Andrzej Opaliński

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.

Daily life

Peasant home layouts and heating

Most peasant families lived in modest wooden houses featuring a stove, though some people in the Samogitia region used a numas, a building type with a central open fireplace.

Work

Common roles for peasants and laborers

The majority of the population were peasants who worked their own plots while also performing mandatory labor, known as pańszczyzna, on their lord's estate. This labor requirement typically involved 1 to 3 days of work per week, often including manual labor or providing their own draught animals like horses and oxen for plowing.

Music

Festive Dances and Carnival Celebrations

During festivals like Carnival, musicians played for dance parties that could last for several days, involving noblemen and commoners alike. Dances like the hajduk, a lively two-part dance, and goniony, a chase-like play-dance, were popular among the gentry.

At the table

Market purchases for household supply

In 1590, a purchase recorded at Ivenets shows a peasant household acquiring beef and salt at a market to supplement their own food production.

Getting around

Daily travel distances for commoners

Travelers on foot or in wagons covered approximately 20 to 30 kilometers per day, while those on horseback could manage 30 to 40 kilometers.

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.