office of the archdeacon, renewed at the Lviv cathedral, in order to provide it with proper endowment. At the same time, the monarch renounces the royal right of patronage over this provostry in favor of the Archbishop and the Lviv Chapter.

King Sigismund III Vasa grants the city of Lwów the perpetual right to collect duties on goods (the so-called 'sztukowe' or 'węzłowe'), as well as on grain, beer, and mead. The income from these duties is divided: two-thirds are allocated for the city's needs and fortifications, and one-third for the remuneration of the city council's efforts.

The document certifies the admission of Mikołaj Bajdułowicz, an Armenian originally from Suceava, to the citizenship of Lviv after he took an oath of allegiance to the King and the city. The city councilors request customs officials to respect his status as a burgher and to exempt him and his goods from all customs duties, tolls, and fees.

Archbishop of Lviv Jan Tarnowski approves the foundation of the Halych land judge Stanisław Głowiński of Głowno, erecting the prelatura of cantor and the Głowiński canonry at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Lviv. The new benefices are endowed with the villages of Młyniszcze and Zabłotowce in the Żydaczów land, including the definition of liturgical duties and the right of patronage.

Lviv Archbishop Wojciech Koryciński approves the relocation of the Augustinian convent, destroyed by invasions, from the Halych Suburb to the Krakow Suburb in Lviv. By virtue of this document, the Church of St. Anne and its lands are incorporated into the order with permission to build a monastery, while preserving the rights of the local parish.

Archbishop of Lviv Wojciech Koryciński approves and erects the foundation of the chancellorship and the Giedziński canonry at the Lviv Cathedral, established by Suffragan Jerzy Giedziński. The benefice was endowed with an annual rent secured on the estates of Bolechów, Zawadka, and other properties of the founder.

Konstanty Mrozowicki, administrator sede vacante of the Archdiocese of Lviv, confirms the donation of the villages of Wołosów and Cucyłów made by Aleksander and Kazimierz Kuropatwa to the metropolitan chapter. He establishes a new canonry funded by the Kuropatwa family of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms, specifying the canon's mass obligations and the right of patronage for the founders' family.

Lviv Archbishop Wacław Hieronim Sierakowski maintains the right of canons to choose chapter estates, while ordering that one-third of the income—and half of the income from the Uniatycze, Pikulowice, and Żydatycze estates—be contributed to the common chapter fund. At the same time, he exempts poorer benefices from this obligation and grants the chapter a remission of all accumulated arrears.