PRIMARY TAXES REGISTERS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE VOLYNIAN CITIES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY)

Abstract

Much of the work on the problems of socio-economic history (including urban issues) of Volhynia in the middle and second half of the XVI century are based on state tax documents. Since the Lublin Union, there are very few such sources. Besides, they did not cover a significant number of urban settlements. A higher level of regularity of taxation and greater control resulted in better preservation of the so-called [taxation] registers. For Volyn, this can only be said about the two-decade period after the Lublin Union. The chronological representativeness of this group of sources cannot be considered satisfactory. This applies to the least used and practically not represented by researchers and archaeographers in circulation in the entirety of the primary registers. The complex of such sources requires the implementation of their source characteristics as a separate variety (including specific historical issues) and in comparison with the already used tax documentation, mostly generalized by administrative-territorial units. State fiscal documentation consisted of several levels of sources. The first consideration of state revenue cases for the incorporated territories was already included in the resolution of the Lublin Sejm in 1569, where it occupied almost the largest volume compared to other issues and was also issued as a separate Taxation Universal. Thus, for the first time, the Ukrainian lands included into Poland received a well-developed basis for taxation. When collecting a tax, the owners or their administration created special lists – primary tax registers. All surviving primary tax registers date back to the first decade after the Lublin Union.Primary tax registers for 1569-1570 survived only for a few Volyn cities. These are Buremel, Zvinyhorod, Zviahel, Koblin, Nesukhoizhi, Turiisk, Ostrozhets. Compared to the total register of 1570, this number of recorded cities is insignificant. But this is offset by the nature of the information. The primary tax documentation contains a personal record of the population with an indication of the tax grounds for each person. In some cases (for households) they contain evidence of the gender structure of the population. Thus, for demographic research, such sources have a number of advantages.