Th e correspondence of Krakow with the cities of Upper Hungary in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The letters from Krakow councillors and aldermen must be searched for in the archives of other cities of Poland and in the foreign archives for the fact that the medieval correspondence addressed to the Krakow’s city authorities as well as the registers of the correspondence sent from Krakow have been lost. The city archives of the former Kingdom of Hungary serve as a rich source of the research because of thriving trade which linked the former capital of the Kingdom of Poland with these cities. The correspondence of the city of Krakow with the cities of Upper Hungary refers mostly to the trade issues. Most of the letters from Krakow authorities (councillors and aldermen), which are stored mainly in the archives of Bardejov and Kosice, are the pleading for Krakow merchants whose goods were confiscated by customs officers or are the intervention regarding neglectful Hungarian merchants who did not repay their debts. Some of the disputes, for example of Jan Kyszwater with Kosice, were long-lasting and absorbed not only the authorities of the two cities but also the elites of the country. The recorded correspondence also reveals the activities in which Krakow councillors were engaged to help Hungarian merchants who incurred damage in Poland. Nevertheless, the conclusions about relations should be drawn cautiously, taking into account the state in which this correspondence is preserved.