Pomeranian society in the ducal period (16th – early 17th century)

The total population of Pomerania in the 16th and early 17th centuries is very difficult to calculate precisely. We have only estimates, which indicate that in the first decades of the 16th century about 350,000 people lived in Pomeranian lands. Around 100 years later (before the catastrophe of the Thirty Years’ War), the population of Pomerania had grown to more than 420,000. The vast majority of Pomeranians—almost 70%—lived in rural areas at that time. About 30% of the inhabitants of the land of the Griffins resided in towns.

In the period under discussion, Pomeranian society was a feudal estate-based society. This meant that it was composed of several distinct estates, each with different legal status. At the beginning of the 16th century these were: the clergy, the nobility, the burghers, and the peasants. The transition of Pomerania to Lutheran Protestantism in 1534, under Dukes Barnim IX and Philip I, and its full consolidation by the mid-16th century, led to the elimination of the clergy as a separate estate. This was linked, first, to the confiscation of church lands, which undermined the economic power of the Pomeranian clergy. More importantly, ties with Rome were severed, and the Pomeranian Church ceased to be subject to the pope. The head of the local Lutheran Church became the duke himself, to whom all local clergy were subordinate. These transformations in the Pomeranian Church and its complete subordination to the ruler abolished the clergy as a separate estate. From the fourth decade of the 16th century onward, Pomerania thus had three estates: the nobility, the burghers, and the peasants.

he first estate of Pomeranian society—the nobility—made up about 3.5% of the population of Pomerania, or roughly 12,000 people. In material terms, the nobility was highly diverse. The size of the estates owned essentially determined the importance of individual noble families in the duchy. Pomeranian nobility was divided into two main subgroups. The first was the so-called higher or castle nobility, the second the lower nobility. The higher nobility owned extensive landed estates comprising some 20–30 villages (sometimes even more), often a private town, and several castles or palaces; many also held aristocratic titles. In Pomerania these were mainly countly titles (Graf). Apart from the ruling Griffins (who bore the title Herzog—denoting a territorial duke in the Empire), there was at that time only one princely family living in Pomerania: the von Pudbus family, who held the title Fürst (a prince without a sovereign territory), ruled almost the whole of Rügen, and were related to the ducal dynasty of Rügen, extinct since the 14th century. It should be emphasized that the higher nobility, together with the ruler, formed the governing elite of the land. Among the prominent families of the Pomeranian higher nobility were the Pudbus, Eberstein, Borck, Podewils, Blücher, Schwerin, and Flemming families.

The lower nobility, which typically owned only a few villages, formed the numerical core of the noble estate. Thanks to the dukes—who sought to balance the influence of the higher and lower nobility within the duchy—it was also admitted to the highest offices in Pomeranian principalities. There was also petty nobility, owning just a fraction of a village or a single farm, but it was relatively small in number in Pomerania and concentrated mainly in the eastern part of the Duchy of Szczecin, particularly in the Bytów and Lębork districts (the Kashubian petty nobility).

The Pomeranian burgher class, like the nobility, was also highly diverse. Although it made up nearly 30% of the country’s population, the typical Pomeranian town at the time was small, with an economically weak and highly agrarian population. While formally the inhabitants of such small towns were divided into the same three main social groups as in the larger cities, the economic strength of the burghers of Maszewo or Wolin can hardly be compared with that of the burghers of Szczecin or Stralsund. It should be noted that the largest cities of Pomerania at the time were Stralsund, Szczecin, and Greifswald. Still significant, though somewhat smaller, centers included Stargard, Kołobrzeg, Słupsk, Koszalin, and Anklam. Towns of medium size included Trzebiatów on the Rega, Gryfice, Białogard, Pyrzyce, Sławno, Darłowo, Pasewalk, and Demmin. Meanwhile, small towns included Uznam, Nowe Warpno, Wolin, Kamień Pomorski, Maszewo, Dąbie, Nowogard, and Łeba.

Ultimately, regardless of a town’s size, the burgher class in Pomerania was headed by the patriciate—the city’s financial aristocracy. It was composed of wealthy merchants, brewers, cloth-cutters involved in the cloth trade, and, in the case of Kołobrzeg, owners of salt pans. The professional groups forming the patriciate were usually organized into guilds, which served as both professional and social associations supporting their members (merchant guilds, brewers’ guilds, or cloth-cutters’ guilds). The patriciate, possessing considerable capital and also referred to as the upper burgher class, held real power in the towns. They filled positions such as mayors, chamberlains, and councilors. In smaller towns, the patriciate was made up mostly of medium-level merchants and brewers.

The largest group in Pomeranian towns was the common burghers, or the so-called middle burgher class, composed mainly of craftsmen organized into specialized guilds. Of course, craftsmen were not a uniform group in terms of wealth: the status of an apothecary or goldsmith was very different from that of a potter or a cobbler repairing worn shoes. Among the wealthiest guilds in Pomerania were the most numerous: bakers and butchers, followed by coopers, ship carpenters, weavers, as well as smaller groups such as clockmakers, goldsmiths, apothecaries, pewterers, or bell-founders. For craftsmen, prosperity depended not only on their trade but also on professional skill and, at times, sheer luck. It is worth noting that guilds often limited the initiative of more entrepreneurial craftsmen. Guild statutes set the number of journeymen and apprentices allowed in a workshop, allocated raw materials, and ensured that all masters produced roughly similar quantities of goods—so that every guild master had comparable income. While this system kept prices stable, it also limited overall production. Every Pomeranian town also had a guild of farmers cultivating land outside the walls, granted or purchased by the town. Their role depended on the size of the urban community: in large commercial centers with many guilds, urban farmers had marginal significance, but in small agrarian towns they played a vital role in the economy and even participated actively in town governance. Rigid guild rules also meant that not all trained journeymen could become masters, forcing many to seek opportunities outside the guilds. In Pomerania, non-guild crafts developed relatively well, especially in rural areas. Even in towns, some independent craftsmen worked under special ducal privileges allowing them to practice their trade outside the guild system.

The lowest social group in the towns was the so-called plebs, made up mainly of day laborers employed by the town council for various tasks or working for merchants, and more rarely for craftsmen. These people usually owned no property in town, and their wages were enough only to cover basic daily needs. The plebs also commonly included journeymen without their own workshop and apprentices. This group was further supplemented by the numerous urban servant class—mostly women—as well as the social underclass: beggars, vagrants, thieves, and prostitutes. Naturally, the size of the plebs and the associated underclass grew in proportion to the size of the town.

In the towns there also lived people not directly connected with the burgher class. In Pomeranian residential centers such as Szczecin, Wolgast, or Koszalin, these included ducal officials of various ranks—often of noble origin—as well as court servants. Scholars, artists, and craftsmen of rare specialties, invited to the ducal court, also appeared there. Nobles, too, often resided temporarily in Pomeranian towns. In academic centers—namely Szczecin and Greifswald—there were professors of the University of Greifswald and of the Szczecin Pedagogium.

Finally, it should be noted that municipal law at the time was held only by those who owned property in the town and paid taxes. As a result, in legal terms, true burghers were only members of the patriciate and the common burghers (merchants and guild-affiliated craftsmen). It did not apply to laborers, journeymen, apprentices, servants, and even less to the social underclass. Ducal officials and others connected to the court, nobles residing in towns, and professors moving between academic centers usually also lacked municipal rights.

The most numerous estate in Pomerania, making up about 70% of the total population, was the peasantry. It was not a homogeneous group, although the development of the manorial-serf economy and the peasants’ detachment from the wider Pomeranian market permanently weakened the peasant estate. The wealthiest part of the rural community were the so-called peasants/farmers (kmiecie), usually owning a one-łan farm (sometimes larger, several-łan). They possessed draft animals (a pair of horses or oxen with a plow), sufficient livestock (cattle, pigs, poultry), a house, and farm buildings (typically wooden, thatched). Under the manorial system, they were obliged to perform labor services for the lord using their own draft animals. Also belonging to the wealthier segment of rural society were village craftsmen, especially millers and blacksmiths. Millers, in addition to owning or leasing a mill or windmill, typically held about half a łan of land. Blacksmiths, whether working in their own or leased forge, also received a plot of land for subsistence. Other rural craftsmen included coopers, wheelwrights, tailors, and shoemakers. Innkeepers (karczmarze) could also be counted among the rural “wealthy,” as they usually combined running a tavern with several hectares of farmland. On the other end of the social spectrum were smallholders (zagrodnicy), cottagers (chałupnicy), and lodgers (komornicy). Smallholders owned a house, usually with small farm buildings and a plot of land up to several hectares. Cottagers had only a house, while lodgers owned no property at all, living with wealthier farmers and working for them. In the manorial system of Pomeranian villages, these three groups owed labor services on foot. As peasant lands were increasingly absorbed by manorial estates, especially in the second half of the 16th and early 17th centuries, a new category emerged: the so-called half-farmers (półchłopi). They held about half a łan of land along with the corresponding farm buildings.

In summary, Pomeranian society in the 16th and early 17th centuries was a feudal estate-based society. At its head stood the nobility—divided into higher and lower ranks—who, together with the Griffins dynasty, exercised power in the duchy. Over time, however, the position of the nobility grew at the expense of ducal authority and the gradually weakening burgher class. The burghers, the next estate, were diverse in wealth and influence. At their head stood the patriciate, composed of wealthy merchants, brewers, and cloth merchants, who managed the Pomeranian towns and rivaled the nobility in wealth. Yet the core of the burgher estate consisted of craftsmen (the pospólstwo), organized into specialized guilds. Excluded from governance but burdened with city taxes, they often fought for their rights—reflected in the numerous uprisings that became an inseparable part of the history of Pomeranian towns in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Among urban residents, only the patriciate and the pospólstwo enjoyed municipal rights. The poor plebs, as well as temporary residents such as officials, nobles, artists, and scholars, did not. Finally, the most numerous estate in Pomerania was the peasantry, internally diverse. At its core were the farmers (kmiecie) owning at least one-łan farms. Alongside them, the wealthier segment of the rural population included craftsmen of various trades and the so-called half-farmers (półchłopi) with half-łan farms. The poorest strata of rural society were the smallholders (zagrodnicy), cottagers (chałupnicy), and lodgers (komornicy).

More:

B. Wachowiak, Pomorze Zachodnie w schyłkowej epoce feudalizmu (1464-1815), w: Historia Pomorza, t. II do 1815 roku, red. G. Labuda, cz. 1 (1464/66 – 1648/57), Poznań 1976.

B. Wachowiak, Zjednoczone Księstwo Pomorskie (do 1648), w: Pomorze Zachodnie poprzez wieki, red. J. Piskorski, Szczecin 1999.

Radosław Gaziński