Skip to content
VitrineVitrine
Sign in

Barbara Gizanka

Warsaw, 1500 – 1589

9 facts2 sources

Facts and their sources

  • Born1500, Warsawor 1550Records disagree1 source
  • Died1589Records disagree1 source
  • FatherJan Gizanot verified1 source

A life in time

  1. 1500

    Born in Warsaw

  2. 18 Sep 1571

    A daughter is born

  3. 1589

    Dies

Family

See the tree

Parents

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 9 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Warsaw.

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

The 1500s · Barbara is born in Warsaw

In the news1507

Great plague of 1507

A major plague struck Poland in 1507, causing many peasants to flee their farms and leading to widespread abandonment of rural sites.

Getting around

Common methods of travel and daily speeds

Ordinary people typically traveled on foot, covering 20–25 kilometers a day, while those with wagons or carts traveled at a slightly slower pace of 4–6 kilometers per hour.

In the news1505

Nihil novi act passed in 1505

The Nihil novi act of 1505 transferred most legislative power from the monarch to the Sejm, initiating the Golden Liberty system.

Daily life

Modest wooden homes with open fires

Peasant families lived in modest wooden houses that usually consisted of a single room containing a stove for heating and cooking. Some households in Samogitia used a traditional 'numas' structure, which featured an open fireplace instead of a stove.

What people wore

Popularity of slitted clothing

Slitting sleeves and clothes to reveal contrasting linings or shirts underneath became a very popular trend in the early 16th century. This style was adopted by various social classes as a touch of flirtation and intimacy.

Music

A cross-European dance hit

A dance title recorded in 1540, Zakłułam się cierniem (I pricked myself with a thorn), was so popular it appeared in musical tablatures across Western Europe.

At the table

Beer soup for breakfast

Beer was the most common everyday drink, often consumed in the morning as a thick beer soup.