332 VASAwith the deepening miseries of the peasants. The wealth of individual cities,
especially of Danzig, underlined the growing chaos of royal and state finances.
The currency was depreciating with every year that passed. Price inflation con-
tinued to soar. In 1576, the average price of an ox was 4 zl.; in 1660, 30 zl.
Taxation yields diminished, both in the real value of the money collected, and
in the efficiency of its collection. In the later years of Zygmunt HI, almost half of
the state's taxes failed to arrive in time to be spent on the purposes for which
they were raised. In 1629, the abolition of the old method of assessing the land-
tax, 'by the lan', caused real hardship. The new podymny rate, fixed at 15 groszy
'per chimney' in the countryside and at 1-3 zl. in the towns, fell with equal force
on every household, irrespective of the size of its property or of its ability to pay.
The contributions of rich landowners diminished; those of the poor rose
sharply. Revenue jumped briefly by 60 per cent; but soon failed to meet mount-
ing costs. Over the next three decades, the Sejm was obliged to raise the rate
almost fifty times. By 1661 the basic annual 15 groszy rate had risen to 25 zl.
The Jewish community consolidated its position in the Republic, reaching a
high plateau of affluence and security which was not to be repeated. The prin-
ciples, and the institutions, of Jewish autonomy were assured. (See Diagram L.)
In 1580, the Jewish Tribunal at Lublin was superseded by the 'Council of the
Four Lands' - a supreme legislative and judicial body which survived for nearly
two hundred years. Slightly later, a 'Council of the Provinces' served the united
communities of the Grand Duchy. In 1592, Zygmunt III restated the General
Charter of Jewish privileges in full. Immigration and natural increase brought
numbers to an estimated 450,000 by 1648, equivalent to 4.5 per cent of the total
population. Jews expanded their traditional range of activities, from banking
and money-lending, to every form of trade, commerce, and industry. They
established the right to form craft guilds of their own, in defiance of the mono-
poly of the hitherto exclusively Gentile organizations. Most importantly, they
left their traditional urban refuges, and penetrated into every nook and cranny
of the rural areas. In the service of the nobility, they played an important pio-
neering role in the development of the south-eastern lands, especially in the
Ukraine. Their success, however, was attended by severe defects. The sheer
weight of numbers in specific localities caused acute overcrowding. Constant
immigration caused immense resentment among established communities who
felt their identity threatened. The resentment was no less prevalent among Jews
than among non-Jews. As shown by an ordinance of the Jewish commune of
Cracow in 1595, the Elders did everything in their power to restrict immigration
and to keep the newcomers out:
He who, without having the right of sojourn (hazaqah), shall try to settle here without
the permission of the Elders and the Kahal and shall establish himself either in the Jewish
quarter or elsewhere in Kazimierz, Cracow, Kleparz or Stradom, or in the district belong-
ing to these localities, be it man or woman, widow or widower (notwithstanding the
rights of his or her deceased spouse) shall be excommunicated from all the holiness of
Israel, shall be set aside both from this world and from the life hereafter, shall have no