Three Languages and One Voivodeship: Literacy of Podillia Nobility in the Middle of the 16th Century
Journal Title: Київська Академія - Year 2016, Vol 0, Issue
Abstract
The article offers an analysis of handwritten notes of Podillia nobles in Tax Registry of 1563 and determines the level of literacy and language use among the nobility in the middle of the 16 th century. In the 16th century the nobility started to drift away from the traditional way of life connected to service in the military. They acquired new skills, including writing skills, which advanced their careers and led them to taking official positions. The development of legal proceedings and the need of wealthier nobles to do inventories of their assets created a demand for literate people. A legal requirement of personal acknowledgement of one’s assets generated a documented account of the nobility’s writing skills. Among 237 handwritten notes included in the Tax Registry of 1563 there were notes written in three languages: Latin, Polish, and Ruthenian in different combinations (sometimes the language of the note and the language of the signature were identical, other times they differed). Not always a noble could write a note himself or herself; in most cases the writing skills were elementary, not reaching beyond the ability to write one’s name and last name. The overwhelming majority of the notes were written in Latin and Polish, and only one note was written in Ruthenian. The shares of linguistic combinations of the notes and the signatures were the following: Lat-Lat – 57,54 %; Lat-no signature – 3,36 %; Lat-Pol – 5,04 %; Lat-Ruth – 1,68 %; Lat, Lat + Ruth – 1,26 %; Pol-Pol. – 15,12 %; Pol-no signature – 1,26 %; Pol-Lat – 1,26 %; Pol-Ruth – 0,42 %; Ruth-Ruth – 0,42 %. Wealthy and semi-wealthy nobles, officials of the land and castle courts, scriveners of the non-court castles (Skala, Zinkiv), officials, estate administrators, and private service scriveners of starostas and rich land owners, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox priests prevailed among the types of people who could write. One handwritten signature belonged to a woman taxpayer Anna Nadolska. The specifics of Podillia voivodeship was a modest number of literate people due to the low population numbers and a small share of nobility, as well as usage of three languages in writing: Latin as government language, Polish, and Ruthenian.
Authors and Affiliations
Vitaliy Mykhaylovskiy
Keywords
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