Source catalogue

The Duke of Courland, Ferdinand Kettler, addresses the Voivode of Ruthenia, Jan Stanisław Jabłonowski, requesting his support for a letter directed to the nobility and senators of the Ruthenian Voivodeship during the pre-sejmik assemblies. He appeals for the use of the Voivode's authority to save and liberate the Duchies of Courland and Semigallia and the Piltene District from Swedish occupation.

King Sigismund I the Old, at the general sejm in Kraków, approves and recognizes as inviolable the privilege granting the city of Lwów the villages of Zubrza and Sichów. The document secures the possession of these estates by the municipal authorities in the face of the execution of a statute prohibiting burghers from owning landed estates.

King Sigismund II Augustus approves a transsumpt from the Lviv land records, in which the Lviv burgher Sebald Wortzel mortgages the village of Zamarstynów to Field Hetman Mikołaj Sieniawski in exchange for a debt of 5,500 florins. The document sanctions the submission of this transaction to land law despite the earlier opposition of the Lviv municipal authorities.

The document transsumes and confirms a parliamentary judgment of King Stephen Báthory resolving a dispute between the authorities of the city of Lwów and the Lwów Starosta, Mikołaj Herburt. The King limits the number of craftsmen under the Starosta's jurisdiction, prohibits the operation of taverns and a new market in the suburb of Podzamcze, and confirms the ancient privileges of the burghers regarding the trade of salt and fish, exemption from customs and market fees, as well as cattle grazing and the use of royal forests.

King Sigismund III Vasa confirms the lifetime grant of land on Lion Mountain near Lwów made by the Lwów starosta Mikołaj Herburt to the neophyte Stanisław Tatar. The user is obliged to pay an annual rent of ten Polish groschen to the Lwów castle on St. Martin's Day.

King Sigismund III Vasa approves and transumes the act of the royal commission of auditors from 1592, which established the course of the boundaries and the placement of boundary mounds between the royal village of Sokolniki, belonging to the Lwów starosta district, and the municipal estates of Lwów known as Kulparków.

A document by King Sigismund III Vasa establishing and approving uniform rates for duties collected by the Lwów magistrate on imported Greek, Malmsey, Hungarian, Moravian, and Dalmatian wines. Modeling the regulations on Kraków privileges, the monarch allocates these revenues to the maintenance of the municipal office and specifies penalties for non-compliance.

King Sigismund III Vasa permits Stanisław Tatarzyn, a convert to Catholicism, to transfer land held for life under Lion Mountain to the Benedictine convent in Lviv. The monarch approves this cession and exempts the land granted to the convent from the annual rent previously paid to the Lviv castle.

King Sigismund III Vasa confirms the ancient privilege of King Casimir Jagiellon guaranteeing Lviv an annual fair on Saint Agnes' Day, along with freedom of trade for arriving merchants. At the same time, the monarch cancels and abolishes the fair on Saint Margaret's Day as burdensome and useless to the townspeople.

King Sigismund III Vasa settles a dispute between the municipal authorities and the Armenian community in Lviv, setting the limit of hereditary Armenian houses at seventy-three, excluding church buildings and the hospital from this count. He further orders the Armenians to sell back houses located at the Market Square and a stall to Catholics within one year in exchange for the return of the invested sums, prohibiting them from further transactions within the Market Square area.

The document confirms the ordinance of the Surgeons' Guild in Lviv, which was reformed and supplemented by the municipal authorities in 1611. King Sigismund III Vasa approves the submitted guild articles regulating, among other things, professional practice, master examinations, and the functioning of the brotherhood.

King Sigismund III Vasa confirms to the Mikulicz brothers, burghers of Halych, the rights to a share of a mill on the Lipa River belonging to the Halych starosta district, received by virtue of a previous grant from the late Voivode Stanisław Włodek.

King Sigismund III Vasa approves the guild articles submitted to him by the brotherhood of coppersmiths from the Halych Suburb in Lviv, regulating the organization of the guild, religious duties, the admission of apprentices and journeymen, the rights of widows, craft standards, and disciplinary penalties. Notes on the reverse indicate the registration (oblatio) of the document in the Lviv castle court records, and its subsequent annulment due to it being obtained without the knowledge of the magistrate, contrary to a royal decree.

King Sigismund III Vasa approves the ordinance and articles of the coppersmiths' guild of the Halych Suburb in Lviv. The document regulates, among other things, issues of guild masses, relations between masters and journeymen, and penalties for absenteeism at craftsmen's meetings.

King Sigismund III Vasa establishes a new annual fair for the city of Lwów falling on the feast of Saint Margaret, lasting for three weeks, independent of the former fair on Saint Agnes' day. The document guarantees freedom of trade and safety to arriving merchants under the protection of a royal safe-conduct letter.

King Sigismund III Vasa grants the city of Lwów the entire vogtship along with its appurtenances, as well as two-thirds of the income from judicial fines for major cases, which had previously been reserved for the monarch. This privilege ensures the city and its inhabitants perpetual, undisturbed possession of these rights.

King Sigismund III Vasa confirms the foundation of the Dominican monastery in Smolensk and grants it landed estates in perpetual ownership.

King Sigismund III Vasa approves the agreement concluded before royal commissioners between the magistrate and the commonalty of the three nations of the city of Lwów regarding the repayment of municipal debts. The document establishes the division of financial burdens amounting to over 35,000 florins and the payment deadlines for individual installments from the city's income and assets.

King Sigismund III Vasa transfers the collection of starosta revenues to the Lwów magistrate in exchange for a fixed annual fee of 2100 florins and authorizes the collection of a storage fee from merchants for the construction of new city fortifications. The document simultaneously limits the competencies of the Lwów starosta in favor of municipal jurisdiction and regulates the issue of quartering.

Apostolic Nuncio Giovanni Battista Lancellotti, by the authority of Pope Urban VIII, confirms the rights of patronage, foundation, and administration of the Lviv city councilors over the Holy Spirit Hospital. The confirmation is based on ancient royal and archiepiscopal privileges, as well as papal bulls.

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.

King Władysław IV grants the inhabitants of the Halicz Suburb in Lwów permission to build ramparts and fortifications according to the design of Jan Bletner, and defines the rules for supervision and financing of the works. He allocates escheat property for this purpose, permits the free brewing of beer and mead, and obliges the nobility and clergy owning properties in the suburb to contribute to the construction costs.

King Władysław IV Vasa confirms the right of the Lwów city magistrate to collect in perpetuity the ancient market fee known as 'półmiarkowe'. The income from this tax is intended for the repair and construction of the city's defensive walls.

King Władysław IV exempts the Armenians living within the walls of the city of Lwów from all customs duties on goods and money imported into the Kingdom or exported beyond its borders. This freedom is to remain in effect on the condition that the transported goods are recorded in customs registers until the final resolution of the matter by the General Sejm.

King John II Casimir confirms the articles of the agreement concluded between the masters and the journeymen of the carpenters' guild in Lviv, entered into the books and authenticated by the Lviv municipal council. The document regulates issues of order, mutual obligations, penalties, and work discipline within the confraternity.

King John II Casimir grants the Armenian community of Lviv full freedom to trade in all goods, including cloth and spices, as well as the right to brew and sell alcoholic beverages on equal terms with other city residents. This privilege serves as compensation for the loyalty and sacrifices made by the Lviv Armenians during the recent siege of Lviv by Cossack-Tatar forces.

King John II Casimir confirms the statute of the Lviv guild of needle-makers and cutlers, granted and sealed by the city council of Lviv in 1649. The privilege contains articles regulating the organization of the brotherhood, the election of guild masters, the rights of masters, and the rules for training journeymen and apprentices.

King John II Casimir confirms the foundation privileges based on Magdeburg law for the town of Podgrodzie in the Rohatyn starosta district, transuming the diploma of King Władysław IV from 1633.

King John II Casimir grants the city of Lwów the right to collect municipal charges or monetary fees from foreign merchants staying with goods for more than fourteen days. In case of resistance, he imposes a penalty of one hundred Hungarian florins on the offenders, to be paid in equal parts to the royal treasury and the municipal treasury.

In recognition of the loyalty and sacrifices of Lwów during the wars, King John II Casimir equalizes the city and its citizens with Kraków and Wilno in terms of rights, liberties, and noble privileges. The burghers of Lwów are granted the right to participate in royal elections, attend the Sejm, and freely acquire and possess landed estates.

King John Casimir confirms the right of the Dominican monastery in Lviv to its own water supply, transuming the privilege of Sigismund III from 1628 and a document of the Lviv magistrate from 1613. The monarch emphasizes the merits of the friars, who maintained the water intake and supplied the inhabitants during enemy invasions.

King John II Casimir confirms to the inhabitants and the manor of the village of Malechów, which constitutes the endowment of the Lviv hospital for the poor, the privilege of Sigismund III Vasa from 1590 allowing for the acquisition of construction and firewood in the Rokitno forests. The felling is to be carried out without damaging the forest and with the knowledge of the current Starosta of Lviv.

Lviv Archbishop Jan Tarnowski approves the foundational endowments of brothers Marcin and Maciej Rzechowski and solemnly erects and endows a prebend at the church and hospital of St. Barbara in the suburbs of Rohatyn. The document details the liturgical duties of the prebendary, the management of the poor funds, and the right of patronage belonging to the founders, their Catholic successors in the Kutcze estate, and the Rohatyn magistrate.

King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki confirms to Jan Felicjan Kulikowski and his successors the rights, privileges, decrees, and boundaries concerning the estate of the village of Skniłówek near Lviv, transuming previous grants by Polish monarchs.

King Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki confirms the ordinance of the juror court college of the city of Lwów, originally enacted in 1618 and approved by John II Casimir in 1658. This act sanctions the internal statutes, liturgical duties, and customs of the Lwów jurors of Magdeburg law.

King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki confirms the right of the Lviv Cathedral Chapter to collect four wagons of salt from the Drohobycz salt mines, originally granted by Władysław Jagiełło and confirmed by King Alexander.

King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, at the request of the seniors of the Armenian nation, confirms the 1661 privilege of John II Casimir, which equated the city of Lwów and its citizens of Roman Catholic, Armenian, and Greek rites in rights and prerogatives with Kraków and Wilno. The burghers of Lwów obtain and retain noble rights, including the right to participate in royal elections, acquire landed estates, and parliamentary representation.

Archbishop of Lviv Konstanty Lipski confirms and renews the erection of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at the Lviv Cathedral, transuming the approval document of Apostolic Nuncio Opizio Pallavicini from 1681. He grants the confraternity statutes, jurisdictional powers for its confessors, and a forty-day indulgence for performing specific pious practices.

King Augustus II the Strong confirms the statutes, rights, and ancient privileges granted to the Lwów Tailors' Guild by the Lwów magistrate and successive Polish monarchs from Sigismund I to John III Sobieski. He further obliges the castle and municipal authorities of Lwów to strictly observe and protect them.

King Augustus II confirms and ratifies, at the request of the elders and the bakers' guild of the city of Lviv, the privileges and guild articles granted by previous Polish kings (including Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, John III Sobieski, John Casimir, Władysław IV, Sigismund III, Stephen Báthory, Sigismund Augustus, Sigismund I, and Casimir Jagiellon), along with the resolutions of the Lviv city council regulating, among other things, the rules for baking, grain purchasing, and the exclusive right to sell bread.

King Augustus III approves and renews the general rights, immunities, privileges, and customs granted to the Armenian community in Lwów by former Polish kings. The document contains a chain transumpt of confirmations issued successively by John III Sobieski, Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, John Casimir, and Władysław IV.

King Stanisław August Poniatowski confirms the entirety of the ancient rights, liberties, and privileges granted to the town of Kamionka Strumiłowa by his predecessors. He also confirms the historical delimitation of municipal lands with the neighboring villages of Horpin and Monasterz, based on an entry from the Crown Metrica.

King Stanisław August Poniatowski approves and transumes the ordinance of the merchant confraternity of the city of Lwów, enacted by the Lwów municipal council, comprising 37 articles regulating membership rules, trade, the organization of brotherhood authorities, and the protection of the rights of Lwów merchants.

J. [T.?] Przezdziecki thanks the Lviv magistracy for the advance payment of 30 red zlotys delivered by city delegates for representing the city's affairs. He also expresses hope for the prompt settlement of the remaining part of the promised remuneration.