THE LITHUANIAN UNION 103the 1490s, Jan Turzon of Cracow started a company for exploiting the silver
mines of the Tatras; in 1525, another Cracovian, Pawel Kaufmann, headed
another metallurgical consortium to which all the great noblemen of the day,
from Krysztof Szydlowiecki to Jan Tarnowski were persuaded to subscribe. In
many of these financial affairs, the House of Boner took a central role. By lend-
ing money to kings and cities, they were able to amass lands and offices. In 1514
Jan Boner was knighted, and became burgrave of the Royal Castle, and from
1515, farmer of the Wieliczka salt mine. His nephew and heir, Seweryn Boner
(1486-1549), inherited a royal loan of 150,000 ducats, and quickly rose to the
high senatorial dignity of Castellan of Cracow. Like his uncle before him, he
was in practice, if not in name, controller of the royal finances.
Both export and import flourished. The former was largely run by foreign
merchants or by the Jewish entrepreneurs of Cracow, Lwow, and Lublin -
among whom were Izaak Brodawka of Brest, Eleazer Abramovitch of Tykocin,
and Aron Izraelovitch of Grodno; the latter was handled in the main by native
merchants who constantly tried to restrict the activities of German or Scottish
dealers specializing in metal-ware or half-finished goods.
This sustained burst of economic activity had four main effects. Firstly, it ini-
tiated the beginnings of a countrywide economic 'system' — a Polish market to
which all regions of the Jagiellonian realm were connected. This is evidenced
not only by the countrywide role of Danzig, but also by the appearance of
important overland fairs at Lublin, Gniezno, and Torun. Secondly, it drew
Poland-Lithuania into the orbit of all the continental economic forces of the six-
teenth century, including that of the Price Revolution. In Poland-Lithuania,
price inflation struck in the 1520s and resulted in a 300 per cent rise in goods
prices over the century, as opposed to a 100 per cent rise in wages. Thirdly, it
brought urban life to the peak of its importance. Fourthly, a complete reform of
the monetary system took place. The prevalence at the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury of five or six regional currencies — from Prussia, Lithuania, Danzig, Silesia,
and Mazovia, together with a great variety of debased Polish silver coins and
foreign ducats, bore witness not only to the existence of a coherent monetary
area in which money circulated freely but also to the inadequacy of existing
arrangements. Since the time of Casimir the Great, the proliferating coinage of
the groszy system had contained an ever-decreasing percentage of pure silver. In
the course of the fifteenth century, the kwartnik (quarter) of 1396 had fallen to
one-third of its original value; the denarius or 'bronze penny' was worth twice
what it had been. Thus, in 1526, the Zloty System was introduced into Poland.
The so-called red zloty or 'Polish ducat' was minted at 3.5 grams of gold; the sil-
ver zloty was fixed at 23.1 grams of silver on a monetary scale where 1 zloty = 5
szostaki — 10 trojaki — 30 groszy — 90 szelqgi (shillings) = 180 ternarii = 540
denarii (pence). Although in many places the old grzywna or 'mark' continued
to be used as an accounting unit, the new coinage was extended in 1528 to
Prussia, and in 1569 to Lithuania. Also in 1569, to bridge the gulf between the
separate gold and silver coinages, a silver talar (dollar) was introduced. This