The Unnoticed Effects of Mikołaj Zebrzydowski’s Foundation of the Calvary Complex

Abstract

The author intends to prove that Mikołaj Zebrzydowski’s Calvary was not (as previously believed) erected on vacant property. A copy of Jerusalem, built on a stretch of land between Żar Mountain and Lanckorona Mountain, on the basis of Christian Kruik van Adrichem’s treatise, occupied primarily the crown lands, mostly the villages of Zakrzów, Stronie, and Leśnica. The imposition of the layout of the Holy City on rural areas deprived the local peasants of the richest soil on the southern slopes, leading to starvation and migration. Consequently, the author discusses the foundation of the complex as a reason for the changes in the rural development and the relocations of the peasant population. To this end, the article analyses extracts from no longer existing church office registers, shedding new light on the foundation of the Polish Jerusalem. The information contained in the registers, supplemented by sources such as the ones housed in the Archive of the Metropolitan Curia and the Archive of the Bernardine Province in Krakow, as well as by material published in printed form, provides a consistent picture of the situation in the Zakrzów tenure in the 17th century. The first part of the 17th century had already witnessed a neartotal decline of the village of Leśnica and changes in the organisation of Stronie. Some attempts to save the latter village were made in late 17th century by establishing a new settlement on the Niespiennik Hill. Only oats could be grown in stony fields on the northern slopes which remained in the hands of the serfs. The Strzyszkówka River floods wrought additional havoc in the area. Zebrzydowski’s undertaking left its mark also on the rural parish of Stryszów, the priest of which started reporting a decrease of parishioners in the church and of the mass tax (missalia) collected from both villages in the early 17th century.