Rola urzędników w dokonywaniu zaborów dóbr ziemskich przez panującego w średniowiecznej Polsce do połowy XV wieku
The role of officials in the arrogation of estates by monarchs in medieval Poland before mid-15th century

Summary/Abstract: Although science has long been aware of the problem set in the title of the work (Władysław Semkowicz, Karol Potkański, Michał Sczaniecki, Franciszek Bujak, Jerzy Luciński), yet it still calls for further research. This essay is only a little step towards elucidation. It concerns the role of officials in taking over estates for the Treasury. Therefore, it disregards the cases where officials used their position to increase their own estates. Nor does it encompass the appropriations that, although increased the assets of the monarch, were performed by right holders acting in such a case as private people. The source base for the article are documents from Wielkopolska and Małopolska reaching as far as mid-15th century. The analysis of source materials makes the author draw a number of conclusions. In the reign of Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielkie), the officials participating in arrogations were Kraków palatines, castellans, and also individuals defined in the sources as officialis and procurator, therefore presumably administrators of estates that belonged to the royal domain. In later days, these were usually the starosts. The sources show officials primarily as the executors of the monarch’s orders. On a royal decree, they would perform sovereign intromission into private estates. Yet they would also act on their own initiative and start border disputes, aiming at taking over neighbouring estates. There also harassed the neighbours, and used violence towards them.

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