Testamenty mieszkańców małych miast wielkopolskich z XVII wieku

• Authors: Anetta Głowacka-Penczyńska

Title variants

EN

TESTAMENTS OF INHABITANTS OF SMALL TOWNS IN GREAT POLAND FROM THE 17TH C.

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article concerns testaments of inhabitants of 13 small towns in Great Poland from the 17th c. The source basis comprises 852 last wills written down in the years 1601-1700. The towns examined had populations of under 2000 inhabitants, but they had significant economic functions. The list includes important centres of craftsmanship. For example, Kłecko, Gostyń, Poniec and Rydzyna produced woollen cloth and linen not only for the local market. The towns in question thrived thanks to being situated along the vital trade routes connecting Silesia with Prussia, Lithuania and Russia. Among important commercial centres, especially known for grain, flour, textile and cattle trade, we should mention Rydzyna, Radziejów and Wolsztyn. Other towns had artisan guilds and held markets and fairs of local import. At the same time, many inhabitants worked on the land. A typical agricultural town was Sulmierzyce. Seventeenth-century testaments had a fairly uniform structure. They comprised an invocation, a preamble, funeral instructions, the disposition of property, lists of debts owned by and to the testator, and instructions for inheritors. Testaments do not contain much information about testators. Apart from the name and surname, they sometimes mention the testator’s profession, marital status and origin. The reason of writing a testament was the expectation that death was near, resulting in a wish to settle one’s worldly affairs, especially financial affairs, and to secure one’s family. The property was divided in order to prevent conflicts between inheritors, lawsuits and wasting the property. The most elaborate part of a testament is the disposition of property. It usually includes legacies left to the closest relatives or other inheritors, bequests to religious and charitable institutions, instructions concerning the funeral and the commemorative ceremony. Bequests included money, immovable property (houses, gardens, orchards, farmland), domestic utensils (furniture, tableware, kitchenware), bed covering and bedlinen, garments, jewellery, weapons, books, farming and craft tools, livestock, food. Testaments also contain very detailed lists of creditors and debtors. Testaments reveal information not only on testators’ property but also on their family relations. They indicate what feelings testators had for their spouses and children and how they tried to secure their future. They also convey thanks to friends, neighbours or servants for love, friendship and help shown in difficult situations.

Keywords

EN

TESTAMENTS; WRITTEN SOURCES; BURGHERS

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 380-393

Contributors

author

Anetta Głowacka-Penczyńska

• Instytut Historii i Stosunków Międzynarodowych, Uniwersytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy, ul. Przemysłowa 34, 85-758 Bydgoszcz