Social Classes in “Old” Poland

Social classes in “old” Poland included magnates, nobility (szlachta), peasants, burghers, intelligentsia and “loose people.” Magnates owned castles and entire villages. They made their income by charging peasants to live and farm on their property. They didn’t pay a lot of taxes which bothered the nobility. They had the most control of life in Poland and it was to their advantage to prevent the peasants and burghers from having much power in society. The nobility were also landowners. A -ski or -cki at the end of their name denoted noble birth at one time but eventually the peasants living on their land took on the same name even if not related. Their role was to protect Poland but many were under the control of the magnates. Common occupations were soldier, gentleman farmer, scholar, priest, public official, or administrator of a higher noble’s estate. Zamoyski is the name of the Polish noble that was in the area of Tomaszow Lubelski. This family had a major political role and were Counts and Countesses. Jan Zamoyski was a chancellor and started their estate. His son Tomasz Zamoyski was also a chancellor and the city of Tomaszow was named for him. Many descendants continued in politics.(These nobility were NOT related but would have impacted the lives of my family in the past.) Peasants formed the largest group in Poland. There were different levels of wealth and status from an extremely poor day laborer to ownership of some things with the requirement still there to do work for their lord. Burghers were immigrants and free citizens that worked as bankers, craftsmen, tradesmen, and merchants which the noble could not do by law. Professionals (“intelligentisia”) developed in the middle of the 18th century. They were usually members of the burgher or gentry social classes. Common occupations were doctors, scientists, scholars, priests, teachers, lawyers, architects, artists and writers. Loose people could originate from any social class and had no possessions. They might be criminals, prostitutes, gypsies or runaway serfs Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamoyski_family https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Social_Life_and_Customs Source: Chorzempa, Rosemary A. Polish Roots = Korzenie Polskie. Pages 58 - 62. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., c1993. (Family History Library INTL Book 943.8 D27c). Picture credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jelita.jpg#/media/File:Jelita.jpg By Zmf4 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78880564