THE VICISSITUDES OF URBAN LIFE 237north by the growing Livonian crisis. In 1568, he supervised the wooden piles as
they were driven into the river-bed to carry the first bridge which spanned the
Vistula at this point..(Supported across its length of five hundred yards on eigh-
teen arches, the bridge was swept away by the Spring Flood of 1603 and not
replaced.) By the time of Zygmunt-August's death, the medieval Castle had been
transformed by Giovanni-Battista Quadro into a magnificent Renaissance
palace. Most importantly, Warsaw had also assumed an active parliamentary
role. Traditionally the home of the dietine of Mazovia which met in St. Martin's
Church, the Sejm of the Korona assembled in the Royal Castle for the first time
in 1556-7. In 1569, by the Union of Lublin, Warsaw was chosen as the perma-
nent site of royal Elections. Especially under Bathory, it rapidly became the
usual place for the biennial sessions of the Sejm of the Republic.
The city's rising political importance was attended by constant municipal
strife. The rivalry of the patriciate and the guilds was complicated by the pres-
ence of the Jews, whose enterprise in Gentile eyes was largely pursued in defiance
of established institutions. The original inhabitants of the ghetto, first mentioned
in 1414, were expelled beyond the Walls in 1483, but soon returned. The Third
Ordinance' of 1526 was accompanied by a decree of 'De non tolerandis Judaeis'.
This, too, had little effect. Henceforth, the ghetto grew and prospered on the
fringe of the city centre, in the area bordering the Walls and the New Town.
Meanwhile the guilds, representing some fifty specialized trades, defended their
privileges and monopolies with energy. The tumults of the masters and the
apprentices were matched by the intrigues of the guilds as a whole against the
merchant clans, and by their common front against Jewish interlopers. Yet, in a
rapidly expanding economy, there was room for all. Entrepreneurs were
attracted from far afield - goldsmiths from Cracow, leather traders from
Bohemia, bankers from Germany. The wine-shop of Georg Fugger (Jerzy Fukier)
which has been serving its customers on the Market Square since the 1540s
was but one reminder of Warsaw's far-flung international connections. From
some 4,500 in 1500, the city's population grew in the following century to over
20,000.
The decision to transfer the permanent residence of Court and Government
from Cracow to Warsaw was finally taken in 1596. In the previous year, a seri-
ous fire had damaged the royal quarters in Wawel Castle, and Zygmunt III Vasa
had little desire to tarry in the south. Preoccupied with his Swedish domains
which demanded constant communication via Danzig, and later with the cam-
paigns in Muscovy, he gave orders for the further reconstruction of Warsaw
Castle under his architect, Santa Gucci. Although building work continued for
twenty years, the new Castle was ready to welcome the King on his victorious
return from Smolensk in 1611, and to witness the submission of the captive
Muscovite Tsar, Vazyl Szuyski.
Royal Warsaw flourished for two centuries. Its buildings reflected the life
of the monarchs, prelates, courtiers, courtesans, and camp followers who
thronged the pages of its history. It grew from a town of wooden houses and