THE ELITE OF THE SIERADZ REGION AS FOUNDERS IN LATE MIDDLE AGES. RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

• Authors: Kajzer L.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article is concerned with the historical region of Sieradz (between the 14th and 18th c. an administrative district), an area of over 9000 square kilometers, located to the south-west of the present city of Lódz. The term 'late Middle Ages', used in the title, has to be treated broadly, as the phenomena in question are evidenced mainly in the 15th and 16th c., with earlier foundations being scarce. The fifteenth-century nobility of the Sieradz region is described in a historical and genealogical monograph by Alicja Szymczak, published in 1998, collecting data on 14 most influential families referred to in sources as 'magnifici et generosi'. The present article investigates the foundations of some families of the Sieradz elite delineated by Szymczak: the Koniecpolskis (the family that she ranks highest as regards the political influence, material standing and social status), the Grabskis and Brudzewskis (2), the Zarebas of Kalinowa (3), the Widawskis (9), the Wezyks of Bedkowo and Wola (10) , and the Zadoras of Bakowa Góra (13).The main points of interest in the study of those families' foundations were: (1) the character of the family residence, (2) the foundation of a parish church, whose patrons the family became, (3) the co-foundation of a monastery, often planned as a family necropolis,(4) smaller foundations, e.g. monuments or chapels. Undoubtedly, the most interesting mercenary record is that of the Koniecpolski family. Although until the turn of the 16th century they lived in a wooden stronghold on a fortified hill, they not only erected a church in the centre of their estates, but also founded a monastery for eremites of St Paul's order (Ordo Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitae). The richly ornamented monastery church, intended as a family necropolis, shelters a fine bronze plate marking the grave of three Koniecpolskis.The other families were less active. They usually lived in fortified wooden manors, and in the late 15th and early 16th c. erected brick churches in the villages and towns of their estates. Only the Brudzewskis co-founded the wooden monastery complex for the Franciscan order in Warta, and the Wezyks, probably in the mid 16th c., built a brick residence in Wojslawice. It was typical of late mediaeval castle-like residences but it was very small. An interesting case it that of the Zadoras of Bakowa Wola, a family prospering only for two generations (Zbigniew the elder, and his son Zbigniew the younger (d. 1469)). They erected a brick church, but also a stone residence, which in older literature was described as a 'fortified manor', but it may as well have been a huge four-storey dwelling tower - a donjon, treated as a pars pro toto of a castle. Summing up, the foundations of the Sieradz elite seem to have been typical and comparable to those evidenced in the other, western part of Great Poland.

Keywords

EN

FORTIFIED MANORS; SIERADZ REGION ELITE (POLAND)

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 189-206
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Kajzer L.

• L. Kajzer, Uniwersytet Lódzki, Instytut Archeologii, ul. Pomorska 96, 91-402 Lódz, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA00701749