Inflanty 1587–1591 w świetle wpisów w Metryce Koronnej

The documents registered in the Polish Crown Chancery books (Metrica Regni) are used in combination with other sources in works on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this article the approach is different – the analysis is focused on the Crown Chancery documents only. The questions are; how many of the documents, registered in the short period 1587–1591, described the situation in Livland and Kurland (i.e. today Latvia)? What are the main topics of this acts? How was the situation in Livland seen by the chancery clerks and if their view is supported by the modern historiography? The answer is surprisingly positive. About 10% of all registered documents concern Livland and we do get a differentiated view on the subject. This newly acquired province was a place of many quarrels and fights. The officers from Poland and Lithuania had to organize the administration and to placate the old nobility and burghers. The religious differences did not make this task easy, since the king Sigismund Vasa would like to renovate the structures of the Roman Catholic church in Livland. Most of the documents are testimonies of some grants; to the Polish – Lithuanian gentry, to the old Livonian gentry, even to some burghers, who supported the Commonwealth in the struggle with Moscovia. We can conclude that acts registered in the Polish Metrica do correspond accurately with the view on Livland represented by the modern historiography, although the texts are quite laconic and only rarely we can see a continuation of a case in next documents.