PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

The Feudal World

Zenon — Wed Mar 19, 2025 6:36 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 6:36 am

The Feudal World: A Brief History of the Lesko Estate. a new article by Piotr Zelny

Part 1.

Part 2.

Piotr is a historian, researcher and genealogist. In his research he reaches much deeper and wider than the standard genealogy sources. A few years ago he wrote a series of articles about Property Inventories (Land Records) as a source of historical and genealogical information.

When Piotr first shared the Polish version of the History of the Lesko Estate article with me, I told him it was an eye-opening material that painted a vivid picture of pre-industrial life. Piotr added then, “and it debunks many myths about the everyday life of peasants.”

When I read historical books, articles, one of the threads I personally find very interesting is learning about the way societies have organized, governed themselves in different times, in different areas of the world. This study will help you better understand the system of governance that prevailed in Europe through the ages, using the example of the estate centered around the town of Lesko in what is now southeastern Poland. Although this system of governance has disappeared, it functioned for many centuries and was prevalent at a time when the economy was based primarily on agricultural production, before the Industrial Revolution. Since then, the dominant capital has gradually ceased to be agricultural land and has been replaced by the non-agricultural sector, as a result of technological progress and the accompanying changes in the organisation of production and social life.

For me personally, the article was an excellent explanation as to how the communities were organized, orchestrated and managed in those days. It may be especially interesting if you relate it to modern times. The changes nowadays are so rapid in technology, and often as a result, in society, in culture. That also affects each of us on the individual level. It is good to have a perspective and understand a little better how life and the governance system looked back then, especially in the context of today’s world.

The knowledge from this article is another piece of the puzzle that allows us to better imagine and understand the lives of our ancestors during the several hundred years under the feudal system.

(For those of you whose ancestors came from this part of Poland, namely the area of Lesko, Ustrzyki, Bukowsko, this piece may be particularly valuable, as Piotr provides some details like list of owners of the Lesko estate: https://polishorigins.com/owners-of-lesko/ and list of villages that belonged to the estate: https://polishorigins.com/towns-and-villages-estate-of-lesko/ )

In case of this article we experimented for the first time with one of the available AI tools and asked it to create a short audio version of the article in the form of a podcast interview. Here is the result: The Feudal World – AI generated podcast (Two comments to the AI audio version: First, the podcast is only a small fraction of the full article content. Second, in reality all of this didn’t look as nice and smooth as it is presented in the podcast. There was a lot of inefficiency, incompetence and corruption. However, a 4-minute podcast can still be an interesting way to get an idea of the content).

a list of manors near Suwalki?

Mart — Fri Feb 14, 2025 11:31 am

Author: Mart

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 11:31 am

at least the location of Suwalki is not a fairy tale. There is a photo of Olga's husband with the photographer's company printed on it.

unmarried women with children

Luwik_NJ — Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:25 pm

Author: Luwik_NJ

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:25 pm

Lyn1982 wrote:

I've been wondering about illegitimate births too. In some cases it's not anything sinister. I've got a couple illegitimate births in what I believe to be my polish maluchnik line. In one case the parents are both listed, though they did not marry until a year later. In another case the father is not listed, but the mother did marry a year later. I think it was not as common as it is today but definitely still somewhat common. The difference being the father eventually stepped up in those days. This was in Brodowe Łąki parish , which was quite small. As for the one where father is listed (rare for unmarried birth I think) They were roman catholic and this was in the 1880s. I have not however had the birth record translated yet, just going off the index page here: http://www.geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?rid=A&from_date=&to_date=&search_lastname=maluchnik&search_lastname2=olender&rpp1=0&bdm=S&w=07mz&op=gt&lang=pol Note that a child is born in 1887 and they married in 1888.

Hi Lyn1982,

I just read your post and I also clicked on the death record for the url you supplied. Am I correct in thinking the child died the same year the couple married?

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?rid=D&from_date=&to_date=&search_lastname=maluchnik&search_lastname2=olender&rpp1=&bdm=D&w=07mz&op=gt&lang=eng&ordertable=

Causes of Death

alchemista — Sun Dec 11, 2022 3:14 pm

Author: alchemista

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2022 3:14 pm

Archive.org is another great site for saving pages. I suggest doing this anytime you find an interesting website as often these low-budget or independent sites go down.

For this list of diseases, I found this to be the last snapshot on archive.org that still had valid information. The next one starts getting errors:

https://web.archive.org/web/20181128044903/http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/Latin/Latin.htm

Polish Peasant Life

Cheri Vanden Berg — Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:56 am

Author: Cheri Vanden Berg

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:56 am

Justin Baker,
I don't really know the answer to your question, but I suspect a child would be taken in by relatives, and maybe one of the godparents would be the first choice. My mom has a memory of her mother pointing out a woman at church and telling her that if she died, my mom would go to live with this woman. The woman was her godmother, but she didn't know her. Her godmother was from my grandfather's village of Świlcza, but if they were related it was distantly at best.

From the Świlcza birth/baptismal records that are online, it looks like my relatives had relatives that were godparents. In Hammond, Indiana, where my mother was born, there were not many relatives of her parents, but there were a number of Świlcza emigrants. Since my mom was the youngest of ten, her parents had already had relatives as the godparents of her older siblings. And since she had older siblings, I can't imagine that she would have gone to live with her godmother, but MAYBE my grandmother said that because that was done.

Cheri

Regional identity 1890's

MariannaW — Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:51 pm

Author: MariannaW

Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:51 pm

Youtube videos of dwellings at Klobka museum are similar to old photos of grandmother's homestead (attached) near Rypin-- even a duck at the doorway ! Thank you, very informative.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ujP9642WM_w

Happy Thanksgiving!

Agnieszka Pawlus — Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:21 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:21 am

This year, just before Thanksgiving Day, I have asked our guides and tour managers what genealogy means to them and for what they would like to thank their ancestors.

You can read our thoughts on this subject and why we are grateful for doing our and our guests' genealogy.
Read the whole text on our blog: "I want to thank my ancestors for…"
https://blog.polishorigins.com/thanksgiving-2019-i-want-to-thank-my-ancestors-for/

What are your stories? What do you want to thank your ancestors for?
Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Article: Holy Week and Easter

Agnieszka Pawlus — Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:23 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:23 am

On the occasion of approaching Easter, we would like to wish you peace, love, joy and great moments spent with your families. Happy Eater or, as we sometimes say in Poland: Wesołego Alleluja from the whole PolishOrigins Team!

Article: Advent in the old Poland.

Agnieszka Pawlus — Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:07 am

Author: Agnieszka Pawlus

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:07 am

Remember the text that Magdalena wrote few years ago about Polish Cristmas traditions?

But still, before Christmas there is the Advent and there are many interesting customs and beliefs for this time of the year. Many of them are disappearing, so they are even more important to notice and to remember.

You can read the article here to find out about “tooting for the Advent”, weather predicting and many other customs: https://blog.polishorigins.com/advent/

And here you fill find the text about the Christmas Eve: https://blog.polishorigins.com/christmas-eve-wigilia/

Manor homes

PabianAus — Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:05 am

Author: PabianAus

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:05 am

And of course if you want something visual and aural relating to the social life on a country manor, nothing can beat the famous Polonez scene of Andrzej Wajda’s film of the classic Polish epic poem “Pan Tadeusz”. Here is a short YouTube clip from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Tbc_XTnPw

Tom

Chszoncz bzmi w czinie

Elzbieta Porteneuve — Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:02 am

Author: Elzbieta Porteneuve

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:02 am

http://m.newsweek.pl/polski-najtrudniejszy-jezyk-swiata-jezykoznawca-odpowiada-newsweek,artykuly,352233,1.html

Dlaczego język polski jest tak diabelnie trudny?
// Why Polish language is so damn difficult?

Have fun, no headache.

Elzbieta

Wedding in Russian Empire around 1915 - VIDEO!

Zenon — Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:39 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:39 am

I just came across this video allegedly shot in the Russian Empire in 1915. As you are aware Poland still didn't exist at that time (it was time of the First World War) and many of our ancestors although being of Polish ethnicity lived under Russian Empire occupation.

The kind of dances seem to be characteristic for Russian folklore but I thought that you may find it interesting anyway .

[html-link]

Tailor Apprenticeship 1830's

jeanhum — Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:41 am

Author: jeanhum

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:41 am

I am wondering about how my gggrandfather, the son of a serf, became an apprentice to a tailor in the Pozen area of Prussia in the late 1830's. His father died in 1836. He was 12 at the time of his father's death. I believe they were working for the Korytowski family in Rogowko.
What were the rules for apprenticeship at that time? Might I be able to find paperwork?
Any information regarding tailor apprenticeship for that time frame appreciated.

Train info/rural home needed/Lodz WWII

Neesie — Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:18 pm

Author: Neesie

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:18 pm

Magroski49, Henryk:

Thank you for the links! I'll get into the material at the beginning of the week. Might have more questions as I go along.

Neesie

The Flying Wallendas

Songbird1973 — Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:47 am

Author: Songbird1973

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:47 am

I have researched the Wallenda family for several years, although I don't have any Wallenda background. They were from Germany. However, Nik's grandmother, Jenny, married Alberto Zoppe, who WAS from Italy, and I suspect that is where the confusion was.

Karl Wallenda, the patriarch of the American Wallendas, and his father before him, didn't seem to have very many siblings. But the generations before that had large families, according to the few German records I could locate. A particular area could only support so many performing artists, so these descendants spread out across Europe. Some of them built their own Circus Halls.

I wouldn't be able to speculate where all the Wallendas performed, but I do think at least some of the Chicago area Wallendas were related to Carl Wallenda's family.

Life in a DP Camp Germany

Henryk — Thu May 30, 2013 12:22 pm

Author: Henryk

Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 12:22 pm

Wetzlar Camp:
http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efw00fbw002468.gd
http://www.dpcamps.org/wetzlar.html

Wigilia in Poland

cwmdreb — Sat Jul 16, 2011 2:28 pm

Author: cwmdreb

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 2:28 pm

I am going to Poland (Szczecin) for Wigilia this December to spend with my family. It will be my first Christmas there. My grandparents came to the US in 1906,leaving 3 children. My father was born here and never met his brothers or sister. I was the first (and only to date) of our family from the US to come face to face with our family in Poland. This will be our 3 visit since meeting in 2009. My question is what would be the ideal gift to bring them?
Any and all suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Germans, Poles, and Jews: The Nationality Conflict...

BobK — Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:02 am

Author: BobK

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:02 am

michal.j.wilczewski wrote:

Bob - in addition to Hagen's excellent book you might want to take a look at Neither German nor Pole by James E. Bjork. Bjork's book was just recently published and won the 2010 Kulczycki Prize in Polish Studies from the Polish Studies Association. I haven't read it yet, but it is on my reading list for an independent study I am taking this semester in graduate school. Whereas nationalism is a fascinating topic that has dominated the field for some time, national indifference has just come up as one of the new up and coming topics to analyze. It should be a great read!

Thanks Michal. It's subtitle: "Catholicism and National Indifference in a Central European Borderland" and reviews indicate it is more about Upper Silesia and the difference between the Evangelcal (Lutheran) Germans and Catholic Poles than about nationalism. But perhaps I'm reading to much into the reviews, the book obviously would clarify.

I'm not looking to get that deep into this, I'm more interested in reconstructing what the typical German in Polish territory felt and how they saw themselves among other language speakers (the Poles and Jews), then the Russians coming in to control the land and in mid 1800s, demand they speak, read & write Russian and be Russian! And more personal, to understand my long deceased grandparents comments from 50 some years ago (I wish I could ask them now.. but).

You're right, it could be another to read.

The book is in it's 4th printing, and is copywrited 2008. It's hardback price is ~$95 and a downloadable 'e-book' or used copy is about half that. & I could get lucky and find a library copy.

As to your interest, Amazon.com suggested "Kinapped Souls: National Indifferencce and the Battle for Children in the Bohemain Lands, 1900-1948". Reviews of it, are also intriguing.

Gorale Dancing in Podhale - po Goralsku

kimerajamm — Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:52 am

Author: kimerajamm

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:52 am

hey that was actuially really good....just work on ur shooting....

Pisanki, Kraszanki / Easter Eggs

Zenon — Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:02 pm

Author: Zenon

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:02 pm

Easter is coming, time to prepare pisanki I will not tell you how to do it but I can show you a few patterns from the whole Poland hand made by our friend Ania and her colleagues.

Click here: http://polishorigins.com/document/art_culture for Photo Album 'Pisanki, Kraszanki - Easter Eggs from the whole Poland'