Jan Boner

Hans Boner ( Boner, Jan; * 1450 in Landau, † December 15, 1523 in Kraków ) was a German - Polish merchant and banker. In 1498 he was city council member from Krakow, 1515 Viscount of Krakow, where in 1520 the Polish nobility and appointed in 1522 to the " Magnus Procurator " of Krakow. He served in addition to the state offices already mentioned, including the office of Eastern Star of Rabsztyn and Ojców in today's Little Poland.

Hans Boner was in his time as one of the richest men in Europe.

Life

Boner was the scion of a wealthy cloth merchant family with trade relations to Frankfurt, Nuremberg, German -Wagram and in the cloth town of Ghent. Early on, he opened his own trading business in Wroclaw, since there were close trade relations between Ghent and Wroclaw even then. In 1483, he founded a new company in Krakow, while his brother Jacob Andreas Boner ( 1454-1517 ) continued the company in Breslau.

In Krakow, the former capital of Poland, Boner traded in spices, metals, timbers and livestock. He opened branches of his company in many cities in Poland, Germany, Russia and Hungary. 1498, the Polish civil rights, he was awarded in Krakow and in the same year he married Szczęsna Morsztyn. 1514, Polish citizenship to him by King Sigismund I of Poland was granted and in 1520 he was elevated to the Polish nobility. In 1522 he was royal governor of Krakow.

As a banker of the king and the main supplier of the court Boner was one of the richest men in Europe. Among others, he saved the royal family from financial bankruptcy. He had, it supports about 200,000 Red złoty what was an unusually high sum in the 16th century. For the credit he received as a pledge lands of the royal domain, including the whole area of the Zips (Polish Spisz ) for 12,000 Red złoty of Jordan from Zakliczyn, the town of Oświęcim and the salt mines of Ruthenia ( for 14,000 Red złoty Stanisław Kościelski ) and other royal cities like Sieradz, Gostynin, Radom, Sochaczew, Piotrków, Drohobicz, Rabsztyn, Głuchów, Tuchola, Nowy Sacz, Inowrocław to their starosta he was appointed.

In 1515, Boner secured the Wroclaw ambassador to the Polish court expressly his help, "because he had initially acquired his food there." In the same year Boner manager of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, one of the most profitable company from which came a large part of the income of the Kingdom of Poland. He also received the castles of Ojców and Rabsztyn as private property.

One of his most notable achievements was the division of the Treasury in a state and a royal treasury, which persisted until the partitions of Poland.

Boner also became known as the patron of German and Italian scholars and artists a name, of which he had to "modernize " some of his palaces in the Renaissance style, and also corresponded with the bishop and poet John Dantiscus.

Heritage and descendants

Hans Boner had no physical descendants. Sole heir of the assets and the estate his nephew Severin was declared.