The Metricants
2015-03-09

Wojciech Krawczuk

The Metricants


Being the Description of the Office and Works
of the most Honourable Keepers of the Royal Polish Crown Chancery Books,
Known also under the Name of Metrica Regni,
From the very Beginning in the year 1538
To the lamentable End in 1795

The keepers of the Crown Chancery Books, called Metricants of the Crown (metrykanci koronni), were the middle rank officers at the very heart of the Polish Crown Chancery1. Their main task was to keep the books and archive of this office. They had to register Kings documents and the incoming acts. In this aspects they were quite similar to the Masters of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England in their early appearance. The office was established in the Kingdom of Poland in the 1538 on the ground of an parliamentary constitution. Besides registration, Metricants fulfilled also the functions of Crown archivists and, remarkably, this of public notaries. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania emerged soon similar office of the Lithuanian Metricants. They achieved greatest influence in the second half of 17th century.

Outraged of 1537
and the
Origins of the Office

Who could be a patron saint of the Metricants ? There is an answer at hand – Saint Casimir from the Jagiellon dynasty, crown prince of Poland (1458 – 1484), also the patron saint of Lithuania. Casimir was skilled in rhetoric and history – his tutor was the famous Jan Długosz, priest, chronicler and diplomat, considered as the first Polish historian. From May to July 1483 prince Casimir was the keeper and registrator of the Royal Chancery Books. We can assume that it was a part of his education in affairs of state2. The prince died early, in march 1484, of tuberculosis, and never became King of Poland. He was declared to be a saint in 1522.

It is significant, that the prince had to work in the Crown Metrica. The high ranking clerks of the chancery did know, that there lied the fundamental knowledge for the future king of Poland. The documents registered in the books since at least 1447 could also play a great roll in the huge reform of state finances. The goods of domain were in great part pledged on unfavorable conditions, because kings of Poland, as all kings, always had financial problems. The crisis became grave in the second half of the 15th century. In the next century the recuperation of the king goods and the reform of the law became the major political issue in the Kingdom. The movement is known as the execution of the kings property and enforcement of the laws. The main proposal was, that goods should be recuperated to the king. The chancery records could give a major support in this operation. Gradually, it came to cooperation of small nobility and the kings fraction. The petty nobility was willing to help the king in the process of execution of pledged goods, since the donations were mostly granted to the magnates.

The first such investigatory actions of the Crown Chancery began already in the 15th Century. We can name here a great revision of kings privileges conducted in the year 1469 by the vice chancellor Wojciech from Żychlin. Statute of king Alexander from 1504 limited severly the possibilities to pledge the goods of domain. Since 1507 Crown Chancery conducted an long-term action of retrieving of the kings goods. Such revisions of grants, repeated more and more often by the kings secretaries and notaries provoked at least an outburst of rage in the year 1537. Under so called Hens War3 nobles gathered near Lwów among others postulates strongly demanded abolishment of the validity of Crown Chancery Boooks as evidence in legal actions concerning the kings domain. One of castellans, Piotr Zborowski attacked Crown Chancery Books directly:

There is a new invention, called Metrica, so that under such pretext we are more lawfully deprived of our goods, and we lose all our wealth by the force of Royal mandate only.4

The debate was quite sharp and even the Polish Queen Bona Sforza took part in it. She declared with Italian fervor, that it would be a stupidity, if official Books of Metrica, which are trustworthy and have a status of perpetuity would be deprived of validity in court matters concerning the domain.5 But in the end the Kings fraction had to withdraw. The Diet of 1538 adopted a new law with strong reminder to the chancellor and vicechancellor – no subject of the Crown shall be molested by the documents from the Chancery Books. Beyond this, both chiefs of the Chancery had to keep always in their offices oathed notaries, one or two. Their duty should be to inscribe into the registers, honestly and faithfully, all privileges, decrees, testimonies which are given under the Kings seal, and are performed for the needs and safety of the people. The Latin text sounds as follows:

Volumus et firmiter decernimus, ut Cancellarius et Vice-cancellarius Regni nostri, ipsi soli libros eosdem, in sua custodia diligenter adservent, habeantque semper unum vel duos Notarios vel Scribas juratos, qui omnia privilegia, decreta, recognitions, et alia quae ad necessitates et securitates hominum fiunt, et sub sigillis nostris conceduntur, sincere et fideliter in libros hujusmodi seu regestra deinceps inscribant6.

It was the moment when the keepers office came into being. The name itself changed under three centuries. In the 16th century they were called variously: notarius cancellariae or notarius primarius. We can observe also, that the oathed scribes in the first period of their occurrence, also to the end of 16th century, were the chiefs of the lower chancery staff – hence the title notarius primarius, cancellariae praesidens, director or most often regent.7 There was also another title in use, which shows their strong connection with the chancery itself - secretarius et notarius cancellariae. Not all secretaries had namely duties in the chancery, some of them were used in diplomatic missions or as the kings emmisaries in the country. The Polish name for this office; metrykant, derived from the Metrica, is relatively late, as it appears in 17th century.

The Oath

Oldest known oath of the keeper of the Metrica Books comes from the year 1568. The swearer was Marcin Mościcki, employed by the Chancellor Walenty Dembiński. The text reads as follows:

Ego Martinus Moscziczki iuro quia omnes actus et inscriptions regestri cancellariae Regiae maiestatis tam publicorum quam privatorum negociorum fidei mea comissas fideliter conscribam, eaque omnia nullo favore, odio, dono aut alio quo praetextu exquisito adductus verum ita quem admodum a Magnifico Domino Valentino Dembienski Regni cancellario fidei meae credita fuerint fideliter describam secretaque mihi credita celabo. Sic me Deus adiuvet et Sancta Christi Crux.8

We see here the responsibilities of the oathed scribe. He had to faithfully register in the books all documents, public and private, which were entrusted to him by the Chancellor. No favor or bad feeling towards somebody had to influence him in this matter.

The formula did widen with time. Already in 1606 Felix Krassowski had to swear, that he will not change anything in the extracts from the Metrica, will take care on the register books, and that he will not add something to the registers. He was also bound to keep all the secrets entrusted to him by the Crown and the King.9 In 1629 there was another addition. Christopher Lode sweared, that he will not give out any extracts from Metrica, without the previous knowledge and expressed will of his chief, the Vice-chancellor.10

We can assume, that such greater accuracy in the oaths formula was an effect of some irregularities in the keepers work. This problem will be investigated in the later part of the article.

Registers and Archives – the state functions

In the beginning, the keepers main task was to take care on the Crown Chancery Books and documents stored in the Metrica. It was, and still is, a great fond, consisting not only of the register books but also of many and various documents. The process of cumulation of new registers and acts was very fast and the Crown Metrica, divivided in different series, became a great source of knowledge about Kingdom of Poland.

But we can ask - did the keepers inscribe all kings documents ? The answer is no. There were some types of acts, which were registered with greater urgency – like the land grants. But even in this group the recording was never 100 % high. Generally, the reconstruction of the level of recording shows that it was as quite high in the sixteenth century – approximately 70% of the outgoing perpetual and other important documents were registered to the year 1572 (extinction of Jagiellon dynasty). The next age, of the elected kings of Poland, shows much lower numbers – the average is under 60 %, and the bottom line, of about 50 % registered documents, did occur in the period of devastating wars, in the second half of 17th century.

Interestingly, there is a very sudden and noticeable improvement of the registration level already in the first years of the rule of the new Wettin dynasty, from the year 1697 onwards. Then the chancery began to register in the books also other types of documentation – like the official letters, and mandates which up to this time were rarely inscribed in the Metrica or in the auxiliary formularies.11

The rules of registration differed from our today’s bureaucratic principles. Not all recipients of kings acts were interested in registration. Quite often they were not willing to pay chancery fees, regulated in a special price list since 1511. In a popular poem from 17th century we find a statement, that the paper is quite expensive when bought in the paper mill, it is even more costly in the bookshop or printing house, but it is most expensive in the chancery.

But there were also other reasons to omit the registration. In 1578 the Marshall of the Polish Crown Court, Andrzej Opaliński, was reassured by his confidential, that he prevented registration of an act, in which Opaliński transferred his rights to a certain domain to his son. (The document) is nowhere to be found in the whole world, only by me. And even by the seal, I did also manage, that the Simon, who did impress the seal matrix, did not notice, what he was actually sealing.12 In 1580 Jan Piotrowski, secretary of the king, had to write to metricant Bech with request, that he shall give no extracts of certain documents to nobody.

If the metricants accepted and registered some documents, which were suspect to the noble public, they could be harshly reprimanded. In 1669 the Dietine (sejmik) of Zator district required an investigation, because someone in the Metrica inscribed transfer of King John Casimir Vasa’s financial claims on Louis XIV. The members of Dietine were afraid, that the French king can waive this sum to the khan of Tartars. They demanded capital punishment, if the responsible clerk was not of noble origin.13

Such attitude could be a result of one specific trait of the Metrica books – they were open to the public.

Metrica is open for Everyone

The statement Metrica is open for everyone fell in 1585 under heated debate in the assembly of the Diet Court. The Lord Marshall, speaking in the name of King Sigismund August declared, that the accused party of Krzysztof Zborowski had enough time and freedom to take all documents they needed from the chancery books – because they were fully accessible to the public.14 And it was not a simple excuse. Studies on Metrica Books show, that private persons explored vigorously both the Crown as the Lithuanian Metrica.15 The beginning of such openness can be tracked down just to the second half of 16th century.

Such liberal use of the registers was unique in the early-modern Europe. Usually, in the monarchies evolving towards the absolute form of government the registers and archives were closed to the public and vigilantly guarded. The information stored in the acts was essential to the ruling elites. It is no coincidence, that the word “archive” is derived from the Greek arkhō, which means to rule or to govern. And it is also no fortuity that the Polish-Lithuanian system of government, called sometimes Noble’s Democracy or much better Forma Mixta,16 permitted and even encouraged citizens to supervise and use the register of the kings chancery.

But this policy of open registers could also cause problems with safekeeping of sensitive acts, which should remain secret. In 1589 Chancellor Jan Zamoyski did not permit registration in the Metrica of the s. c. Bytom – Będzin agreement between Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth and Habsburgs.17 Zamoyski pointed out, that such an act should be stored in the closed, diplomatic Crown Archive in the Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill in Kraków, not among the accessible Metrica books.18 The demands to erase some uncomfortable documents could came even from highest level – we know that king Sigismund August asked the starosta19 of Kraków to delete some inscriptions of Queen Bona from his judicial books.20

Even today we have to deal with the similar paradox – the openness of the archives causes loss of many sensitive informations, which quite often are not registered by the cautious bureaucrats, producers of the documents. The more registers and archives are open, the more important informations we lose.21

Keepers of the Crown Chancery Books as public notaries

The crisis of 1537 and constitution of 1538 should diminish the legal position of Crown Metrica books. So it seems quite strange, that under one decade situation changed in favor of the kings registers. Even in the 15th Century there was a small group of private documents confirmed by the king.22 In the 16th Century they constituted a small brook of private acts registered in the Crown Books.23 And it grew steadily. Already in the July of 1548, also few months after beginning of the reign of Sigismund August, we find many private documents inscribed in the Crown Chancery Books.24 These were most often different types of donations, agreements, receipts. The testifying party had to show up in person at the Metrica Office and make a statement. Mostly these were persons of noble origin, solving their affairs, but churchmen, burghers and, quite rarely rich peasants, also found their way to the kings chancery.

But why had Metricants to deal with private affairs ? This function resulted from the general weakness of the public notary in the Kingdom of Poland.25 On the other hand in the 16th Century growing literacy of population caused increased demand for confirmation of private acts. In the Middle Ages it was enough to present witness. Now it seemed that the extract from the official Chancery Books, bearing the title of King, was much better security. There were also other official chanceries, which had right to register such private acts. But the kings chancery obtained 1552 a special privilege in form of the Diet constitution. It says:

No office has right to go to someone, or accept some testimony from any man of any state. It shall be only by the acts, where he will be present personally and sane. And what concerns our person it shall be in the future like it was so far, to this very time: our person (i. e. the King) has the right to send (someone receiving the testimony) to every sick person.26

So it was a special privilege for the staff of the Crown Chancery. The Chancellor or Vice – Chancellor could send a kings secretary to some sick person, who had right to receive the testimony outside the office. And factually we do find such inscriptions in the Metrica – quite often the metricants were burdened with such affairs.

The alteration of the Metricants primary tasks

The longue durée of the Metricants office provides us an opportunity to notice changes in its main functions. In the very beginning the oathed notaries had to take care on registers and supervise the fidelity of inscriptions. And they had to protect the diplomatic archive of the Crown Chancery, which was stored together with the Metrica books.27 But quite soon there emerged another important errand – Metricants began to register private documents, search the Metrica on private orders and extract the private acts from the books. We cannot blame them. The Metricants remuneration was not high, and these new tasks gave them an opportunity to earn extra money.28 But already in the 17th Century the official books were full to the brim of the private acts, and the registration of the kings documents suffered. This lead to some organizational changes in the beginning of the 18th Century. The new Wettin dynasty brought also a new chancery orderliness. There were created new books of the chancery – s. c. Chancellor Books or Public Books and there the public documents had to be registered. But the responsibility for the new registers rested with the secretaries of the seal – a new office in the chancery – not with the metricants. These changes caused not only the rapid transformation of the old type chancery books, which were used thereafter as the notary books for the private inscriptions. The Metricants did also lose some of their standing. Their main task in the 18th Century was recipience of private testimonies and dealing with the Metrica Archive.

Metricants as a group

There were some plebeians, serving at the Metrica, who, after they rendered the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor some favor, did prepare a privilege of ennoblement for themselves.29 Walerian Nekanda Trepka, who wrote this sentence was a keen observer of the Crown Chancery and the Court. He knew, that to some of secretaries or notaries of plebeian origin, the work in the chancery offered unique chance to enter the nobility. The nobles in Poland – Lithuania constituted at least 6 % of the whole populations, so it was quite difficult to discover an usurpation. The secretary of the king had also means to buy a testimony from some poor gentleman or ask magnate for help.

We know fifty eight Metricants, working in the chancery from 1538 – 1795. Nine of them were ennobled, one more was adopted into the Polish nobility.30 At least seven metricants probably were of burgher origin, usurping the noble status. Trepka’s criticism seems to be justified. In some cases the circumstances of the ennoblement are unclear. Such is the instance of Maciej Bech, working in the Crown Chancery since 1576, and since 1580 parson in the parish of Kazimierz Dolny, his place of birth moreover. He is still remembered there, as contributor to embellishment of this charming little city.31 Bech is a fine example of metricant priest. He had quite large sums at disposal, so he could borrow money to magnates. His act of ennoblement is not preserved – and we can doubt if it was ever issued, since Bech was heavily criticized and his noble status was challenged. On the other hand his patron – Chancellor Jan Zamoyski assisted him strongly enough against some critics.32 This very Chancellor supported variously some secretaries and notaries - he sought for them land grants, salaries, ennoblements. In such a way Zamoyski created an interest group in the Chancery, which could in turn help the interests of their protector. The clerks from the cities had also better understanding of law, and were quite often educated jurists.

We find no names of great lords among the oathed scribes of Metrica. It was deliberate policy of their chiefs. They preferred low born, educated and amenable clerk over some independent and potentially dangerous son of magnate. This personnel strategy was no mystery to the nobles. Already in the beginning of 17th Century some Dietines demanded to fill the metricant office only with the Polish noblemen. In the early 18th Century there were even some laws passed, which prohibited innobiles personas to become metricants.33 But to no avail – the advantages of obedient servants were much for the Chancellors greater than petty quarrels with the nobility.

Some of the Metricants had great influence on the Crown Chancery matters, but we can even find examples where their impact was not restricted to this office. To name one – Hieronim Pinocci, from Lucca in Italy, is considered as the founding father of Polish newspapers. 1661 he started a paper under the title “Merkuriusz Polski”, which was printed under patronage of Maria Gonzaga, Queen of Poland and played important role in the domestic affairs.34

In the beginning, in the 15th century almost all Crown Chancery notaries were catholic priests. This changed already in the 16th century, and the secularization of the metricant office was almost complete in the 17th century. Even ecclesiastical Chancellors and Vice-chancellors preferred secular clerks, which were simply better educated and had broader legal experience.

The last Metricant, Cyprian Sowiński took care of Metrica to the end, to the annihilation of Polish – Lithuania Commonwealth. We know that under the uprising of Tadeusz Kościuszko in 1794, Sowiński collected alms for the wounded insurgents. In February 1795 he had to hand over the Metrica to the Russian officer. Such was the end of the metricants office.



1 The text is based mainly on the book of Wojciech Krawczuk, Metrykanci koronni. Rozwój registratury centralnej od XVI do XVIII wieku, Kraków 2002.

2 Waldemar Chorążyczewski, Przemiany organizacyjne polskiej kancelarii królewskiej u progu czasów nowożytnych, [Organizational development of the Polish Royal Chancery on the brink of the Early Modern Era] Toruń 2007, p. 139 – 140.

3 Hens War – pol. Wojna Kokosza, is a name for the rebellion of 1537 and was given by the magnates supporting kingSigismund I. They pointed out, that instead going to the war, the nobility devoured all hens in the neighborhood of the city of Lwów debating different issues.

4 Stanislai Gorski Conciones in Conventu 1537, ed. W. Kętrzyński, [in:] Scriptores Rerum Polonicarum, vol. IV, Archiwum Komisyi Historycznej, vol. 1, Kraków 1878, p. 23 – 24, translation W.K.

5 Stanislai Gorski Conciones in Conventu 1537, op. cit. p. 83. Bona came from the powerful House of Sforza of the Duchy of Milan. She was very efficient in recuperating pledged goods of the domain for her use.

6 De libris seu regestris Cancellariae. See: Volumina Constitutionum, vol. 2, ed. Wacław Uruszczak, Stanisław Grodziski, Irena Dwornicka, Warszawa 2000, p. 172. Volumina Legum, vol I, ed. J. Ohryzko, Petersburg 1859, p. 260.

7 W. Krawczuk, Metrykanci koronni. Rozwój registratury centralnej od XVI do XVIII wieku, [The Polish Crown Chancery Metricants. The development of Crown Chancery Records from sixteenth to eighteenth century] p. 28 – 29.

8 The oath is preserved in the Crown Metrica Book of Inscriptions (MK) Nr 101 on the page 237, in the Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych (AGAD) in Warsaw (Central Archive of the Historical Records).

9 Crown Metrica Book of Inscriptions (MK) Nr 153 on the page 2 verso, in the AGAD, Warsaw.

10 Crown Metrica Book of Inscriptions, Enskilda 86396, p. 48, Riksarkivet, Stockholm.

11 W. Krawczuk, Metrykanci koronni, op. cit. p. 64 – 75.

12 Sprawy wewnętrzne króla Stefana Batorego [Domestic affairs of king Stefan Batory],, ed. J. Polkowski, Kraków 1881, p. 154.

13 Akta sejmikowe województwa krakowskiego, [The acts of the Kraków woiewodship Dietine] vol. 3, 1661 – 1673, Ed. A. Przyboś, Kraków 1959, p. 285.

14 Dyaryusze sejmowe r 1585, [The diaries of the 1585 Diet], ed. A. Czuczyński, Kraków 1901, Scriptores Rerum Polonicarum, vol. XVIII, p. 51.

15 K. Syta, Archiwa magnackie w XVIII wieku. Studium kultury kancelaryjno – archiwalnej, [ The magnates archives in the 17th Ventury. Studies in the secretarial and archival function] Toruń 2010, p. 75, 87.

16 Andrzej Sulima Kamiński suggests that the Forma mixta is better suited to describe the situation in Poland-Lithuania, where the interests of the monarchy, the magnates and the nobles had to be balanced. See A. Sulima Kamiński, Historia Rzeczypospolitej wielu narodów, 1505 – 1795, [The history of the Commonwealth of many nations, 1505 – 1795 ] Lublin 2000, p. 9/22, 145/146. J.A.Gierowski,, Rzeczpospolita w dobie złotej wolności 1648 – 1763, [The Commonwealth in the time of golden liberty, 1648 – 1763] Kraków 2001, p. 10.

17 It concerned the waiving of all pretensions to the throne of Poland from the side of claimant archduke Maximillian Habsburg.

18 H. Wisner, Dyplomacja polska w latach 1572 – 1648, [Polish diplomacy 1572 – 1648] (in:) Historia dyplomacji polskiej, [The History of the Polish Diplomacy] red. Z. Wójcik, Warszawa 1982, vol. 2, p. 28.

19 Starosta - officer appointed by the king, with administrative and judicial tasks, also responsible for the judicial books open to the private inscriptions.

20 Archiwum Państwowe w Krakowie (State Archive in Kraków), Castrensia Cracoviensia, vol 93, p. 437.

21 Handlingsoffentlighet utan handlingar ? Rapport fran ett seminarium i Stockholm den 7 mars 2003.[Disclosure of acts without acts ? – report from the seminar in Stockholm 7 March 2003] red. K. Abukhanfusa, Stockholm 2004.

22 I. Sułkowska – Kurasiowa, Polska kancelaria królewska w latach 1447 – 1506, Wrocław 1967, p. 79.

23 Matricularum Regni Poloniae Summaria, (MRPS) ed. T. Wierzbowski, part IV, vol. 1, Warszawa 1910, e.g. No 38,86,111, and also 1516, 1521, 1533,1534,1562,1563 and many more.

24 MRPS, ed. T. Wierzbowski, part V, vol. 1, Warszawa 1919, No 46,47,48, 51,68,85,86 and many more.

25 K. Skupieński, Notariusze i notariat w średniowiecznej Polsce, [Notaries and notary in the medieval Poland] (in:) Res Historica, vol. 3. Kultura piśmienna średniowiecza i czasów nowożytnych. Problemy i konteksty badawcze, [The medieval and early modern literacy culture. Problems and research contexts] red. P. Dymmel, B. Trelińska. Lublin 1998, P. 165 – 181.

26 Volumina Legum, vol. II, Ed. J. Ohryzko, Petersburg 1859, p. 8.

27 W. Krawczuk, Metryka Koronna za Zygmunta III Wazy, [The Crown Metrica under Sigismund III Vasa’s reign], Kraków 1995, p. 7 – 10.

28 J. Dygdała, Konsyliarz Jan Beniamin Steinhauser o swoich kwerendach archiwalnych . [Counselor Jan Beniamin Steinhauser on his archival researches] (in:) Silva rerum. Opera historica, diplomatica et archivistica continens, Andreae Tomczak dedicata, Toruń – Warszawa 2012, p. 86.

29 W. Nekanda Trepka, Liber generationis plebeanorum, ed. W. Dworzaczek, J. Bartyś, Z. Kuchowicz, Wrocław 1973, vol. I, p. 11.

30 Lat. indigena, it was an lawfull accepting of a noble coming from another country into the Polish noble.

31 W. Husarski, Kazimierz Dolny, Warszawa 1953, p.63 – 65, 153.

32 W. Krawczuk, Metrykanci koronni…, op. cit. p. 117.

33 Volumina Legum, vol VI, p. 22, p. 627. W. Krawczuk, Metrykanci koronni…, op. cit., p. 89.

34 K. Targosz, Hieronim Pinocci, Studium z dziejów kultury naukowej w Polsce, [Hieronim Pinocci. Study from the history of scientific al culture in Poland]Wrocław 1967, R. Majewska – Grzegorczykowa, „Merkuriusz Polski” z 1661 roku, [Polish Mercurius” from 1661](in:) „Przegląd Nauk Historycznych i Społecznych” vol. 7, 1956, p. 32.

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