ADAM KAZMIERCZYK

THE PROBLEM OE CHRISTIAN SERVANTSAS REELECTED IN THE LEGAL CODES OE THE POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH DURING THE SECONDHALE OE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND IN THE

SAXON PERIOD

Already in medieval times the idea of separating Jews from the local populationwas popular throughout Christian Europe. In ancient times Church Fathers andemperors alike had enunciated a basic principle completely prohibiting theexercise of any sort of authority by Jews over Christians. At that time this was anargument supporting the prohibition against the holding of Christian slaves byJews. However, in medieval Europe the phenomenon of slavery in the old sense(that is, as it had been in the Roman Empire) no longer really existed; in Churchstatutes the place of slaves was taken by servants, especially female servants. Theprohibition against Jews employing wetnurses was especially emphasized. Thesesorts of prohibitions were only part of a series of regulations that aimed tomaximize the separation of Christians from Jews (for example, the requirementto wear a distinguishing dress or the bar upon attendance at commonbathhouses).'

In medieval Poland, too, the Church promulgated similar laws. The statutesof the 1420 Wielun-Kalisz synod of Mikolaj Tr^ba forbade Jews from employingChristian servants.^ Successive provincial and diocesan synods repeated this

Editor's Note: A noteworthy linguistic feature of the many Polish documents cited in thisarticle is the frequent insertion of Latin words and phrases into the Polish text. In order topreserve the flavour of these documents, the Latin insertions have been left untranslated. Theirdeclinations remain precisely as in the original; no adjustments to English syntax have beenmade.

1 S. W. Baron. A Social and Religious History of the Jews, New York 1965. 9:26.2 Statuty synodalne wielunsko-kaliskie Mikotaja Trqby z r. 1420, edited by B. Ulanowski.

J. Fijalek. and A. Vetulani. Krakow 1915, 1920. 1951. p. 93: 'Prohibemus eciam... nee

23

(2) Adam Kaímierczyk

prohibition up to the end of the szlachta republic. The provision was included,inter alia, in the statutes of the provincial synod in 1589 and the Kraków synod in1601 ; they were enacted in the Luck diocese in 1621, in Poznan in 1642, in Wilnoin 1685, in Gniezno in 1720, in Luck a second time in 1726, and again in Poznanin 1738. In 1604 the synod of the Chetm diocese enacted a statute requiring thatJews who broke this prohibition be summoned to appear before the office of thesubpalatine (podwojewoda),^ while the synod of the Luck diocese recommendedthat clergy summon Jews before the appropriate courts.'' In these cases theconstitution of the diet {sejm) of Piotrków of 1565 was cited, which forbade Jewsto hire servants from among Christians 'of either sex' on penalty of a fine of onehundred grzywny. For Christians who broke this law, the constitution mandateda prison term.^ Similarly, in 1640, the orthodox metropolitan Piotr Mohytacited the constitution of this diet in a pastoral letter calling upon the people notto hire themselves out to Jews.*

The principal complaint of the Catholic Church against Jews was the forcingof Christian household help (czeladz) to work on Sundays and holy days,making it impossible for them to attend mass, and generally encouraging theirneglect of Christian obligations. A constant cause of the clergy's anxiety was thealleged illicit sexual relations between female servants and their Jewish

servos nee ancillas aut nutrices seu queounque mancipia die noctuque in suis domibusretiñere présumant.'

3 Decretales Summorum Pontißcum pro Regno Pohniae et Constitutiones synodorumprovincialium et dioecesantum Regniejusdem adsummam collectae.... edited by ZezinChodyftski and Edward Liskowski, Poznan 1883, 3:101-103.

4 J. Sawicki, Concilia Pohniae. Zrodla i studia krytyczne. HI Synody DiecezjUuckiej i ichstatuty. Warsaw 1949, p 110: 'De Judaeis. Petentibus consilium nonnullis ecclesiarumrectoribus, qupmodo sit procedendum contra Judaeos, qui Christianos sexus utriusquead famulatum suum domesticum inducunt et recipiunt, illud interim datum est, utJudaeos eo nomine parochi ad legitimos magistratus, quoties fuerit opus, citent, eosquepoena constitutione publica Regni in comitiis anni 1565 sancita plecti instent: quaeRegiae Maiestatis decretis contra Judaeos iam dudum latis firmata est.'

5 '¿eby chrzescianin zydowi nie sluzyl,' Volumina Legum 2:691. The law was quoted nowand again in royaXprivilegia, see, for example, the privilegium of King Zygmunt III forChçciny, 27 June 1597, quoted in J. Morgensztern, 'Regesty z Metryki Koronnej ( 1588-1632),' Biuletyn ¿ydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego 1964, no. 3:61.

6 E. Horn, 'Polozenie prawno-ekonomiczne ¿ydów w miastach ziemi halickiej na przelomieXVI i XVII w.' Biuletyn ¿ydowskiego instytutu Historycznego 40 (196I):25.

24

The Problem of Christian Servants (3)

employers. Aside from synodal statutes, whose contents were announced frompulpits or even distributed in written form to the faithful,' the Church could alsoinfluence the Christian populace through sermons and pastoral letters* and evenin confession.' Bishops could also impose obligations on older Jewishcommunities attempting to gain consent for building a synagogue, for accordingto custom the bishop in charge of the local diocese needed to give his consent forthe construction of every synagogue.'" A summary of an interesting documentwas published by M. Horn, in which King August II bestowed on pastors inSulejów the right to expel Jews who employed Christian servants."

On private estates parish priests could lodge grievances against Jews whobroke the prohibition against employing Christian servants with the landownersor with their administrators. In 1685 the vicar of Zabludów presented to theagents of the landholder, Ludwika Karolina RadziwiHowa, the needs of theZabíudów church, which had been destroyed by fire. In the seventh section heasked that 'Jews not be allowed to distill spirits from midnight on holy Sunday,nor make beer, nor mead, and that they send their Christian household help toChurch on holy days....' In the event, the agents forbade all employment ofChristians by Jews in Zabtudów. '2 However, this restriction had little significant

7 M. Morawski, Synod diecezjalny w dawnej Polsce, Wlodawek 1937, pp. 47-48. It wassupposed to have been obligatory to read synodal statutes at least twice during thereligious year. Additionally, certain regulations pertaining to the general populationwere supposed to have been read and explained periodically from the pulpit or distributedto the faithful in condensed form and in everyday language.

8 An example is a pastoral letter of Bishop Franciszek Kobielski from 1751; see K.. S.WirszyHo, 'Stosunek duchowieñstwa katolickiego na WoJyniu do 2ydów w XVIIIwieku,' Miesi^cznik Diecezjalny Lucki 1934, p. 22; W. SmoleAski, Stan isprawa ¿ydówpolskich w XVIII wieku, Warsaw 1876, p. 15.

9 M FranöiC, Ludzie luzni w osiemnastowiecznym Krakowie, WrocJaw 1967, p. 78.10 M. Horn, Regesty dokumentów i ekscerpty z Metryki Koronnej do historii ¿ydów w

Polsce, 1697-1795, Wroclaw 1984-88, 3:6. In aprivilegium from 1786 King StanislawAugust confirmed to the Jews of Ciechanów the consent of the bishop of Plock, Micha)Jerzy Poniatowski, to the rebuilding of the synagogue on condition, inter alia, that theynot employ Christian servants.

11 Ibid., 1:3. This document arouses certain doubts, however. According to Horn, it wassupposed to have been attached to aprivilegium of August II from 1685, but the king thenwas Jan III. Moreover, as is apparent from the summary, the document is illogical.

12 Prawa i przywileje miasta i dóbr ziemskich Zabtudów XV-XVIII w., edited by JózefMaroszek, Bialystok 1994, p. 250.

25

(4) Adam Kaimierczyk

effect, for in 1715 one of the later priests repeated the charge about femaleservants of Jews not attending mass. It is typical of the times that the priest wasconcerned primarily that transgressors send the servants to work in his field onSaturday.'^

Similarly, references to Christian servants of Jews are not lacking in antisemiticliterature. Reminders of the laws prohibiting the employment of Christians byJews (along with other laws serving to keep them separate from Jews) werecommonplace. The arguments against this practice were already familiar fromthe synodal statutes.''' This should come as no surprise: the authors of Polishantisemitic tracts were well-educated people, many of them priests.'^ In mostinstances, however, they did not stop at such reminders. In many antisemitictracts it is possible to find reference to a series of crimes allegedly commited byJews with the help of their servants. Father Gaudenty Pikulski, citing theneophyte Jan Serafinowicz, charged Christian servant women with sellingsacramental hosts to Jews. Additionally he wrote:

On this occasion it is worth bringing out into the open what theseunvirtuous women do in the company of Jews, what illicit acts and sinsagainst the flesh they commit with Jews and with Christians.... On theSabbath ( W Szabasz) they eat meat with Jews, they do not keep churchdays of fast and abstinence, they attend Jewish worship services, on holy

13 Ibid., p. 279.14 Szymon Starowolski, Robak sumienia ztego, cztowieka niebogoboynego, y o zbawienie

swoie niedbaiego, c. 1648. Ostensibly the following passage (p. 42) concerns Jewisharendarze, whose contracts promised them free use of corvée labour: '¿ydzi... nazeliywoáó wiçksz? wiary chrzeáciaftskiej, najwiçcej w Swiçta nasze robié kaiç: gdziechrzeécianie y przykazania koécielne przestçpujç, Mszej éwiçtej nie sluchaj?: y Boie, gdyw awiçto robié musz ,̂ a kto bçdzie Panu Bogu za to liczbç srog^ oddawa), jeno ten coChrzeáciany ¿ydom w moc podaje, której oni na okrucieñstwo, jako sprzysiçglinieprzyjaciele chrzeéciañscy zaiywaj^c, nie tylko na ciele poddanych wniwecz ichobracaj^c, aie tei y na duszy, do przestçpstwa przykazania Boiego y Koácielnegoprzywodz^c, okrutnie zabijaj^.'

15 It is necessary, nonetheless, to agree with K. Bartoszewicz and D. Toilet that Polishantisemitic literature was not the creation of distinguished writers. K. Bartoszewicz,Antysemityzm w literaturzepolskiej XV-XVIIw., Warsaw-Krakow 1914; D. Toilet, 'Lalittérature antisémite polonaise de 1588 à 1668,' Revue française de l'histoire du livre 46(no. 14, 1977):73-105.

26

The Problem of Christian Servants (5)

days and Sundays they do not go to church (what does it profit us to go to

that God of wood); they also keep kosher {koszerujq sic) like the Jews.''*

Besides accusing Christian hired help of selling hosts to Jews, antisemitic

authors also charged them with selling children required for ritual murder.'^

Thus in one eighteenth-century tract the charge was made that servants steal

horses for trayeling Jews: 'And wheresoever they live, they bring great harm to

the persons (osobliwie) of travelers in inns, they steal horses by means of the

Christian help, sending them to Jews to whom they are close.''«

It is also valuable to examine the relation of the nobility to the issue ofChristian servants. Such an examination should provide us with at least anapproximate familiarity with the extent to which the clergy's arguments andthose of the antisemitic writers influenced noble views.

In light of the significance of the problem, it is astonishing that betwen1648-96 only 31 ordinances issued by the nobility (out of 852 known ordinances,or barely 3.3 percent) contained clauses regarding this matter. Most surprisingof all is the fact that only three ordinances dating from before 1666 prohibit thepractice of employing Christian apprentices. Two of these regulations arosefrom a charge of ritual murder in Bransk, purportedly committed with theparticipation of Christian servants." In 1666 the following order was issued for

16 G. Pikulski, Ztosc zydowska..., Lwow 1753, p. 395. On accusations of host profanationsee H. Wçgrzynek, 'Dzieje poznanskiej legendy o profanacji hostii do polowy XVIIwieku,' Kronika Miasta Poznania 3-4:45-56; idem., 'Accusations of the HostProfanation against Jews in Poland,' Europa: European Review of History, 1993, pp.45-56.

17 See S. Salmonowicz, 'Procesy przeciwko ¿ydom o rzekome mordy rytualne w PolsceXVII i XVIH wieku,' in Historia Prawa — Historia Kultury: Prace wydziatu Prawa iAdministracji Uniwersytetu im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Poznan 1994,1:205-30; Z.Guidon and J. Wijaczka, Procesy o mordy rytuatne w Polsce w XVI-XVHI wieku,Kielce 1995; H. Wçgrzynek, 'Ludnoéé zydowska wobec oskarzen o popelnianieprzestçpstw o charakterze rytualnym,' Kwartalnik Historyczny, 1994 no. 4, pp. 13-26.

18 Sekret ¿ydowskiej Przewrotnoici wywiedziony y Swiatu Polskiemu wprzestrodze wielcepoiytecznej pokazany, Warsaw 1724 (handwritten copy of a tract printed by Jesuits intheir Warsaw print shop), Czartoryski Library 2702, p. 697. The prohibition against theemployment of Christians by Jews was mentioned earlier; see p. 681.

19 Ordinance from the Smolensk palatinate, 25 June 1648, PAN Library, Krakow, 365, k.217. In 1650 the nobles of the Bielsk Podlaski region sought to punish the Jews byexpulsion, or at least 'aby constitutia o niechowaniu chrzeácian ad executionem przyszla,

27

(6) Adam Kaímierczyk

the Liwska territory: 'Reasserting the ancient rules and bylaws that Catholicsnot be held as servants, your gracious lords our diet deputies should make everyeffort sub poena mille marcarum polonicalium in judicio terrestri seu officioquovis sub poena tali for each Jew ad instantiam cuiusvis repetenda.'^P Hencethe Liwska nobles demanded a significant harshening of the financial penaltiesfor Jews employing Christians. Before the electoral diet in 1669 three dietines{sejmikf) forbade Jews from having Christian servants. The most emphaticexpression of disapproval came from the dietine of the Brzeáé palatinate:'Happily, several constitutions have already been written enjoining Jews fromkeeping Christian people, either of the male or of the fair sex, in their service orin their homes, for because of this great scandals do occur offending God, andthe working people, grown accustomed to an easy loaf of bread, gather aroundthem, which is the cause of great want (penuria) for the village worker.'^' Thisdietine commanded the adoption of a new constitution, imposing on those Jewswho broke it a fine of 100 kop. (200 Polish zl). It was also typical of the times thatan economic argument was employed alongside a religious one. The nobles inthis case did not look kindly upon Jewish competition, which forced up the priceof hired help. Subsequently the instruction for the next diet in the Oszmianiadistrict demanded the reconsideration of the ancient laws forbidding Jews andTatars from retaining Christian servants. A similar demand was raised by thenobility of the Bielsk region in 1672." In the period before the election of King

tak ze nie tylko ¿ydów o to pozywac. ale i slug takich i siuíebnic jako swawolnych imali,nawet furmanów Zydów wiozçcych i rzemieélników Zydów robi^cych imaó i do groduwydawac, których konie i co przy nich znajd^. medietas ma cederé delatori, altera judiciocastrensis.' Central Government Historical Archive. Minsk (henceforth CGIA), F 1708,ks. 141, 7 November 1650, k. 392; ibid., 15 December 1651, k. 838.

20 Ordinance from Liwska, 28 September 1666, PAN Library, Krakow, 8322, k. 97.21 Documents published by the Wilno Archaeographic Commission for the Analysis and

Publication of Early Documents (henceforth AWAK), 15 January 1669, 4:56. Thedietine of the Duchy of ¿mudzko spoke in similar fashion on this matter on 24 January1669; Gdansk State Archive, 300,29/ 258, p. 127. So did the dietine of the Wilno district;Archiwum Glówne Akt Dawnych, Warsaw (henceforth AGAD), ArehiwumRadziwiltowskie (henceforth AR), II 1558, and II 1568, p. 7.

22 Czartoryski Library 164, 20 August 1669, p. 468. The nobles were referring to theprevious ordinance concerning this matter; CGIA (above, n. 19), F 1708, ks. 49,27 April1672, k. 179.

28

The Problem of Christian Servants (7)

Jan III we know of only two additional instructions bearing on the issue under

discussion. The instruction of the Sandomierz palatinate recommended

confiscating the property of Jews who, in violation of the constitution ratified in

1670, employed Christian servants. And the nobles of the district of Grodno

decided the following: 'Concerned that God should not punish our homeland

with pagan wars, because despite so many laws and constitutions about not

keeping Christian hired help among the Jews, through our dissimulation we

hand over Christian blood in servitutem et mancipia to the Jewish people. '

Hence the nobles commanded the reinvocation and implementation of the old

laws proscribing this practiee.^^

During the period of the rule of Jan III the number of ordinances dealing with

this problem increased radically, for of the 31 existing statutes as many as 20

date from his reign or from the interregnum following his death. Prior to the

Grodno diet of 1678-79, the Rózañska precinct, in a wideranging section

dealing with many different issues related to the presence of a Jewish population

under the precinct's jurisdiction, proscribed the keeping of Christian household

help on penalty of confiscation of property and imprisonment. In the instruction

of the Wolkowysk district it was ordered: 'The honourable deputies should not

only reassumere the constitution but alsopoenam formare on those who disobey,

and so have this law in executione.' As might have been expected, a similar point

was set down by the Nowogródek palatinate, for the nobility and the deputies at

the testimonial dietine protested against the constitution, which allowed Jews to

keep certain kinds of servants — 'brewers, maltsters, and wagon drivers.'

According to the Nowogródek deputies, 'it was agreed that [Jews] not keep

Christian apprentices ullo titulo, without any exceptions.'2" In the year 1680 the

Wiszenski dietine demanded a new constitution in this matter. And in 1682, in

the ordinance adopted at the Belz dietine an increase in the penalty to 500

grzywny was asked for Jews who broke the proscription against Christian

servants. In 1685 the nobles of the Nowogródek palatinate sought to prohibit

Jews from hiring servants of any kind, 'based on the fact that when they were

23 PAN Library, Kraków, 1070, 15 December 1671, k. 434; Gdansk State Archive, 300,29/260, preelection dietine of 1674, p. 150.

24 PAN Library, Kraków, 8337, 3 November 1678, k. 243; AGAD — AR (above, n. 21), II1674, 3 November 1678, p. 7; AGAD — AR, II 1635, protest by the Nowogródekdeputies, 30 May 1679.

29

(8) Adam Kaimierczyk

allowed to hire brewers and maltsters, then sub quorum nominae they hired allmanner of other Christian apprentices.' A paragraph forbidding the hiring ofChristian servants was set down by the Wilno nobility as well, while theSandomierz nobles, desiring to curtail the practice of avoiding this law, forbadeChristian tenants from living on Jewish premises." This same dietine, in anotherinstruction, sought to establish, among other things, that those breaking the lawagainst the hiring of service 'ad cuiusvis instantiam of the noble estate shouldgive an account of this before the castle court peremptorie sine alia dillatione. ' In1688 at the Proszowski dietine Jews were denied only the keeping of femaleservants. Prior to the Warsaw diet of 1690 only three dietines mentioned theproscription against holding Christian servants by Jews: the Szadkowski dietine,that of the Liwska territories, and Nowogródek.̂ « Among these, the Liwska landset down a postulate that the greatest possible penalties be adopted forlawbreakers. Despite great interest in Jewish matters, only the Brzeáó palatinatemade a declaration on this question prior to the Grodno diet of 31 December1692-11 February 1693. In the instructions for the next diet in 1693, two dietines(the Opatowski and the Wiszenski) published some stipulations, although theydid not contain much of substance. Similarly, the instructions of the dietines inLçczyca and the Wiska land, and in 1696 in the Drohicka land, did not venturebeyond the standard proscriptions.^'

25 Bernardyñski Archive, Lwow, municipal and provincial documents from the time of thePolish Commonwealth (henceforth AGiZ), t. 22,30 December 1680, p. 132; OssolineumLibrary, Wroclaw, 15964, ordinance of the Belz province, 16 December 1682, p. 203. Seealso the instruction of the Nowogródek province, AGAD — AR (above, n. 21), II1708,16 December 16982, p. 4; AGAD — AR, II 1730, instruction of the Nowogródekprovince, 5 January 1685, p. 7; AGAD — AR, II1739, instruction of the Wilno district, 4January 1685; PAN Library, Krakow, 8338, instruction of the Sandomierz province, 9February 1685, k. 702: 'A iz ¿ydzi przewrotnie i wspak konstytucje tlomacz^ o katolikach,aby u nich nie stuzeli, a tych co im sluzç komornikami ich mianuj^, tedy promowaó tobçdç ichmp. poslowie, aby zadni komornicy katoliccy u ¿ydów nie mieszkáli.'

26 AGAD (above, n. 21), Zamoyski Archive (henceforth AZ), 3082, 16 December 1687, p.160; Documents of the Sejmik of the Krakow Province (henceforth ASWK), t. V, 5November 1688, p. 80; Czartoryski Library, 3359, ordinance of the Sieradz province, 16January 1690, p. 87; AGAD — AR (above, n. 21), II1771, ordinance of the Nowogródekprovince, 5 December 1689; PAN Library, Krakow, 8332, instruction from the Liwskaterritories, 5 December 1689, k. 247.

27 AGAD — AR (above, n. 21), II1786, 29 November 1692, p. 10; PAN Library, Krakow,

30

The Problem of Christian Servants (9)

Considering the weightiness of the problem, 31 instructions out of a total of

852 in existence is not an imposing number. It is remarkable to note the almost

complete lack of interest in this issue at the time of the affair of the alleged

blasphemy by Jakub Becal.̂ « It would seem that this incident would have

inclined the nobles to register significantly more frequent reminders about the

proscription against hiring Christian servants, fearing potential theft of sacred

objects or ritual murder. However, for the most part this sort of reaction did not

take place. It is also worth noting that 13 of the 31 instructions dealing with

Jewish servants (almost 42 percent) originated in Lithuania and that instructions

dealing with Jewish servants comprised over 14 percent of the 92 Lithuanian

instructions on any matter that have been located in the course of this research.

It is possible that the Lithuanian nobles were interested in this issue more than

the nobles of other regions of the commonwealth because of the presence on

their territory of another non-Christian religious group — the Tatars. As a rule,

the paragraphs forbidding the keeping of Christian servants applied both to

Jews and to Tatars. Indeed, for the time being, at least, there appears to be no

other explanation for this phenomenon.

During the second half of the seventeenth century the problem of Christianservice did not raise any greater interest in diet deliberations. It can be supposedthat the topic must have been discussed during the second diet of 1670, for at thattime a constitution unfavourable to Jews was ratified entitled 'Curtailing theTaking of Liberties by Jews.' This document appeared at a time when Jews inMakowa were being accused of stealing sacred objects, so it is not surprising thatit contained a series of decisions unfavourable to the Jewish population. First,the laws forbidding Jews to hold Christian servants were reconsidered (for thefirst time since 1565). Moreover, the privileges of the Jewish population in casesof purchasing stolen goods were cancelled, and a law discriminating againstJews was introduced that prohibited their presence on the street during religiousprocessions.29 In 1676 the Lidzko deputies demanded in their tax declarations a

8338,16 December 1693, k. 798; ibid., 8328, Instr. woj. Içczyckiego, 10 December 1694,p. 815; ibid., 8350, Instr. z. wiskiej, 20 December 1694, k. 556; AGiZ(above, n. 25), t. 22,'10 November 1693, p. 268; Ossolineum Library, Wroclaw, 2624, 17 July 1696, k. 7.

28 For more on this matter see A. Kaimierczyk, 'Sprawa Jakuba Becala, zydowskiegofaktora Jana III Sobieskiego w koncu XVII v/ieku,'Studia Historyczne 35 (1992): 155-71.

29 Volumina Legum V, p. 77.

31

(10) Adam Kaimierczyk

third head tax, a general one, as well as penalties for Jews who had Christian

servants.30 And during the Grodno diet of 1678-79 the proscription against

holding Christian servants was enacted once again. This new prohibition (with a

penalty of 200 grzywny) testifies to the lack of implementation of the law of

1670. Also at that time the Jews of Lithuania were forbidden from leasing

customs duties and other payments due to the commonwealth.^'

At the diet in 1683 ( 16 February) there was certainly discussion in the deputies'

chamber about the keeping of Christian servants by Jews. Two days later there

was an unsuccessful attempt to formulate a constitution prohibiting Lithuanian

Jews from leasing customs duties and property and from keeping Christian

servants.32 This effort became successful only in 1690 at the Warsaw diet on 20

March. At that time Jews were forbidden to hold Christian servants on penalty

of one hundred grzywny (that is, half as much as in 1679). But at the same time

they were permitted to hire wage workers in breweries and as wagon drivers 'so

that Jews will not dare to hire Christian apprentices, nullo praetextu utriusque

sexus, subpoena of one hundred grzywny, whose medietas should belong par í / ,

and a second Judicio, while a Christian shall be sentenced to six Sundays in a

castle tower or in the buildings of our courts . ' It was attempted to have this

proposal cover Jews from the [Polish] Crown lands, but without success; for, as

the author of the account noted, ^multos fautores reperit this matter and the

fremitus was considerable. ' Krzysztof Dunin spoke in defense of Jews, 'allowing

nihil contrarium the Jews irrepere.' He was supported by other deputies, and

even by the Kalisz palatine, W. Breza, who opposed the proposal, ostensibly

because it would interfere with the palatine's jurisdiction over the Jewish

population. However, he presented the real reasons for his opposition in language

worth citing, for it illustrates the symbiosis, as it were, between a certain group

of nobles and the Jews on the basis of common financial interests. Breza was of

the opinion that 'it would be contra libertatem that someone should imponere

legem that I not be allowed to let out an inn or a brewery to a Jew; when I see a

30 Ibid., 1676, p. 447: 'Poena na ¿ydów, którzy mimo tot constitutions czeladz chrzeácianchowaj?.'

31 Ibid., p. 585: 'czeladzi i bialychglów chowaâ (okrom slodowników, browarników ifurmanów)... trzymac nie wazyli sic.'

32 Czartoryski Library 426, 16 February 1681, p. 279; AGAD (above, n. 21), ArchiwumPubliczne Potockich 324, p. 28.

32

The Problem of Christian Servants (11)

Jew who can get things done and is loyal, I do not see why I should not employ

him to my purpose.'The Krakow palatine, F. Potocki. also sought to prevent the

scope of the constitution from embracing Jews in the crown territories ('walking

about the chamber with his excellency the Marshal [Tomasz Dziatynski] he

spoke of not mentioning the Jews of the crown lands')." Of course, in this

instance, the senators were for the most part interested in rescinding the

prohibition against leaseholding by Jews.

In discussing constitutions from this aspect it is impossible not to remark on

the inclusion in many tax proclamations of Jews'servants as a separate category

of taxpayers, along with other 'unattached (luzneY people. Another factor

confirming that the nobility did in fact accept this sort of activity was the notes to

the resolutions in the matter of the head tax. such as 'no other taxes on their

craftsmen and servants...shall they be required to provide.'« An analysis of the

proclamations of the dietines also confirms the hypothesis that in reality the

nobles consented to this sort of activity. In general, however, they expressed

their disapproval of this procedure, striving at the same time to increase the tax

burden on Jews. All taxes on the so-called unattached people also pertained to

Jews' servants; at times, however, this fact was especially emphasized, with the

result that often Jews paid taxes at an increased rate. Thus, in passing a

resolution to tax unattached people in the amount of one zt. per head, the

Krakow nobles mentioned Jews' servants in particular and insisted that they pay

three times that rate. Similarly in 1680 the local dietine of the Wolyn palatinate

augmented the tax for Jewish service fourfold."

In some cases the nobles burdened Jews with a special tax on their servants.

This was what the Belsk dietine did in 1659 by imposing on them a tax 'for

retainers of both sexes that they keep as help unto themselves.'3^ In 1681 the

Opatów dietine established a base tax rate oí ten pobór units sine abjuratis and

33 J. Bieniarzówna, R. Zurkowa, 'Relacje poslów krakowskich zsejmu warszawskiego 1690r.,' Rocznik Biblioteki PAN w Krakowie 22 (I976):99, 108, 109.

34 See the tax proclamation of the 1598 Sejm, Volumina Legum II, p. 1432; cf. ibid. Ill,1627, p. 534.

35 For Krakow see ASWK (above, n. 26), t. V, 15 August 1685, p. 44: 'Sludzy zydowscychrzeácijanie, ze przeciwko statutowi kor. ¿ydom sluz?, po zl. 3 na rok, lozni zaé ludzievagabundaepersonae po zt. 1... przykladac sic maj^.' For Wolyn see Archive of SouthwestRussia, cz. II, t. II, 3 December 1680, p. 393.

36 Ossolineum Library, Wroclaw, 15964, t. I, 28 February 1659, p. 328.

33

(12) Adam Kaímierczyk

ten hearth units, but on Jews and their servants they imposed an additional headtax of one zl. for every servant beyond the normal head tax they paid as Jews."Similarly the áredzki dietine in 1688 decided that Jews should pay a head tax ofone zt. for each servant.̂ « in the same year the Halicz nobility adopted anexceptionally discriminatory laudum against Jews that charged them up to 20 zt.for each Christian they employed. The explanation for this action used by thenobility at that time clearly demonstrated that economic factors were decisiveabove all in the levying of these taxes as well as in issuing diet constitutionsforbidding Jews from keeping Christian servants: 'Because of the notinconsiderable paucity of common people in our land our brothers and subjectshave to bear iacturam, for they cannot call up common people for labour andhelp around the home, while the Jewish people in tantum excrevit astutio andpermit taking action against the laws herein descibed ad agriculturam and othertypes of household retainers not belonging to their own calling, by taking onChristian servants utriusque sexus raising their wages in immensum, by meansof which they lead these people to indolence et alla inconvenienta.'^^ Similarly,the nobles of the Belz province passed this resolution: 'Desiring to punish thosewho, by their recalcitrance, refuse to abide by the law, we have hereby directedthat they should pay 10 zl. for each Christian person.' But, in protection of theirown interests, they gave exemptions from payment to brewers, maltsters, andwagon drivers. The very same dietine passed a general head tax in 1694 to whichJews were not subject, but it required them to pay the head tax on Christianservants. Indirectly aimed at Jews in the same way was the Bransk dietine'sresolution of 1672, which imposed a special tax on those in Jewish service in theamount of one zl. per quarter.*"

It can be assumed that in the first half of the eighteenth century the situationdid not change fundamentally; the issue of Jews hiring Christians did not appearoften in the proclamations and instructions of dietines or during the deliberationsof the diet. Of course there were exceptions. For example, the Halicz dietine

37 PAN Library, Kraków, 8338, 9 December 1681, p. 660v.38 Czartoryski Library 1774m 17 May 1688, p. 613.39 AGiZ (above, n. 25), t. 24, 13 September 1688, p. 472.40 Ossolineum Library, Wroclaw, 15964, laudum woj. belskiego, 17 July 1690, p. 375; ibid.,

23 April 1694, p. 383; CGI A (above, n. 19), F 1703, ks. 49, laudum sejmiku brañskiego, 27April 1672, k. 176.

34

The Problem of Christian Servants (13)

included in almost every instruction a point prohibiting Jews from havingChristian servants. In the instruction of 12 August 1720 the nobility demanded:'So that Jews will not hold Christians utriusque sexus for their own service,except vintners and wagon drivers, the dietine reaffirms the constitutions of1565 and 1670....' This stipulation was repeated in exactly the same words in1728, 1732, and 1736, while similar demands had previously been inserted intothe instructions of 1714 and 1718.'»' Several times the same dietine adopted a taxon Jews for each servant they employed. It seems that the nobles of the Haliczlands were most disturbed by the Jews raising the remuneration level of the hiredhelp.''2 It is worth noting, however, that the neighbouring Wiszenski dietine tookvirtually no interest in this problem.«

In studying the relation of the nobility to the problem of Christian servants,we should not omit legislation by private landholders. Among the privileges ofJewish communities in private towns published by Jacob Goldberg we findmention of Christian servants in only two of 24. For good measure, in both cases(Dobromil and Swarçdz) the owners permitted Jews to hire Christians.-" In lightof the diet statements cited above, this is a very significant fact. On the otherhand it is possible to find privileges that forbid the holding of Christian servantson private lands, as, for example, in the privilege of Lukasz FranciszekMakowiecki (the starosta of Trembowel and Maków, colonel of his royalhighness, the hereditary lord of ¿abno) for the Jewish community in his town. Inthis document, which confirmed the former privilege given by his father in 1675,

41 AGiZ (above, n. 25), t. XXV, 14 August 1714, p. 219; 13 August 1716, p. 276; 12 August1720, p. 288; 16 August 1728, p. 337; 31 July 1732, p. 359.

42 See, for example, the proclamation of 3 November 1710, AGiZ(above, n. 25), t. XXV, p.130: 'Seorsive zaá od chrzeíciañskiej czeladzi, które in contrarium konstytucjom abardziej z postpozycjej chrzeáciaftskiej wiary w usJudze swej trzymaj? i bez mal non cumexorbitantibus ani sic zaden pan, ani z ludzi prostych nie moze docisn^6 do parobków,kucharek, gdy wszystka ta pomieniona czeladz in servitium zydowstwa a na lekki chlebgarnie sic, powinni tedy od parobka, kucharki, winnika i od kaidego chrzeécianinadawac po talerowi bitemu.'

43 Perhaps there is a simple explanation for this fact; most likely previous instructions weresimply copied unchanged.

44 J. Goldberg, Jewish Privileges in the Polish Commonwealth: Charters of Rights Grantedto Jewish Communities in Poland-Lithuania in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries,Jerusalem 1985, pp. 87, 324.

35

(14) Adam Kaimierczyk

the magnate forbade Jews from keeping Christian women in service, exceptthose over age 50. From the text of the privilege it appears that this prohibitionwas enacted in consequence of some sort of crime, most probably adultery: 'forexcess had become repulsive in that entire woeful century....' Violation of thisprohibition was punishable by a fine of 100 grzywny per manor. At the sametime, though, it was permitted to hire beermaids in beerhouses, but they couldwork only until sunset.''̂ It can be inferred from this text that the hereditary lordhad no objection to employing men.

On the other hand, the 1764 bylaws given to the Zaslawski Jewish communityboard contained a clause that threatened Jews who broke the law prohibiting theemployment of Christians with a fine in the amount of 30 red zi., 'whereas aChristian man or woman servant shall be punished with 50 lashes publicly in themarketplace.' The previous bylaws of 1740 did not include this provision, eventhough the regulations of 1764 were drawn up based on them.''* A few yearslater, too, an instruction for the Zaslawski commandant contained the followingpoint:

In view of the fact that, in opposition to Church law and to the laws of theCrown and with an insult to God, the custom observed in olden times, thatno Christian woman be allowed to serve for Jews, has been completelyabrogatur, an obligation of conscience is placed upon his lord grace thecommandant that in cases where a thing occurs, then the Christian servantwoman should be given a punishment of 100 lashes with a birch rodpublicly in the city, and the Jewish householder should be required to payinto the Lord's treasury 54 florins and to sit in jail for two Sundays; and ifhe has no means to pay the fine then he should suffer on his flesh 50 strokeswith the knout. For this reason, that it not be secret, this point should bepublished in school by the schoolmaster four times on the Sabbath dayduring the prayer service."*'

45 Czartoryski Library, National Museum, Krakow, dok. perg. 225, ¿abno, 5 September1692. It should be recalled that at that time sexual transgressions were treated as breachesof public order and were severely punished. See M. Mikolajczyk, 'O niektórychprzestçpstwach obyczajowych w prawie miejskim w Polsce XVI-XVIII wieku,' Problemyprawa karnego 20 (1994):63-78.

46 State Archive, Krakow, Archiwum Sanguszków 533, t. 1, bp. 1764r.47 Ibid., 1033, 24 February 1771, p. 142.

36

The Problem of Christian Servants (15)

The Sanguszkowie and their administrators instituted a similar policy in otherJewish communities in their possessions.-**

The burghers also tried to limit the practice of Jewish employment ofChristians. In their case, too, we can surmise that economic motives weredecisive. Doubtless it was for this reason that in 1627 the tailors of the suburbs ofLwow brought a protest to the court against the entire Jewish tailors' guildconcerning the fact that Jews were maintaining Christian apprentices.*' And aresolution of the city of Bartoszyc threatened expulsion from the city for anywoman who hired herself in service to Jews.'"

Despite the many laws cited above prohibiting the employment of Christianservants, probably every student of the history of the noble republic would agreethat such employment was a rather widespread phenomenon. It was said thateven the declasse nobility served Jewish employers. One of the charges lodgedagainst J. Becal was the fact that he surrounded himself with armed nobles whoserved him as bodyguards. But the best indicator of the universality of thisphenomenon was the lack of judicial reaction, both in state courts and in thoseon privately held lands, in most of the cases in which these many laws wereviolated.5' Still, it cannot be denied that this situation presented a certain threatto the Jewish population. In any case the Jews were well aware of this threat. Thechance death of a male or female servant could move a zealous priest or ordinaryChristians to anti-Jewish action. There was always the risk that suspicion ofritual murder would be aroused, for among the known cases of such accusationsin old Poland a goodly number involved adult Christian victims of both sexes.«

48 Ibid., folder 164, file 11,13 December 1740 (Opatów).49 M. Balaban, ¿ydzi twowscy naprzetomie XVIi XVH wieku: Materiafy Lwow 1906 p

99.50 Proclamation of 16 November 1640, in Horn, Regesty, 2:65.51 At this point it is worth cautioning that to a great extent court documents were admitted

that contradicted the principle of segregating the Jewish population. See the contract fora village leasehold in which the leaseholder was given full judicial authority over thesubjects, including the right of capital punishment, AWAK (above, n. 21), 28:165-68.See also J. Goldberg, 'Wladza dominialna ¿ydów-arendarzy dóbr ziemskich nadchlopami w XVII-XVHI w.,' Przegtçd Historyczny 81 (1980):189-98.

52 In 1700 a trial was held in the Lithuanian court over the murder of a female servant, inwhich the Jesuits and the parents of the deceased accused the Jews that 'nie z iadnej sobieprzez ni? danej przyczyny, ale szczególnie z nienawiáci i zawziçtoSci przeciw chrzeácianom

37

(16) Adam Kaimierczyk

In the second decade of the eighteenth century the archbishop of Lwow. JanSkarbek, tried to exploit the death of a Christian vintner from Jaryczów in thisway." The corpse of a Christian was found at the home of a Jaryczów Jew.Mendel, a student of the Lwow rabbi. The Jews in the area maintained that hehad burned himself on the kettles in the winery. According to the bishop, thebody of the vintner Iwan Sochor allegedly had no bloodstains on his clothes.Thus, Skarbek wrote to the castellan of Krakow, '...writing in supplicationtogether with his grace the Bishop of Lwow, who is the pastor (according to thatrite) of this man so martyred, I appeal to your most illustrious lordship.nefandum Honore plenissimum delictum in renovationem of the Passion ofChrist at in odium Christiani Nominis perpetratum not to deign to suffer thiscrime against justice and allow the dignity of your office to be the cause of this,but to remand the flesh to jail and the Jews to hard imprisonment at Grodzko,Lwow, or Trybunalski and as is fitting be so punished.' It seems, however, that inthis instance the intervention of the bishop did not bring about the effect hedesired.

In another case, Mendel Samuelowicz, a Jew from Wilno, fearing, no doubt,that he might be accused of causing the death of his woman servant, called hisporter, before whom Nastasia Jakubowa gave witness that she had fallen gravelyill and that her illness was not brought about by any person. As the porter wrote,'this Jew, Mendel, in provision for the future, if God forbid this woman shoulddie, so that he would not have such trouble, declared me to be a witness and anoble party.'5'» In much the same way the Council of the Four Lands, inprohibiting Christians from staying at Jewish homes overnight, was motivatedmost probably by fear that such a situation might give rise to various types ofaccusations." Similar resolutions found their way into the statutes of the Jewishcommunity in Kazjmierz in 1595. At that time it was complelety prohibited thatChristian servants spend the night in Jewish homes. Even the keeping of a

i z pragnienia krwi chrzesciaftskiej tç pomieniong Marynç Daniewsk? — bialoglowçciçzarn^... okrutnie zamordowali.' AWAK (above, n. 21), 29:279.

53 Bishop Skarbek to Adam Sieniawski, Lwow, 10 April 1725, Czartoryski Library 5948,nr. 38604.

54 AWAK (above, n. 21), 28:171-72 (20 May 1638).55 N. E. Shulman, A uthority and Community: Polish Jewry in the Sixteenth Century, New

York 1986, p. 34.

38

The Problem of Christian Servants (17)

servant woman during the day required permission of the seniora mensis.^^ Mostprobably the main reason for this prohibition was the desire to avoid the oftenraised accusation that Jews enticed Christians into loose behaviour.

It ean be stated with a great degree of likelihood that the regulations establishedby Jews were also fairly widely disregarded. The just-cited diet declarations,proclamations, instructions of dietines, and other legal documents testifyconclusively that the idea of segregating Christians from Jews propagated by theCatholic Church did not in fact win much support. This observation serves toconfirm my view that it was economic motives, more than any others, that lay atthe basis of Polish-Jewish relations in prepartition Poland. Only very zealousindividuals, chiefly among the Catholic clergy, were inclined to listen to and toapply the prinicples put forth by the Church.

It is hard not to concur with the view that the issue of Christian employmentby Jews captured only a modicum of attention from the nobility at dietines.However, Lithuanian dietines adopted a surprisingly large number of resolutionsin this matter. The nobles often used religious arguments in this matter butofficially approved the employment of Christians by Jews in taverns servinglow-grade vodka and as wagon drivers. But it appears that the main reason whythe nobility protested against the employment of Christian servants by Jews wasthat Jews paid the servants higher wages. Thus the nobles, by passing resolutionsprohibiting Jews from this practice, sought to eliminate competition they foundinconvenient.

On the other hand we have much evidence of the nobility's acceptance of thephenomenon under discussion, even though at times resolutions were passedthat imposed restrictive taxes on service. It seems that the reactions of the nobleswere ambivalent. Indisputably it was sometimes the case that certain groups ofnobles could not resign themselves to this phenomenon for religious reasons,and on occasion they expressed their opposition in the dietines. It is also verylikely that these sorts of resolutions came about because of Church pressure.Economic issues also had a great deal of influence on the nobility's attitudetowards this matter; in some cases the nobility treated the Jews as unwantedcompetitors who in effect raised the wages of hired help. On the other hand

56 M. Balaban, Historia ¿ydów w Krakowie i na Kazimierzu, 1304-1868, Kraków 1931,1:444.

39

(18) Adam Ka¿mierczyk

everyone wanting to work with the Jewish population, especially in tavern-keeping, had to accept the employment of Christians by Jews in their ownself-interest.

Increased interest in this question, which found expression in the resolutionstaken up at dietines, beginning in the decade of the 1660s, which were at timesassociated with anti-Jewish rowdiness or pogroms, could testify to the perceptiblechange in the attitude of prepartition Polish society towards Jews, which seemedto be brought on by the conditions of those times. More or less at this time it ispossible to observe a rise in the number of accusations and trials concerningritual murder; the culmination of these phenomena took place, it seems, at thetransition between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is obvious thatthe observations presented here refer above all to the attitudes of the Catholicclergy and nobility. City dwellers and peasants could also take part in anti-Jewishactions. However, there is a lack of information concerning their attitudetowards the question of the employment of Christian servants by Jews.

40

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