The Public House in Central Europe

Public houses-inns, taverns, and alehouses-during the Jagiellonian Dynasty (1385-1572) in the city of Cracow functioned as important establishments in the everyday life of the city. While the city continued to grow and prosper as the preferred residence of the dynasty, inhabitants, travelers, and migrants increasingly relied on the public houses of the conurbation to meet their many needs and desires. Although scholars have studied these establishments throughout Europe during various epochs, they have neglected to analyze the public houses in Cracow during the Jagiellonian era. The Public House in Central Europe: Inns, Taverns, and Alehouses in Cracow during the Jagiellonian Dynasty provides a comprehensive examination of a multitude of sources to reconstruct qualitatively and quantitatively the public houses of the city. This reconstruction reveals public houses' role in the history of the city, their locations, edifices, related activities, and people, including publicans, clients, and others. This book places the establishments of Cracow at the center of a deeply debated topic about the extent and types of violence in public houses, which further addresses their many functions. Contrary to some contemporary accounts and some current secondary literature, the establishments were fundamental to the everyday life of the city and were not centers of nefarious acts.