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Mikołaj Potocki

1520–1572

Born
1520, Kamianets-Podilskyi
Country of birth
Ukraine
Died
12 May 1572, Kraków
facts
10
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth1520, Kamianets-PodilskyiProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death12 May 1572, KrakówProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • ParentJakub PotockiConfirmed1 source
  • ParentKatarzyna JemielnickaConfirmed1 source
  • UnionAnna CzermińskaConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Kamianets-Podilskyi

    Birth, Kamianets-Podilskyi

  2. Child born: Andrzej Potocki

    Birth

  3. Child born: Stefan Potocki

    Birth, Kamianets-Podilskyi

  4. Died · Kraków

    Death, Kraków

What was it like?

The world around Kamianets-Podilskyi, 1520: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

A simple Turkish headscarf, known as a bavelnytsia, was a common winter accessory for burgher women and cost about 10 groszy in 1616.

Fashion

Affordable winter headwear for women

A simple Turkish headscarf, known as a bavelnytsia, was a common winter accessory for burgher women and cost about 10 groszy in 1616.

Expensive attire of Lviv burgher women

Wealthy Lviv burgher women wore gowns and accessories that could be very expensive; for instance, each of three silk skirts owned by a woman named Syndykova in 1622 was valued at 50 zlotys, with pearl buttons adding another 15 zlotys.

Music

Church music and organs in worship

In Orthodox churches, religious songs and carols were traditionally performed without instrumental accompaniment. Conversely, Catholic churches in the region began using newly built portable organs, played by virtuoso masters to attract worshippers.

Musicians played for public life and guilds

Guild musicians were vital to community life, performing at weddings, baptisms, and town ceremonies, with guilds established in cities like Kamianets-Podilskyi by 1578 and Lviv by 1580. They played instruments such as violins, dulcimers (tsymbaly), and trumpets to accompany these public celebrations.

Getting around

Common travel methods and conditions

People traveled mainly by horse-drawn wagons or carts on unpaved roads, with professional coachmen often serving as mail carriers. Passengers might sit on straw-padded areas or on wooden stirrups along the sides of the wagon.

Travel duration between towns

A journey of about 70 kilometers between Uman and Stavisht typically took a full day and night, requiring an overnight stop along the route.

Daily life

Building costs and yard layout

Wealthy residents sometimes paid bribes to local officials, such as six golden coins for permission to build a bathhouse, or half a golden coin for permission to dig near their home. Household yards commonly included living quarters, storage pits for salted fish, and stables for livestock.

Education at churches and monasteries

Children received basic education at churches and monasteries, where specialized teachers called scribes taught writing in Church Slavonic, basic arithmetic, prayers, and singing. Schools were often located in the largest cities.

Food
Around 1523–1523

Taxes on tavern drinks in 1523

In 1523, a tavern in Kremenets selling honey or beer was taxed one kopa of groschen, indicating the significant popularity of these drinks.

Daily beer consumption as safer hydration

Workers in Lutsk consumed beer alongside their meals up to four times a day, as it was considered a safer alternative to unpurified water.

Prices and wages

Wages for a hired servant

In 1552, a hired servant working at a mint received 1.5 kopy of groschen annually, plus clothes as part of his compensation.

Price of bread

A loaf of sifted rye bread was valued at 1 Polish groschen during the period.

Work

Common jobs combined multiple crafts and trades

Ordinary people often combined multiple trades, such as farming alongside crafts like shoemaking or beekeeping, to increase their earnings. Common professions included artisans, traders, fishermen, millers, and hunters.

Marketplaces were centers for daily social activity

A working day involved intense labor followed by social discussions and news sharing, with marketplaces serving as central hubs for social activity. People often spent their limited free time drinking, gambling with dice, or playing chess.

News and letters

Cheaper paper increased private letter writing

During the 16th century, private correspondence became more accessible to elites, such as nobles and clergy, as paper became cheaper.

Local communities provided transport for messengers

For travel and official postal needs, authorities required local populations to provide horses, wagons, and guides at stations known as yam.

During their lifetime

  1. 1520

    Poll tax established in 1520

    A poll tax was agreed upon in 1520, with nobles paying based on landholdings and tenant farmers paying 1 grosz each.

  2. 1525

    Reformation upheavals of 1525

    In 1525, violent Reformation urban revolts occurred in Baltic ports, while rebel peasants quoted Luther during a full-scale uprising.

  3. 1529

    First Lithuanian Statute enacted

    The First Lithuanian Statute of 1529 guaranteed that the nobility could not be punished without a trial and secured their land ownership.

  4. 1543

    Cracow plague of 1543

    A plague in Cracow, following a 1540 drought, killed at least 10,000 people between July and November 1543.

  5. 1546

    Tripartitum Code regulates peasant obligations

    In 1546, the Tripartitum Code codified laws for Transcarpathia, requiring peasants to pay taxes and perform three days of forced labor per week.

  6. 1557

    Introduction of mandatory three-field agriculture system

    In 1557, a royal decree mandated a new three-field agriculture system on crown estates, standardizing peasant holdings into units called voloks.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.