Peasants in the Works of Jan Długosz

This analysis encompasses the following subjects: Annales seu Cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae, Liber beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis and the lives of Saints Stanislaus and Kinga. I would like to synthesize all the information that Długosz included about peasants in his works. I will show the terminology he uses in relation to ‘peasants’, the contexts in which they appear, and the most important detailed information. I will ask whether these studies reveal a ‘picture’ of peasants and his personal attitude towards them. The article consists of the following parts: 1. Terms used to refer to peasants and the countryside, 2. The countryside – elements of the natural and cultural landscape, 3. The rural community, 4. Home, family, farm, 5. Oppression and slavery, misfortune and poverty, 6. The monarch's attitude towards peasants, 7. Peasants' attitude towards faith and the Church, 8. Peasants' attitude towards townspeople, 9. Peasants' participation in wars, Summary