Biecz – Brody – Bila Cerkva: Trade Contacts against the Backdrop of Everyday Life in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

This study examines the report of the death of the Jewish merchant Rubin Josefowicz (9.02.1663). This study uses the report to fulfil three goals. First, it sheds light on Brody’s Jewish past. A copy of documents from the town of Biecz is for the moment the earliest complete source which describes in detail the trade activity of a Jew from Brody. Secondly, the report reveals additional evidence of the trade history within the borders of the Polish -Lithuanian Commonwealth. Finally, the investigation reveals aspects of merchants’ everyday life in the town of the Carpathian foothill region.