Inter-Estate Relations Involving Peasants in the Bielsk Land at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century in the Light of the Brańsk Castle Court Books

Abstract

On the selected examples from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the article explores various inter-estate situations involving serfs, as documented in the castle court books of the town of Brańsk. The focus is on acts of violence where serfs were either the perpetrators or victims, as well as civil cases involving serfs in various roles (such as victims of harm, residents of mortgaged properties, and fugitives, etc.). Additionally, we consider the judgments rendered by manorial courts and the appeals against these judgments that were submitted to the town of Brańsk, all of which are recorded in the books. In these instances, serfs were not always in a disadvantageous position. The records of noble courts serve as a valuable resource for research on this topic.