Elbląg coins in the times of the first Swedish occupation between 1626 and 1635

At the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Elbląg had around 15 thousand inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities in Poland. Of this size and richness it was of obvious interest to the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf who in 1626 invaded the Royal Prussia, a province of the Kingdom of Poland. As a result of misunderstandings and resentment of the representatives of different city quarters towards one another, as well as of the lack of modern fortifications, Elbląg fell into the Swedish hands on 15th July 1626. Very soon the Swedish king made the city his administrative centre of the invaded Prussia. Its citizens applied to Gustav II Adolf to grant them the minting rights and allow the free production of their own city coins, as they expected large profits from this particular activity. In July 1627 the King of Sweden signed the privilege in Pasłęk and enabled the citizens of Elbląg to mint silver and gold coins as well as to take proceeds from the process. One side of the coins had to carry the face of the Swedish ruler or the emblems of their kingdom while the other had to present the emblem of Elbląg. Gustav II Adolf also ordered that the Elbląg coins had to keep the Swedish minting standard so that the subjects of the Swedish Kingdom could use them just as they did with other Swedish coins.

The first minting house was established by the Swedes themselves who in the beginning produced groszy coins that we now know only from the accounts. City coins were initially minted in the old hospital mill. This minting facility is famous for the coins carrying the sign of the hook pierced heart and belonging  to an unknown entrepreneur. Most probably, it stopped after a new building was erected to house the minting shop in Wasserstrasse 74. This building was completed at the end of April 1628. At the same time, the city brought an experienced minter by the name of Marsilius Philipsson. A contract was signed for him to lease the municipal minting house, and since 1631 to become the mint-master of the Swedish Royal Minting House in Elbląg. The building in Wasserstrasse 74 soon became too small and the Swedish insisted that the city constructed a larger facility, which they did begin to build in the corner of Św. Ducha Street (today Wigilijna Street) and Mennicza Street (Münzgasse) in 1930. That was where most of the city coins came from, and all of those which were minted after 1931. From the very early stage, Elbląg found out that the minting house was primarily to serve the interests of the Swedish who produced coins which were visually similar to the Polish coins  and followed the Polish minting standard. The Swedes made large profits by continually decreasing the weight of the coins which contained less and less of the precious metal. The Swedish coins from the minting house in Elbląg quickly circulated in Poland since they resembled the royal, Lithuanian, Gdańsk and Prussian coins. Their presence in the circulation in Poland is proved by a number of findings scattered around the country. The minting of the coins in Elbląg stopped in 1635 when the Swedish left the city in result of the truce treaty signed in Sztumska Wieś on 12th September 1635. Enormous losses that the city made on the operation of this occupational facility were never recovered. Two counselors went to Stockholm and asked the Swedish King to pay damages for these losses but with no success.

Elbląg suffered significantly as a result of the Swedish occupation. The only advantage was the extension and construction of the fortifications. For many years later the city had to struggle economically, which made its position in Prussia grow weaker.

T. Duchnowski