In Polish historiography the accepted view is that the operation of a separate institution administering the royal treasury (the King's estates and incomes) dates back to the times of the Saxon kings, and specifically to the year 1710. Shortly afterwards, in 1717, an instruction for the royal fiscal court was issued. During the reign of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski the royal estate was managed by a collective body called the Economic Commission, although the Saxon term "Kamera" ("Chamber") continued to be widely used. The Wawel Royal Castle, managed by a governor (an officer reporting to the Chamber) was the main center of the King's administrative and judicial power in his royal estates. This took place in either of two ways: either for life, for a fixed remuneration paid to the governor, or under a lease agreement signed for a certain period of time. Inside the Krakow agglomeration the Jews who were subject to administrative jurisdiction by Krakow governors resided outside the Jewish town at Kazimierz (now a district of Krakow), the Christian town of Kazimierz along with its Stradom suburb, the town of Kleparz, Governor's Smolensk jurydyka, Podzamcze and Lobzow. In the Jewish Town, the number of Jews was conservatively estimated at 3,500 by the office of Krakow voivode (the formal superior, advocate and curator of the Jewish community) in 1787. Earlier censuses of the Jewish population most likely showed lower than actual figures, which typically occurred when statistics were prepared for tax purposes, e.g., according to the poll tax tariff from 1781, the number of Jews in the Jewish town was put at 1887. The article constitutes a follow-up to and supplements the research by Krakow historian, Professor Franciszek Lesniak, who in his book Wielkorzaqdcy krakowscy XVI-XVIII wieku drew attention to the presence of the Jewish population in Krakow's in the royal estates and emphasized its importance in the economy of those estates. The governor along with the province judge exercised jurisdiction over the Jews inhabiting the Jewish Town at Kazimierz. As a rule they reviewed appeals from the verdicts of magistrates courts for Kazimierz and Kleparz, resolving civil and business disputes between Jews and the burghers. In the first instance the governor exercised jurisdiction over the citizens inhabiting the jurydykas supervised by him, including Jewish tenants. For the inhabitants of Krakow and surrounding areas, the most shocking criminal case heard by that court during that time was the unsuccessful attempt by the Jew Marek Mortka to murder Apolonia Siedlecka, which was described by Majer Balaban as an Olkusz ritual murder. The Olkusz court of first instance made up of the mayor and a jury sentenced the Jew to death in 1787. The verdict was upheld by the court of the second instance and the governor's court ordered the Kazimierz magistrates to execute the decree. The main method of exercising administrative control over the Jewish community were the reports sent out to Warsaw. The successive rulers of the Wawel castle were writing to their superiors about lease contracts awarded to Jews, about the forging of coinage by the latter, about disputes between the community and the town authorities over the quartering of the armed forces in Kazimierz and about the revenue of the overseers obtained from the Jews paying szpilkowe (land tax). Especially during the Four-Year Sejm, the kehilla, citing the poor shape of the community's budget, submitted various motions and memorials via the Chamber, asking to have the imposts lifted or decreased. The Jews were pleading with the governor to intervene on their behalf with the king, in order for the community to have the duty of paying a commission (rent) on the loans incurred lifted. The Jews' role in the economy was particularly pronounced as tenants of breweries, inns and mills owned by the regional authorities. Their rights ensued from agreements signed by them with the governor's administration. The activity of Jewish tenants of royal property (who successfully competed with their Christian competitors for lease contracts) encountered opposition from the guilds, especially that of the Krakow brewers. They protested against alleged failure of the Jewish innkeepers to respect the guild's propination privileges. During the Four-Year Sejm and the drafting of new constitutions for royal towns the Kazimierz kehilla, facing the attempts of the neighbouring Krakow to end the autonomy of Kazimierz and Kleparz, presumably regarded the Krakow governor as an advocate of its interest and guarantor or the preservation of the existing rights. It should be noted that with regard to some judicial matters, the governor's office established cooperation with the voivode's office, whose judiciary and administrative prerogatives vis-a-vis the Jews were weakened at that time. The article contains figures regarding the revenue of the Krakow governor collected from the Jews of Kazimierz.
