Testament młynarza z Koła. Przyczynek do badań nad późnośredniowiecznym młynarstwem na ziemiach polskich
The testament of Stanisław from Koło as a reason for the studies on the position, piety and relationships between millers and the rest...

Summary/Abstract: Millers as a social group are to be found in the sources at the turn of the Middle Ages and the modern era, however, the studies on this part of the society have not been thoroughly conducted so far. The aim of the article is to make an attempt to ask important research questions that would help understand the functioning of the medieval society, as well as polemics with a model of a fixed social ladder ingrained in the Middle Ages. The axis of the source analysis is a testament written by Stanisław from Koło, a 15th century miller from Wielkopolska. The author of the text ponders over the influences of millers, their property and role in local communities. A periphery source basis constitutes among others late-medieval court oaths, 16th century conscription registers or notes from local books to be found in Poznań’s "Słownik Historyczno-Geograficzny Wielkopolski w średniowieczu". The text is contributive in nature that is why many issues dealt with in it awaits their further investigation. What is postulated is among others studies on the scope of a mill compulsion, millers’ movables and fixed properties or, finally, an attempt to copy the milk network in the 14th, 15th and in the first half of the 16th century most carefully.

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