With such a redefinition of Poznań, I can quietly traverse this city, analyze its past, present and future. In my peregrination through the atmosphere of Poznan, the most important thing was soft power, not some hardware. This is a good thing, because it is a sign of a civilization of a higher order. It's worth noting here, just for the sake of balance, that just as in Sweden behind the facade of politeness, in Poznan there may also be a hidden sense of superiority over others - just so I don't come across as a naïve person who is planting over-reaching or infantile hypotheses. I know some cognizant people well. There are cities whose perception is shaped more by architecture, such is the case with the modern skyscrapers of Warsaw, the atmospheric old center of Lublin or historic Krakow. In Poznan, people turned out to be the most important, which does not mean that they live in an ugly or historically insignificant city.
Let's now take a trip back in time. We land in the Poznan of the 14th and 15th centuries. If we made a ranking of the most important (and largest) Polish cities of those years, it would look really surprising from today's perspective. And those times were crucial from the point of view of urban development. The Middle Ages was a period of founding cities under the laws of, among others, German - Magdeburg and Polish - Chelmno. De facto, it was then that cities as we know them today were born. At that time a large city in Poland was already considered to have a population of two-three thousand. Several other factors determined its importance, in addition to the population, these were: brick rather than wooden buildings, more resistant to fires, providing greater guarantees for the safety of goods and property. The second factor was that the city was surrounded by permanent fortifications, fortified walls, rather than earthen ramparts with wooden finials. This increased the townsfolk's sense of security, and it was their condition that determined the city's status. The third factor was its location on a navigable river, which made it possible to transport goods.
Medieval Poznań was indeed the second city of the kingdom, then - after Cracow
photo: Mateusz Zakrzewski
The order in this ranking was as follows: 1st place Gdańsk - the most powerful city in the Republic, a port giant with a population of 35,000, an economic colossus, ranking among the "top five" in Europe at the time thanks to handling almost all the trade of the continent's largest country. 2nd place - the royal city of Krakow, the capital, the world's largest center of trade in copper, lead, silver and salt at that time, with a population of 20 thousand objectively serious metropolis, with a university and the magnificent Wawel Castle. 3rd place - yes, it's Poznań, a city of several thousand people at the time, very important historically, but also economically.
Before we take a stroll through Poznań's history, I won't deny myself the pleasure of sketching the rest of the ranking - because it doesn't look very familiar from a modern perspective. The 4th and 5th places would be occupied by Toruń (not very surprising, since the architecture has been preserved) ex aequo with Elblag, which may already surprise someone. Both cities had a population of about 10,000 each and great economic importance: Torun due to its crossing of the Vistula River with a bridge across the Vistula, Elblag due to its role as Gdansk's biggest competitor and the only port alternative for the Commonwealth in case of conflict with it. The 6th place will surprise no one - Lviv had a population of about 9,000 at the time and was the most important east-oriented city. The 7th and 8th places are interesting - for here ex aequowere Lublin (which is not surprising) and Braniewo (which sounds surprising), with a population of about 5 thousand. Braniewo's position may be surprising, especially since Warsaw has not yet appeared in this list. Warsaw at the time had a population of 4,500 and was simply smaller than Braniewo, so it lands in 9th place.
I personally am most intrigued by the next cities in the list. Although it is difficult to determine their precise order, the top ten could be closed by Olkusz, and earlier by the now tiny Slawkow. The latter two cities were at one time urban powerhouses thanks to the existence of mining industries in them - the wealth and importance was given to them by the bullion extracted by the miners.
And what was the specialization of Poznan? What was the original importance of the city, sometimes referred to as entelechy? One can choose variously from the available data, I will be tempted to point out two, in my opinion, key ones. In keeping with the rhythm of this text, one observation will not surprise, the other will perhaps raise a reader's eyebrow.
That early medieval Poznań, at the dawn of the nascent Polish state, was a player in the first league is common knowledge. Mieszko I, Ostrów Tumski, the Polanian princes, the first kings - in those days Poznań was the most important player, not hiding its capital aspirations. You can hear about them by walking through the drab but competent exhibition at the Gate of Poznań, an architecturally interesting museum (proj.: Ad Artis) that takes a closer look at the city's beginnings.
My task, however, is to look deeper than Wikipedia. The investigation caught a clue when I measured with my eyes the Statute of Kalisz issued in 1264 by Prince Boleslaw the Pious. This document was of strategic importance for Poland at the time, as it became the foundation of the country's economic development and a lever that elevated Jagiellonian Poland to the top of the hierarchy of European powers. What do I mean, what interpretation of the facts will I present? Well, the Statute of Kalisz, by allowing large Jewish communities to settle in Polish cities, generated the emergence of a new and extremely important social group in our country. It is worth noting at this point that the knightly state (later nobility) was mostly illiterate, and could not count. Only a small ecclesiastical elite could write and count, hence the position of towns such as Slawkow, Milicz or Pelplin. These were immensely wealthy places, because they were managed by gramothic monks who ran extensive businesses. The knightly state could not conduct such business, because it was simply impossible on a larger scale without counting and writing.
The burghers of the time with mathematics and grammar had similar problems. Therefore, in the first phase of urban development they were mostly engaged in crafts - Poznań was surrounded by towns with names that said it all: Garbary (tanners, i.e. production of animal skins), Czapniki (production of headgear), Stelmachy (manufacturers of horse-drawn carts) or Rybaki (fishermen). These businesses were located outside the city walls for various reasons. They housed the remaining guilds, of which there were as many as twenty in medieval Poznan. That's a lot. Among coopers, woodcarvers, blacksmiths, weavers, stove makers and many, many other professions, professional tradesmen appeared. Jews precisely.
They did not monopolize all trade, for they competed with the mostly German-speaking merchants of the Hanseatic League. But the emergence of Jewish communities proved to be a game changer. The Jewish town of Kazimierz was founded near Cracow, one of the most important gates of Kiev was called Żydowska, and a Jewish quarter stood in Poznan, where six-story (!) tenements were built in the 15th century.
Among the bourgeoisie there was a gradual increase in the number of educated people, as rich families sent their children to universities so that, having learned the art of counting and writing, they could multiply the family fortunes. The structure of the Commonwealth's economy had its basis in the hard work on the land of the peasants, who constituted 90 percent of the population - farmers, who over time made the Kingdom the world's largest exporter of grain. The second flywheel of the economy was the city's artisan guilds, the third was the Hanseatic trade networks floating their heavy goods down the Vistula River from Cracow to Toruń, Gdansk and Elblag. The fourth specific component of the economy was the church estates - these, however, did not work for the development of the city or state to the same extent as the previously mentioned. On the basis of the so-called juridica, they had their own privileges and earned for the Church, not the rest of the state structure, which was, incidentally, a source of many conflicts.
This way to Ostrow Tumski, a former church town; in Old Polish the word "ostrow" meant an island, and "tum" was a cathedral
photo: Waldemar Andrzej Jóźwiak
In Poznan, the division was very clear - the left bank city of Poznan was royal, secular and experienced its heyday during the reign of the first Jagiellons. On the right bank of the Warta at that time there was a separate, church-owned settlement.
In a sense, this worked out well for the city: the church had its own on the other side of the river, so it didn't push much on the left. More space was left behind the walls for craft guilds and for Jews. When, during the reign of Vladislav Jagiello, the importance of the east-west overland route through Poznań increased - this one got its five historical minutes.
