Korespondencja starosty knyszyńskiego Tomasza Czapskiego (1711–1784) jako źródło poznania jego rodzinnych relacji i sporów sądowych*
Correspondence of Knyszyn Starosta Tomasz Czapski (1711–1784) as a source for studying his family relations and litigation proceedings

Summary/Abstract: For more than a dozen years, egodocuments or “testimonies to the self” in the literal translation of the German term Selbstzeugnisse, have been the subject of intensive source study in both European and Polish historiography. They also constitute a fundamental source for the anthropology of history or microhistory. This article discusses one type of egodocuments, namely correspondence, in this case the letters of Tomasz Czapski (1711–1784) whose activities resulted in numerous conflicts, including family and neighbor disputes. The problems of noblemen who competed with one another for estates, and with townsfolk for power and influence, are accurately depicted in the analyzed sources. Due to his activities, Czapski was repeatedly forced to fight fierce disputes in courts or tribunals, for instance in Lublin in 1749. In the present article, he is described as an adventurer and a troublemaker responsible for conflicts with family members, noblemen, magnates and burghers of Gdańsk.

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