Upadła stolica. Społeczeństwo i przestrzeń Krakowa w XVIII wieku
Authors: Kaźmierczyk Ewa 
Published: January 2025

The book presents a study of the social, spatial and demographic transformations of Krakow in the 18th century, situated within the broader field of sociotopographical research. The principal objective is to demonstrate the interconnections between social structures and urban space in the context of the political, economic and social transformations that occurred during the declining period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The study commences with an examination of the situation of Krakow following the Great Northern War. This conflict resulted in considerable devastation of the city, caused by warfare, a plague epidemic and contributions imposed by the Swedish army. These events had a significant impact on the long-standing economic and social crisis of the city, which was characterised by prolonged stagnation. The research focuses on the area within the city walls, as this was the only area where reconstruction could be carried out in detail using the methods employed. Wawel Castle was excluded from the study due to the different social structure of its inhabitants and the lack of data in the tax censuses of the time. The book employs an analytical approach, utilising statistical and spatial methods. This study attempts to elaborate on a number of issues, including population density, social and occupational structure, the distribution of property ownership and the differentiation of urban space. The main research questions concern the dynamics of urban development after periods of crises and its reflection in urban space. The analysis is based on a range of sources, including population censuses, tax registers, municipal books and cartographic plans, which have been integrated into a GIS system. This allowed for the visualisation of data and the creation of temporal cross-sections. The 1st chapter delineates the research methodologies and the use of GIS in historical analysis. The reconstruction of the urban space was based on Ignacy Enderle’s Senate Plan from the early 19th century, augmented by additional cartographic sources. The data gathered from censuses and tax documents were assigned to specific urban plots, thus facilitating a detailed analysis of the space and its transformations over time. The 2nd chapter presents a historical overview of the city in the 18th century, with a particular focus on the impact of factors such as wars, epidemics and economic crises on demographic and economic development. It also identifies key moments that influenced the structural transformation of the city. The following chapters (3rd to 7th) are dedicated to the investigation of the specific elements of the analysis of urban space and society. The 3rd chapter provides a discussion of the nature of development, i.e. the physical dimension of urban space. It is particularly noteworthy to examine the analysis of vacant and dilapidated properties and their declining number in the 2nd half of the 18th century, indicating gradual reconstruction and economic recovery. Conversely, the application of interpolation based on property taxation from municipal books enabled the establishment that the attractive area comprising the highest-value properties around the Market Square was expanding over time. Furthermore, wooden buildings within the city walls were also undergoing a gradual process of disappearance. However, it should be noted that these are solely wooden structures, not brick edifices with wooden elements, the scale of which is much more challenging or even impossible to estimate. By the close of the century, purely wooden buildings covered a smaller area (less than 5% of the city), consisting of houses located near the city walls. The following chapter contains an analysis of the structure of property ownership in Kraków. Furthermore, the findings are compared for the earlier period (16–17th centuries) made by Mieczysław Niwiński and Kamila Follprecht together with Waldemar Komorowski. The high proportion of ecclesiastical property (both secular and monastic clergy) that was maintained over the centuries, was a distinctive feature of Krakow. In the late 18th century, monastic ownership experienced a notable decline as a consequence of the dissolution of the Jesuit Order and the liquidation of some monasteries. In addition to ecclesiastical property, the proportion of noble property also declined during the period under study. Nevertheless, even at the end of the 18th century. when the burghers had markedly expanded its holdings compared to the 1720s, the proportion of ownership of by burghers reached just over 50% of all residential plots and only 1/3 of the urban area. At this time, the combined ownership of the secular and monastic clergy was less than 19% of the number of residential plots (and thus excluding churches) and more than 50% of the city area respectively. This indicated that the majority of the urban space was under the control of the more affluent social strata, such as the nobility and the clergy. Conversely, the burghers (especially when excluding the merchants) had very limited access to attractive areas. Chapter five is entirely devoted to a demographic analysis of Krakow’s population. The text presents population estimates for the period under study are presented. By the end of the century, more reliable censuses had been conducted, resulting a population figure of 10,500 according to the Prussian census of 1795. It should be noted that the calculations made for the period preceding 1779 are, in fact, estimates. Furthermore, the question of the size of specific social groups, such as the nobility or clergy, has been addressed. The kernel density estimator and the hexagon method were employed to examine population density and the distribution of the population in space. It is beyond dispute that the most densely populated in the 18th century was the area surrounding the present-day All Saints’ Square, rather than the Market Square. This was largely due to the urban character of the property in Grodzka Street (i.e. tenement houses inhabited by their owners) and the aristocratic character of some of the buildings in the Square (palaces that were either uninhabited or periodically inhabited). The remaining sections of the chapter address population structure by sex, age and marital status. The extract also presents a reliability analysis of the Civil-Military Order Commission’s censuses based on age clusters using the Whipple and Myers indices. Additionally, a distinct group of property owners was also delineated. Subsequently, the population of the properties was analysed in spatial terms, along with household size and composition. The latter included a breakdown according to the source categories present in the censuses into estate’s proprietors, residents and vagabonds (luźni), as well as in terms of criteria such as the type of property ownership and the age of the head of the household. Separately, the issue of the number of children, servants and journeymen in the household was identified as a significant indicator of status, with the highest numbers observed in the household of property owners. A review of the demographic structure of the population or household actually corroborates previous findings from the literature (Cezary Kuklo), that were conducted exclusively for the principal parish of the city (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). The general population was predominantly young, with the largest age group being those aged 20–24. The population pyramids exhibited a relatively narrow base. This provides evidence of the significance of migration for the urban development of the city, which expanded due to migration rather than high birth rates. The average household size was approximately 5 persons. Male-headed households exhibited a larger mean size, as did the households of estate’s proprietors in relation to the other residents or vagabonds. Based on census data, servants constituted approximately 45% of households at the end of the century, whereas journeymen, defined more narrowly, appeared in no more than 20% of households. Thus, servants and journeymen collectively accounted for approximately for one-third of the total population of the city at the end of the century. The 6th chapter, which is devoted to the issue of wealth stratification, a matter that has gained increasing attention in recent times, focuses exclusively on burghers. For other groups, however, this type of analysis based on limited censuses was not feasible. In this context, the Gini coefficient was employed as a measure of concentration, with its graphical visualisation, the Lorentz curve, also utilized. Two clustering methods based on the Getis Ord Gi* statistic and the local Moran I statistic were used to identify areas with particularly high or low tax paid. Furthermore, the distribution of the population unable to pay the poll tax in 1723 and those defined as poor in the censuses of 1779 and 1795, as indicated by registers, was also visualised. The areas in the vicinity of the Market Square and the exit of Grodzka Street from the side of the Market Square could be considered statistically significant as inhabited by the wealthy, and the areas of Mikołajska Street, the Monastery of Reformed Franciscans, Wendeta (i.e. today’s Little Market) and the vicinity of the city walls could be considered as inhabited by the poor. It is also noteworthy that some of the impoverished population resided in desirable locations, such as the Market Square, which suggests the existence of vertical stratification within the population. Therefore, the inequalities were not only of a horizontal nature, reflecting the residence of people with diverse social and property statuses in different parts of the city, but also vertical in nature. For example, the poor could live in the cellars of tenement houses that were attractive in terms of location. Unfortunately, the source base does not allow for a broader analysis of the phenomenon of vertical differentiation, e.g. by individual property floors. The seventh chapter, which is the most extensive, addresses the topic of socio-occupational structure in spatial terms. At the outset, in addition to more general considerations, the problem of adopting a more appropriate socio-occupational classification is discussed. The direct adaptation of the international HISCO classification is subjected to critical analysis. Following a concise overview of the principal classifications employed in preceding sociotopographical studies, it was determined that the classification of trades and crafts based on the type of material processed was the most suitable for consideration. It includes the following categories: merchants (with small traders also included separately for this category), food crafts, textile and clothing crafts, crafts processing animal products, metal crafts, wood crafts, building and artistic crafts, personal services. Separately, ‘scholars’ and servants (who run separate households) were still separated. In addition to the occupational divisions, the distribution of the households of the members of the municipal authorities (aldermen, councillors, magistrates) and of the Higher Court of Law at Krakow Castle (magistrates of higher law, provincial alderman) is also presented. The comprehensiveness of the chapter is due to the multiplicity of occupational categories, as well as the analysis criteria. The socio-professional structure among landowners and, in addition, all heads of households included in either the tax or population censuses was examined separately. The location of both individual socio-professional groups and the most popular professions, such as tailors, shoemakers, butchers and bakers, was analysed in terms of changes in the number of groups, the number of properties owned, wealth differentiation, the distribution of households, the number of servants and journeymen, and affiliation to source categories in the population censuses (vagabonds, residents, estate owners). The chapter was also provided with a large number of maps which examined the clustering (residence clusters) in space of representatives of the same profession or socio-professional group. It is important to note that, in general, this section corresponds to an analysis of urban populations and non-citizens only, rather than a comprehensive examination of the entire population. The nobility and clergy are not the subject of this discussion. The majority of clergy members resided in monasteries and Kanonicza Street. In contrast, the nobility were not clearly distinguished and were relatively few in number (approximately 200 individuals), with some not residing permanently in the city. Consequently, a more accurate analysis of these foreign elements in the city’s structure can only be made for the late 18th century, as the tax registers did not include the clergy and nobility. It is particularly noteworthy that the group of merchants represents the most influential and wealthiest socio-professional group within the burghers. However, it is important to note that some of them formally changed their status as a result of numerous ennoblements during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. Between 20 and 30% of all burghers tenements in Krakow belonged to them, and towards the end of the century there was a marked increase in their ownership, also in attractive parts of the city such as the Market Square. For other population groups, concentrations in terms of where they lived were not always determined by the attractiveness of the area. This phenomenon was particularly evident among butchers, who were the only professional group to reside exclusively in the vicinity of the butchers’ quarter, situated in the area of Wendeta (present-day Mały Rynek) and in close proximity to the butcher’s stalls. In contrast, the concentrations of other professions exhibited a more random distribution, and the underlying causes were more challenging to ascertain. The expansion (but rather limited growth) of the city towards the end of the period under study is indicated by an increase in the number of representatives of virtually all crafts, with the exception of metal crafts. The period between the 1940s and the 1970s can be considered a period of relative stagnation following the initial growth that occurred after the Great Northern War. In addition to merchants and small trades, which were often carried out alongside other activities, the majority of the population were engaged in crafts related to the processing of animal products, clothing and textiles, and food. For the most part, these were professions that catered for the basic needs of the population. In conclusion, the thesis established in historiography regarding the decline of Krakow after the Great Northern War is corroborated by the mass sources analysed. The city experienced a gradual recovery from its decline between 1720 and 1795. However, the pace of this recovery was likely slower than that observed following the crisis of the mid-seventeenth century. The earliest indications of recovery emerged at the end of the 1730s and in the 1740s. The transformation was especially rapid towards the end of the century. Nevertheless, it would be more accurate to describe the period as one of slow recovery and stagnation, rather than development. As a result of the narrow scope of the research, which was confined to the area within the city walls, it is not possible to apply all of the conclusions to the whole agglomeration. The inhabitants of the satellite towns, Kazimierz and Kleparz, engaged in competition with the craftsmen and merchants residing within the city walls. The growing population of Krakow “proper”, as well as of craft workshops, indicates that the city was to some extent attractive to newcomers. However, the question of how the population movement in the opposite direction developed remains open. It is possible that the improving construction situation and the increase in property values were associated with the relocation of part of the population to the suburbs.