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Wojciech Mielzynski

Died 1577

5 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 1577

    Dies

Family

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Partner

Children · 1

During his lifetime

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1570s · Wojciech dies

In the news1569–1574

Famine and price crisis of 1569-1574

Between 1569 and 1574, a severe famine and price crisis struck the region, causing mass death among the poorest residents, while wealthy nobles remained largely unaffected. During 1573 and 1574, a 2.2-kilogram loaf of rye bread cost an unskilled worker in Krakow between 32% and 40% of their daily wage.

At the table

Famine bread ingredients

During times of severe famine, poor people were forced to bake bread using ingredients like acorns, bran, and in extreme cases, dried tree bark and plant buds.

What people wore

Valuation of peasant clothing sets

A full set of clothing for an ordinary Ukrainian peasant was valued at 26.5 zlotys for men and 52 zlotys for women, with the women's set including a shirt, skirt, and corset. Those who possessed such a complete set were considered wealthy by their community.

Getting around

Security for goods in transit

A merchant in 1586 paid four guilders to hire two Tartars to transport his goods, reflecting common practice to ensure security during travel.

What it cost

Bread Prices and Scarcity

During times of famine, such as in the 1570s, bread was sometimes made with non-traditional ingredients like acorns, bran, or even tree bark. A pound of rye bread in Kraków cost around 0.2 groschen in the early 1570s.

Music

Carnival sleigh rides and masquerade balls

During the carnival season, the Polish gentry organized festive sleigh rides from mansion to mansion, accompanied by musicians playing dance music, which often culminated in a masquerade ball where nobles dressed as peasants, Jews, or Gypsies.

Daily life

Modest wooden peasant homes

Peasant homesteads were modest wooden houses, often with a single stove and no chimney, sometimes using oiled paper or animal bladders for windows. In some regions like Samogitia, families still lived in traditional numas with central fireplaces.