Posiadanie pro melioratione dóbr kościelnych przez Kazimierza Wielkiego
Ownership of church estates pro melioration by King Casimir the Great

Summary/Abstract: The royal tenure on church estates resulted from an initiative of King Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielki) or the monastery being their owner. The reason declared officially for setting up the lifelong tenure was the intention to improve the economic condition of the church estates (melioratio bonorum). Yet one can also guess other, hidden reasons for setting up such tenures. It is so as in this way the king had a pretext to manifest the royal right of patronage towards monasteries and also derived profit, although the latter was not necessarily obtained at the moment of conducting the improvement of the estates. It is also probable that King Casimir counted on the fact that the monastic endowments he only held in lifelong tenure would remain in the hands of the royalty for ever.

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