Cracow's Wine Trade

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Cracow's Wine Trade (Fourteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

Author(s): F. W. CarterSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Oct., 1987), pp. 537-578Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Associationand University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4209630.

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SEER, Vol.65, No. 4, October987

C r a c o w s W i n e r a d e Fourteentht Eighteenth Centuries)

F. W. CARTERTHE quest for different and new varietiesofwines has interestedpeoplefor centuries. Whereas beer was the ordinary person's drink in theMiddle Ages, when large quantities were consumedfornourishment aswell as pleasure, wine was the everyday beverage of the more affluentmembers of society, except in Europe's grape-growing areas wherenaturally it was cheaper. Even so Postan has observed that 'Historiansdo not know enough about medieval consumption in differentplacesand at different social levels to be able tojudge to what extent wine andbeer were true substitutes';1but it does appear that 'Wine cost muchmore than beer, even local wine, and artisans took it only on specialoccasions'.2Certainly wine was widely distributed in medieval Europe, and thevine was cultivated even in morenortherlyareasuntil specialization inparticulargreatwine-growing regionsenabled them to supply a higherquality vintage wherever needed. Attempts at viticulture in the moreclimatically marginalareas of the continent weregraduallyabandonedas the Middle Ages progressed and northernEurope began to providean attractive market for the vintages of the Mediterraneanbasin andIberian peninsula. As a result large quantities of wine were involved inthe export trade.3In some partsof Europewhere wine supplies becamemore difficult to obtain, some compensation was made by increasedbeer production, especially in parts of the Netherlands, Germany andthe Baltic countries.4F. W. Carter is Lecturer in the Geography of Eastern Europe, a Hayter joint post atUniversity College and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University ofLondon.

1 M. M. Postan, 'The Trade of Medieval Europe: The North', The CambridgeEconomicHistoryof Europe, i, Cambridge, I962, p. 200.2 G. Strauss, Nurembergn theSixteenthCentury:CityPolitics andLife BetweenMiddleAges andModemTimes,Bloomington, 1976, p. 20I.3 Y. Renouard, 'Le Grand Commerce du vin au moyen age' (Etudesd'histoiremedievale,Paris, I968, pp. 235-48).4 J. Craeybeckx, Un GrandCommerce'importation les vinsdeFranceaux anciensPays-Bas(XIII-XVIsiecles),aris,I958, pp. 15-17; R. Schultze, Geschichte es Weines ndderTrinkgelage,Berlin, I867, p. I2o; B.Giglaski, Der Weinbau m Lande des DeutschenOrdenswahrenddesMittelalters: Ein Vortrag,Brunsberg, I908, pp.8-9. See also M.Strzemski, 'Przemianysrodowiska geograficznego Polski, jako tla przyrodniczego rozwoju rolnictwa na ziemiachpolskich (od polowy trzeciego tysi4clecia p.n.e. do naszych czas6w)' (KwartalnikHistoriiKulturyMaterialnej, x, 3, Warszawa, I96I, pp. 331-57).

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538 F. W. CARTERIn Polandthe place-name videnceof settlements alled 'Winnica'suggeststhat vineyardsexisted thereduringthe earlyMiddleAges;5thiswas probably loselyassociatedwith the introduction fChristian-

ity to the countryduringthe reignof Mieszko .6 By the fourteenthcenturyPolishviticultural evelopment ad reached tspeak,butafter1400 it began to decline.7 n spiteof newvineyardplanting n placessuch as Sandomierz,Poznan', nd Plock,other factorscontributed oloss of production.8Climaticchangescreated colderconditions inPoland, whichin turn affected he patternof humansettlementandchoice of crop production.9 urthermore,hegradual ntroduction fbetter-qualityoreignwinesinto Polandduring he laterMiddleAgesled to thecompleteeclipseofPolishviticultureby thebeginningof thesixteenthcentury.ForPoland,the periodafterI500 was to witnessagreat era of foreignwine importationn whichCracowwas to play aleading role. Withinthe Polishcapitalthe wine merchant raternitywas responsible or introducingalien wines to the more privilegedmedievalaristocracy,whosedemand nsured flourishingmarket verthecenturies.Wine has adeceptivelywiderangeof marketswhichvaryfrom hoseessentially geared to subsistenceconsumptionright through to itsprovision as a highly desirable luxury article. It has an intenselygeographical atternofproduction,manywinesbeing dentifiedpurelyonlocationoforigin.It is theaimofthispaper oexamine hoseareasoforiginand destinationof wines channelled hroughCracowbetweenthe fourteenthand eighteenthcenturies,and perhaps not only addsomethingto our knowledgeof the geographicalpatternsassociatedwith this tradein southernPoland,but also help in a smallway tocorrect omeofPostan'sobservations otedearlier.DataSourcesEarly evidence of viticulturearound Cracowcomes from the ArabtravellerAl-Idrisi.According o himthe vine wasgrown n the twelfthcenturynotonlyin BrittanyandaroundBrugesandBremen,but also,

5 SlownikGeograficznyrolestwaPolskiego innychkrajow lowiarskich,B.Chlebowski,F. Sulimierski&W.Walewski eds),xiii, Warszawa, 893, withreference ovillagesnamed'Winnica'.

6 K. Moldenhawer,'Szcz4tkiroglinne z wykopaliskz X w. na OstrowiuTumskim'(PrzeglqdArcheologiczny,i, Warszawa, I938-39, pp. 226-27); J. Kwapieniowa,'Poczatkiuprawywinnej atorosliw Polsce'(Materialyrcheologiczne,, Krakow,1959, p. 36I).7 Z. Morawski,'Rozwoj upadekwiniarstwaw Polsce (XXII-XVI wiek)' (KwartalnikHistoriiKulturyMaterialnej,xvi, i, Warszawa,1978, p. 67).8 Ibid., p. 7 .9 T. Dunin-Wasowicz, Environement t habitat: a ruptured'equilibredu XIII' siecledans la GrandePlaineeuropeenne' Annales,conomies,ocictis,ivilisations,5, 5, Paris I980,pp. 1026-45)-



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 539he specifically mentions, Cracow;his translatorJaubert'0 was frankly,but wrongly, sceptical of this and wrote 'sic' after each translatedstatement. He did however have stronger ground for doubting thevalidity of Al-Idrisi's claim that the olive was grown in Poland at thattime. Nevertheless, there must have been considerable agriculturalactivity in the immediate surroundings of Cracow, which by theeleventh century had already become one of the main political centresof the country."With political importance came commercial significance and therecording of marketing transactions, many of which have survived therigours of time and are preserved in the city's archives. Here citycouncil reports, municipal privileges, etc. enable some appreciationtobe made of overall growth tendencies, not only in Cracow but also inother settlements mentioned in the data sources. Greatest importancemust be attached to the various documents related to customs dutycollection, amongst which one set coversa 200-year periodfromthe endof the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century.Customs registersfor much of sixteenth-century Cracow were lodged in Warsaw, butunfortunately were destroyed during the Second World War; however,they had been analysed before the War by the Polish economichistorian Rybarski and now exist in summarized table form.12For this paper an important item in these customs registers is aprivilege granted by KingJan Olbracht in I497; this allowed the city toextract a wine duty called 'weingeld' and later 'ducellaria'. Customsduty was collected thereforenot only on the amountofgoods broughttothe city, but also according to what type they were. Duty on cloth hadbeen in force since 1323, and I 75 years later wine was given similarstatus. The tax amount collected depended on size (vat, barrel, etc.),but no-one was exempt, even Cracow citizens, and it was immaterial ifthe wine was for personal consumption or not.13 Such documentarymaterial has obvious value not only for historians and economichistorians but also for historical geographers,who are able to use it toestablish trade patternsover particulartime periods.All documentarysources have some weaknesses, and these have been discussed withregard to Cracow by the author elsewhere.'4 Nevertheless, given these

10 A. Jaubert, Kitdbnuzhatal-mustaki 'htirak l-dfak.Giographie'Edrisi. Traduitedel'arabeen francaisd'apresdeux manuscritsde la Bibliothequedu Roi et accompagneedenotes), i-II, Paris, I836-40, pp. 375, 38I, 389.11J.Rutkowski,HistoriaGospodarczaolski,Warszawa,1953, p. 13.12 R. Rybarski,Handel polityka andlowaolskiw XVIstuleciu, oznan, 1928-29, vol.2;(Tablicei materialy tatystyczne).13 S. Kutrzeba,'Finanse Krakowaw wiekachsrednich'(RocznikKrakowski,II, Krakow,

I900, pp. 101-02).14 F. W. Carter, Cracowas TradeMediator n Polish-BalkanCommerce, 590-I 6oo', inTrade ndTransportn RussiaandEasternEurope,M. McCauleyandJ. E. 0. Screen (eds),SchoolofSlavonicandEastEuropeanStudies, OccasionalPapers,2, London,I985, p. 42.



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540 F. W. CARTERreservations concerning abuse of archival data, they still form anintegral part of the information utilized in this paper.Emphasis here is placed on the spatial patterns and geographicalinterpretation of Cracow's wine trade;other primaryarchival sourceshave been utilized from various places with former commercialsignificance, which were usually situated on major trade routesconnected with Cracow. These depositories were useful forsupplementing the Cracow series, and add further informationon thespatial patterns of the city's wine trade. In Poland documents wereconsulted at the BibliotekaCzartoryskich15 nd theArchiwumGlowneAkt Dawnych,'6 togetherwith those in Gdansk and Torun,17Elblqg,18Poznan19and other small town collections. Beyond the present Polishfrontiers documentary material from formerHungarian territorywasused, for example, town archives in Kosice, Presov, Levoca, andBardejov,20 whilst in Rumania archival sources at Cluj, BraqovandSibiu were analysed.21 Various secondary published sources alsoproved helpful including the Sund registers22and worksby Kutrzeba,Rybarski, Matecki, Bogucka, Pieradzka,Horvaith,Dan, Demeny, andMareckova.23TradeRoutesOne of the keys to Cracow's success as a trading emporium was itsfavourable geographical location regarding trade routes.24For winethe major problem was transport. Commerce in this commodity was

15 Archiwum Biblioteki Czartoryskich w Krakowie (Oddzial Muzeum Narodowego),Krakow.16 Archiwum GI6wne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie. See also Straty archiw'w i bibliotekwzakresierrkopis'miennychrodelhistorycznych,, Warszawa, I957, pp. 88-90.17 Archiwum Panstwowe we Gdan'sku;Archiwum miasta Torunia.18 Archiwum miasta Elblqga.19Archiwum Panstwowe we Poznafiiu.20 Statnf okresni archiv, Bardejov, fond Archiv mesta Bardejov; Archiv mesta Levoca;ibid, Kosice, Presov.21 Arhiva de Stat Cluj; Arhiva ora?ului Cluj, Arhiva Bistritei; Arhiva de Stat Bra?ov,Gewandhandelregister; Arhiva de Stat Sibiu, Zwanzigste und Dreissigste Rechnungen.22 Tabelleroverskibsfartog varetransportennem0resundI497-166O,N. E. Bang (ed.), 2 vols,K0benhavn, 1906-33; Tabellerover kibsfartog varetransportennem0resundi66i-I783, 2 vols,K0benhavn, 1930-53.23 S, Kutrzeba and F. Duda, RegestraTheloneiAquaticiWladislaviensisaeculiXVI, Krak6w,19 15;R. Rybarski, op. cit.;J. M. Malecki, Studianad rynkiemegionalnym rakowawXVI wieku,Warszawa, I963; M. Bogucka, Szkice Gdan'skie (XV-XVII w.), Warszawa, I957;K. Pieradzka, HandelKrakowaz Wfgramiw XVI w. (Biblioteka Krakowska No. 87), Krakow,1935; P. Horvalth, 'Obchodne styky Levoce s Pol'skom v druhej polovici XVI. storocia'(HistoricktKtudie,, 1955, Bratislava, pp. I05-45); M. P. Dan, 'Negustorii clujeni la Cracoviain ultimul deceniu al secolului al XVI-lea' (Acta MuseaNapocensis,8, Cluj, I97I, pp. 205-I 7); L. A. Demeny, 'Comertul de transzit spre Polonia prin Tara Romaneasca ?iTransilvania (Ultimul sfert al secoluliu al XVII-lea)' (Studia Revista de Istorie, 22, 3,Bucharest, I969, pp. 465-98); M. Mareckova, DdlkovyobchodPre'ovavprv)chtfechdesetiletz'cl

I7 stoletia Krakovskyrh,Brno, 197I24 F. W. Carter, 'Cracow's Early Development' (TheSlavonicandEast EuropeanReview,6 i,2, 1983, London, pp. 198-201).



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 54Ioften confined to particular regions which - like the Gironde orOporto - were by the sea, or, like Burgundy, had ready access to anavigable river system linking them to major markets. Perhaps thelargestsingle problemin the earliercenturieswas, however,a technicalone; many wines were not stable enough to travel long distances, andoften had to be consumed within a few months of fermentation.Longer-lsting wines were dependent on improved techniques and anaristocraticsociety able to enjoyand affordthem. Once this marketwaslarge enough, it could facilitate the development of internationallinks,providing buyers' curiositywas sufficient to try out new vintages.25Such conditions during the late medieval and early modern periodwere found in Cracow, particularly up to I609 when the royal courtresided in the city. Certainly most of the wines of far distant originentering Cracow up to the late seventeenth century must have beenspecially treated with a high alcohol level ( 6?-I 8?or above) to ensuretheir longevity. This would have ensured that wines from Spain(Granada), France (the Midi), and Malmsey (Crete) arrived in adrinkable form; some of the less alcoholic wines from France wouldhave been carefully aged in wood, whilst the various German hocksrelied on high sugar content to allow transportand storage. Hungarianwines (forexample, Tokay) would have provedless of a problemdue totheir closer proximity to the Cracow market.Richer merchants in Cracow (forexample, the Wierzynekfamily)26dominated the wine trade, forthey alone had both the financial capitaland warehousingfacilities to provide forlargestoragespace and enablemanipulation of the wine trade through access to the key viticulturalareas. In this way Cracow, throughtransittradelinks,had connectionswith the differentEuropeanwine-producingregions,and this helped toprovide a sense of economic coherence in an often politically dividedand sometimes warring continent. Moreover, up to and during thefifteenth century the urban centres of Europewere the majorcommer-cial nuclei, little business being allowed to escape into the surroundingcountryside. Merchants played a critical role in this scenario, creatinga sharp division between rural peasants practising agriculture andurbandwellers bent on controllingtradeand the manualcrafts.27Fromthe thirteenth centuryonwards merchantslived underindividual townprotection and reciprocal guarantees between towns, which enabledmerchants to trade in a wide variety of merchandise. Cracow'smerchants were no exception in this overall picture. One of the mostimportant such merchants in Cracow during the first half of the

25 TheEconomist24/12/1983, Wine Survey), p. 3.26 S. Kutrzeba, 'Historia rodziny Wierzynk6w' (RocznikKrakowski, i, Krak6w, I899,pp. 29-88); J. Roszko, Wierzynekjego sqsiedzi,Krak6w, 1980.27 H. Pirenne, Economic ndSocialHistoryof MedievalEurope,London, i 96 I, p. I69.



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542 F. W. CARTERfifteenthcenturywas Sweidniczer,whose companydealt on a largescale in a multitudeof goods from Flanders to Hungary.28Morecommon,however,wasthespecialistmerchantwhotraded nonlyonecommodity uch aswineand had commercialinkswitha singlearea.Cracow's ommercialtrength ayintheprivileges uaranteed yitstown counciland the powerof the Polish throne.One of the mostsignificantprivilegesacquiredbyCracow'smerchant ommunitywasthe law on staplingrights(Stapelrecht/Prawok?adu),irst obtained nI306.29In Cracowstaplingwasonly applicable o foreignmerchants,referredoindocuments s 'hospites' Latin), dygeste'(German), nd'obcymi' (Polish), andwas deliberatelydesigned o protect he city'smerchant lass.Due to itsfortunate eographicalocation,Cracowwasable to makegreatuse of thisconceptandwas 'inthebest position orthis type of trade in the whole of Poland'.30Although the I306documentonlyreferred o copper,reconfirmationfthecity'sstaplingrights granted by King KazimierzWielki in 135431 included allcommodities andso wine). This new lawwas aimedat protecting hecityfromthe commercial ctivitiesof othernon-Polish owns,notablyTorunandGdan'sk,32nd theillegaldealingsofforeignmerchants, orexample romNuremberg.33While muchofCracow'swinetradewasfor local consumption,and the stapling laws were mainly aimed attransit trade, it did preservethe wine merchant'smonopolywhendealing with other towns, fairs, and marketsin southernPolandoperativeat the time. Unfortunately,about the year I500, greatchangesin Poland's transittradeoccurredbecause of the Turkishincursions nto Europe,and the establishment f new routesto Indiaand the New World; hese events led to a questioningof the value of

28 S. Kutrzeba, 'Handel Krakowa w wiekachgrednich,na tle stosunkowhandlowychPolski' (RozprawyAkademiiUmiejftnosciHist-Phil), XLIV, Krak6w, 1902, p. 155); R. deRoover, Money,Banking ndCreditn MedievalBruges,Cambridge,Mass., 1948; see alsoR. Farkas, Kassa arumegdllitojoga,assa, I893; A. Gardonyi, 'Felso Magyarorszagkereskedelmiuitjaia k6zepkorban,Kozgazdasdgizenle,Budapest, I908; G. Kerekes,Kassapolgarsaga,paraes kereskedisekizipkorvegen,Budapest, 19I3; S.Kutrzeba (ed.), 'Aktaodnoszace sip do stosunkowhandlowychPolski z Wfgrami z lat 1354-1505' (ArchiwumKomisjiHisto?ycznej,x, Krak6w,1902, pp. 407-85); R.Marsina, Mestoa trhna Slovenskudo konca I3 stor.' (Historickjc6asopis,6, i, Bratislava, 978, pp. 77-95).29 Kodeks yplomatycznyiastaKrakowa,257-i506, F. Piekosin'ski (ed.), i, Krakow, 1879,No.4.30 S. Kutrzeba and J. Ptasnik, 'Dzieje handlu i kupiectwa krakowskiego'(RocznikKrakowski,iv,Krakow, 912, p. Io).31 Kodeksyplomatyczny,, no. 29.32 HansischesUrkundenbuch,. Kunze, C. V. Runstedt and W. Stein (eds), Miinchen-Halle-Leipzig-Weimar, I-IX, I876-i958, III, nos. 532-33); Codex pistolarisecnonDiploma-ticuseculiXV,A. Lewicki(ed.), Krakow,I885,vol.II, no. 200 refers to complaintsbyforeignmerchants romTorun' ndGdan'skn I430 aboutCracow'srigidstaplelaws.33Wojewodzkie Archiwum Pan'stwowe w Krakowie: ConsulariaCracoviensia,ol. in, p. I58,mentions the case in 1457 of a Nurembergmerchant who illegally sold cloth and silkmaterial n Cracow.



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 543stapling aws coupledwith the emergenceof Poland'sestatefarming(folwark) nd growth n exports,especially ereals.34The actual traderoutesusedbyCracow'smerchants onvergedonthecity fromseveraldirections.Fourprincipal oadsradiated rom hecity, to the north,south,east,andwest.The northern oute o the Balticcoast was knownas the Torun' r Prussian Torunska/Pruska)oadand had beenin use sincethe beginningof the fourteenth entury;35fromCracow t crossedCujavia oTorun', nd thenfollowed he banksof the Vistula river to Gdansk.A branchroute eft the mainroad atLeqzycaand led to Poznan' nd the Balticportsof Szczecin,Stralsundand Greifswald;after about I400 this was called the Flanders(Flandryjska)oute.FromCracow outhward heroute ed toHungaryand had been in use since thethirteenth entury.It went via Bochniaover the Tatra mountains o Kosice36and on to Transylvania. n awestwarddirection, he mainroute ed fromCracow o WroclawviaOlkusz,37with a branchroadgoingthroughOswiVcimAuschwitz),oconnectwithroadsforPragueand Vienna.Eastward, hemainroutelinkedCracowwith the largeemporium f Lwow.38The majorrouteleft Cracowfor Sandomierzalong the banksof the Vistulawhereitbifurcated, ne branchgoingnorth-east oLublin/Wlodzimierz/Kiev,and the other south-east to Lwow and furtheralong the Tatary(Tatarska) oadtosouthernRussia, he Crimea,and Sea of Azov.39

34 K. Stachowska, Prawoskladu w Polsce do I565r.' (SprawozdaniaczynnosciposiedzenPolskiej kademii miejftnoici,i, 9, Krak6w,1951, P.592).35Kodeksdyplomatyczny,, no. 4 and no. I6; see also B.Wyrozumska,Drogi w ziemikrakowskiejo konica VI wieku Prace Komisji Nauk HistorycznychNo.41), Wroclaw-Warszawa-Krakow-Gdaiisk, 977, pp.28-35; Hansischesrkundenbuch,ol.III,nos. I47,559(which gives a list of Polish customs houses in I350-60), and 631. For more generaldiscussion, see S.Weymann, 'Cla i drogi handlowe w Polsce piastowskiej'(Poznan'skieTowarzystwoPrzyaciolNauk, PraceKomisjiHistorycznej,iii, I, Poznan', 938);'Ze studi6wnadzagadnieniemdrogw Wielkopolsce dX do XVIII wieku'(Przeglqdachodni,x, 11, 6-8(Studia Poznafiskie ku uczczeniu iooo-lecia miast i 700-lecia samorzadumiejskiego)(Polowa X w I253-1953), Poznai, I953, PP. I94-253).36WojewodzkieArchiwum Pan'stwowew Krakowie,ActaCastirensia racoviensisAktaGrodzkie Ziemskie),ix, I4 (dated 1405) refers to a customs-stationat Czchow; Kodeksdyplomatyczny,I,no. 310 (dated I432); ibid., I, I6 (1329), and 57 (1380); KodeksdyplomatycznyMalopolski, . Piekosin'skied.), i, Krakow, I876, no. 173; Kodeks yplomatyczny,, no. 22(datedI338);Wojew6dzkieArchiwumPan?twowew Krakowie,ActaCastirensiaracoviensis,ix, 44; Kodeksdyplomatyczny,, no. I5 (dated 1324).37Kodeksyplomatyczny,i, Krak6wI88o, no.310; see also F. Kiryk and R. Kolodziejczyk(eds),DziejeOlkuszaregionulkuskiego,vols,Warszawa,1978; in I452Wroclawmerchantsconfimed hatthe oldestroutetoCracowwent via OpoleandToszek;A. Klose, VonBreslau,DokumentierteeschichtendBeschreibung,I, 2, Breslau,I88I, P.358.38 L. Charewiczowa, HandelSredniowiecznegowowa(Studja nad Historija Kultury wPolsce, vol. I), Lwow, 1925, pp. 3 1-52.39AktagrodzkieziemskieczasowRzeczpospolitejolskiej archiwumak wanegoernadynskiegoLwowe wyd. K. Liske), III,28, Lwow I906, 'in omnibusiuribuset libertatibus,videlicet,depositioneomniummercanciarum, mniumet quorumlibemmercatorum c transituseuvia ... volumus .. conservare'dated I379). In 1380 a merchant n route o orfromTatarymuststay 14daysin Lwow, paycustomsduty, andoffergoods forsale. If theywere notsoldaftera fortnight heycouldthen be takenonfurther ithereast orwest.Akta rodzkaziemski,



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544 F. W. CARTERThese four axial routes therefore onnectedCracowwith the moredistant European radecentresandbeyond.With increased ommer-cial contacts n Europe, ources howthatCracowmerchantsravelled

to Italy, especially o Venicevia Viennaand Treviso;40his resultedfrom agreements concluded between King Kazimierz Wielki andRudolfIV, Princeof Austria. talywasanimportantourceofsouthernwines and Venetian merchantscouldfreelytrade in themand othergoodsin Cracow,as did Cracowmerchants imilarly n Venice.41Analternativerouteto Italy wentvia Nuremberg-Innsbruck-Trevisto-Mestre and had been used since about 1350, when Nurembergmerchants arrived in Cracow and gave permissionfor Cracow'smerchants to travel via their city.42Riverrouteswere alsoan importantmeansof sendingmerchandiseto orthroughCracow, ncludingwine.The mainalternativeowheeledtrafficwas the barge/boat;n theMiddleAges, transport ywaterwasoftencheaper han by land, and this meant hatriver rafficwasable tobearheavier olls.DuringtheearlyMiddleAgestheVistulariverwaslittle used as a trade route,due to the weakdevelopmentof Polishcommerceup to the thirteenth entury.However,withthegrowthoftowns and expansionof trade in the fourteenthcentury,especiallytransittradefromHungary o theBalticcoast,riverrouteswereusedmore frequently.The Hungarianwinetrade was able for part of thejourneyovertheTatramountains o usetheDunajec iverandfrom hefifteenthcenturyCracowmerchants ransportedalong the Vistulariver some of the heavier oads such as wine to and fromthe Balticcoast; n turn his inked hecitywiththe mportant ortsof BrugesandAntwerpn the Low Countries.Finally, heactualphysicalmovement fgoodssuchas winefrom heproducer o Cracowand beyond requiredconsiderable rganizationand was oftenfraughtwith difficulties.A merchantcompanyneededassistants,who were often relatives,responsible or goods whentheyarrived/departedhrough he cityboundaries;heirjobwas toorganizethe transport,pay bills, check quantities, etc. Transportationwascarried out by afurmanorwaggon-driver, who was not just a carter, butresponsible ccording o specificnstructionsorthe merchandiseromcollection o delivery.Furmansare rarelygiven the prominenceheyiii, no. 32; Kodeksdyplomatyczny,, 58. See also M. Malowist, 'Les Routes du commerce et lesmarchandises du Levant dans la vie de la Pologne au bas moyen age et debut de l'epoquemoderne', Mediterraneo OceanoIndiano, Firenze, I970, pp. 157-75; M. Dubiecki, 'Kaffaosada genuenska i jej stosunek do Polski w XV w.' (Przegl,d Powszechny, 2, Krak6w, I886,pp. I 2-22).40 H. Simonsfeld, Der Fondacodei Tedeschin Venedig nd die Deutsch-Venezianischenandels-beziehungen, tuttgart, I887, II, p. 98.41 Kodeksdyplomatyczny,o. 34.42 H. Simonsfeld, op. cit., i, no. 368.



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 545deserve n documentary vidence,probablybecause heywerenot tiedto one merchant,butactedas freeagents.Theyworked ncommission,often stating their own terms of reference, ncluding the amountcharged or transport.Anotherndividualproviding ompany erviceswas the lieger rcommercial gentwho wasresponsibleorsellingandbuyingmerchandisen some distantmarket uchas BrugesorKosiceand sending it to Cracow.Also there were commissionagentswhocollected goods from Cracow companies,deliveredmerchandiseattheir own expense,sold it, and with the moneyor barterreturned oCracowwith othergoods; hey usuallyreceiveda quarterof theprofiton the transaction s payment.43In spite of this organization, ransactionswereoftenfraughtwithdifficulty.Throughoutmuchoftheperiodunder tudyhere,routeswerenot verysafe,riskswerehighand ndividualmerchants, xceptperhapsthe richest,wereoftenhesitant oparticipate.t shouldberememberedthat a roadwas merelya stripof land (rather hananimproved urface)on whichpeoplehad the rightto travel,whilst overmoors,throughpassesorforestsand across wamps, he routecouldbecome ittlemorethan a path. Wheeledvehicles ound hegoingdifficultnwetweather,andon suchroadsnormal peedwasat walkingpacesothattwentymiles(32 kms) was a good day's ourney,and somedaily stageswere muchshorter.Thedisadvantages froad ravelwere npartcounterbalancedby a widespreaduse of rivers,but even these suffered romnaturalobstacles.Springfloods, summer ow water,and winter ce impedednavigation, nd therewastheperpetual roblem fshallows, ocks,andrapids. Although most waterwayswere capable of use, upstreammovementwasslow,themain ormof combating hecurrent eingoftenonlywithpoles,oars,orsimple ails.River raffic lsosufferedmore romtollschargedby feudal andlords orpassage hrough heir erritory;orthese the waterborne ravellerswere an easy prey. Carts and packanimalson land routeswere morefortunate,or it was easierto avoidsuch fiscaldues, plague,banditry,warfare, ndphysicalobstacles ikefloodsandlandslides, implyby takinganalternative oute.Given this general informationon trading organizationand theproblems associated with the use of commercialroutes, it is nowappropriate o enquire urther nto Cracow'swine trade.As a study nhistorical geography, this investigationwill emphasize the spatialramifications f that trade o ascertainwhichareaswere mportant nd

43 Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panstwowe w Krakowie i) ConsulariaCracoviensia,, p. I90. In1403 a commission agent took goods to Bohemia from Cracow, but due to errors he made inthe transaction he lost his quarter of the profit made. ii) Ibid., ConsulariaCracoviensia,II,p. 143 (1456). A commission agent had two separate contracts with a merchant in Cracowand a foreign merchant in Kosice. He sent the goods from the Cracow merchant to Kosicethrough a furman, and then had merchandise from Kosice delivered to Cracow on the returnjourney. iii) Ibid., ConsulariaCracoviensia,, p. 23I (1406) gives a similar example to (ii);iv) Najstarszeksirgi i rachunkimiastaKrakowaod r. I300 do 1400, F. Piekosiiiski and J. Szujski(eds), ii, Krak6w, 1878, pp. 137-38. A bill is preserved for a commission agent who tookgoods to Flanders for a Cracow merchant 'Super. . . expensis et perculo. . .'.



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546 F. W. CARTERwhat changes took place between the fourteenth and eighteenthcenturies, using the year 1500 as a bench-mark forcomparison.This isa convenient date separating the late medieval and early modernperiods,when significantchanges began to appearin tradeorientation,not only for Cracow'but for the whole of Europe.Cracow'sWineTrade ptoI500Documentary evidence suggests that wine imports to Cracow camefrom three major sources, Hungary, Moldavia, and to a lesser extentwestern Europe (Fig. i). Hungarian wines appear to have been themost important, with Poland providing an obvious close market.Thiswas because, first, it did not produce enough for its own religious andother needs, and, second, Austria, the other possible main outlet forHungarian wines, had sufficient of its own Styrian varieties.4 Thelargest Cracow consumers were the royal court, local magnates, andricher city dwellers, but also to these must be added the considerablenumber of Hungarian students in Cracow, particularly during thereign of King KazimierzJagiellonczyk (I447-92).'5 Wine and copperwere the most important export items from Hungary in the MiddleAges. D4browski believes Hungarian wine was exported to Cracow inthe thirteenth century,46and certainly by I 3 I0 it was often mentionedin tariff lists.47 The royal court papers of King Ludwik W~gierski(I 37o-82) and QueenJadwiga (I384-99) as well as the accounts of hersuccessor, King WiadislawJagiello (I 386-I434), record purchases ofHungarian wine.48Furtherevidence of its importance is stressed in theedict of I498 by King Jan Olbracht, previously referred to, whichallowed Cracow merchants to collect a special duty from this wine.49Even so, Hungarian fears of a Cracow monopoly by such as CountZaipolyai (Zapol'sky) led to disputes and sales prohibition on certainwines (for example, 'Syrmska' from the present-day region of SremskaMitrovica) towards the end of the fifteenthcentury.50

44 I. Acsady, A pozsonyi sszepesikamardk,565-I604 (vol. i of Kitpenzjigyt6rtinelmianulmany),Budapest, I894, pp. 74, 75.45 W. Bogatyiiski, Walkaz Pianfstwemw Renesansowym rakowie Fragment Zycia obycza-jowego Krakowa w dawnych wiekach), Krak6w, I954, p. 8.46J. Di4browski, 'Krakow a W~gry w wiekach srednich' (RocznikKrakowski,xiii, Krakow,I9I I, p. 222); S. Kutrzeba, 'Handel Krakowa w wiekach . . .', p. 68.47 Rachunkidworukrola Wiadyslawa agielty i krolowej adwigi z lat i388-i420, F. Piekosinski(ed.), Krakow, I896, p. 202.48The four main production centres of Tokay wine were Tallya, Tarcal, Tolcsva, andTokaj; secondary centres included Patak (Sarospatak), Satoraljaujhely, and Mid;J. Di4browski, op. cit., p. 40; Rachunki dworu krola . . ., op. cit., pp. 2I0, 213-14.49J. Dqbrowski, op. cit., p. 225.50S. Kutrzeba (ed.), 'Akta odnoszace sie do stosunk6w handlowych Polski z w~gramigl6wnie z archiwum koszyckiego z lat I354-150I , ArchiwumKomisjiHistorycznej,x, Krakow,1902, no. 50, dated 1482, in a dispute with Emeryk Zapolya, Count of Spis. A similar disputeoccurred with Kosice, ibid., nos 78, 79; Archiv mesto Kosice, Suppl. H ad i482 (maxime aPolonis et Ruthenis aliisque nationibus regnorum et regionum superiorum ... compararesoliti fuissent) also refers to competition between wine from Zemplen and Sremska Mitrovica.



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CR

.Beer

F-. / sl i'J tsSource:N 0 R T H J,S E A F

res o*>9widic

SEA~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

>~~~~~~~~~~~~0CR \~~~~~~~ Cologne rd ov'

GRANADA ~~~~~~~~~~~ke

\ b / SopronS ouda \/ L.Balatonf ~TRANSYL

jc%< t~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mitrovca

\_0 40 180 120 160 200 miles

FIG. I. Cracow's wine/beer trade I390-I 5



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548 F. W. CARTERHungarianwinesappear romCracow'sdocumentso have been oftwobasic types:wines fromZemplenandAbaujszanto, eferred o as'zieleniaki samorodne' (Szamorodni), and 'maslacze asu' from

north-easternHungary Hegyalja).Wines rom hisnorth-eastern reaextended along a line from Gydngyds-Eger-Miskolc-Tokaj-Beregsza'szndgradually ained n importance owards heend ofthefifteenth entury;owlandwines(called Piaskowe')weremainly ightwines fromEger, Szekszaird, uda, LakeBalaton, Sopron,and theSyrmia egionbetween he DanubeandSaverivers.51 ythebeginningof the fourteenthcentury, Hungarianviticulturehad reached thenorthern nd eastern rontiers fthe country; his hadbeenachievedbysteady deforestationof areas suitable for vine growingon the lightsandysoils. Mostnotablewas the ancientvolcanicregionof theTokajhillsonwhichsandy oamshad beendeposited,providing perfect oilforviticulture.Climatically hewarm ummerwinds rom hesouthernplain, togetherwith rivermoisture,added urthernaturaladvantages,in addition o the shelterofferedby the hillsthemselves.52Until the end of the fifteenthcentury,Cracow'smerchantsappa-rentlysent only smallquantitiesof Hungarianwineto Poland.Most ofthe wine was purchasedn Bardejov Bairtfa) nd Kosice (Kassa),53

51 A. Ambr6zy, Tokaj-Hegyalja,Budapest, 933, p. 32. See also K. Pieradzka, HandelKrakowaz Wfgramiw XVI w. (Biblioteka Krakowska, No.87), Krak6w, 935, pp. 96-14;L. Makkai, 'Agrarian Landscapes of Historical Hungary in Feudal Times' (Etudeshistoriqueshongroises, , Budapest, I980, p. 203); idem, 'Economic Landscapes: Historical Hungaryfrom the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century', ch. 2 in East-CentralEurope n Transitionfrom the Fourteenth o SeventeenthCentury,A. Mqczak, H. Samsonowicz and P. Burke (eds),Cambridge, I985, p. 32.52 L. Boros, 'A termeszetfoldr,ajzi tenyezok szerepe a tokaji-hegy es k6rnyekenekf6ldhasznosita'siban' (F65ldrajziErtes'to',3I, I, Budapest, I982, pp.4I-65); G. Didash,'Lozarstvoto v Ungariya' (IzvestiyanaBdllgarskotot eografsko ruzhestvo,v (xiv), Sofia, I964,pp.79-88).3 Bardejov (Bairtfa) did not produce wine itself and was mainly a collecting centre; itplayed a middleman role between Poland and the foothill region of Hegyalja. Examples ofwine for sale in the town came from Sremska Mitrovica, Somogy, Baranya and Sziksz6.Archiv mesta Bardejov, documents for I457, no. 994/988, pp. I-2; for I458, no. 1057/1053,pp. I-2; L. Fej6rpataky, Magyarorszdgivdrosokregi szadmaddsk6nyei, Budapest, I885, 6,pp. 257, 360a. Evidence of wine being sent from Bardejov to Cracow found in: Wojew6dzkieArchiwum Paiistwowe w Krakowie, ConsulariaCracoviensia,II, pp. 154-56, dated I451; alsoI482 Sremska (Seremiensis) wine sent to Cracow, Archiv mesta Bardejov, Fasc. II, No. 621;Archiv mesta Kosice, No. 527. L. Fejerpataky, op. cit., p. 371; Sremska wine also mentionedin Najstarszeksirgi. . ., op. cit., p. 269 and other Hungarian wines in Wojew6dzkie Archiwum

Panistwowe w Krakowie, Ksirgi lawniczekrakowskie,p. II7 (1451); Kosice was the mainmarket centre for wines from the Zemplen region, especially the town of Abaujszint6.Quantities of wine known as 'vinum terrestre Cassovianum' were sent to Cracow (Rachunkikrolewskiez lat I47I-I472 i I476-I478, S. Gaweda, Z. Perzanowska, A. Strzelecka (eds)Wroclaw-Krak6w, I960, no. 88, fol. 82); they were described as light table wines. Evidenceof wine from Kosice being sent to Cracow: Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Panstwowe wKrakowie, ConsulariaCracoviensia,II, no. 249, pp. I54, I67, 334; no. 430, p. 358. Other winescame through Kosice to Cracow from Szekszard, Ruszt, and Tokaj; A. Div6ky, Felso-Magyarorszdg ereskedelmisszekotteteseiengyelorszdggalf6leg XVI-XVII szdzadban,Budapest,I905, p. 63; E. Fiugedi, 'Kaschau, eine osteuropaiische Handelsstadt am Ende des I5. Jhs'(Studiaslavica,II, Budapest, 1956, p. 20I).



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 549whilst some of the more enterprising Cracow traders had their ownvineyards in Northern Hungary and employed agents to look afterthem.54Wine purchasesbegan in the autumn months after the harvest,and carriedon till the end of the year; stocks remainedin Hungaryuntillate spring when fears of heavy frost or snow-blocked routes receded,and riverssuch as the Dunajec were again open fornavigation.55As intoday's wine market, one of the constant fears for merchantswas winecontamination or dilution; on occasions this was detected by winecontrollers at the Polish border town of S4cz, and led to legaldisputes.56Besides Cracow's traders, other merchants from the Polishfoothill towns, such as Biecz and Krosno, were involved in the trade inHungarian wine, quantities of which must have been dispatched to thePolish capital.57The second source area for Cracow's wine imports was Moldavia,either from its own vineyards or in transit. Much less documentaryevidence is available on Moldavian wine imports, but it is known thatthey arrived in the city from either Lwow or Kosice. Due to staplingrestrictions in Lwow,58Cracow tradershad difficultydealing directlywith Moldavian sources, but certainly wines from this area were well-known in Lwow, together with Greek wines in transit through

54 For example, Jan Crenmark, who supplied wine to Cracow from his own vineyards atthe the beginning of the fifteenth century, Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panstwowe w KrakowieConsularia Cracoviensia, I, 428, pp. 354-55; Jakob Swob sent wine through Bardejov;L. Fejerpataky, Magyarorszdgi vdrosokregi sza`maddskinyvei, udapest, I885, p. 433; JanSweidniczer sent wine to Cracow from his vineyards near Kosice (Wojew6dzkie ArchiwumPanistwowe w Krakowie, ConsulariaCracoviensia,I, 429, pp. 154-56, I67; LiberTestamentorum,p. 4 ) and had his own agent, Birhemar, there. Frantiszek Czotmer from Kosice sent wine toMikolaj Knod6w through an agent, Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Pan'stwowe w Krakowie,ConsulariaCracoviensia,I, 429, pp. 334, 342; towards the end of the fifteenth century wine wassent to Cracow from Hungary by Mikoiaj Karl through his agents, ibid., 430, pp. 358, 359;the wife ofJan Turzon also sent wine to Cracow, ibid., 429, p. 397.55 For further discussion of these problems, see A. Girdonyi, op. cit., pp. 5-6; forcomparison, wine in France could be carried down the Garonne until about i i November.See W. G. East, A HistoricalGeography f Europe,London, 1956, p. 107.56 Barrels of wine sent from Bardejov by Stanislaw Roschek were filled with one third 'fecesalias lagyer'. Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panistwowew Krakowie, ScabinaliaSandec. 488-i505,p. 638.57 For example, wine from Bardejov was sent to Biecz on I4/IV/1460; Archiv mesta

Bardejov O.A.B., no. I 208; in 1486 I I barrels of wine sold by Bardejov merchant in Biecz,ibid., no. 2451; wine from Bardejov in addition sent tojasto, ibid., no. i68i; Krosno likewisebought wine from Bardejov, ibid., no. 1852; similarly to D&bno on 17/1I/I482, 'ItemdedimUS 21. flor. pro vino, quod nobis missistis et duos cum medio flor. pro vectigale etductura', ibid., no. 2217; a letter dated 9/xII/1458 was sent from DVbno to Bardejov for wine... petimus ... velitis .. . nobis transmittere unum medium vas (vini), quod esset bonumpro nostra parata pecunia seu florensis. In absencia nostra velitis transmittere nostramagnifice domine in Bycz', ibid., no. 2437; even small settlements such as Brzozow receivedBardejov wine, ibid., no. 2379; and Klimontow, ibid., no. i 666.58 L. Charewiczowa, HandelSredniowiecznegowowa(StudjanadHistorijgKulturyw Polsce), I,Lw6w, 1925 pp. 3I -53.



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550 F. W. CARTERMoldavia59. These were the so-called 'southern wines', notably thoseproduced in the Greek Peninsula. These sweet and heavy wines cameunder the name 'Malmsey' (fromMonemvasia in the Morea) and werebrought fromplaces like Crete via the Black Sea ports60and Moldaviato the Polish markets. Unfortunately, the Turkish conquest was torestrict the Malmsey trade, but after the Fall of Constantinople (I 453)Jewish merchants still managed to send quantitiesof this wine throughLwow to Cracow and even farther to Torun.61An alternative route forMoldavian and Transylvanian wines to Cracow was through Kosice,due to its well-established contacts in these regions.62Finally, wines arrived in Cracow from various West Europeanvineyards. By the end of the thirteenth century specialized wineproduction had brought great prosperity to Gascony, Poitou, the Rhinearea, Burgundy, and the Rhone valley, and there was a lively trade inwines from the Mediterranean.63 Most numerous in Cracow wereRhine wines. Exports from the Rhineland stretched over an area fromBonn southwards to Alsace but it was the northernpart of this regionthat exported most wine. Whilst local wine markets existed at Speyer,Mainz, Frankfurt, and Strasburg, pre-eminence was held by Cologne,one of the largest wine centres in Europe during medieval times. Thecity dealt in Swiss, Austrian, Aquitaine, and Burgundian wines butmost trade was in the Rhine and Moselle varieties, which weretransported to other parts of Europe, including the Baltic.64Cracow'stown accounts frequently mention two German wines in particular,namely Rhine (ren'skie)nd Ruwer (Riwuta) romthe Saar.65

59Percepta t exposita ivitatisLeopoldiensis dI466-i5i8 r. (Archiwum miasta Lwowa), Lw6w,1884, p. 620; ConsulariaLeopoldiensia, , p. 864. MonumentaLeopoldiensiahistorica(Pomnikidziejowe Lwowa), A. Czolowski (ed.), iv, Inventarium, p. 143, Lw6w, 192i refers to anItalian merchant who bought a vat of Malmsey wine from Moldavia in I442. Circa I 400 agarniec(gallon) of Malmsey wine cost between 2.5 and I2 grosz, J. Pelc, Cenyw Krakowiewlatach369-I600, Lw6w, I933, p. 40, table24.60 C. C. Giurescu, 'Genoese on the Lower Danube in the Thirteenth and FourteenthCenturies' (Journalof EuropeanEconomicHistory, 5, Rome, I976, p. 590); P. Panaitescu, 'LaRoute commerciale de Pologne a la Mer Noire au moyen age' (Revista storicd oma^na,II, 2-3,Bucharest, 1933, (extras din) pp. 9, 20); D. Deletant, 'Genoese Tatars and Rumanians at theMouth of the Danube in the Fourteenth Century' (TheSlavonicand East EuropeanReview,62,4, London, I984, pp. 511-30) .61 Archiwum miasta Lwowa, ConsulariaLeopoldiensia, , pp. I47, 150-5 1; J. Tandecki,

'Uprawa winorosli i handel winem w sredniowiecznym Toruniu', Rocznik Toruiski, I3,Torun, 1979, pp. 200-05.62 CodexdiplomaticusHungarieecclesiasticus t civilis, G. Fejer (ed.), x, 3, Buda, I840, p. 259,no. I47, and Ix, 5, p. 264, no. I29, refer to Kosice's commercial contacts with Transylvaniaand Moldavia in I378 and 1394.63 See, for example, Y. Renouard, 'La Consommation des grands vins du Bourbonnais etde Bourbonne a la cour pontificale d'Avignon' (Annalesde Bourgogne,xxiv, Dijon, 1952,pp. 22I-44); idem., 'Le Grand Commerce du vin . . .', ibid.;J. Craeybeckx, op. cit.64 N.J. G. Pounds, An EconomicHistory of Medieval Europe, London-New York, 1974,PP-397-98.65 NajstarszeKsiVgi, ii, contains many references to German wines.



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 551AlthoughColognewasCracow'smainwineemporium,hecityalsoobtained wine from Flanders,either directlyor throughPrussianmiddlemen.66The Pomeranian owns were certainlyactive in wine

importationthrough Bruges;at the end of the fourteenthcenturySpanish Granada),French Midi),and Malmseywineswererecordedin Pomeranian ustoms ists,someeventually eachingCracow ortheroyal court.According o Lauffer,Malmseyarrived n Gda'sk67andwas transported outhward nto Poland by Armenian and Jewishmerchants,particularly uringthe late fifteenth entury,when Otto-man incursionsdisrupted he easternroutevia Lwow. Lastly,Italianwines were sent to Cracowby the overlandroute Villach-Vienna-OswiVcim; nly rarelyare they mentioned n documents,probablybecause n some yearsthe Alps formedan insuperablebarrier o thetransportation fItalianwinesto northernEuropebyland.Up to about 1500, Cracow'swine suppliescamemainly romthesethree sources, supplementedno doubt by local production.68Con-sumptionwaslargelybytherichandprivileged,whilstmoreordinaryfolkhad to be contentwith beer, imported rom the Silesian towns(Swidnica,Opava,andCieszyn)and across heTatramountainsromKosice,or with local production f meadand earlyattemptsatmakingvarious ypesof alcohol.69Cracows WineTrade500-i795The sixteenthcenturywastobringchanges n theEuropean atternofviticulture.Previouslyhevinehad beengrownoverawideareaofthecontinent in places climatically only marginally suited to wineproduction,such as the East Midlandsof England, Flanders andBrandenburg.During the sixteenthcentury winters became moresevere,with higher rostfrequencieswhichdestroyed ineyards; hosethat survivedwere faced witha lower nsolation ntensity hanin theprevious century.70 The other majorchange was the growing ease withwhichbetter-qualitywines could be obtained romsouthernEurope.Together these changes led to the abandonmentof many morenortherly ineyards n Europe,71 iththe disappearance f viticulture

66 Kodeksdyplomatyczny,, nos. 72-75; T. Hirsch, Danzigs Handels-undGewerbesgeschichtenterderHerrschaftdes DeutschenOrdens,Leipzig, i858, pp. 26I-62; H. Samsonowicz,'HandelzagranicznyGdaniskaw drugiejpolowieXV w.' (Przeglqdistoryczny,2,3, Warszawa,1956,p. 291).

67 For example, in 1390; Hansisches rkundenbuch,. Kunze, C. V. Runstedtand W.Stein(eds), Miinchen-Halle-Leipzig-Weimar, vol. iv, i88o, no. I0I 7; ioI8; 1034; W. Lauffer,'Danzigs Schiffs- und Waarenverkehram Ende des XV Jahrhunderts' (ZeitschriftesWestpreussischeneschichtsvereins,3, Danzig, I894, pp. 40-44); A. Pawin'ski, 'Notatkikupcakrakowskiegow podroiydo Flandrii' BibliotekaWarszawska,3, I872, pp. 53-73) .68 Z. Morawski,op. cit., p. 62.69 W. Bogatyinski,op. cit., p. 7.70 Anon, 'Changesof Climate',AridZoneResearchublications,0, I963, pp. 28-46.71 N.J. G. Pounds,An Historical GeographyfEuropeI500-I840, Cambridge, 979, p. 41.



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552 F. W. CARTERin the Low Countries and lower parts of the Rhine valley; the vine wasstill cultivated in Saxony, Mecklenburg,Pomerania,and Prussia allareas with poor access to French wine imports. Nevertheless, in manyparts of central Europe the vine was in retreat, for it was becomingeconomically more viable to exportgrain and import wine.More generally, sixteenth-century European agriculture experi-enced a rapid expansion needed to support a growing population, butthe seventeenth century suffered stagnation; renewed expansion ofagriculture in the eighteenth century was to continue well beyond thechronological limits of this paper. The periodization of Europeanagriculturegiven here may be imprecise, but the fluctuations outlinedcertainly influencedcropsutilized for the productionof wine, beer, anddistilled alcoholic beverages. These centuries were also marked by acontinuous rise of alcoholism throughout Europe, according toBraudel;72certainly the whole of Europedrankwine, but only a partofthe continent produced it. Outside the vine-growing regions, beerbrewed from wheat, oats or millet became increasingly popular in thenorthern lands, including Poland. The greatest innovation insixteenth-centuryEurope,however,was the appearanceof brandyandof spirits made from grain, which the seventeenth century furtherconsolidated and the eighteenth managed to popularize.Documentary evidence from Cracow helps to support this generalimpression of beverage production after 1500. During the sixteenthcentury wine, even from local vineyards, cost much more than beer,artisans only indulging in it on special occasions;for the wealthier folkwine was still the everyday drink, but alcohol such as vodka was oftenbelieved in the sixteenth century to be harmfuland only to be used formedicinal purposes.73 As time progressed, however, these rigiddistinctions became more blurred, with consumption of all threebeveragesreaching a wider market a market less dependenton classor privilege.For Cracow the main change after I500 was in the orientation of herwine trade. Previously she had been mainly a wine importer, but theearly modern period saw greater wine exports from the city, particu-larly after Warsaw became the capital early in the seventeenthcentury.74 Wine arrivedin the city in largerquantities than before, noweither for local consumption or in transit for more northerly destina-tions. While demand for wine continued to rise, Polish viticulture wasslowly declining; nevertheless, demands for ecclesiastical needs and

72 F. Braudel, CapitalismandMaterialLife I400-I8oo, London, I977, p. I58.73 Z. Kuchowicz, 'Uwagi o konsumpcji produktow destylacji alkoholowej w Polsce w XVIwieku' (KwartalnikHistoriiKulturyMaterialnej,XIX,4, Warszawa, 197I, p. 675) .74J. M. Malecki, 'Kiedy i dlaczego Krak6w przestal byc stolicq Polski?' (RocznikKrakowski,XLIV, Krakow, I973, pp. 21-36).



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 553greater consumption by Poland's wealthier inhabitants meant a winedeficit, which could only be offsetby more foreignwine imports. Thus,according to Rutkowski, 'Wine was imported through the Baltic portsfrom Spain, France and Portugal, and by land from Hungary andAustria, and from Moldavia and Greece'.75Part of this trade involvedCracow and its merchants.ImportsThe pattern of Cracow's wine imports (Fig. 2) reflects this overallnational picture, with oriental varieties arrivingfrom Lwow, Hunga-rian and Moravian vintages from over the Tatra mountains, and WestEuropean types coming up the Vistula riverthrough Gdan'sk,or alongmore southerly routes from Nuremberg and Venice via Vienna. Evenso, one suspects that the city's customs books do not always give anoverall picture of the size and importance of the wine trade. Forexample, quantities specifically imported by Cracowmerchants for theroyal court during the sixteenth century were not entered in customslists. This in turn tends to belie the real contemporarysignificance ofHungarian wine,76 and may have led Rybarski to believe thatMoravian wine was more important than Hungarian in the city'smarketplace during the sixteenth century;77Hungarian vintages cameto Poland through the Carpathian foothill settlements (Nowy Targ,Biecz, Grzb6w, etc.), all towns which had their own stapling rights, sothat wine was not necessarily recorded in customs lists as 'fromHungary'.78 Conversely, Cracow merchants may have found it easieron occasion to obtain Hungarianwines throughMoravian and Silesianmarkets than by the moredifficultTatra route, thus disguising possiblesources of some Hungarian vintages.

Even with these uncertainties, it would seem that Hungarian wineimports were of considerable significance for Cracow, both for localconsumption and transit trade, throughout the early modern period.Viticulture played an increasing role in the Hungarian economy after1500, and created a much more positive factor in the making of theeconomic landscape even than grain. Moreover, cattle as anotheralternative agricultural export appeared more difficult to organize inthe early years after 1500. Furthermore, the close proximity of theprosperous Polish wine market proved inviting; Poland, with its few

75J. Rutkowski, 'The Social and Economic Structure in the Fifteenth and SixteenthCenturies', ch. xx(B) in The CambridgeHistoryof Polandfromthe Originsto Sobieski(to 1696),W. F. Reddaway etal. (eds), New York, 1978, pp. 447-48.76 K. Pieradzka, HandelKrakowaz Wrgrami,p. 94-141; G. Komor6czy, Borkivitelunkszakfeli. Fejezeta magyarkereskedelemortenetebol, assa, 1944.77 R. Rybarski, Handel i polityka, i, pp. 178, I82-83, 198-99.78 S. Lewicki, Prawosktaduw Polsce, Lw6w, I910, pp. 138-39; S. Kutrzeba andJ. Ptasnik,'Dzieje Handlu i Kupiectwa Krakowskiego' (RocznikKrakowski, iv, igi i, Krak6w, p. 29).



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* - s (t ( "it mN O R T Sou

S E A * MiaCraKosi

AN A p Wro K.Pawrzythczyk.

viine

,. ci g b ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tt COW

FIG. 2. Win t tru CraW w 50Azeiror

Cf ,Ven~~~~~~

~~iCe 9 dzamok , Pfe?oFIG. 2. Wine trade through Cysriaco s



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 555vineyards, poor soil, inhibiting climate, and consequent insufficientdomestic production, helped stimulate the development of Hungary'snorth-eastern wine-growing district. In this part of Hungary thesixteenth century witnessed important technical innovations, withimproved bankingof soil, considerableapplicationoforganicfertilizer,and new vine-dressingmethods;however,perhapsthe most innovativestep came with postponement of the grape harvest till late October.This allowed grapes to dry and the resultant essence was mixed withordinary wine to produce the famous 'aszu' variety of Tokay.79The'aszu' grapes, late gathered like the German 'Auslese', were crushedseparately and fermentedin tubs (puttonyok)ach holding about thirty-two litres, while the wine fromnormallypickedgrapes was matured inlocal barrels (ginci - I6o litres). This celebrated 'Tokaji Aszu' wasthen allowed about six years to mature. Grapes from this regionripened in the normal way also produced a dry to medium-dry tablewine known as 'TokajiSzamorodni'.The Tokaj district consisted of twenty small towns, which as earlyasI56I introduced common regulations forviticulture, accompanied bystrict production methods. By the end of the sixteenth century, thisdistrict had become the leading Hungarian wine producer exportingabout 300 hectolitres annually, much of it for the Polish market. Itsfame spreadwidely; in 1562, Pope Pius IV proclaimed'This is the winethat should stand on the table of Popes' ('Summum pontificem taliavina decent'), while later King Louis XIV of France declared it to be'Le roi des vins et le vin des rois' (kingof wines and wine of kings).80InPoland Tokaj wine was known as 'Te Deum' or 'Paternoster',whilst inCracow, people often said of Hungarian wine 'Nullum vinum nisiUngaricum, Hungariae natum, Cracoviae educatum' (No wine exceptHungarian, born in Hungary, broughtup in Cracow).81The other important wine district was Rohonc-Sopron-Modor,which exported about 2,000 hectolitres annually, besides providingwine forthe domestic market.Whereconditionsweresuitable, the winewas grown on many large estates, but also by individual peasants. Inthe Tokaj-Hegyalja region the Hungarian rulersgranted a number ofprivileges to encourage production, including abolition of the lord'stithe and a freehand forpeasants to markettheir own vintages, even inthe more distant parts of the country.82This meant that in some partsof the Tokaj region the vine ousted grain to forma monoculturalcrop.Even the advance of the Ottoman armies into Hungary after the Battleof Mohaicsin I526 did not deter wine production. Vineyards under

79 L. Boros,op.cit., pp.4I-65.80 C. Parnell, Tokay Essenceof theGrape'(Decanter,5, 3, I979, London,p. 34).81 K. Pieradzka,HandelKrakowaz Wfgrami,p. 96.82 I. Balassa, 'A szolomuveles es borkezeles valtozisa a XVI-XVII szazadbanTokajhegyaljain'Agrdrtortinetizemle,I5, Budapest,1973, pp. 31-52).



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556 F. W. CARTEROttoman control not only survived, but new plantations were estab-lished and enlarged, as, forexample, those around the southernshore ofLake Balaton; likewise the market towns on the Great Plain (Alfold)were encouraged to introduce vines onto their sandy soils. Previouslythey had only been cultivated in the hillier parts of the country. TheOttomans, though abstainingfromalcohol under Moslem law, encour-aged wine production for it provided useful financial returns from thehigh taxes levied on sales.Cracow's main purchasing centres of Hungarian wine were Kosice(Kassa) and Bardejov (Bairtfa).Kosice's excellent geographical loca-tion on the southern Carpathian foothills meant that it controlled thenorth-south trade routes for this part of Hungary. The town was everjealous of its advantageous position, and municipal laws were promul-gated during the sixteenth century to prevent Polish merchants,especially from Cracow, from obtaining goods, including wine, fromanywhere to the south of Kosice. In I522 the Hungarian King Lajos II(I 5 I6-26) forbademerchants to transportwine to Polandif it had beenpurchased south of Kosice, each barrel being subjected to the town'sstapling laws.83Bardejovwas the other importantcollecting centre forwines fromnorth-eastHungary. In 1528 the Polish diet (sejm)agreed toa joint request from Cracow and Bardejov municipal councils forpermission to act as middlemen in the importationof Hungarian wineto Poland. Although repealed two years later by the Polish king,Zygmunt I (1506-48), the privilege does suggest the importance ofBardejov for Cracow's wine merchants.84Information on transportcosts paid by Cracow's merchants forconveying Hungarian wine fromthese towns is sparse, but documentaryevidence suggests it was abouta third of the total transaction.85

83 Arhiv mesta Kosice, No. Akt.D 59 (dated 19/II/1522), 'nullus omnino Vina ...venditionis causa de hoc regno ad Poloniam . . . ultra Cassoviam audeat et permittat ferre etdeferri facere, sed cum huiusmodi vinis... educendis Cassoviam tamquam locumdepositionis ingredi et intrare debeant '. See also G. Granaszt6i, 'La Ville de Kassa dans lecommerce Hungaro-Polonais au XVIe siecle', in La Pologneet la Hongrieaux XVI'-XVIII'siecles,V. Zimalnyi (ed.), Budapest, 1981, pp. 58-59.84 E. Janota, Bardyow.Historyczno-topograficznypis miasta i okolica,Krak6w, I862, p. I9;E. Fiugedi, 'A bairtfaiXVI szaizadeleji bor-es lokivitel kerdese' (Agra'rtortenetizemle,14, I-2,1972, Budapest, pp. 41-89); J. Gecsenyi, 'BArtfavaros hegyaljai sz6llo6gazdailkoda'sa485-1563' (AgrdrtirtinetiSzemle, 8, Budapest, I966, pp. 485-97). Other places exporting wine toCracow included Presov and Levoca. See P. Horvath, 'Obchodne styky Levoce', p. 125. Fora more general discussion of this topic, see E. Fiugedi, 'Der Aussenhandel Ungarns amAnfang des i6. Jahrhunderts', in Der AussenhandelOstmitteleuropas45o-1650, I. Bog (ed.),KOln/Wien 197I, pp. 69-77; Magyar Orszagos Leveltar, Budapest, CameraeScepusensisBenignaMandata, no. go (dated I I/X/1596).85 Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Biblioteka Czartoryskich,kp. no. I033, pp. I43-44,(dated I 544) refers to the amount for transporting wine from Sopron to Cracow. A purchaseof 2.20 hectolitres of local 'edenburski' (from Odenburg) wine was made in Sopron for395 florens (i I,850 grosz). Transport and carriage cost 20 Iflorens (6,030 grosz) whilst otherformalities added a further 93 florens (2,790 grosz). A total expense of 689 florens(20,670 grosz) was incurred, of which transport and carriage cost 29. 17%



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 557The major consumers of Hungarian wine were the royal court, thelanded aristocracy, and rich urban dwellers. Fragmentaryinformationfrom the king's court accounts gives insufficient detail on actual

quantities consumed, but royalrewards for wine merchants aregiven86and in I57I the Spis (Zips) Chamber of Commerce recorded sending6oo barrels (i ,63I hectolitres) of Hungarian wine to the Polish court,whilst several other transactions were recorded during the I570S.87Besides the royal court, a steady marketforHungarianwine was foundamongst the privileged classes, eitherin Cracowitself, or aftertransittoother parts of Poland. One of Cracow's main wine merchants, Sindler,amassed large profits and property n the city, based on the importationof Hungarian vintages, whilst some merchant families, such asGutterer, Dubowski (wine to Wilno) and Sapieha (at the end of thesixteenth century) also specialized in Hungarian wine imports.88Up toI57I much of this trade had been helped by the absence of Hungariancustoms levies on wine exports; in that year the Spis Chamber ofCommerce not only imposed a wine duty but also insisted thatmerchants must possess a valid passportissued throughtheir commer-cial organization, if they wished to export wine abroad.89 In spite ofthese restrictions, Polish imports continued unabated and the moredetailed Cracowcustoms books fromthe end of the centuryconfirmthissituation.90Seventeenth-century Hungary was subject to Ottoman expansionthroughoutmuch of the southern and centralpartsofthecountry,whichtended to disrupt commercial relations with large areas of centralEurope. As Pieradzka has noted, 'Hungary found herself outside theworld trade routes',91 and it is easy to understand why trade linksbetween Ottoman-free Hungary (largely Slovakia) and its nearneighbour Poland increased. Wine dominated Hungarian exports toPoland;forexample, at the beginning of the seventeenthcentury exportsfrom the Tokaj region to Poland totalled about 50,ooo hectolitres

86 Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Pafistwowe w Krakowie, Libriiuriscivilis, rkp. no. 1422, p. 24;Archiwum Gl6wne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie, no. 149a, fol. 107 and verso, refers to Peterand Baptist Cellario.87 Magyar Orszaigos Leveltir, Budapest, CameraScepusensisLibriExpenditionumd Maies-tatem,6, fol. 99; ibid., fol. i6o (dated I575); Camera cepusensis enignaMandata, no. 2I (dated1579) refers to wine from Tarcal in the Tokaj district sent to Cracow for the king's court;

similarly wine from nearby Tallya sent to Cracow for the court, document dated 26/XI/ 157 I,Arhiv mesto Kosic, no. 3078/7.88 S. Ingot, SprawygospodarczeLwa Sapiehy,1588-i607, Lw6w, 931, p. 30; G. Komor6czy,'Uwagi, na temat wywozu wVgierskichwin do Polski w XVI-XVII w.' (RocznikLubelski, ll,Lublin, I960, p. 9 I).89 Magyar Orszagos Leveltir, Budapest, CameraScepusensisBenigna Mandata, no. I7I(document dated 6/vIII/ 1 5 7 I).90Calculated from information given in K. Pieradzka, HandelKrakowa W,grami,p. 125; ofthe I I,335.1 I0 hectolitres of wine imported in I593 by the city, 4,485.84 hectolitres consistedof Hungarian wine, that is, 40%. F. W. Carter, 'Cracow as Trade Mediator', p. 58.91 K. Pieradzka, HandelKrakowaz Wfgrami,p. I3.



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558 F. W. CARTERannually, and trade was mainly in the hands of merchantsfromPresov(Eperjes), Kosice (Kassa), Bardejov (Bartfa),Levo'ca Locse), and to alesser extent Kezmarok (Kesmark) and BanskaiBystrica (Beszterce-bainya).92 On occasion the Hungarian nobility sent wine directly toPoland to avoid profits being made by the urban middlemen, but mosttrade seems to have been controlled by merchantseitherfrom Cracowitself or from the main exporting towns of Slovakia.Documentary evidence reveals that the early i620S were the peakyears of Hungarian wine exports to Cracow in the sixteenth century,with over I0,000 hectolitres sent to the city in i 624, comparedwith onlya tenth of that total five years later.93This decline may have resultedfrom the agricultural depression present in Hungary during the lateI62oS; this was furtheraggravated y problemsassociatedwitha war-torn country.94Nevertheless, regional differences n wine exportswereapparent; in I63I Presov merchants sent over i ,6oo hectolitres toCracow, a fivefold increase over the 357 hectolitres sent in I629, butBardejov's traders, with only 267 hectolitres, sent less than half thevolume dispatched two years earlier (682 hectolitres).9The depression afflicting Hungary's wine industry continued wellinto the second half of the century; exports to western Europe werecentred on Sopron, which sold nearly half its production to foreignmarkets.96As a whole wine exports from Hungary were now muchsmaller, totalling only Io-I5% of total wine production; towns inwestern Hungary concentratedon the marketsof Bohemia, Silesia, andwestern Poland, while eastern Hungary supplied Little Poland,

92 1.N. Kiss, 'Die Rolle der Magnaten-Gutswirtschaftm GrosshandelUngarns imI 7.Jahrhundert' n Der AussenhandelOstmitteleuropas450-i650, p. 480; S.Takats, 'Borki-viteliinkLengyelorszaigba6 o-benes i6 i -ben'(MagyarGazdasdgtortenetizemle, udapest,I899, pp. 85-go); P.Horvaith, Prispevokkobchodnym tykomvychodoslovenskychmiest sPol'skom a Sedmohradskomv i6.-I7. storoci (Nove obzory,7, Bratislava, I965, p. 135);G. Komoroczy, 'Uwagi, na temat',p. ioo, quotes the case of a Slovakmerchant,MichalSpali, who sent 237barrels (645hectolitres) of wine to Cracow in I6oI, which wasconsiderable for one journey; M. Mareckova, 'Majetkova struktura bardejovskychobchodnlkia v prv6 polovine I7 stoleti' (Sbornt'k raci FilozofickeFakultyBrnmske'Universi(y,vol. 27-28 (C 25-26), (Rada Hist.), Brno, I978-79, p. I34; idem, 'Presov v uhersko-polskychobchodnichvztazichpoc'atkem7 stoleti'(Historickjasopis,xI, Bratislava,1973,3, p.43I); R. Fiser, Obchodni tykyLevocesezahranicim 17. stoleti'(Ceskosloenskjcasopishistorickj,26, 6, Prague,1978, p. 857).93 WojewodzkieArchiwumPaiistwowew Krakowie,Ksi,gi celne, kp.2I42, 2I43; F. Hejland R.Fiser,'Obchodvychodslovenskychmest se zahranicimve stoletiprotih4bsbursk9chpovstani' (SbornikPraci'FilosofickeFakultyBrnenskiUniversity,vol. 3I (C. 29) (Rada Hist.),Brno, I982, p. II5).4 V. Zimanyi and H. Prickler, 'Konjunktuira s depresszi6 a XVI-XVII szazadiMagyarorszagonaz art6rtenet es harmincadbevetelekanu'sagaialapjan:kitekintes aXVIII szazadra' (Agrdrtortinetizemle, 6, 1/2, Budapest, 1974, pp. 79-201); J. Perenyi,'Wirtschaftliche nd sozialeUmgestaltung nUngarn unterderTiirkenherrschaftm XVI.und XVII. Jahrhundert', n Otdzkydijin stiednia vychodniEuropy, rno,197I, pp. 85-103.95Wojewodzkie ArchiwumPanistwowew Krakowie,Ksifgicelne, kp.2142.96 H. Prickler, 'Das Volumen des westlichen-ungarischenAussenhandels', n 0. Pickl(ed.), Die wirtschaftlichen uswirkungen erTurkenkriege, raz, I971, p. 74.



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 559including Cracow (Fig. 3).9 Commercial contracts with Cracowcontinued but not on the scale of the early I620S. The steep decline inwine sent to Cracow between I663-64 correspondedwith the generalpolitical and military crisis in Hungary at this time, caused byOttoman-Habsburg conflicts.98By I669, however,the overall situationhad improved, and in that year exports to Cracow reached a peak ofover 3,ooo hectolitres, but a drop in production the following yearcoincided with the beginning of long-term stagnation in the Tokajregion and throughout much of eastern Slovakia. Cracow merchantswere to rely increasingly on western and to a lesser extent centralSlovakia for their wine imports during the latter years of theseventeenth century (Table I).

3000.00-

2500.00-

2000.00-_ | | / Source:Woj.Arch.Panstwowew Krakowie

cr1500.00 - "f9'g cQLuer,0.0-AIUm rkp.2251-2270.,1000.00-

500.00-

0 - - -T l-Tl- I I II I I I 1 1 1 I i 1 1 I I1660 1663 1666 1669 1672 1675 1678Years

FIG.3. HungarianwineexportsoCracowI6679This table emphasizes the growing dependence of Cracow on westSlovakian wine markets, particularly Pezinok. This town suppliednearly half Cracow's Hungarian wine purchasesbetween i66o-79, butover a thirdof herimports still came fromeasternSlovakia particularlyPresov (Eperjes). The route from central Slovakia through BanskaBystrica (Besztercebanya)appearsof little significance.The absence ofCracow's formermajorwine markets, like Levoca (Locse), may haveresulted from growing commercial interests elsewhere. Wine was nowgoing to places likeVienna and WroclawratherthanCracow, the latterno longer blessed with its capital-city role and royal court.A documentdated 1673 also confirmsfearsamong some Slovak wine merchants of

97 I. N. Kiss, 'Agricultural and Livestock Production: Wine and Oxen. The Case ofHungary', ch. 6 in East-CentralEurope n Transition,p. 93.98 W. Felczak, HistoriaWrgier,Wroclaw-Warszawa-Krak6w, I966, p. 147.



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TABLE I. Hungarian Wine Exports to Cracow 16

EASTERN SLOVAKIA CENTRAL SLOVAKIA WESTERN

Hecto- 0 of Hecto- / ofTown litres tof Town litres tof Town

equiv. total equiv. total

Presov 6,66o.86 24-54 Banska' I,250.61 4.60 PezinokBystricaKezmarok 1,848.72 6.82 Sv.Jure(Bratis-Kosice 1,565.56 5.76 lava)

Sub-totals IO,075.56 37.13 I,250.61 4.60

TOTAL IN HECTOLITRESEQUIVALENT = 27,I32.80 Hectolitres (Annual aveSources:Wojew6dzkie rchiwum anstwowewKrakowie,Ksirgielne,kp. 251-2270; F.Hejl&R.Fiser,stoleti protihabsburskychpovstani '(SborntkPrac{Filosofick6Fakultyrnenske niversity, ol. 3I, (C. 29) (Rada



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 56Ithe dangers faced on some routes to Poland (for example brigandage),made worse by competition from so-called 'Hungarianmercharnts'whowere in fact inhabitants of Polish towns.99Finally this table emphasizesthe annual average decline in Hungarian wine exports to Cracow,showing less than I,500 hectolitresper annum between i 66-79compared with nearly seven times that amount (io,ooo hectolitres)recorded in I624. Even so, Hungarian wine continued to arrive inCracow and is noted in I688 (the last extant seventeenth-centurycustoms book for Cracow), but quantities were small, and oftenmentioned in loads of other merchandise including honey, iron, andcopper.100

Wine imports fromHungary were organized during the seventeenthcentury both by Polish and foreign merchants, the former usuallymembers of the richerurbanhierarchyor nobility. They had their ownemployees who transportedwine from the purchasing centres to suchdestinations as Cracow, whilst some of the wine merchants weremembers of their own special trade guilds.101Among the more activewine merchants was Prince Ostrowski,ChancellorofCracow,102whilstother traders included those from smaller Carpathian centres (Dukla,Lubovl'e, and Sabinov), or from northernHungary (Presov, Bardejov,Levoca, Kosice, Kezmarok, Prievidza, and Tokaj itself). Nearer theSilesian border much of the trade was controlledby Jewish merchantswho had contacts among Cracow'sJewry.During the eighteenth century northern Hungary remainedCracow's main source of wine. Kezmarok (Kesmairk) and Presov(Eperjes) provided the greater partof this profitable trade with Poland,and some Hungarian families (e.g. Pulszky) acquired from it consider-able wealth.103 Archival sources from Oravsky Podzaimokin westSlovakia confirm wine movements up the Orava valley to Poland inI720.104 After I740 any fears of Ottoman attacks had ceased inHungary, and by mid-centuryCracow's merchants were again playinga leading role in wine imports from south of the Carpathians.Surprisingly little competition in this trade came from Austria.

99Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Panistwowe w Krakowie, Aktagietdykupieckiej, kp. 8, pp. 473-9I (dated I67I-75).100 Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Panstwowe w Krakowie, Ksirgicelne,rkp. 2202.101 W. Rusin'ski, 'The Role of Polish Territories in the European Trade in the Seventeenthand Eighteenth Centuries' (Studiahistoriae economicae,, Poznan, I969, p. 129).102 These also included A. Lipski, J. Komornicki, Dembinski, Grodecki, S. Zaleski,K. Sulowski, Kormanicki, and S. Rogozyn'ski.103 In I744 Alexander Pulszky of Eperjes (Presov) gave the town of Miskolc a loan of40,000 florins (i4,ooo). H. Marczali, Hungaryin the EighteenthCentury,Cambridge, I9I0,p. 25.104 Arhivu v Oravskeho Podzamku, sign. 86/20 (dated 1720). See also V. Cerny, 'PolskasIl na Orave' (Rocznikidziejow potecznychgospodarczych,II, Lwow, I934, p. 173); A. Fournier,'Handel und Verkehr in Ungarn and Polen um die Mitte des XVIII. Jahrhunderts' (ArchivfurosterreichischeGeschichte,9, Vienna, 1887).



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562 F. W. CARTERAlthough Hungarian wine was recognized throughout the HabsburgEmpire as being extremely palatable and cheap it was thought unwiseby many Austrians that it should enter their markets.They wished toprotect their own Lower Austrian vintages, which under the Hunga-rian threat would otherwise have quickly declined. As a result,energetic measures were taken to prohibit Hungarian wine importsinto Austria, leaving Poland and other parts of northernEuropeas themain outlet for Hungarian brands. Merchants in Cracow were abletherefore to supply not only the nobility and church with these winesbut also increasing demands from ordinary town-dwellers, includingcraftsmen;105between I750 and I 763 Cracow's traders controlledabout two-thirds of the imported Hungarian wine market (Table 2).Foreign wine merchants cornered between a tenth and a fifth ofCracow'smarket, notably thosefrom Slovakia (Levoca, Kezmarok), orthe Carpathian foothill towns of Lubovl'e and Nowy Targ.During the last quarterof the eighteenth century large quantities ofHungarian wine continued to reach Cracow.Wine exports still formedthe major income source for towns in the north-west highlands ofHungary (Slovakia) and the Little Alfold.106 Grosman has estimatedthat in I 775about 40% of Poland'sHungarianwine importsfromtheseregions went through Cracow.107The Cracow toll-bridge returns atWieliczka between 1775-85 record similar quantities of wine enteringthe city to those noted in the I 76os (Table 2) both for local consump-tion and transit trade (Table 3).The table suggests that over the ten-year periodthere was some changeof emphasis in wine destinations. In 1775 nearly all importedHungarian wine was for local consumption, but by I 785 it was onlyabout half. Another interesting comparison between Tables 2 and 3indicates that from 1755 to 1780 Cracow's Hungarian wine importswere similar in quantity to the peakyear of I624, namely I0,000 hecto-litres.After I 785Cracow's wine trade with Hungarydeclined considerablydue to the partitions of Poland amongst Austria, Prussia, and Russia.Moreover, towards the end of the eighteenth century there was ageneral complaint in Hungary that the great demand abroad for theirwines had ceased, a fact particularlynoticeable in the two major wine-producing areas of Tokaj-Hegyalja and around Sopron. However, the105 Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Paiistwowe w Krakowie, Ksirgicelne,rkp. 22I6 (dated I750).In that year for example, craftsmen alone imported 8I9 barrels (2,226.63 hectolitres) ofHungarian wine, that is, 27% of the year's total wine imports.106 H. Marczali, op. cit., p. 96.107 H. Grosmann, Osterreichsandel-Politik itBezugauf Galizienn derPeriode772-go,Vienna, 1914, p. 195; G. Komoroczy, 'Borkiviteliink eszak fele . . .', pp. 245-54.



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TABLE 2. Import of Hungarian Wine to Cracow 11750 1755 1

No. of Hecto- No of Hecto- No. oflitre litre % bbarrels equiv . barrelsequiv. equiv.

Barrels 2,973 8,082.75 100 3,852 10,472.51 100 3,806 1of which:

Cracow merchants 2,075 5,641.34 69.8 2,542 6,910.99 66.o 2,604Othermerchants 478 1,299.55 i6.i 449 1,220.70 11.7 391 1Nobility i86 5o5.68 6.2 413 1,122.83 10.7 485TheChurch 234 636.18 7.9 448 1,217.99 xi.6 326

Sources: Calculated from Wojew6dzkieArchiwum Panistwowew Krakowie,Ksirgicelne, kp. 2216, 2223, 223latach 1750-72', PraceHistoryczne,ol. 26, No. 4, Krak6w, I960.



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TABLE 3. Hungarian Wine throughCracow 1771775 1780

No. of Hecto- No. of Hecto-barrels equiv. barrels equiv.equiv. equiv.For city and suburbs 3,345 9,094. 12 87.5 2,968 8,o6g.15In transit 481 I,307.70 12.5 1,331 3,618.62Total 3,826 10,401.82 100 4,299 11,687-77Source: Calculated fromWojew6dzkieArchiwum Paiistwowe w Krakowie,RachunkimiastaKazimierza,kp.6M. Kulczykowski,Krako6wjakosrodekowarowyMalopolskiachodniej drugiej olowieXVIIIwieku,Warszawa, 1



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CRACOW S WINE TRADE 565Hungarians blamed the fate of their once profitablewine trade not onfalling Polish demand but on the Prussianoccupation of Silesia.108Other wines besides Hungarian were exported to Cracow fromcentral south-east Europe, but their importance was dwarfed byproducts from the Magyar vineyards. The other two main importingareas were Moravia and Transylvania. Rybarski's claim that Mora-vian wine was more significant than Hungarian in the Cracow marketplace during the sixteenth century is open to doubt. Admittedly,Moravia's vineyards share with parts of Austria the rich soft wind-blown loess soil of the Danube valley and the predominant emphasis issimilarly on white wine production. However, one suspects that someof the Moravian vintages that arrived in sixteenth-century Cracowwere of north Hungarian origin, but designated as 'Moravian' due tothe dispatch route throughMoravia and Silesia. Occasionally, customslists record the vineyards of'Moravian' brands such as 'Sv.Jure', now asuburbof Bratislava (Pozsony) in western Slovakia,and 'Edenburgski'from Sopron (Odenburg). Nevertheless, in 159I specific mention wasmade of Moravian wine (300 hectolitres) together with Hungarianvarieties, whilst Matecki maintains that small quantities of Austrianwine (from the noted 'Weinviertel' or 'Wine district') came throughMoravia en route to Cracow.109 n the seventeenth century Moravianwines often reached Cracow via contacts made between Jewishmerchants, but they were usually mixed together with loads of westSlovakian and Hungarian varieties. Even towards the end of theseventeenth century (I688) small quantities of Moravian wines werestill being noted in Cracow's customs ledgers,110whilst wines fromMoravia and Austria still entered the city's cellars in the eighteenthcentury, but mainly for local consumption.111

Wines also arrivedfromTransylvania in sixteenth-centuryCracow.The two main purchasing centres appear to have been Cluj (Kolozs-var) and Oradea (Nagyvarad); Transylvanian merchants broughtwine, along with honey, wax, and skins, forsale in Cracow, where theywould buy or exchange textiles and other western manufactured108 H. Marczali, op. cit., p. 58.109Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Paiistwowe w Krakowie, Ksiegi celne,rkp. 21 19 (dated 29/IV/

159I-29/IV/1592) which noted a total of 3,497.02 hectolitres of Hungarian wine importedcompared with 298.33 hectolitres of Moravian vintage; J. Malecki, Studianadrynkiem, . 34.110 Wojew6dzkie Archiwum Pafistwowe w Krakowie, Ksi,gi celne,rkp. 2142 (dated I624),gives a total of 130. I8 hectolitres equivalent of Moravian wine entering Cracow that year;ibid., rkp. 2142; for example, on Io/x/1624, OndirejWiessner fromJicin sent 25.76 hecto-litres equivalent of Moravian wine and 238.28 hectolitres equivalent of west Slovakian wine;ibid., I6/xII/I624, Marek, aJew from Holesov in southern Moravia, delivered 4I.84 hecto-litres equivalent of Moravian wine and 437.92 hectolitres equivalent

Cracow's Wine Trade

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