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The Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania During Twenty Years of War (1648-1667)

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The Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania During Twenty Years of War (1648-1667) Antanas Tyla The Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania During Twenty Years of War (1648-1667) Summary The Peace of Westphalia (October 24,1648) concluded the Thirty Years'War (1618-1648), which had taken place in Western and Central Europe. That same year unrest that culminated in a war began in Eastern Europe. Everything began when Bohdan Khmelnytsky led a Cossack uprising; later, Russia, Sweden, and the Crimean Tatars entered this conflict. This war lasted twenty years - from 1648 to the Truce of Andrusovo on January 30,1667. At the center of these events was the joint state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and the Kingdom of Poland (KP).The GDL had its own territory, administration, laws and judicial system, army, and treasury. The GDL was responsible for itself and defended its own territory. During those twenty years, the GDL was invaded by the armies of the Cossacks, led by Khmelnytsky, and of Russia, Sweden, and the Crimean Tatars. During 1654-1655, Russia together with the Cossacks and, separately, the Swedish army occupied almost the entire territory of the GDL. Russia seized the eastern, central, and southwestern GDL, its capital Vilnius, and almost all of the provin­ cial and district capitals. Sweden, in accordance with the Treaty of Kėdainiai (October 20,1655), occupied Žemaitija and the northern districts of Aukštaitija. In this territory, in 1656, there was an upris­ ing, and the Swedish administration was abolished. Žemaitija, the northern districts of Aukštaitija, and the southwestern part of the [ 366 ] Summary GDL became the staging ground for the liberation of the GDL. Tne war of liberation was long and extremely difficult. During 1648-1667, military activity was intermittent in the GDL, but the occupation of part of the GDL and military preparations continued throughout this period. During this war, about half of the farms (smokes; see Diagram 18) were destroyed, and about half of the population was killed, fled, or died in an epidemic of the plague. The people living in occupied territory and in the war zone did not pay taxes, and revenue to the treasury decreased markedly (see Diagram 29). At the same time, the mercenary army of the GDL, the defense of casdes, and all the operations to liberate the GDL constantly required comparatively large amounts of money from the land treasury of the GDL. In this book, the author analyzes how the land treasury of the GDL functioned during this entire period of twenty years. At this time, the most important purpose of the treasury was to accumulate funds in order to pay the army and guarantee the functioning, de­ fense, and liberation of the state. Taxes were collected in accordance with the system that had developed in the GDL during the 16th and 17th centuries. The author analyzes the optimization, development, and modernization of this system. At first, these improvements yielded positive results: treasury revenues increased sharply when, in 1649, the valakas (land) tax was replaced by the padūmė (yard, i.e. household) tax (see Diagram 3). During 1648-1667, the income of the treasury of the GDL came from state property and from special taxes (valakas, padūmė, pagalvė [pillow]) imposed by the Seimas, duties on imports and exports (a new increased duty, a salt tax, duties on goods for noblemen [auctio subsidiorum] and on goods transported by water) and on trade (bever­ ages), an excise tax, and a new issue of coins. The treasury received its greatest revenues from tillers of the soil, peasants, and petty noble­ men, who, like the peasants, paid the valakas and later the padūmė tax (sec Diagrams 6,15). During the last year of the war, the greatest revenues came from the mintage of coins (see Diagram 17). [ 367 ] The Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania During Twenty Years of War (1648-1667) The liberation of the GDL and success in the war against the oc­ cupiers depended on three factors: 1) the civic consciousness of GDL society, its political will to defend its own state, 2) the army contingent of the GDL, and 3) the accumulation in the GDL land treasury of the funds to hire the army. The positions of GDL society on defense and liberation were de­ clared at regional assemblies and at joint Seimas (parliaments) of the GDL and the KP. During this period, twenty seimases were convened. Of them, fourteen reached a decision, and six broke down without agreeing on anything. At the seimases that ended successfully, decisions were reached concerning the liberation and defense of the country, the maintenance of the army, and the col­ lection of taxes and accumulation of funds for this purpose (see Table l).The representatives from the GDL deliberated over deci­ sions concerning the defense of their country and revenues for the treasury during the Lithuanian sessions. These decisions were dis­ cussed at regional relational assemblies. When it was not possible to convene the Seimas, decisions to independently impose taxes were made by the confederation of Aulcitaitian districts and Žemaitija. During unproductive seimases, the decisions of the Lithuanian convocation in Gardinas (Hrodna in today's Belarus) were very im­ portant (see Diagram 15). The Lithuanian political class was greatly concerned with the defense of its state. During the course of a war that lasted twenty years, the mercenary army of the GDL comprised, at first, 6000 soldiers; later, troop strength reached 15,000, and still later - 18,000 (see Diagram 27). In 1650, about 1.1 million auksinas were needed to pay the army for the year, during 1662-1665, the cost rose to 3.4 million per year. With a decrease in the number of taxpayers and in the territory controlled by the GDL (sec Diagram 28), the treasury of the GDL was no longer able to support the army and had to find ways to overcome these financial difficulties. Approximate data reveal that, during 1647-1670, the income of the treasury of the GDL amounted to over 18 million auksinas [368 ] Summary (18,466,604 auksinas) and that almost 16 million (15,850,206 auksi­ nas) were spent (see Table 59). It is probable, however that expen­ ditures were not smaller than revenues because during almost all of this time there was a debt to the army. GDL society overcame a demographic, financial, and military crisis and liberated the entire territory of the GDL with the exception of the voivodeship of Smolensk and neighboring lands, which in ac­ cordance with the Truce of Andrusovo were ceded to Russia. Twenty years of war tested the civil society of the GDL. At great financial expense, the state was defended against being destroyed. 1 369] .
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