Izabela Czartoryska

What people wore

Festive Attire Regardless of Weather

Peasants often prioritized wearing their best festive clothes for Sunday church services regardless of the weather, sometimes wearing heavy wadded caftans or fustian skirts even in summer heat. These outfits served as a visual marker to distinguish sacred festive time from the everyday grind of work.

Getting around

Splendid processions of the magnates

Magnates displayed their immense wealth by traveling in elaborate caravans that included dozens of wagons, hundreds of horses, and sometimes exotic animals like camels and pack mules. These processions were grand spectacles that required hundreds of attendants to manage, protect, and serve the noble traveler.

At the table

Preserving Cabbage in Tree Trunks

Middling townspeople often stored sauerkraut in hollowed-out tree trunks to preserve it for winter.

Music

Stryjanka dance etiquette at home

In the dance known as Stryjanka, which was accompanied by the violin at home, respectable people often only performed the first march-like part, leaving the lively second half to others.

Daily life

Schooling for children

Formal schooling was rare for peasant children because they had to work on farms, though some attended schools in larger villages during winter. Elite boys could attend new institutions like the Collegium Nobilium, which taught natural sciences and Polish alongside Latin.

What it cost

Treasurer salary at a noble court

Around 1740, the salary for a treasurer in a noble court was 500 tynfs per year, along with clothing and food for their servant and fodder for two horses.