Geneza kryzysu monetarnego w Rzeczypospolitej w drugiej połowie XVII w. w opinii szlachty województwa krakowskiego

Abstrakt

The origin of the monetary crisis in Poland in the latter half of the seventeenth century in the opinions of the Polish nobility from the Kraków province
(Summary)

In the years 1648–1696 the nobles from the Kraków province, as well as from the Duchy of Oświęcim and the Duchy of Zator, attending the regional assemblies (the so-called sejmiks) of the nobility held in Proszowice and Zator pointed to a number of sources of distortion of the money market. The way in which the issue was viewed by the Commonwealth’s political class evolved in parallel with changes occurring in the money market. In the years 1648–1650 the nobles focused their attention on the domestic coin deficit, criticizing, in connection with the reform carried out in 1650, a half-hearted conduct of monetary policy. The problem of the foreigners, to whom mints were leased out and whom nobody supervised, dominated the debate in question shortly after the Swedish occupation of Kraków. However, it soon gave way to a number of issues concerning the emission of copper szelągs (shillings) – the so-called “boratynkas” (from 1659) and zlotys (gold coins) the so-called “tymfs” (from 1663). The Polish nobility considered the crisis of Poland’s monetary system to originate in the uncontrolled administration of mints by those who oversaw the emission of the two kinds of coins mentioned above, that is, by the Grand Treasurer of the Crown, parliamentary committees and senators. In the years 1661–1666, Polish nobles argued that domestic economy was also harmed by the circulation of foreign currency – Swedish shillings. With the mints shut down, their attention shifted to the harm done by the circulation of “boratynkas” and “tymfs” and by the prevalence of forgery. The Grand Treasurer of the Crown, Jan Kazimierz Krasiński, was the first to be blamed for issuing the coins and thus for provoking the crisis. The group of those held responsible for the crisis also included Tytus Liviusz Borattini, Andrzej and Tomasz Tymf, members of the Committee for Soldiers’ Wage Payments, as well as a number of senators and superintendents. Although these persons were members of the royal faction, the transcripts of parliamentary debates demonstrate that the king himself, quite notably, was not criticized with regard to the crisis in question.