The Koronowo monastery and the Bydgoszcz and Krajeń nobility in the 15th century

Abstract

The sources containing references to the contacts of the Koronowo con­vent with the gentry of Bydgoszcz and Krajno are by no means numerous. The scanty 15th-century conventual archives may suggest that the convent,repeatedly devastated in that period, was not particularly active in maintain­ing contacts with its landholding neighbours. As the 15th century land regis­ters and municipal records of North Kujawy have been lost, a proper investi­gation of the problem is beset with great difficulties. However, we do possessthe judicial sources from Krajno in the fomier county of Nakło (Wielkopol­ska), where nearly all of the municipal records have fortunately been pre­served. As far as 15th century donations for the Koronowo convent are con­cerned only one remains on record. It was made by Katarzyna of Wałdowo,daughter of Peter, who donated to the Cistercians 200 marks from the incomeof her patrimonial village. The identity of other landholding neighbours whohad dealings with Koronowo can be established almost exclusively on the ba­sis of their involvement in legal disputes in which the convent was a party.Nobody seems to have had closer ties with Koronowo than Nasław of Gogo­lin (d. before 1464), royal cupbearer and castellan of Bydgoszcz. Not onlydid he support the convent in legal wrangling but also became a caretaker ofthe Cistercian estates in 1444. Among the families who kept up friendly rela­tions with the convent were the Ślesiński of the Nałęcz branch. Three genera­tions of that familybacked the Cistercians in their disputes with local gentry. Apart from neighbours who allied themselves with Koronowo, there wereothers who raided the Cistercian estates (Mikołaj Obodowski), unlawfullyseized the monks’ property (Mikołaj Wilczek of Tonin) or failed to pay theirdebts (Piotr of Samostrzel). It should be added, however, that the Cisterciansthemselves did not always set an example of good-neighbourliness. So forinstance in 1477 Abbot Augustyn induced some noblemen to assault and killone Andrzej, the administrator of the village of Ossowiec. Augustyn wasfound guilty by the court in Nakło and fined; having lost the case, he wasswiftly removed from office (1480). On the whole, though, the local nobilityseemed to have been little interested in the convent and its affairs. This atti­tude was probably due to the fact that all their energies were focused on rebuilding their own estates, ruined and devastated just like the Cistercianlands, in the course of the 15th-century wars between Poland and the Teu­tonic Knights.