The structure of the Polish nobility in the 16th and the 17th century: Some new findings and reflections

The new findings in the field of quantification proper (consisting in grouping together scattered data) concerning the feudal property in Poland in the early modern period change substantially existing opinions gi ving thus new possibilities of the interpretation of poli tical history. The quantitative analysis pertaining to the province of Kalisz shows that the earlier claim that in Western Poland in the structure of landed propertywas dominated by middle nobility (one noble being owner of one village) while any more numerous stratum of richer nobility was absent does not hold. For the province of Poznan the thesis on the large role of the middle nobili ty in the general structure of the class should be now formulated much less radically. At the same time the findings made so far concerning the number of the Polish nobility in modern times, show that the prevailing opinion that the nobility accounted for 10 or even more percent of the population is untenable. In Western Poland the nobili ty did not exceed some three percent of the population.