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Barbara Kiszka

1570

3 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

  • Born1570not verified1 source

A life in time

  1. 1570

    Born

  2. 11 May 1585

    A daughter is born

Family

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Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 11 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like.

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

The 1570s · Barbara is born

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

Portable Peasant Wealth

Some peasants owned valuable items like sheepskin coats trimmed with rare beaver fur or garments made from imported London cloth, which served as portable wealth.

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

Cost of Clothing and Footwear

A pair of shoes cost between 7 and 8 groschen, which meant a laborer had to work for about four days to afford them. A high-quality sheepskin coat was much more expensive, costing 21 groschen, or about two weeks of work.

Music

Instruments and Liturgical Singing

Bagpipes (duda), violins (skrypka), and various flutes and drums were common instruments played at inns and social gatherings. In church, Jesuit students regularly performed specific liturgical songs like Iam lucis orto sidere to open their classes.

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.