The Endowment of the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter in the Years 1390-1662

Abstract

The first donations to the cathedral chapter in Vilnius date back to 1390 and were bequeathed by King Władysław II Jagiełło. By giving the lands of Strzeszyn to the canons, the monarch provided the basis for the development of the capitular latifundium. It was expanded by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vytautas, who, after assuming power in 1391, in 1415 endowed the chapter, in addition to several minor estates, with the lands of Kamieńszczyzna, which, combined with the endowment from Jagiełło, gave the Vilnius canon corporation land goods that can already be called a latifundium. The estates belonging to the Vilnius Chapter gradually increased in the sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries owing to the generosity of successive rulers and magnate families. Over time, the chapter’s endowment was increased by private donors, both from the clergy and laity. This endowment, which by the middle of the 17th century included about 1000 farmsteads (so-called “smokes” – Pol. dymy or sochy) and covered around 21300 hectares of various types of land, placed the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter among the five most generously endowed canon corporations in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Moscow’s invasion and the occupation of a huge part of the country by foreign troops in the years 1656-1662 brought about an economic collapse of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The capitular latifundium suffered greatly as a result of the war. Some of the land goods suffered losses of 80-90%. In 1662, the income from the whole endowment was less than half of what it had been before 1656. Although the chapter rebuilt its latifundium through careful efforts, it never regained the old dynamics of development.