Money, power, and influence in eighteenth-century Lithuania : the Jews on the Radziwiłł estates / Adam Teller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Teller, Adam, author.

Standardized Title:

Kesef, koaḥ, ṿe-hashpaʻah. English

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Radziwill family.

Jews--Lithuania--History--18th century.

Jews--Lithuania--Economic conditions--18th century.

Latifundio--Lithuania--History--18th century.

Ethnic relations.

History.

Latifundio.

Jews.

Economic conditions.

Lithuania--Ethnic relations--History--18th century.

Lithuania (Grand Duchy)--History--18th century.

Jews--Economic conditions.

Europe--Lithuania (Grand Duchy).

Lithuania.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 310 pages : 1 map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2016]

Summary:

In this book, Adam Teller challenges assumptions about how Jews come to wield significant economic and social power. Focusing on the late feudal economy of the eighteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he shows that Jews achieved extraordinary economic success not through any predisposition for capitalism, but by identifying and exploiting economic niches in the pre-modern economy-in particular, the monopoly on the sale of grain alcohol. Teller presents an entirely new analysis of the economic and social structures of the magnate estate, examining the numerous roles Jews played within them. Jewish economic activity was encouraged as a matter of policy because it greatly enhanced the incomes, and consequently the social and political status, of the noble magnates, including the powerful Radziwill family. In return, with the magnates' backing, Jews were able to leverage their economic success into elevated status in estate society. Teller demonstrates how relations within Jewish society began to change, placing less value on learning and pedigree and more on wealth and connections with estate owners such as the Radziwill. This groundbreaking book exemplifies how the study of Jewish economic history can shed light on crucial mechanisms of Jewish social integration. Based on extensive archival research in seven languages, it shows that the Jews' economic activity was not only Indispensable in running the Radziwill estates, but was also crucial to the development of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a whole. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Jewish settlement on the estates

Jews and Jewish communities in the urban economy

The economic institutions of the estates

Jews as estate leaseholders : the rise and fall of the Ickowicz brothers

Arendarze : Jewish lessees of monopoly rights

Jews and trade in the estate economy.

Notes:

"An earlier version of this work was published in Hebrew under the title Kesef, koaḥ, ṿe-hashpaʻah."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-302) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Teller, A., author. Money, power, and influence in eighteenth-century Lithuania

ISBN:

9780804798440

0804798443

OCLC:

948805350