rural residences of wrocław burghers in the 13th-16th centuries

: the article discusses the issue of late-medieval and early-modern manor houses of wrocław citizens, located in their rural properties. Many of them, located in the close vicinity of wrocław, were destroyed as a result of the spatial development of the urban agglomeration, others are usually poorly researched archaeologically and architecturally. for this reason, and in accordance with the requirements of historical archaeology, this issue has been analyzed using a maximum variety of sources: written, archaeological, architectural, cartographic and icono-graphic. the article includes examples of manor houses built by the citizens of wrocław as well as those that originally belonged to dukes or knights. the key issues to which special attention has been given are the chronology and formal classification of objects as well as their functions and significance for their founders and owners. the issue was discussed in four chronological intervals, basically reflecting the economic, social and political changes that influenced the development of silesian defensive-residential buildings

abstract: the article discusses the issue of latemedieval and early-modern manor houses of wrocław citizens, located in their rural properties.Many of them, located in the close vicinity of wrocław, were destroyed as a result of the spatial development of the urban agglomeration, others are usually poorly researched archaeologically and architecturally.for this reason, and in accordance with the requirements of historical archaeology, this issue has been analyzed using a maximum variety of sources: written, archaeological, architectural, cartographic and iconographic.the article includes examples of manor houses built by the citizens of wrocław as well as those that originally belonged to dukes or knights.the key issues to which special attention has been given are the chronology and formal classification of objects as well as their functions and significance for their founders and owners.the issue was discussed in four chronological intervals, basically reflecting the economic, social and political changes that influenced the development of silesian defensive-residential buildings.
keyworDs: manor houses, medieval villages, lower silesia, burghers, wrocław the inhabitants of medieval wrocław have been of interest to researchers for a long time, and the most attention has been paid to the groups of patricians and craftsmen who are best documented in the sources.the beginnings of burgher land ownership near wrocław date back to the 13th century, and the apogee of expansion to areas outside the city walls occurred in the 14th century (Pfeiffer 1929;hoffmann 1977;1989, 93-123, 159-170;goliński 1991, 106-140;1995). the purchase of estates in the surrounding villages was primarily determined by economic considerations -gaining profits from the demesne economy.the improvement of the financial situation enabled social advancement, which in the case of craftsmen's families meant entering the city council, while for representatives of the patriciate, having land around the city was of key importance for achieving the position (broadly understood lifestyle) of the elite of the society of the time, that of the knights.one of the manifestations of the adjustment of the wrocław burghers to the courtly style of life proper to the knights' position was having their own country residence.
the manors located near wrocław have long been the subject of research by historians of architecture and art, who were interested only in the masonry structures preserved in the area (rozpędowski 1978, 495-497;Zlat 1990, 77-82;chorowska 2003, 145-148, 179-185;2010, 77-79).recently, in a book concerning silesian motte type structures, i paid attention to the founders and owners from this social group (nowakowski 2017, 209-216).however, the cited publications do not exhaust the research problems, the key ones being the issue of their chronology and formal classification.it is also unclear whether their owners came only from the richest stratum of wrocław townspeople -the patriciate, and whether these objects played any military role in the defence system of wrocław.
the article considers the manors built by wrocław burghers and acquired by them, mainly from knightly families.in total, there are about 30 structures (fig.1).Many of them have not survived to modern times, and well-preserved ones, including the oldest motte type structures, are usually poorly explored archaeologically.interpretation possibilities are also limited by the ambiguous record of written sources.this remark concerns the term curia (german: Hof) often found in the sources, which in the case of structures located in the countryside was used in relation to fortified residences of lords, demesnes, schulz manors and parish fig. 1. Map of the duchy of wrocław at the beginning of the 14th century with the manor houses mentioned in the text (d.nowakowski) priests' ones, as well as peasants' farmsteads (Słownik łaciny..., ii, 1502(Słownik łaciny..., ii, -1509;;deutsches wörterbuch..., X, 1655-1656;nowakowski 2021, 192-193).the structures in question will be discussed within three chronological periods.the first will cover the time from the second half of the 13th century to the first third of the 14th century, i.e. from the emergence of rural estates of wrocław townspeople, to the end of the rural colonization process and political events important for the history of the city and the duchy: the takeover of the duchy as a fief by the rulers of bohemia (1327/29), and the death of the last duke of wrocław, henry Vi (1335).the second period is the time when the duchy was directly subject to the rule of the luxembourgs, which is the period of stabilization of the settlement and economic development of the duchy.its upper limit is marked by the political events of the first decades of the 15th century, such as the hussite wars (1428/31) and the death of sigismund ii of luxembourg ( 1437). the third one is the remaining part of the 15th century, which was characterized by a settlement crisis caused by the turmoil of the hussite wars and the fights for wrocław in the second half of the 15th century between supporters of george of Poděbrady and Matthias corvinus.its upper limit is marked by the first decades of the 16th century and the appearance of grand masonry manor houses with late-gothic and early-renaissance style features.their construction resulted from the economic development of the province, as well as the emergence of new ideological trends in architecture and art. the proposed division is, of course, of a contractual na-ture, but it basically corresponds to the changes in the silesian defensive and residential construction seen in the literature (chorowska 2003, 111-194; nowakowski 2008, 310-315).
Manor houses froM the second half of the 13th to the first third of the 14th century in the light of the collected source materials, there are reasons to believe that the oldest examples of rural manors of burghers of wrocław functioned as early as at the end of the 13th century or slightly later.Most likely, a structure of this type existed in sołtysowice.the village originally consisted of three parts: Kegil, Molnsdorf and Schulteissowitz, which were merged in 1411 by the burgher nicholas dumlose (rf, iii, f. 2460-2461; domański 1967, 40, 45, 46). the burgher dietrich de Molnsdorff was known from the 1280s.in 1312, his son John made a bequest for his wife Katherine, daughter of henry reichenbach.the text of the document shows that it was his next wife, who received 10 mansi as a dowry in allodio Schulthes chowycz, with the reservation that if John died earlier, then 5 mansi without manor (sine curia) were to be taken over by his heirs, and the remaining 5 and one mansus in stary dwór, which Katherine had for a long time after her father, along with the manor house in sołtysowice (curia in Schultheschowicz), were to be taken over by her heirs (sub, V, 416;aPwr., rep. 67, no. 149;rs 3329;Pfeiffer 1929, 81, 82). the listed manors (curiae) are probably demesnes, but we do not know whether there was a residential building functioning at any of them. in the vicinity of the former village, there are remains of a motte and bailey structure (fig.2:a).excavations of the main mound showed two phases of use, in both of them, in the central part of it, there were residential towers with brick cellars (fig.2:b), dated to the 14th-15th century (nowakowski 2017, 123, 124, 212, 213, 431, 432).at the tower from the second phase functioned also a timber building measuring 4.0 x 4.6 m, in the fill of which 6 iron bells for animals were found.the extensive bailey and the small size of the towers (side length of about 6 and 5 m) suggest that this structure should be interpreted as the remains of a fortified demesne.the founder of this complex were representatives of the dumlose burgher family, which owned sołtysowice from the 1330s until 1411, and the manor (hofe) belonging to Paul dumlose was mentioned in 1364 (rf, iii, f. 2457, 2460, 2461;aPwr., rep. 67, no. 417;Pfeiffer 1929, 176).as early as 1250, matron Magna bought an estate called Sobegarz near domasław, next to which she founded a demesne named Magna after her, first mentioned in 1316, when a burgher, Konrad siebenwirth, bought a plot of land related to it.seven years later, John von reste bought 5 mansi in Magnitz quod quondam Sobgar dicebatur, from henry von Mühlheim, and in 1336 from boguszko siebenwirth half of the Magna allodium with a manor and a fortified tower (curia cum propugnaculo, quod wlgo Berffrit nominatur), which previously belonged to his father Konrad (sub,ii,413;rs 3606,4249,5746).Magnice remained in the hands of the von reste family until the 1370s, then it was owned by other burgher families (rś, iii, 549; iV, 510; rf, ii, f. 687, 690, 691, 694).the remains of the structure mentioned only once in the sources are probably hidden in the ruins of a magnificent early post-medieval manor house surrounded by a partially preserved moat and an external rampart (fig.3:a). it was probably originally a motte castle with a masonry residential tower (nowakowski 2017, 213, 355-356).
in 1318, the aforementioned John von reste bought from the knights von eichelborn and townspeople from the engilger family properties in wilczków, located not far south of Magnice. in 1355, he transferred to his son John, as a fief, the former eichelborn demesne with a defensive structure and a manor house surrounded by a ditch (cum propugnaculo et cu ria fossatis circumdata).twenty years later, John the younger sold the village to the burghers dompnig and John rothe.the village belonged to the descendants of the latter for the next sixty years (rs 3823, 3863;rf, iV, 2926, 2927;rś, iii, 163;aPwr., rep. 58, no. 299. unfortunately, this building has not survived to this day, but it was probably also a small defensive and residential complex (fig.3:b).
as early as in 1260, henry iii of wrocław sold Popowice to a citizen Konrad beyer.for a long time, the village was not mentioned in the sources, only in 1331 an allodium related to it was confirmed, which John von reste with other townspeople sold to Peter gläsen. in 1345, this property belonged to Peter's widow, while in the years 1344-1373 the land in Popowice was owned by the lederschneider family (sub, iii, 315, 318;rs 5022;aPwr., amwr., 107, no. 267;rf, ii, f. 1049, 1052). in the 15th century, the village and the demesne belonged to several burgher families, including Vincent of gądów from 1437, whose heirs sold the property to John hornig in 1506 (rf, ii, f. 1052, 1053;aPwr., amwr., 107, no. 4512;KPw, no. 56). on the site and using the mound and moat of the old seat, a palace was built in the 18th century (fig.3:c), which was destroyed in the period between the world wars (Pawłowski 1978a, 369, 370;nowakowski 2017, 397).
according to a forged document dated to 1284, henry iV gave Krajków to master wiland the stonemason of wrocław and his like-named son, a ducal servitor, as a service-free hereditary fief.wiland (ii) called himself already of Krajków, where he probably lived, and after his death the property was divided.we know that in 1345, wiland's daughter osanna gave her brother Michael of Krajków a piece of land and domunculum located at the manor house (curia) of their brother nicholas.five years later, Michael also took over a part of the village belonging to brothers nicholas and wiland (iii), with a square and an embankment commonly known as a rampart (cum area et aggere, quod vulgariter ein Wall dicitur) and their farmstead (ortus).the manor house of nicholas of Krajków was mentioned again in 1362, and further representatives of the family were mentioned at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries (sub, V, 499; rs 1856, 5705; rf, i, f. 487-494).the quoted sources show that the heirs of wiland (ii) lived in Krajków and had several residences.the most impressive was nicholas's manor house, which was probably of a defensive character, as suggested by the term 'wall' that was probably also used to refer to it, which, among other things, was used to describe mounds of the motte type structures (nowakowski 2017, 83, 84).this building was probably the main element of a small demesne village (fig. 3:d), in which a masonry residence, preserved to this day, is dated to the beginning of the 17th century. in 1286, a burgher, henry von Mühlheim, bought an 8-mansi demesne in Kuklice from duke henry iV of wrocław. in 1336, his son Paul sold 4 demesne mansi to nicholas of nysa, and a year later his sister pledged 4 mansi and a farmstead (gehöft) to her daughter and son-in-law John grafinger.the property in Kuklice belonged to the Mühlheims still in 1352, hence for almost 70 years (sub, V, 273; rs 5684, 5943; rf, ii, f. 559).the residential functions in this estate could have been performed by one of the demesne buildings or even a country house with a homestead.we know such an example from brochocin, located near chojnów. in 1486, the knight georg budziwoj sold his property in the village to christopher ruprecht, with the exception of the demesne where he lived (ausgeczohgen das Forwergk, darauff der genandte George Buswe wohnet) (aPwr., rep. 39, no. 44, f. 366-367;nowakowski 2021, 202).
Perhaps already at the end of the 13th century, the lord's seat in różanka functioned. in 1290, Peter of różanka (de Rosental), the son-in-law of the knight Przybywoj, was mentioned.we do not know whether he was a knight or a citizen, but his descendant was Peter de Rosenthal, who in 1363 sold property in the village to the townsman John bank, in 1378 to the city scribe nicholas a property in wrocław, and in 1387 he bequeathed the demesne in różanka to son of lawrence (sub, V, 466;rś, ii, 1011, 1106;aPwr., amwr., 107, no. 632;rf, iii, f. 2146). in the years 1319-1345, the local property was owned by a burgher, bertold of ratibor, and then by his namesake son, a parish priest in głuchołazy. in 1425, the property tax in the village was paid by a citizen nicholas sponsbrucke (rs 4201;rś, i, 342;ii, 669, 1031;rf, iii, f. 2146;Pfeiffer 1929, 75;KPw, no. 108).we do not know under what circumstances różanka became the property of the von schwenkfeld and runge knight families, to which it belonged in the second half of the 15th century (aPwr.,rep. 57,no. 160,161,191,194,203). unfortunately, the lord's seat there did not survive (Kaletynowie, lodowski 1968, 162;nowakowski 2017, 410, 411) and is known only from cartographic materials (fig.3:e).
the burgher estates in strachowice date back to the beginning of the 14th century.one of the plots in the village was owned by a burgher and knight, John Plessel, who in 1330 sold to John Markgraf seven mansi and propugnaculum suum et curiam, sive al lodium Strachwicz.before the mid-14th century, the estate in strachowice was owned by representatives of various citizens' families, and the residence associated with the demesne often changed owners.in 1349, henry of hirschberg sold the 7-mansi demesne cum propugnaculo Bergkfridt vulgo nuncupatur to nicholas de Barczow. in the same year, it was owned by knight Konrad czirn, from whom it was purchased by Peter dumlose. the property remained in the hands of the dumlose family until 1357, and then it was owned by nicholas rabinswald (1357-1362) and the damperow family (1362-1370) (rs 2844, 4979, 5293, 5827, 5828; rf, iV, f. 2740, 2741, 2744, 2747-2752, 2756).currently completely destroyed building in the light of written and cartographic sources (fig.3:f) should be interpreted as a motte with a masonry residential tower (nowakowski 2017, 210, 438).
from the beginning of the 14th century, burgher owners of the village of Kowale appear in the sources. in 1309, the estate was divided between brothers Konrad and henry of wojciechów.the village was taken over by the first of them, and then by his sons bertold and Konrad, who in 1336 and 1337 sold nine mansi to francis of glatz and three mansi and a manor house (curia) to Konrad schertelzan (rs 3078, 5665, 5983, 6444;rf, i, f. 483;Pfeiffer 1929, 103).francis sold his plot in 1351 to the wrocław city council, from which nine years later the village with 15 mansi was bought by nicholas of Kowale.even in the 15th century, the townspeople who called themselves after this village had some properties in the area. in 1425, the property tax was paid by John de Eger, and in the next century the village was again at the disposal of the wrocław councillors (rś,ii,507;V,39;rf,i,f. 483;KPKw,no. 104;aPwr.,amwr.,c 22,f. 44). a small motte (Turmhügel) located by the demesne (fig.3:g) was demolished at the end of the 19th century (Kramarek 1963, 167, 194, 195;Kaletynowie, lodowski 1968, 158).
it cannot be ruled out that in the first quarter of the 14th century a lord's residence was built in Krzyżowice. the present village consists of two settlements Kreiselwitz and schlanz merged after 1945. the defensive complex was located in the latter, functioning in the Middle ages under the name of wierzbica Mała (Klein Würbitz), and then Schlanz (domański 1967, 107, 108).we know that before 1324 the 8-mansi demesne of Wirrwitz belonged to gerhard Mühlheim, and a year later his son giselher sold half of it to John stille (rs 4312;aPwr., amwr., 107, no. 177;Pfeiffer 1929, 63). the schlanz family, from whom the village took its new name, owned the estate since 1346, when brothers henry and nicholas bought a 10-mansi demesne with a tower (cum turri in Wirbicz) from burgher nicholas of glogau and nicholas Zolner. in 1373, tower with manor house (Thurm und Hof) was owned by John dompnig, and in 1410 his descendants sold the estate with the seat and the manor house (Gesÿss und Hoff) to lawrence schwarz (rf, iii, f. 321, 322;iV, f. 2942, 2943;Pfeiffer 1929, 161).from the end of the 15th century, the manor house belonged to the sauermann family.in the light of the description of the estates of sebald sauermann (1548-1570), a solid stone tower with a vaulted basement stood next to the new demesne and the newly built manor house surrounded by a moat (ein starcker von steinen gemäuer Thurmb, darunter gar gutte Kel ler nützlich zugebrauchen, unndt ein schön gewelbe).the present palace was probably built on the site of these buildings in the 18th and 19th centuries (rf, iii, f. 324;aPwr., amwr., c 22, f. 28v;degen 1965, 276;KZs, iV/2, 50, 51).
Manor houses froM the 14th to the first third of the 15th century we know much more about manor houses from the second chronological section, concerning which we have much richer source material, and more of them have survived to our times, such as the already described structure from sołtysowice.
in bielany wrocławskie, in 1336, a burgher nicholas reichenbach, transferred to his wife sophia all rights to the demesne, which at that time belonged to knight otto glaubitz.before 1341, the bielany demesne was bought by wrocław patrician nicholas von sitten, who obtained permission from John of luxemburg to incorporate it under german law.ten years later, nicholas in his will handed the schulz village over to his sons, francs and John, together with the right of church patronage, an inn, a mill and other properties.the village and demesne of bielany remained in the hands of the von sitten family until 1414 (rs 5707;aawr., sygn. cc.28;rś, i, 836;ii, 462;iii, 279, 562;iV, 437;V, 173, 174;rf, i, f. 20a-21a;rwn, 65;Pfeiffer 1929, 179-181).from the 1420s, the estate belonged to burgher nicholas Merbot, who merged part of the property fragmented in the meantime.in the second half of the 15th century, the village was again divided into smaller plots that belonged to various knightly and citizens' families.we also know that in 1392 a document was issued in bielany by King wenceslaus iV, and a year later by the royal governor of Świdnica, beneš of choustník (rf, i, f. 21a, 22b; invh., 44; invJ., 248).a wellpreserved motte is located a short distance from the church (fig.4:a).test trenches and boreholes revealed a layer of clay with brick rubble and lime mortar lying on the slope of the mound, as well as fragments of pottery, which, after re-analysis, should be dated to the second half of the 14th-15th century (Pawłowski 1978a, 202, 203;1978b, 241, 242;nowakowski 2017, 216, 261, 262).
Probably already in the first half of the 14th century, some residential building functioned in Partynice.from the 1330s, the 16-mansi demesne Patenicz was owned by brothers John, francs and lawrence hartlieb, sons of furrier hartlib.according to the publishers of silesian documents, Partynice should be identified with the allodium iuxta rivulum Laa mentioned in 1342, where a document was issued by duke ludwig i of brzeg.eight years later francis hartlieb, hereditary lord in villa Hartlip seu Pate nicz, was mentioned (rs 6888, 6954; lehns., i, 319; aawr., a. 15a; rś, ii, 318). in the second half of the 14th century, the estate, divided into five parts, belonged to various citizen's families, while in the years 1425-1443 John Jenlen anders Hartlieb genant, who lived in Partynice, was mentioned.he was a descendant of burgher henlin of glogau, who owned land in the village since 1355 (rś, iii, 90;iV, 339, 353, 355, 635;rf, ii, 937, 940;KPw, no. 59;Pfeiffer 1929, 52, 143, 225).unfortunately, we do not know anything about the appearance of the medieval seat in Partynice, which probably functioned in the same place as the post-medieval manor house (fig.3:h).
we have to deal with a complicated ownership and settlement situation in Złotniki (goldschmieden), which name was created after the first owner, hermann the goldsmith (Hermanni aurifabri).the allodium belonging to him, located near the town or the river leśnica (currently bystrzyca), was mentioned in 1288.we do not know whether two demesnes -small and great Złotniki -were operating there already in the 13th century.Perhaps the second one should be identified with the allodium of tylon of liegnitz, located circa Lesniz, mentioned in the same document.we know that in 1348 the demesne in Złotniki had an honesta domina heska, who four years later bought two marks of rent from demesne belonging to stephen of Księginice. the land register of the duchy of wrocław from the mid-14th century mentions two demesnes in Goldsmeden with a total of 10 mansi. in the light of later records, stephan's demesne was located in the southern part of the present village.in 1360, nicholas of Zybiszów took over his property, and then Michael runge, a burgher from leśnica, also mentioned as von Goltschmeden.in 1394, his heirs sold a 4 1/2 mansi demesne in wenigen Gold schmieden, located near the village of Jerzmanowo on the bystrzyca river.later, the small Złotniki demesne often passed from hand to hand of various citizen families (sub,V,367;rwn,109;rf,i,f. 187,190,191,194;KPw,no. 25). the relics of a wellpreserved motte type structure located in the southern part of the present park can be identified with the demesne in small Złotniki (fig.4:b). in the light of the results of the test trench excavations, the materials and documentation of which have been lost, in the central part of the mound there was a brick tower dated to the 13th-14th or 14th century (Pawłowski 1978a, 371;nowakowski 2017, 477).also, based on later records, we can identify the location of the aforementioned demesne of matron heska, which was taken over by nicholas of Zybiszów under unknown circumstances and sold in 1354 to otto Pincerna and his wife agatha.from the content of the document, we know that the demesne with 4 1/2 mansi was located in the lower part of the village, opposite the bystrzyca river (versus fluvium Lesna).a year later, widow agatha sold the entire demesne, located in the lower part of the village, near the town of leśnica, to brothers bartholomeus and Mathias de Lezawicz.the aforementioned Mathias in 1359 mentioned as Matthias de Goltsmedin, granted half of the demesne as endowment to Kunegunda, the widow of the late bartholomeus, and a year later he sold the other half of the demesne to nicholas of wojczyce.at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, the property temporarily belonged to various knightly families (rf, i, f. 187, 188, 190; rś, iii, 59; iV, 601).the manor house in great Złotniki, now almost completely destroyed, was a much larger complex (fig.5:a), the main element of which was an imposing quadrilateral mound (motte) with economical section (bailey) adjacent to it (nowakowski 2017, 477, 478).from the first half of the 15th century, both demesnes in Złotniki belonged to successive burgher families as one estate.in 1444 anthony hornig's wife sold Gross und Klein Goltschmieden with the lord's seat (Gesäße) to dirsco stosch. in the second half of the 15th century, the owners of the village often changed, and we also know that during the fights for wrocław in 1459, the army of george of Poděbrady captured the manor house (hof/fortalicium Gold smeden) (rf,i,f. 191,194;aPwr.,amwr.,c 22,f. 35v.;eschenloer i,61;ii,289).both records refer to the manor house in great Złotniki, because in the light of archaeological research, the structure in small Złotniki was no longer in use in the 15th century.
based on the toponym, the foundation of the townspeople of wrocław is the lost demesne Katzen schinder, recently identified with a late medieval object (fig.6:a) located in a forest complex east of the village of buczki (Moepert 1935, 23, 24;Pawłowski 1978a, 218;nowakowski 2017, 217, 324, 325).its founder was probably Konrad reichenbach, a citizen from wrocław, known as Kaczinschinder, who in 1337 was the owner of demesne buczki (Parvum Buchwald).his sons were Peter, godinus, adolph and Konrad Katzenschinder, mentioned in the third and fourth decades of the 14th century.for some time, the property in question was owned by tyczko, the schulz of the village of buchwald, who transferred to his wife Margaret a 4-mansi demesne in Buchwald called Caczinshinder with a drawbridge (cum ponte fortalicii, qui vulgo czogebrucke nuncupatur).the es-tate remained in the hands of the Katzenschinder family until 1382, when it was bought by the von logau brothers (rs 5145,5880,6144,6227,6441,6514,6520,6654,6977;rf,i,usd,204;Pusch,iii,347).also the lost demesne Egilsjagt, located in the same forest complex, was probably founded by the townspeople of Środa Śląska, which was first mentioned in 1376. in the second half of the 14th century, it belonged to the Zweibrodt knightly family, while from 1445-1448 until the middle of the next century it was owned by the wrocław Mühlheim family (rf,i,70b,338;iV,3050,3077;aPwr.,amwr.,c 22,f. 62). the remnant of the demesne is probably a significantly damaged motte and bailey structure (nowakowski 2017, 324, 325).
as early as at the end of the 13th century, burgher properties in skałka were confirmed, while in the years 1337-1353 the local demesne belonged to the schertelzan family, from whom nicholas of neisse bought the land.skałka belonged to his descendants still after 1413, when it was taken over by the heirs of lutek of neisse (rs 3098, 5857, 6154, 6206, 6423; rf, iii, f. 307-309; rś, V, 51). a few years later, they also sold the estate, because in 1425 the village belonged to alex bank and his wife barbara, who transferred half of the property in skałka, including half of the manor house and the seat (Hofe und Gesäß) to Margaret, widow of nicholas of glatz. in 1467, an analogously defined property was bought from Kasper of glatz by Peter girdan. in the 16th century, the village was owned by Peter von Krickau, Melchior Polak and Kasper Polak from skałka (von Schalkaw) (KPw,no. 76;rf,i,f. 33a;iii,f. 310,311;aPwr.,amwr.,c 22,f. 25v).located in the bystrzyca river valley, the structure, currently significantly levelled, had the form of a manor house on a mound surrounded by a moat and rampart (fig.6:b).fragments of pottery from the second half of the 14th-19th century were found on the surface of the site.
the ownership and settlement situation was also complex in the village of gądów, which was established on the site of one of the demesnes associated with the neighbouring Jaszkotle.already in 1293, the owners of the allodium Iaschotel were the brothers Konrad and henry von reste.two demesnes in the village probably functioned already in the first half of the 14th century.we know that in 1354, townspeople of wrocław, henry and John von uhlenburch, sold an 8-mansi allodium in Jaszkotle to sybelin scheitler, while three years later the brothers John, andrew and henry von reste gave another allodium in the village to their mother, which in 1363 she transferred to her two elder sons.the allodium Jeschkittel, belonging to sybelin scheitler, was bought in 1362 by the knight Paul of gądów, who in 1378 purchased another demesne from the children of andrew von reste.Most probably, Paul's son was Martin of gądów, mentioned in 1404, who in 1418 sold the property and the village of Jaszkotle to burgher nicholas von der heide.his son John was mentioned in 1449 as the heir to the property in Jeschkittel das man ouch Gandaw nennet.the estate belonged to the von der heide family until 1506, when alex bank bought the village of Gandaw der Jeschkittel genannt from hieronymus von der heide's wife (sub, Vi, 121;rf, i, 134, 150-151, 154;aPwr., rep. 1b, no. 418f ;aPwr., amwr., 107, no. 3474;aawr., sygn. cc 9b;Pfeiffer 1929, 79;hoffmann 1977, 11-12).currently, the village of Jaszkotle is a small hamlet located less than half a kilometre north-west of gądów, where the remains of a manor house dated to the 14th century (fig.6:c) have survived, but its regular form rather suggests that it is a later structure (nowakowski 2017, 296, 297).
it cannot be ruled out that the structure in gądów Mały was built in the 14th century on the initiative of the wrocław townspeople.in the 13th century, plots of the cistercian nuns of trzebnica and the wrocław cathedral chapter functioned there, to which the superior rights also belonged later.the first secular owners of the local properties were recorded in 1336, when burgher nicholas brunonis sold to Peter glesil and Paul rutheni part of the allodium Gandow, from the heritage of their grandmother Perusza, who in the same year bequeathed the inventory of the local demesne to her grandchildren.in 1345 John brunonis purchased fig.6. digital terrain map of the fortified demesne and mottes: a -Katzenschinder; b -skałka; c -gądów; d -sadkówek (after geoportal.gov.pl) the 8-mansi demesne of gądów from burgher Merkelo schertelzan.still in the same year, John of luxemburg allowed him to incorporate the demesne, one part of which he received as a fief from the bishop of wrocław, and the other from the trzebnica monastery.in the second half of the 14th century, the village often changed owners, and finally, from 1371, it was owned by wrocław canons (rs 5676, 5680; aawr., sygn.bb 26, 28, 32-34; rś, i, 266, 343).unfortunately, this structure was also destroyed as a result of the expansion of the city and is now known (fig.5:b) from archaeological archive materials (Turmhügel) and modern cartography (Kramarek 1963, 163, 194, 195;Kaletynowie, lodowski 1968, 158;Pawłowski 1978a, 369).with the demesne in Ślęza-lasowo (lohe) is identified the allodium advocati de Wratislavia mentioned around 1300. in the first half of the 14th century, this property often changed owners, when it belonged to various knightly and burgher families.in the years 1359-1371, the demesne was owned by nicholas of Krakau and in 1383, Konrad, a wrocław burgher, bought the property from his son, for the Vogt of Jawor.three years later, Paul stengil owned two demesnes located next to each other on the Ślęza river, called Laa and Rusin. in 1409 his son Paul sold to Paul dumlose the village and demesne Lo with manor house and seat (Hofe und Gesäße).between 1419 and 1470, the village and seat belonged to the bank family, and then to Jan rindfleisch (lf, b, 50;rs 3187, 3324, 6044, 6063, 6556;rf, i, f. 207-211;rś, iV, 474;Pfeiffer 1929, 108).the seat mentioned in written sources should be identified with a brick, originally four-storey residential tower (fig.7:a) dated to the end of the 14th-15th century (degen 1965, 161-163;KZs, iV/2, 135-137;chorowska 2003, 147;eysymontt 2010, 343).the objects described above can be considered with high probability as founded by the townspeople.from the discussed period, we also know examples of several fortified manor houses that originally belonged to knightly families, and then were taken over by the citizens.such was the situation in bieńkowice, after which the knights who lived there called them- we do not know whether gerusza, the widow of hermann von Zülz, had any family ties with the lords of bieńkowice, but in 1340 she with her son Peter sold the allodium Benkowicz cum curia fortalicio to burgher Peter stengel for 115 marks.the estate belonged to the buyer's family until 1425 (rs 6290, 6466;rf, i, f. 8b, 9a;Pfeiffer 1929, 177).unfortunately, we do not know anything about the remains of this structure, which probably functioned in the same place as postmedieval palace (fig.5:c) (nowakowski 2017, 262, 263). in 1311 duke henry Vi of wrocław gave the village of gniechowice to knight frederic von waldau as a pledge, and in 1337 hermann reichenbach sold half of the village he inherited from his father and grandfather to citizen nicholas sitten.later, the reichenbachs often sold and mortgaged the local properties to various burgher families, but eventually gniechowice was in their hands again. in 1346, they divided the property, after which stephan took over the village (rs 3232, 5845, 6059; rf, i, f. 178; rś, i, 798).its last owner from the reichenbach family was hermann, mentioned at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, who in 1402 sold the village with the manor house and seat (Hofe und Gesasse) to burghers of legnica nicholas and Peter ungeraten and Jacob schwarz.from 1425 to the end of the 15th century, the entire village of gniechowice belonged to the ungeraten family (rf,i,aawr.,sygn. cc.27;aPwr.,amwr.,107,no. 4950;rep. 66,no. 697b,717b).the defensive and residential structure located in the village was completely destroyed, and we can draw conclusions about its appearance based on archaeological archive materials and a view from the mid-18th century (fig.8:a). it is believed that it was at least a three-story residential tower, built on an oval mound surrounded by a moat (degen 1965, 57;KZs, iV/2, 22;eysymontt 2010, 260, 261;nowakowski 2017, 211, 212, 300, 301).
Knight henry von Kalow, known from the years 1342-1351, was mentioned in written sources as the hereditary lord of the village of Pracze or as henry in the first quarter of the 15th century, burgher beda Villen/willen owned a plot there, and in 1479, his descendant nicholas beda.later, the property in Pracze belonged to several other burgher families, while in the years 1508-1528 the village with the church fief and inn was owned by nicholas uthmann, and after him by Kasper dompnig (rs 6976-7, 6984, 6987; rś, i, 842; ii, 27; rf, ii, f. 1064-1069; iii, f. 2520; iV, f. 2612; KPw, no.106; aPwr., amwr., c 22, f. 12).Most likely, the von Kalow family had some fortified seat in the village, which was taken over by the townspeople along with the property.it probably functioned in the same place as the post-medieval manor house located on the edge of the widawa river valley (fig.5:d). in the 13th century, a masonry duke's manor house probably functioned in leśnica, located north of wrocław.we do not know whether it was located in the same place as the later lord's manor, or what was its fate from the end of the 13th century, after the town incorporation.Perhaps it was taken over by a hereditary town Vogt.after the mid-14th century, this office was bought by the citizens of wrocław. in 1410, John seidenberg's widow sold the mill in leśnica to Michael bank, and six years later the Vogt's office. in 1419, the new owner handed over to his brother-in-law, Peter stronchen, the town with a market, seat (Gesäß oder Gebeude) and the Vogt's office, which he accepted back in 1420. in the same year, Michael bank obtained from King sigismund approval to build a new masonry house in leśnica (den Bau und das Mauerverk seines Hauses, das er von Grund auf neu errichtet und gemauert).the widow of Michael bank, Katherine, sold the town with the house (Haus) in 1438 to burgher francis Krickaw. the defensive structure in leśnica (fortalicium/hofe Lissa) played a certain military role in 1459 during the fights for wrocław.we hear about the owners of the town again as late as in 1494, when John beyer and christopher schebitz sold it to brothers John and wenceslas hornig (rf, ii, f. 607, 610-614;Pfeiffer 1929, 177;gläser 1939, 3, 4;eschenloer i, 61;ii, 289, 291).the oldest elements of the current renaissancebaroque palace dated to the first half of the 15th century are stone cellars of the house and perhaps the perimeter wall surrounding the adjacent courtyard.the southern tract with an entrance tower in the east and three corner cylindrical turrets is associated with the second phase (fig.9), dated to the second quarter of the 16th century (brzezowski 1998; chorowska 2003, 64-66).
the present village of Jarnołtów (arnoldsmühle) was originally a mill, which was named after its owner arnold, a burgher of legnica mentioned in the second half of the 13th century. in 1340 and 1341, knight henry von gerstenberg pledged the mill to John Perske and John von schellendorf.a year later, fig. 9. Plans of the manor house in leśnica with chronological stratification of the walls: a -after Jerzy rozpędowski (1978, p. 496); b -after wojciech brzezowski (1998, p. 44) there were mentioned properties belonging to the latter in Arnoldi molendino, which he soon sold, as already in 1348 they were owned by citizen nicholas von burg, in 1359 mentioned as Nicolao de Borch, residenti in Arnoldsmühle.ludwig von burg in 1373 sold Jarnołtów, which later changed owners frequently (sub, iii, 163, iV, 120; rs 6389, 6584, 6984; rf, f. i, 6b, 7a; ii, f. 742).there are no known remains of the lord's seat in the vicinity of the present village.it is probable that one of the buildings forming a compact complex served residential functions (fig.5:e). in written sources, such objects were referred to as mill manors 1 .
Manor houses froM the 15th to the first third of the 16th century due to the already emphasized poor state of research, we cannot say much about the formal transformations of manor houses in the third of the discussed periods, i.e. after the hussite wars and during the turmoil of war in the third quarter of the 15th century. in the literature, it was pointed out that new fortification solutions adapted to use in firearms combat first appeared in cities and large state castles, and only later in private country residences (guerquin 1957, 26-28;Kwaśniewski 2005, 130-132, 138;nowakowski 2008, 230-242, 313, 314).as it seems, initially such elements were wide moats and massive external ramparts, which, equipped with wooden fences and staffed with people, could actively participate in the defence of a fortalice.Perhaps the preserved remains of grand fortifications in the manors in Magnice, skałka and Złotniki described above should be dated to the 15th century.interesting data in this context is provided by the description of the seat in stabłowice. in the 14th century, various burgher and knightly families owned properties here, centred around two demesnes in the northern and southern parts of the village.Probably already at that time, there was some lord's seat at the southern demesne, near the church.after numerous changes of owners, before 1370 the estate was acquired by the von schellendorf knightly family, and in 1404 its representative, John, sold the village with 1 1317: John rymbaba sold to Kilian von haugwitz property in Piotrowice, including dimidium molendinum cum dimidia curia (rs 3684); 1353: burgher John schertelzan sold to nicholas of neisse a demesne in skałka cum curia molendino (rf, iii, f. 308).
demesne and manor house (Fuhrwergk und Hofe) to the burgher andrew Peiseler.fifteen years later, Paul wiener bought stabłowice with the demesne, manor house and seat (mit dem fuhrwergk, Hoffe und Gesäß) from andrew's widow. in 1492 brothers christopher and georg schwentz sold the property of stabłowice to burgher Kasper Popplau and King Vladislaus ii allowed him to rebuild the manor house using bricks and wood and to fortify it with a moat and a Fuhr wergken (rf, iV, f. 2665-2673, 2677, 2688, 2689).the term Fuhrwergken (Vorwerken) used in the document meant some external fortification, probably roundels (nowakowski 2021, 212).the significantly transformed remains of the manor house in stabłowice were incorporated into a park in the 19th century, and the only perceptible elements of it today are the surrounding ditches.we know the modern appearance of this object from cartographic and iconographic sources (figs.5:f; 8:b).
we know an example of a well-preserved small motte type complex from the village of nowiny (fig.4:c).at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, fragments of a brick tower were still visible on the plateau of the mound, and a layer with fragments of bricks, lime mortar and a small amount of pottery from the 14th-16th century were unearthed in a small test trench (Pawłowski 1978a, 294-295;1978b, 249;nowakowski 2017, 375).the village of nowiny can be identified with abandoned demesne (wüsten Fuhr wergk) mentioned in 1506, which was owned by Peter hornig along with the neighbouring Królikowice.in 1560, bartholomeus hornig and his son John sold the nowiny demesne, once called an empty demesne (das Fuhrwergk, so vor alten des Wüste Fuhrwergk und jetzo zum Neuen genandt wird) to Peter beyer (rf, ii, f. 543; iV, f. 3011; domański 1967, 110).a lord's seat in sadkówek was built in place of an older manor house.its main element is a large quadrilateral mound surrounded by a moat (fig.6:d), with the ruins of an early post-medieval residence with remains of a medieval tower. in the description of the structure from 1655, it was stated that on a mound surrounded by a moat and a rampart, there were two wooden, two-story buildings, including one with brick cellars (degen 1965, 149, 150; nowakowski 2017, 210, 418).the demesne parva Schotka, belonging to knight Pakoslaus Maltitz, was mentioned in 1346.from the 1360s to 1411, it belonged to the wrocław citizens, the brothers John, gotko and reinhard of guben, and then probably to the son of the second brother, francs gotke.later, for over seventy years , sadkówek was owned by the Jenkwitz family, after which it changed owners several times, and finally, in 1488, together with the neighbouring sadków, it went to Jan Prockendorf.the estate belonged to representatives of this family until the 1530s and 1540s (rf, iii, f. 2428, 2432, 2437, 2440, 2441, 2444;Pusch iii, 273;wichelhaus 1938, 166, 167;aPwr., amwr., c 22, f. 19). the purchase of the estate in sadkówek, with the lord's seat, was probably related to John Prockendorf obtaining the right of patronage over the church in neighbouring sośnica, which he expanded with his wife Katherine stronchen in the years 1485-1504 (degen 1965, 282).at the beginning of the 16th century, the construction of the manor house in wojnowice began.it cannot be ruled out that this building also took the place of an older seat, because in the 14th and 15th centuries several knight families owned property in the village, including the lords of wojnowice mentioned in the years 1382-1414.in 1511, for a short time, these properties were owned by the burgher christopher hornig, and after him, they were taken over by Melchior schewitz (aawr., sygn. tt 1, tt 8, n 10;rf, iV fol. 2979-2983;seifert 1926, 491).according to the inscription on the preserved foundation plaque, in 1513 (fig.10:a) he also built the castle in wojnowice.(Kutzner 1990;chorowska 2003, 184, 185;eysymontt 2010, 357, 358). in place of a medieval knight seat, a manor house in smolec was built, which from the beginning of the 14th century was the seat of a family named after it.originally located in smolec Mały, the structure was often noted in sources as area propugnaculi quod vul gariter in Wahl [nominatur] (1357), das Wahl (1405), Waal und Gesäß darbey (1421) and Waal, Gesäß (1452) (rf, iii, f. 2344-2353).based on the quoted source data, including the term rampart (Wahl/Waal), in this case meaning a mound, it was assumed that originally the seat in smolec had the form of a mottetype complex with a masonry residential tower, the remains of which were recognized in the southern wing of the renaissance manor house (nowakowski 2017, 83, 428-430; 2021, 208).the new building (figs.7:c; 8:c), dated based on the foundation plaque from 1523 still preserved in the period between the world wars, was built in the first quarter of the 16th century by nicholas uthmann, to whom smolec belonged from 1514 (rf, iii, f. 2356, 2357;Pfeiffer 1929, 238;degen 1965, 278, 279;chorowska 2003, 179).
despite their late-gothic character, the manor houses from wojnowice and smolec described above in their creations from the first half of the 16th century, represent a new type of renaissance residence with significantly reduced defensive values.an analogous example is the manor house in Komorowice, dated to the second quarter of the 16th century.it was founded by the wealthy wrocław patrician Melchior hirsch von Kaltenbrunn, who purchased the village in 1529.the structure was built on a vast mound surrounded by a moat and an external rampart, and access was provided by a wooden bridge (figs. 7:d; 8:d).the main element of the u-shaped complex is a residential house with a spacious vestibule, to which two wings with a decorative entrance portal, a kitchen and utility rooms adjoin on the north-east (degen 1965, 314; chorowska 2003, 183, 184).

ConClusions
the expansion of townspeople into the countryside surrounding big cities and their pursuit of nobil-ity (ennoblement) was a pan-european phenomenon which, as in the duchy of wrocław, reached its peak in the 14th century.a comparable example may be the activities of the Prague townspeople and their numerous residences, which were concentrated east of the towns of Prague (chotěbor, durdík 1999).the majority of wrocław manor houses belonging to the burghers were located within a distance of not more than 20 km from the city, in the area of the wrocław district or close to its border (leśnica, wojnowice).only two fortified lost demesnes, Katzenschinder and Egilsjagt, were located far from the capital of the duchy, just next to the town of Środa Śląska.this situation, of course, resulted from ownership relations.although the wrocław burghers owned estates throughout the duchy and even beyond its borders, most of them were concentrated around the city and the district associated with it (hoffmann 1989, 164-170; goliński 1991, 130-132).also for the wrocław townspeople, the purchase of a country estate under knightly law with a defensive seat was a way to ennoblement, as exemplified by the von reste and von Mühlheim families, referred to (Pfeiffer 1929, 63, 80) as feudalized merchants/burghers (feudalisierten Kaufleute/Bürger).we also know the opposite examples, when representatives of the knight state became citizens of cities by purchasing properties there, such as John Pless and probably lords of różanka.
taking into account the state of preservation and research of burgher seats, it can be stated that this situation reflects the general state of research on private feudal seats in silesia.Many of them were destroyed as a result of the extension of the urban agglomeration, and the preserved structures are mostly poorly examined both archaeologically and architecturally.such circumstances makes it much more difficult to draw conclusions about their chronology and formal changes.in the light of the collected source materials, in the 14th-15th centuries, the most popular type of rural burgher residence were single-segment mottetype structures with a wooden or brick residential tower. in the case of two-segment structures, at least some of them can be interpreted as remains of fortified demesnes.a slightly larger scale complex was a stone manor house from leśnica with a long residential house, probably with a walled courtyard and a second wing.some changes in the architecture and defence systems of manor houses took place during the 15th century.at that time, the usable area of the mounds increased, more and more often they were built on the plan of regular quadrilaterals.defensive systems adapted to the use of firearms were developed, the main elements of which were wide moats, massive external ramparts and roundels (stabłowice).the new horizon of burgher foundations is marked by magnificent residences built from the first decades of the 16th century (wojnowice, smolec, Komorowice).
issues requiring clarification include the chronology and form of the oldest structures, and thus the answer to the question whether there were any residential buildings in demesnes owned by burghers already in the 13th century? in the case of manor houses purchased on the secondary market, the results of archaeological and architectural research can provide data to determine the relationship of new owners to these structures.it is known that some of them were purchased together with landed properties as real estate investments. in the case of structures belonging to one family for several dozen years, the key problem to explain is the scale of construction works.were they simple modernizations and adaptations of the house and its surroundings for residential and economic needs, or were they larger scale construction investments? the possibility of obtaining new data, which may allow the answering of some of these research questions, can only be provided by archaeological and architectural research conducted in an integrated manner.