Teresa Teofila Sobieska

What people wore

Valuable Noblewoman's Clothing

Seventeenth-century noblewomen's wills show that items like fur-lined coats, velvet dresses, and specific headgear such as caps and wimples were vital assets, sometimes valued higher than silver or jewelry.

Daily life

Life regulated by bells and time

Daily rhythms were regulated by church bells, such as the Angelus, which signaled the start of work in the morning, meal breaks at noon, and the end of the day in the evening. School bells also began to be used to call students to class at specific times.

Work

Serfdom workday lasting fourteen hours

A serf working on a Polish grange typically started their day at dawn and could work for up to 14 hours, with no lateness tolerated under threat of physical punishment.

Music

Harvest Festival Music and Processions

During harvest festivals, processions carried elaborate wreaths decorated with grain, flowers, and sometimes live roosters to the church, singing traditional harvest songs while hoping for future abundance.

At the table

Rapid inflation of food prices

Food prices rose sharply during the 17th century; for example, the price of vodka in Gdańsk increased sevenfold between 1580 and 1677, and beer prices quintupled between 1550 and 1661. Due to these rising costs, most of a family's budget was spent on food.

Getting around

Common methods of transport

Ordinary people traveled by walking, riding horses, or using simple horse-drawn carts such as the kolasa.

What it cost

Meat Abundance and Pricing

Meat was often sold by the cut rather than by weight, and it was so abundant in some regions that eighty pounds of beef could be bought for one Reichsthaler.