Acta capituli ecclesiae cathedralis Vilnensis saec, XVI–XVIII. Tomus 1, 1502–1533

Description

In 1388, bishop of Poznań Dobrogost implementing directions given by Pope Urban VI founded the Chapter of Vilnius cathedral church (further – Vilnius Chapter or Chapter), which at first had two prelates (provost and dean) and ten canons. With time, two additional prelatures were added (ca. 1397 custodian and in 1435 archdeacon) and two more canons. With this structure (four prelates and twelve canons) Vilnius Chapter entered the early modern period, i.e. the end of fifteenth and beginning of sixteenth century, and from then onwards we are able to consistently follow and explore its history. Earliest sources on the history of Vilnius Chapter are rather poor if we compare them, for instance, with the same period sources from the cathedral chapters of Gniezno, Cracow, Poznań or even Płock, not even speaking of the source basis for Western European chapters. That is because only one type of document from the early sixteenth century had survived – the protocols of capitular sessions, and all the other material are just extremely scarce individual documents. The term ‘archive’, obviously, is not found at the beginning of the sixteenth century. All of the Chapter’s most valuable possessions were kept in a designated treasury or depository, which in Latin was called thesaurus, fiscus, or aerarium commune.