Information and services. Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski as a correspondent and client of Elżbieta Sieniawska and Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłł
ENThe main aim of this article was the attempt to present a specific professional and service relationship between Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski and Elżbieta Sieniawska, née Lubomirska and Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłł, in the years 1716–1740. Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski (1668–1749) was a royal postmaster and merchant, who operated in Toruń, at the end of 17th and the first half of 18th century. His activity was very important for two Polish magnate ladies, representatives of the most eminent families in the Nobility of Commonwealth of the Crown and Lithuania: Elżbieta Sieniwska, née Lubomirska and Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłł. Rubinkowski sent their correspondence, edited handwritten newspapers for them, and brokered the purchase and shipping of various goods (grain, forest products, books, soap, cattle and luxury articles). He was connected with them by a client bond. It was a very special clientelism, because Rubinkowski was not a subject to these magnates and he had a strong economic and social position. That is why we can say, that he was rather a client of promotion. These contracts with magnates were not the sole source of his income. He treated it as a source of additional profit, and the same letter contact as a sign of prestige. Keywords: clientelism, Jakub Kazimierz Rubinkowski, Elżbieta Sieniawska, Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłł, correspondence.
