Ludzie luźni w społeczeństwie Rzeczypospolitej szlacheckiej w kontekście badań nad cyklem życia

Abstrakt

Vagabonds in the society of the Polish Nobles’ Commonwealth in the context of studies on life cycles (Summary)

The purpose of the article is to present a new interpretation of the role played by vagabonds in the society of the Polish Nobles’ Commonwealth divided into estates. The proposed approach on the one hand bases on studies concerning the functioning of socially marginalized people in early modern France and Poland, with which Western historiographers are acquainted, and on the other on a new analysis of Polish source materials mainly relating to the times of Stanisław August Poniatowski. The article is divided into four parts, the first of which presents the output of Polish historiography on the topic of vagabonds. The results of studies describing groups similar to people who were not classified as belonging to any estate and had no permanent home (vagabonds) in Western societies are presented in the second part. The last section contains new findings which undermine some of the universal opinions of Polish historiographers. The last part presents conclusions which indicate greater social mobility than had been previously assumed and the significance of vagabonds in the functioning of the labour market.