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 THE GOTHIC AGE gave way to victorious Ladislaus, and the insurrection was cruelly suppressed by the prince, whose anger had been roused by the constantly seditious attitude of Cracow's citizens: the mayor Albrecht fled to Prague, the other leaders of the revolt were executed, their goods confiscated, the mayor's mansion-house changed into a fortress, Latin appointed to be used instead of German in the drafting of municipal documents, and even the privileges granted to the city were somewhat curtailed. The king's favour turned to the town of Sandec (now Sacz in Galicia), which began to rival Cracow. High customs duties were imposed upon the capital, hitherto exempt. Lokietek's successor, King Casimir the Great, in order to keep the unruly metropolis permanently in obedience, turned his favour to the old settlements round the Skalka and granted a charter (dated February 27, 1335) to the town after him called Casimiria (now Kazimierz, the Ghetto of Cracow); he enlarged this town by incorporating in it the small communities of Stradom and Rybaki; in 1340, he made it a present of the village of Bawol, and built a canal which gave the place a fortified position, the new town being now completely encircled by deep watercourses (as Skalka, its original centre, partly was by a bend of the Vistula). Casimir created another rival to Cracow by favouring a settlement formed round the church of St. Florian, to which he granted autonomy and Magdeburg law in 1366. Originally called Florencia, after its patron, it assumed, later on, its present name of Kleparz.

In spite of the disadvantages thus imposed upon it, the welfare of the town was constantly growing. Since Ladislaus Lokietek, Cracow had been the royal residence; here Poland's kings were crowned, here the bones of all members of the royal family were buried in the crypt of the Cathedral, and the royal insignia preserved in the treasury. Round the court nobles, knights, and prelates naturally gathered; ambassadors of foreign powers, on coming to it, visited the town; grand festivities were solemnized, tournaments held, and splendid banquets given. The king's aversion to the town gradually