| dc.description.abstract | The present article have been written on the basis of the materials preserved in the
unpublished manuscripts of the Chapter of Łęczyca. The manuscript preserves acts and
receipts of the Chapter, first of all from the first half of the XVth century. The time limits
of the paper have been narrowed to the years 1406-1419 because first receipts come from
1406, while the year 1419 is the first year that, after a hectic time, relieved the members of
the Chapter from the duty of carrying out renovations and introducing major changes to the
church.
Procurators’ entries included in the manuscript enable us to research in the expenses of
the Chapter in the above-mentioned period. They also allow us to recreate a picture of life
around the church. Although preserved entries are not complete; they show that money was
spent upon distributions, food, farms, financing trips and the collegiate church. The entries
show that the money was spent church renovation and its furnishment, especially that
connected with religious services, i.e. church bells, organs, clock, books, wax, incense etc.
Consequently, the entries preserve information on craftsmen’s wages, incomes of those who
manufactured the bells and the clock, and who profited most from the financial resources of
the Chapter.
According to the collected data, the record year of expenses on the collegiate was the
year 1416 (over 57 marks), while the year 1407 is characteristic of the lowest sum of money
spent on the church (under 1 mark). Building materials accounted for the highest sum in the
year 1415 (12 marks), while the lowest was recorded in the year 1408 (under 1 mark).
Craftsmen working at the collegiate site were paid most in 1416 (over 51 marks), while they
took the lowest sum in 1411 (over 2,5 marks). At the same time, in the same year (1411)
the highest sum was spent on furnishing the church (over 17 marks), while 8 year later
members of the Chapter spent only 1 mark and 4 grosz’es.
The sums spent on the up-keeping and furnishing of the church in the above-mentioned
seventeen-years period were quite considerable. The total was almost 163,5 marks. Distribution
expenses totalled at 208 marks. Another category of expenses (on farm up-keeping) amounted
to only 94 marks. Consequently, it is clear that the problem of maintaining and embellishing
the collegiate was of importance for the members of the Chapter. | pl_PL |
