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VitrineVitrine

Anna Sroczycka

1560

6 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 1560

    Born

  2. 1598

    A daughter is born

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 1560s · Anna 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

Valuation of peasant clothing sets

A full set of clothing for an ordinary Ukrainian peasant was valued at 26.5 zlotys for men and 52 zlotys for women, with the women's set including a shirt, skirt, and corset. Those who possessed such a complete set were considered wealthy by their community.

Getting around

Luxury transport for the wealthy

Wealthy individuals often traveled in covered wagons known as coaches (kocz) or cradles (kolebka), which were sometimes suspended on leather straps for comfort.

What it cost

Food affordability for workers

A worker could purchase a chicken for 1 grossus, a goose for 1.5 to 2 grossi, or a cluster of 60 eggs for 3 grossi with their daily wage.

Music

Social rules in the stryjanka dance

In the dance known as stryjanka, the violinist led the household members in the first part, while respectable people refrained from dancing the second, more lively part to observe others instead.

Daily life

Cooking and lighting challenges

Cooking happened in multipurpose living spaces or entryways using cauldrons suspended on complex, expensive iron hooks that allowed height adjustment over the fire. Because light was poor and candles were prohibitively expensive, many food preparation tasks were performed outdoors.