The villages and their inhabitants in the 18th c.
A peasant village could form a one entity consisting of just peasant farmsteads. In this case, the entire area of the village was divided into smaller parts, i.e. farmsteads, used and inhabited by individual peasant families (subject to the owner of the village). Peasants cultivated the land for their own use.
On the other hand, the village could also consist of several separate parts. If a given village was a local center of lower-level administration, i.e. the key (the sub-estate described in the first part), then there was a manor house (the seat of local administration) and a manorial farmstead (lord’s local agricultural production center) in the village. In this case, part of the area of a given village (some fields, pastures, meadows, etc.) was separated from the general area of the village. It was part of the manorial farmstead.
The manorial farmstead consisted of farm buildings (stables, barns, granaries, etc.) as well as arable fields, pastures, meadows, gardens and wastelands. All agricultural production produced by the manorial farmstead (grain, animals, vegetables, dairy products, etc.) was produced for the use of the owners of the village (the lords of the estate of Lesko). Part of the agricultural production from the manorial farmsteads was sold on site, at weekly markets and annual fairs in towns of the Lesko estate (Lesko, Ustrzyki Dolne and Bukowsko). Some of them were stored in case of various natural disasters or crop failures.
Every two years, some of it was floated by ships (the so-called fryor) down the San River to the Vistula and further along the Vistula to Gdańsk for export. On the way back from Gdańsk, the ships brought mainly luxury goods, copper, lead, spices and other resources.
If a given village was the seat of a parish, i.e. there was a parish church in the village, the landlord, as the patron of such a parish, donated a part of the village area, the size of, for example, several farms (the size of the grant depended on the rank of the church), to the property of a given parish. If there was a brewery in the village (the production and sale of alcohol, i.e. the brewery and the inn, were very important branches of production and the lord’s income), the owner of the village leased the brewery, the inn and part of the rural land to a tenant, who was usually called the renter (arendarz). The remaining land, the largest part of the area of a given village, was used by peasant families for their own use.
The land cultivated by peasants and their houses (i.e. real estate in general) was owned by the lords of the Lesko estates. Peasants (serfs) were assigned farms with houses, gardens, arable fields, pastures and meadows for their own use. The decision on the allocation of a given farm to a given peasant family was made by the local administration (the sub-steward) with the approval of the central administration (the bursar general). All agricultural production from such a farm belonged to the farmer (the peasant – serf) and his family, and could be used to support the family, or sold, with the money used to pay agricultural workers employed on the farm (tenants, farmworkers).
In the countryside there was a strong social stratification. From the families of wealthier peasants (farmers – kmieć, millers, blacksmiths) who enjoyed universal respect and high social status, through middle-income farmers (homesteaders – zagrodnik, cottagers – chałupnik), to the landless poor (tenants – komornik, kątnik), widows, orphans and beggars who lived and worked in the houses and on the fields of wealthier peasants.
In exchange for the use of the farmsteads entrusted to them, peasants were obliged to pay rent and tribute to the lord’s treasury in Lesko and to work a fixed number of days a year (serfdom) on the lord’s manorial farmsteads located in the seats of individual sub-estates. Some families living in the village (usually from a few to a dozen or so families) were obliged to work (serfdom) on either the parish farms or the farms of renters (arendarz) of breweries and inns instead of on the lord’s manorial farms. The manorial farm staff (several people) consisting of the local peasant population as well as some individual peasant families were exempt from all or part of the above-mentioned duties. The inhabitants of villages located higher in the mountains, where the pastoral economy dominated, did not work on the lord’s manorial farms but instead they paid higher rent and additional tribute.
Peasants were also obliged to pay state and ecclesiastic taxes. The amount and type of feudal burdens depended on the condition and wealth of a given family. In the event of material problems resulting, for example, from natural disasters, crop failures or plagues, peasants could count on material assistance in the form of loans (money, seed for sowing, draft animals) from the administration. Although in crisis situations the administration was not always able to cope with this task.
Peasant farms were usually inherited within the family by one of the sons or sons-in-law. Dividing farms into smaller pieces was prohibited, but this prohibition was not strictly observed. In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the phenomenon of dividing peasant farms occurred very often.
Since all the land belonged to the lords of the Lesko estate, they had the right to deprive the peasants of the land they cultivated and the house they lived in and move them to another place if a given family was unable to fulfill their obligations. The system also worked the other way around, i.e. a promising peasant family could receive a new, larger or better farm. However, the principle that was strongly emphasized was to support and try to keep the family in the household and on the farm that they had cultivated. There was a permanent lack of hands to work so the collapse of a household caused the creation of so-called empty lands (wastelands) which did not bring any benefits. For this reason, to a greater or lesser extent, there was a certain support system in the villages, both from the central administration and from the village self-government.
Landless young sons of peasants who were just starting families waited for land and draft animals as well as material assistance from administration in establishing their own farmsteads.Those who lacked the land either employed themselves to work for wealthier peasants or for lord’s manorial farms or emigrated to cities where they could find employment in crafts or start vocational training or join the group of the urban poor.
Peasants could move freely throughout the area. However, the willingness to move to another town (e.g. marriage, work, vocational training) within the Lesko estate, was limited and required negotiations and consent from the administration especially when it came to settled farmers or their sons intended for inheritance. If the desire to move was expressed by a landless person or one of the farmer’s sons (the other son or sons were able to inherit), the administration usually did not pose any obstacles. If a person wanted to move outside the Lesko estate or to the city, he or she had to pay an additional fee of a certain amount (the rate was conventional) which released him or her from being a serf.
The towns and their inhabitants in the 18th c.
In the 18th century, there were three towns within the Lesko estate. It was the capital Lesko (then one of the largest cities in the land – county of Sanok) and the newly founded Ustrzyki Dolne and Bukowsko. The system of each city was based on municipal law, which regulated the system itself and the rights and obligations of the townspeople. Like villages, cities also had their own municipal governments. The capital city of Lesko had the most developed local government. It consisted of three bodies: the city council, the city bench and the representatives of the common people. The city council consisted of several councilors, headed by the mayor. The council managed all city assets, revenues and expenses, and was responsible for timely collection of state taxes as well as fees and rents for the city and the lords of the Lesko estate. It admitted newcomers (e.g. peasant sons and daughters) wishing to settle in the city and the sons of townspeople to the municipal law. The council elected members of the second body of the city authorities, the bench, from among the city’s citizens. The bench performed judicial functions, consisted of lay judges and was headed by the alderman. Jury verdicts could be appealed to the city council or the castle court. The bench, together with the representatives of the common people, performed control functions in relation to the council. The third body, which was the representative of the common people, existed only in Lesko. In two smaller towns, Bukowsko and Ustrzyki Dolne, this type of municipal administration body had not been developed. The common people’s representation consisted of representatives of all the city’s citizens, i.e. the men who owned municipal rights. All three bodies, sitting together, had legislative power and could adopt resolutions on municipal matters.
The cities were inhabited by people of diverse nationalities. They were mainly Poles, Jews and Ruthenians. Not all inhabitants of the city were included in the group of townspeople. Only those residents who paid a fee and were admitted to municipal law were townspeople. Then they had all the rights and obligations that other citizens also enjoyed. In Lesko, Poles, Ruthenians and Jews had equal access to the municipal law. We do not know what the situation was in Ustrzyki Dolne and Bukowsko in this respect. The Jewish community had neither active nor passive electoral rights to municipal authorities, but it had its own administrative body instead, called the kahal and its own kahal court.
City plots and the houses standing on them were the property of the townspeople and could be inherited. The lords of Lesko estate could not deprive anyone of his plot or house. However, they could expropriate the land for compensation. The townspeople paid rent and various fees to the lords of Lesko estate, municipal, state and ecclesiastic taxes, and were obliged to perform certain works.
The center of every city was (and still is) a market square where weekly markets and annual fairs were held. Agricultural produce from the lords’ manorial farms and peasant farms was traded at markets and fairs. At the end of the 17th and 18th centuries, Lesko became an important center of trade in the region and one of the national centers of the Hungarian wine trade. However, Bukowsko and Ustrzyki Dolne became important centers of ox trade in the 18th century. In villages located higher in the mountains, oxen were bred on a massive scale and grazed in the high mountain meadows, called połonina, covering the peaks of the eastern Carpathians. The oxen were sold on the markets in Bukowsko and Ustrzyki Dolne and driven further west along special oxen routes, mainly to Silesia.
The city of Lesko was also the residence (the castle of Lesko) of the lords and the main defense center of the Lesko estate. The city had fortifications in the form of brick city gates and wooden and earth defensive ramparts. The brick castle, parish church and synagogue were also very important defensive elements of the city. All townspeople were obliged to have been equipped with appropriate weapons, the condition of which was checked twice a year. In Ustrzyki Dolne there was a defensive mansion surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat. We know nothing about any defensive fortifications in Bukowsko. In the village of Czarna, on the eastern outskirts of the estate, stood a small castle and in Płonna, on the southern outskirts, a defensive manor house. In the event of a foreign invasion, the entire population, both townspeople and peasants, were obliged to defend their land, the Estate of Lesko.
Further Research
The history of the towns and villages mentioned in this study – several towns and several dozen villages in the 18th century – is currently being researched. The working title of the research is “The Highland [Podgórze] Estates of the House of Ossoliński in the Years 1731 – 1786″.
As part of this research, hundreds of documents and thousands of scans and photographs of various 18th-century files related to these sites have already been collected, and at least as many more are expected to be acquired. These include several hundred different types of lists, inventories, registers, and cadastral records, many of which contain the names of individual residents and provide precious information on their profession, function, financial and social status, possession, property, cultivated area of land, feudal obligations, taxes, and the like.
Appendix: List of owners of the Estate of Lesko.
The Feudal World – AI generated podcast in a conversational format.
Piotr Zelny
PolishOrigins and Historical Museum in Sanok
Copyright 2023-2025, Piotr Zelny
proofreading: Douglas C. Orzolek
Piotr, what a fantastic analysis of the historic life style in Poland. I look forward to reading more about other historic estates in Poland. I can trace my maternal grandmother’s roots back to the 18th century in the area around Tomaszow-Lubelski, and my maternal grandfather’s roots back to the 18th century in the town of Nowy Targ. I am fascinated to learn about the life style of my ancestors.
Gary, my friend, I am glad you found my article and thank you. You see, I did not write anything about foresters, and yet your ancestors from the 18th century from the vicinity of Tomaszów Lubelski have been foresters from generation to generation. So let me correct this mistake. The administration of the Estate of Lesko did not create a separate forest administration department. However, in each key (the smallest unit of the estate administration) there was at least one forester, sometimes there could be more, it depended on the area of forests in the area. The foresters were directly subordinate to the sub-steward, i.e. an official of the local manor administration. They were exempt from work on the manorial farm (serfdom), they only had to pay an annual rent. Their task was to protect the forests from illegal logging and game from poachers. They were obliged to issue wood from the forest only with a written assignment from the “higher authorities”, i.e. higher-level officials from the Lesko castle.
Greetings from Poland,
Piotr Zelny
Hello Piotr,
My wife and I visited my relatives in the Tomaszow-Lubelski area again in October 2024. Again we were welcomed with open arms and wonderful Polish hospitality. I shared with them the report you had written for me about my ancestral Gemborys family history. They were very happy to have the information you discovered in your research. There was no oral family tradition that had survived all the wars and occupation and persecution, so they were very happy to have your report After reading your report, a couple of my relatives from the area were encouraged to conduct additional family history research. In the process several previously unknown cousins have been discovered and some family history mysteries from more than 100 years ago have been solved. Your work and knowledge has been invaluable to me in understanding my Polish heritage. Thank you.
I am hoping to return to Poland again this year and hope to meet you in person.