Regulation of Jewish life in Radziwiłł-owned private towns from the end of the sixteenth until the beginning of the eighteenth centuries

ENThis article seeks to identify and compare how the Radziwiłł family defined the legal and socioeconomic status of the Jewish communities in their private towns of Birże, Kiejdany, Słuck, Nieśwież, and Ołyka from the second half of the 16th until the beginning of the 18th centuries. Current research often claims that private towns applied more favorable legal and socioeconomic regulations towards the Jews than royal towns. Similarly, it is often claimed that certain noble families adopted unified policies regarding the status of Jews. This paper aims to compare how the early privileges issued to the Jewish communities in Radziwiłł-owned towns compared with royal towns, and to determine whether different branches of the Radziwiłł family used already existing regulations regarding the status of Jews and their relations with Christian burghers or they created their own unique solutions. Keywords: Jewish communities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; the Radziwiłłs; privileges regulating Jewish life; private and royal towns; 16th-18th centuries; Nieśwież; Ołyka; Słuck; Kėdainiai; Biržai. [From the publication]