EN
The paper examines widowhood and orphanhood in rural society in the light of the texts of broadside ballads, which were the most popular genre of folk reading in the early modern and 19th century villages. Particular attention is paid to broadside ballads extant in the museums in the Pelhřimov region, where micro-historic research focused on the living conditions of widowers, widows and orphans has already been carried out. These broadside ballads typically perpetuate a stereotype of a poor, sorely tried widow and a poor orphan, who rely on the help of the heavens and, by contrast, the figure of a wicked stepmother who maltreats her stepchildren, for which she is severely punished. In spite of this, social reality has often differed from the literary image.