https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0680-5857
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ABSTRACT
Using a surviving set of monthly confiscation reports covering the period between August 1793 and March 1794 (23 cases in total), this article examines smuggling in the territory subordinated to the Palanga customs on the Lithuanian-Prussian border. The article aims to reveal the patterns of smugglers’ behavior, the characteristics of individuals involved in contraband, as well as the state’s response to these illegal economic activities. In addition to other more context-specific conclusions, the research reveals how even a small corpus of data can allow us to analyze the phenomenon of smuggling from a qualitative perspective.
Acknowledgments
The research presented here is part of the project “The Infrastructure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Border with Prussia: A Study of Social Environment and Economic Efficiency in the Second Half of the 18th Century,” implemented from 2021–2024 at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University. The project is supported by the Research Council of Lithuania (contract No. S-MIP-21-50, under project head Professor Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė, Vilnius University).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. In 1793, the Palanga customs was composed of the customs at Palanga (komora in fundo), five sub-customs (przykomorek) at Kretinga, Jokūbavas, Gargždai, Aisėnai, Luišės), one head-guard post (oberstraż) at Šiūpariai, fifteen guard posts (straż), and one sub-guard post (podstraży). See ‘Komora Połongowska Repartycyi Żmuydzkiey, 1793–4,’ Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos Rankraščių skyrius (Manuscript Department of Vilnius University Library, Lithuania, hereafter – VUB RS), f. 1, b. G5, fol. 1.
2. ‘Protokuł czyli zbior urządzen, sancytow, instrukcyi, uniwersałow Komissyi Rzeczypospolitey Wielkiego Xięstwa Litewskiego dla oficyalistow skarbowych y wiadomosci handluiących od roku 1765 do roku 1790 z ksiąg skarbowych in archyvo będących w znaczney częsci wypisany, 1765–90,’ VUB RS, f. 5, b. B65–3399, fols. 127 v–128.
3. Hereafter, all translations in parentheses are given in Polish.
4. On institutional history, see, for instance (Kiturko Citation2014a, Citation2014b, Citation2014c, Citation2019; Šmigelskytė-Stukienė et al. Citation2014)., For more on the borderlands in the nineteenth century, see, for example (Leiserowitz Citation2021).,
5. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 7.
6. In 1788, for example, Wólf Berelowicz, an inhabitant of the town of Jokūbavas, accused the Treasury officials serving at the Palanga customs of confiscating the coffee he was transporting. The case was forwarded to the Treasury Commission. In that same year, Jan Kleyn, a citizen of Klaipėda, filed a complaint against the intendant and other officials of the Palanga customs, asserting that they unjustly confiscated his horse. See ‘Lustracya Komory Połągowskiey przez JW. JM. Pana Michała Oginskiego, wojewodzica Trockiego, kommissarza Skarbu Rzeczypospolitey Wielkiego Xięstwa Litewskiego, do lustrowania Repartycyi Litewskiey delegowanego w roku 1788 m sporządzona, 1788,’ Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archives, hereafter – LVIA), f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fol. 5.
7. ‘Obwodnica z opisaniem miast, miasteczek y wsi, a pomiędzy te przechodzących, y do nich przychodzących drog, drożek przemytnych, podczas lustracyi Komory Połongowskiey sporządzona roku 1769 miesiąca Junii 28 dnia, 1769,’ LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 1094; LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859.
8. For more on the unsuccessful attempts to establish a port at Šventoji in the eighteenth century, see Kiaupa (Citation1999, 176–182).
9. In 1788, Ogiński noted that the growing trade with Liepāja lowered the income of the Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, see ‘Komora Szczeberska, 1788,’ LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 1323.
10. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 1094, l. 18, 19, 19 v, 20 v, 21; LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, l. 6 v, 7, 9, 9 v, 10 v, 11, 12 v, 14 v.
11. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 1323; ‘Komora Wierzbołowska, ca. 1790,’ Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekos Rankraščių skyrius (Manuscripts Department of the Wróblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, hereafter – LMAVB RS), f. 256, b. 1213; VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5.
12. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 1323; LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859; VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5.
13. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 7.
14. Staja is a specific measure of several hundred meters. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fols. 8 v–9.
15. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fol. 6; LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fols. 12–12 v.
16. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 7; VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 8.
17. The total figure excludes the two female smugglers discussed below. Antoni Turnowski was described as coming from the village of Petrikčiai (ze wsi Petrykayc), however, it remains unclear if he was a peasant. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 7.
18. See the transcripts of the Treasury Commission circulars (1765–1790). VUB RS, f. 5, b. B65–3399.
19. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 5.
20. The cost of a barrel of herring in Vilnius in the second half of the eighteenth century fluctuated between 30 and 40 złotys.
21. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 9.
22. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 12.
23. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 6.
24. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 6.
25. It could be assumed that she is Gita Dawidowa, who was mentioned among the Jews living in the town of Darbėnai in 1784. At the time, Gita and Dawid are the only recorded members of their household. Thus, we can assume that they were either a young family or elderly people. See ‘Rejestr głow Żydowskich znaydujących się w mieście Połongach y przykahałku Dorbianach,’ LVIA, f. SA, b. 3754, fol. 453.
26. For more on peasant women’s and female town inhabitants’ clothing, see Matušakaitė (Citation2003, 320–322).
27. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fols. 6, 7, 10.
28. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 8.
29. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 12.
30. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 10.
31. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fol. 14.
32. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 1.
33. LVIA, f. 11, ap. 1, b. 859, fol. 14 v.
34. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, l. 1.
35. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fols. 7, 9, 10, 12.
36. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 8 v.
37. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 12.
38. One garniec equals 2.82 liters. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 9.
39. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 12.
40. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 10.
41. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fol. 5.
42. VUB RS, f. 1, b. G5, fols. 12–12 v.
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Notes on contributors
Martynas Jakulis
Martynas Jakulis is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University. A historian of society and religion, his research focuses on the social history of Vilnius and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His most recent book is Špitolės Vilniuje: labdara, gydymas ir skurdas XVI–XVIII a. (Vilnius University Press, 2019).
Andrej Ryčkov
Andrej Ryčkov is a Senior Researcher at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University. His research focuses on the legal, political, cultural, and economic history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His most recent book publication is Judo bučinys: valdovo išdavystės samprata Lietuvoje (XIII a. pabaiga – XVI a. vidurys) (Lithuanian Institute of History, 2018).
Aivaras Poška
Aivaras Poška is a Junior Researcher at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University, and a PhD student at the Lithuanian Institute of History. His research interests lie in the field of early modern Jewish legal and socio-economic history.
Alberto Giordano
Alberto Giordano is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University. From 2018–2019, he served as President of UCGIS, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. He is a founding member of the Holocaust Geographies Collaborative, a network of researchers and scholars interested in bringing geographical approaches, methods, and perspectives to the study of the Holocaust and other genocides. He is involved in projects related to the application of GIScience methods and tools to forensic anthropology, most recently concerning migrant deaths at the U.S-Mexico border, for which he has received funding from the NSF. His numerous publications include the book (co-edited with A. Knowles and T. Cole) Geographies of the Holocaust (Indiana University Press, 2014).
Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė
Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė is a Professor at the Faculty of History at Vilnius University and the head of the Research Centre of History of East European Jews at the same university. Her scientific interests cover the history of Jews in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, comparative history of non-Christian communities, socio-economic history and historical demography, and the representation of Jewish culture and heritage in contemporary Lithuania. Her most recent publication (co-edited with Darius Staliūnas and Vladas Sirutavičius) is The History of Jews in Lithuania: From the Middle Ages to the 1990s (Brill, 2020).