Jan Boner

Who was Jan Boner?

Jan Boner, also known as Hans Boner, was a German-born Polish merchant and banker. He was one of the wealthiest people of his time in Europe.

Born before 1463 in Landau in Palatinate, early in his life he started a merchant business in Breslau. In 1483 he settled in Kraków, in Poland. A wealthy merchant and tradesman dealing with spices, metals, timbers, livestock, etc., he opened branch offices of his firm in many towns of Poland, Germany, Russia and Hungary. In 1498 he was elected to the Town's Charter and in 1514 he was granted indigenate by the King Sigismund I of Poland, who granted him with a noble status.

As the king's banker and main purveyor to the royal court, Boner became one of the wealthiest men in Europe of his times. Among other deeds he was able to recover the royal treasury from the verge of bankruptcy, having strengthened it with roughly 200,000 Red złoty, an incredible sum for 15th century standards. He bought off the Royal properties for debts, among them the entire area of Spisz, the town of Oświęcim and Ruthenian salt mines and a number of royal towns.