Barbara Kola

What people wore

Color as a Social Privilege

After the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387, ordinary people's clothing became simpler, with colors mostly limited to white, grey, and brown, as wearing colorful garments became an unwritten privilege of the nobility.

Daily life

Water-driven mills and cash dues

Manor mills were water-driven and situated on streams; some, known as spring mills, only operated during flood seasons in spring and autumn. Peasants sometimes commuted their labour requirements for a payment of 12 groshi.

Work

Taxes Paid in Kind

To meet royal tax requirements, holdings were obligated to provide specific goods in kind, such as one hen and ten eggs from every holding, or a cow from every thirty holdings. These payments could sometimes be commuted for cash at fixed rates.

Music

Instruments of common people

Ordinary people used simple percussion like tabalas (wooden boards) for signals and drums for gatherings, while shepherds played instruments like whistles, flutes, and goat horns. Musical instruments excavated in Vilnius include jaws harps, clay whistles, and sleigh bells.

At the table

Fresh fish was a vital supplement

Ordinary people caught and ate a wide variety of fish from local lakes and rivers, including pike, perch, and occasionally sturgeon, as a vital supplement to their diet.

Getting around

Common transport and horse traction methods

Transport relied on wooden four-wheel carts and horse-drawn sledges, with sledges sometimes being preferred even in summer in wet regions. Because roads were not stone-paved, horses were not typically shod with iron horseshoes, but instead used iron thorns nailed into hooves for better traction on ice.

What it cost

Commuting labor for cash

Peasants could commute their mandatory work obligations on manorial estates into a payment of 12 groshi per instance.