Korabniki, Niewody and Rybitwy in the Region of Kujawy as Service Settlements Connected with the Ducal Water Regale

Abstract

Korabniki, Niewody and Rybitwy in the Region of Kujawy as Service Settlements Connected with the Ducal Water Regale

(Summary)

The article discusses one of the fundamental domains of the economy of the Piast state. Studies on the water regale are closely connected with an analysis of the hydrography of the mediaeval Kujawy region. The ensuing findings are discussed in the first part of the text. A presentation of the pertinent problems was based on written sources and ascertainments made by geologists and geographers. In this manner, it became possible to recreate at least partly the water network in the Kujawy region at the time of the Piast monarchy. A further part of the study reflects on such service settlements as Korabniki, Niewody and Rybitwy. These analyses enabled the author to claim that the titular settlements functioned next to water reservoirs and acted as an important economic hinterland for provincial and castellan castle-towns. Next, the text considers archaeological findings from the Middle Ages testifying to the role played at the time by water courses and reservoirs. Part of the discoveries made by archaeologists confirm the great role played by the discussed service settlements. The collected research results confirm that the significance of the ducal water regale in Kujawy was closely linked with the specific water network of this province.