Page:Cracow - Lepszy.djvu/62

 THE MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION the opening years of the sixteenth century, till it ends in a refusal of the town-rates. King Sigismund I, in 1521, settles all these differences by clearly circumscribing the power of the Town Council.

The municipal books of accounts were kept in the form of simple notes. To the constant sources of income belongs, among others, the "scot," which comprises a rate not only from house-rent and from lands, but also from trade profits and personal income, and the fees for the night-watch. The inventories taken of the town's possessions afford us glimpses of the municipal household. Thus we possess an account of the City property drawn up by the municipal notary Urban Pyrnus; according to this, it consists, beside the real estates mentioned above as being tenanted by citizens, of shops and stalls in the market-places, of the bathing-houses, the so-called "clanging-house" (Garrulatorium) with a market-hall in which there were merchants' booths; in the same building the town brewery was placed. In the town-hall cellar, called "The Schweidnitz Cellar," the famous Schweidnitz beer was retailed. Besides, the town levied a tax called "grist-money" on every barrel of beer or wine that was imported, as well as on all drinks produced in the town.

Outside the town walls large pastures (Blonia) extended, where the citizens' cattle grazed, tended by municipal herdsmen. Even now a part of this fine meadow is preserved, whence we enjoy a beautiful view of Cracow and the Kosciuszko Hill; another part is divided between a race-course and a park for children to practise gymnastic and athletic sports in, founded by the late Professor Dr. Henry Jordan.

The taxes levied upon the City by the king were also taken on lease by the municipality. Of the City's monopolies the public scales yielded ample profit; on these not only the wares that were bought, but also the transit goods passing through Cracow had to be weighed. Besides these scales, there stood, in the market-place, a building containing the gold and silver smelting-works, which were used not only for commercial purposes, but also to coin money for Cracow circulation, and to prepare the