Josko

Josko was the most important customhouse leaseholder during the reigns of Polish kings Casimir IV (r. 1447 – 1492), Jan Olbracht (r. 1492 – 1501), and Aleksander I (r. 1501 – 1506). He also served the royal court as financier and supplier.

As customhouse leaseholder, Josko is first recorded in 1484. During his career he leased customs in Hrubieszów, Bełz, Włodzimierz Wołyński, Litowyż, Przemyśl, Chełm, Lubaczów, Sanok, Lublin, and Podolia. Josko must have been on very good terms with the King Aleksander I, whom he served as a banker and purveyor of cloth and fur to the court. When Josko experienced losses as a result of invasions of the Ruthenian lands in 1502, the king granted him a three-year exemption from taxes required of all Jews living in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1503, as a result of Josko’s intervention, the king ordered that the Jews of Lwów be permitted to trade at fairs and the town’s markets, despite vigorous opposition from the townsmen. In 1505, the Polish Sejm passed a statute prohibiting Jews from leasing customhouses but the king allowed Josko to retain his Lwów and Bełz leases so long as his own debts to Josko remained unpaid. In Lublin, Josko was the only Jew to live outside the Jewish quarter.

After Josko’s death, his family enjoyed protection of Sigismund I of Poland (r. 1506–1548) and was granted certain privileges such as exemption from certain taxes.