Poclon (Wallachia, Romania)

Poclon 🇷🇴
Location: Wallachia, Romania
Definition: Тhe practice of giving money or other goods to a superior in order to obtain a favourable attitude or various advantages; additionally, it meant taxes and bribes.
Keywords: Wallachia – Gift – Taxes – Fees – Bribe – Officials – Ottoman Empire
Clusters: Economies of favours – Instrumentality of sociability– Playing the letter of the rules against their spirit
Author: Vasile Mihai Olaru
Affiliation: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow, University of Regensburg

By Vasile Mihai Olaru, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow,University of Regensburg

A Slavic term, poclon (or plocon, pl. pocloane, plocoane) entered the Romanian language during the Middle Ages. In Old Church Slavonic the term denoted worship or adoration of the divinity, offering, or act of bowing the head or the body, or a kind of penance. Only secondarily, it denoted a voluntary gift (Slovar 1847: 306). It was this secondary sense that was used in the Principality of Wallachia from the fourteenth to nineteenth century. The offerings of poclon mostly implied a gift to a socially superior (lord or ruler); a protocol gift in diplomacy; or a gift exchange between in-laws. Later on, its meaning also embraced taxes and fees. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, in the context of administrative reforms and the changing notion of the political power, poclon acquired a negative connotation coming to signify a bribe and was delegalised. Contemporary Romanian dictionaries define the word poclon mainly as gift, although variant meanings are also given.

From a gift to tax and fees. The principal meaning of the word adopted in Romanian was that of gift. The term was used interchangeably with dar (pl. daruri, Slavic origin) and, later on, with peşcheş (pl. peşcheşuri, Ottoman origin). Poclon was not a free gift between equals, but one given to a socially, and sometimes, politically superior. It was meant to convey the idea of submission of the giver and to secure the goodwill of the receiver. With time, the word and the practice acquired additional nuances due to changing historical circumstances. Initially a spontaneous and occasional gift, poclon came to signify an institutionalized obligation, perceived and framed as custom (obicei), involving obligation and regularity (Sachelarie and Stoicescu 1988: 364-365). From the fifteenth century on, the poclon practices became associated with tax paid to the prince and fees collected by high official-holders. Thus, the gift offered by the subjects at the beginning of a prince’s reign turns into the “gift of the banner” (poclonul steagului), paid annually, by all tax-payers, proportionally with their income (Sachelarie and Stoicescu 1988: 364-365). As a privilege, the princedom often exempted monasteries and churches from poclon payments along with other taxes (Potra 1961: 271, 326).

Similarly, the occasional pocloane given to Wallachian officials became regular fees collected from their subordinate officials or from their jurisdiction on regular basis. The pocloane received by the officials contributed to their sustenance and were legitimized, especially in the case of the higher officials, by the latter’ superior social status, and not by the services they rendered (see kula practices in East Africa and kormlenie in Russia). For instance, the high cup-bearer (vel paharnic) collected such fees from the sales of wine and brandy (Sachelarie & Stoicescu 1988: 364-365). In the ecclesiastical sphere, the Metropolitan and the two Bishops of Wallachia were collecting pocloane regularly from the priests in their dioceses (Urechia I 1891: 454). Lesser officials received pocloane as a payment for their services, usually at extra 10 per cent on a given tax. (Giurescu 1962: passim; Urechia I 1891: 402, 406, 411).

From a protocol gift to the tribute. As a practice in the foreign relations of Wallachia, especially in the relations with the Ottoman Porte (fourteenth to nineteenth century) and the Crimean Khanate (sixteenth to eighteenth century), plocon carried the initial meaning of occasional and ceremonial gift. With the intensification of Ottoman domination, it mutated into regular obligations, akin to the tribute, paid by each prince at the point of accession to the throne (Istoria 1959: 118) and annually (Giurescu 1962, passim; Greceanu 1970: 144; Potra: 271, 326). In addition, pocloane were sent to the Ottoman court each time an Ottoman dignitary, especially the Grand Vizier, was appointed to office, to seek benevolence and favour. At the same time, the initial meaning and practice of poclon as an occasional gift persevered. In order to achieve specific objectives, such as border dispute resolution, neutralization of competitors, prevention of the plunder of the country by the Tatar troops, or simply securing favourable attitude of the Ottoman and Tatar dignitaries, Wallachian princes used to send them plocoane (Greceanu 1970: 75, 90, 103, 107, 114, 123). Such ‘voluntary’ offerings are not easy to distinguish from the outright extortion (Eclesiarhul 2004: 80; Greceanu 1970: 231).

From gift to bribe. By the end of the eighteenth century, as part of the administrative reforms introduced by the princes of Wallachia, some variants of poclon practices are delegitimized and regarded either as bribe (Urechia VII 1894: 52) or informal payment, which distort the functioning of the administration (Urechia I 1981: 43; Urechia VIII 1897: 476-477). The poclon, as an accepted practical norm in administrative and in international relations, has vanished in the nineteenth century, with the massive administrative overhaul starting from 1830 on and the suppression of the Ottoman domination. It did nevertheless remain in the Romanian language to this day designating morally and legally problematic practices of gifting in exchange for a favour.

In sum, the practice of poclon started as an informal, occasional gift-giving. With the development of the state and the stratification of the Wallachian society poclon, while retaining its initial meaning, has institutionalised and came to signify a covert tax system tax paid to the prince; fees paid to the officials and high clergymen; and regular gifts offered to prominent figures of the Ottoman empire. By the end of the eighteenth century, it was again “informalized” and construed as an illegitimate gift leading to corruption.

References

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 898155”.

Eclesiarhu, Dionisie. 2004. Scriei alese. Hronograf. Predoslovii. N. Trandafirescu (ed.) Bucharest: Institutul de istorie literară şi teorie literară ”G. Călinescu”.

Giurescu, D. C. 1962. ‘Anatefterul. Condica de Porunci a Vistieriei lui Constantin Brîncoveanu, Studii şi materiale de istorie medie, 5: 352-504.

Greceanu, Radu Logogătul. 1970. Istoria domniei lui Constantin Basarab Brâncoveanu Voievod (1688-1714). Aurora Ilieş (ed.), Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Românie.

Istoria Ţării Româneşti de la octombrie 1688 la martie 1717. 1959. C. Grecescu (ed.), Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică.