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Anna Maria Radziwiłł

1640–1667

Born
20 Mar 1640, Jašiūnai
Country of birth
Lithuania
Died
24 Mar 1667, Kaliningrad
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Jašiūnai

    Birth, Jašiūnai

  2. Child born: Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł

    Birth, Königsberg

  3. Died · Kaliningrad

    Death, Kaliningrad

What was it like?

The world around Jašiūnai, 1640: 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.

Ordinary men and women frequently wore outer garments made of simple, undyed wool known as sermėgos, often in shades of grey or black. While the nobility favored bright colors, commoners typically used home-produced fabrics in natural white, grey, and brown tones.

Fashion

Commoners Wore Modest Undyed Woolen Clothing

Ordinary men and women frequently wore outer garments made of simple, undyed wool known as sermėgos, often in shades of grey or black. While the nobility favored bright colors, commoners typically used home-produced fabrics in natural white, grey, and brown tones.

Elite City Dwellers Wore Expensive żupans

Wealthier burghers could afford multiple żupans, long outer garments featuring buttons, with some costing between 20 and 50 złotys. These elite city residents adorned their clothes with silver or gilded buttons and silk bows to demonstrate their social status.

Music

Jesuit college students hosted dance parties

Students at Jesuit colleges, such as in Polotsk, frequently organized dance parties featuring Western-style dances like Chorea, Paduana, and Galiarda to brighten their daily lives.

Traditional instruments in daily life

Kanklės were traditionally played by men, often accompanied by singing or other instruments like bagpipes or pipes during weddings and tavern festivities. Musicians were frequently rewarded with small donations for performing at church festivals and gravesites.

Getting around

Seasonal impact on travel speed

Winter was often the fastest time for travel because frozen rivers, marshes, and fields served as natural roads. Conversely, travel in spring was often nearly impossible due to road conditions.

Travel costs and vehicle mishaps

In the 17th century, wealthy travellers sometimes hired local guides, such as Tartars, to transport goods for a fee of four guilders. Broken wheels and vehicle breakdowns were considered a major misfortune that could necessitate repairs or the purchase of a new carriage.

Daily life

Cooking and Food Processing Tools

Cooking took place near a heat source using suspended cauldrons, three-legged pots, or iron frying pans. Grain was ground at home using hand mills, and mortars were used for other food processing tasks.

Modest Peasant Wooden Homes

Peasant homes were modest wooden structures with straw roofs and windows covered with animal bladder or greased paper. Inside, furniture was simple, consisting mostly of tables and benches, the latter also serving as beds for sleeping.

Food

Beer and mead stored in barrels

By the mid-17th century, city residents often kept personal stocks of barrels for beer and mead, with some individuals like a Vilnius resident owning as many as 36 empty barrels in 1684.

Meat was a rare treat for peasants

While wealthy city dwellers consumed meat regularly, ordinary families and peasants relied primarily on grain-based dishes like bread and porridge, eating meat only on rare occasions.

Prices and wages

Cost of sauerkraut in 17th century Lithuania

In the mid-17th century, a barrel of sauerkraut cost 3 groschen.

Value of stolen kitchen goods

A cook in Vilnius was accused in 1672 of stealing kitchenware worth 640 złoty, a significant sum for the time.

Work

Diverse specialized peasant roles

Beyond general farming, specialized roles included smiths, carpenters, weavers, beekeepers, and "gardeners" (ogorodniki) who managed manor kitchen gardens.

Peasant duties in kind

Peasant obligations included delivering specific goods such as one hen and ten eggs from every holding, or a goose from every five holdings.

News and letters

Vilnius to Krakow in 7 days

Starting in 1562, a regular royal mail carriage route operated between Vilnius and Krakow, covering the distance in 7 days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1649

    Introduction of the smoke tax

    In 1649, the state introduced the padūmė (smoke) tax as the primary means to finance national defense.

  2. 1649

    Introduction of the smoke tax in 1649

    The state introduced the padūmė (smoke tax) in 1649, placing a heavy financial burden on peasants, citizens, and gentry to fund military defense.

  3. 1649

    1649 Council Code locks serfs to land

    The Council Code (Sobornoye Ulozhenie) of 1649 legally established hereditary serfdom by removing the time limit for searching for fugitive peasants.

  4. 1649

    Legalization of Serfdom in 1649

    The 1649 Legal Code, known as the Sobornoye Ulozhenie, formally legalized serfdom by making the bondage of peasants hereditary and removing time limits on the search for fugitives. This law bound peasants to the land to ensure tax collection and labor for the nobility for nearly two centuries.

  5. 1652

    Plague outbreak across the country

    An epidemic of plague devastated the country between 1652 and 1653, causing significant loss of life among the inhabitants.

  6. 1652

    Plague outbreak in 1652-1653

    An outbreak of plague in 1652-1653 decimated the population, leading to significant loss of taxpayers and exhaustion of the treasury.

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.