MERKINĖS SENIŪNO MATO OGINSKIO KASDIENYBĖ: ŪKINIŲ IR TEISMINIŲ REIKALŲ VERPETUOSE

Abstract

The article analyses some episodes from biography and the daily life of elder of Merkinė, vogt and colonel of a petyhorcy unit of the armed forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Mateusz Ogiński (1738–1786). On the basis of the documents preserved in the Ogiński foundation of the Lithuanian State history archive (F. 1177), the article argues that Mateusz Ogiński was mainly occupied with the maintenance of his properties and litigation in courts, not actually seeking any political or public career. He personally issued directions to the stewards of his properties and controlled execution of his orders. Somewhere close to the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772) he was known for the detailed regulation of his economic activities. He put effort to concentrate in his hands some real estate (by buying plots and houses in Merkinė), invested and developed various businesses (renting a windmill and a pub, operating a coffee shop, building a sawmill and a brickyard, fishing, shipping timber to Konigsberg, renovating Merkinė’s town hall, etc.). Later M. Ogiński was often renting out his properties to other individuals, but that had a negative influence on his possessions. Lifestyle that disregarded the income made M. Ogiński drown in debt early, and he entered a loop of having to start borrowing to pay debts. Elder of Merkinė Ogiński would borrow and spend large sums of money to make purchases of various items of luxury abroad and in Lithuania (clothes, jewellery, alcohol, species, fruits, etc.), and to maintain his manor and even a folk music group. M. Ogiński litigated in many Lithuanian courts and, judging from his letters (and quite many of them survived), he would have inhabited these litigation processes, taking interest in legal nuances and using different opportunities to influence court processes to his advantage (making acquaintance with judges, looking for third party interceders, writing letters to judges, and personally participating in court proceedings). Most common lawsuits against him were about unpaid debts, yet his own claims were against stewards of his properties, and real estate rights. Keywords: eldership of Merkinė, the Ogiński, daily routine, economics, courts.