Jews among Christians in the cities of Lesser Poland in the 16th and 18th centuries

Abstract

Jews were one of the numerous ethnic and religious minorities in Poland in the 16th and 18th centuries. Jews enjoyed considerable autonomy in the administration of justice, the redistribution of tax burdens imposed by the state, and the ordering of various aspects of life in their communities. Estimates of the number of Jews in Poland in the second half of the 16th century amount to approximately 300,000. people. In the second half of the 18th century, this number increased to 750,000. In the second half of the 16th century, Jews lived in 56 out of 22 cities in the Kraków, Lublin and Sandomierz voivodeships. The largest concentrations of Jewish population were in Kraków, Kazimierz and Lublin. In the mid-17th century, Jews suspected of collaborating with the Swedes were murdered in many cities by the soldiers of Stefan Czarniecki, the leader of the military resistance movement against the Swedish invasion. Many Lublin Jews were shot by the Russian army. In the years 1662-1676, Jews lived in 96 towns in Lesser Poland; in the mid-18th century, there were already 120 Jewish communities in this area. Increased economic competition and clear religious and cultural differences between Jews and the rest of the population led to a number of conflicts, anti-Jewish riots and persecution.