Radzilow on River Kubrzenica [Also known as the Kubrzanka]

[Polish] King Zygmunt I [Also known as Zygmunt I Stary (Old), English: Sigismund I, 1467 - 1548, King from 1506], re-certified in 1527 the decree from 1525 of Janusz, the [Grand] Duke of Mazovia granting the sheaf tithe tax (decimam manipularem) paid to the Parson of Radzilow and urged the Starosta [Sub Prefect of the County] of Wizna to watch that the burghers of Radzilow [spelled Radzylowa in the original text] fully paid this tax. According to the 1616 lustration [tax census] Radzilow [spelled Radzilowo] has good soil, they use the [very advanced at that time] rotation of three crops, total area is 62 wlokas [one "Polish wloka" equals 16.796 hectares or 41.99 acres], the town owns 49 wlokas and pay from each wloka 20 groszy tax in addition to 6 korzec [in Poland, a unit of capacity, 128 liters about 3.63 U.S. bushels] of oats and 3 korzec of wheat. The brewers use [each brewer?] 8 korzec of grain and from this they pay 6 measures, what makes a half of a korzec [meaning unclear] [tax]. They also pay one grosz tax for the malt they use. On Sunday, there is a meat and grain market. From each animal [slaughtered], a shoulder is taken as tax, and from the market fees the gain is 10 florins. The total tax income for the town is 312 florins and 8 grosz. There is a large pond close to the town on the Kubrzanka [also known as Kubrzenica] River; however, it is overgrown. There is a two-wheel water mill on this pond, and despite the fact that sometimes there is no water, the tax income from this mill is 67 florins. Jedrzej Swiecicki, the Clerk of Nur, who lived at that time, noted that the people from this area have restless [unruly] minds - ingenia gentis inquieta et factiosa.

The lustration of year 1660 noted: a town on River Kubrzenica, was located long time ago on 63 wlokas, from which the office of the Wojt [head of the village/town] has 8 wlokas. During time of war, when the citizenship [understood as the Nobility only] is called to service, the burghers of Radzilow have to provide one quarter of the money and provisions that the burghers of Wizna provide.  When a special tax named coronationis is requested, the burghers of Radzilow should pay 3 florins. The last [before partition of Poland] lustration from 1789 states: Radzilow [spelled Radzillow] on the River Stucza, located in the County of Wizna, is a separate administrative unit. It has its own Civil [Land] courts. Is located on 63 wlokas, of which only 43 belong to the town as the burghers describe and also according to older lustrations. There is no town hall building in this town, there is even no town office, and the church is frame and not masonry [this means that the town was quite poor]. The forest was cut and only shrubs remain in its place, they have a good area of meadows and pastures. The location of the town is quite good, and they have 71 old houses. The town has its own charter from the Dukes of Mazovia and the [Polish] Kings, who inherited the titles of the Grand Dukes of Mazovia. The total yearly income from the town is 1006 zloty and 5 groszy, half of this sum is paid to the Crown.

* Source: "Historical, Geographic, and Statistical Description of Ancient Poland by Michal Balinski and Tymoteusz Lipinski"; Warsaw, S. Olgerbrand, Publisher and Printer, a bookstore owner on Miodowa Street Number 496, 1845, permitted by the Office of the State Censor [of the Russian Partition of Poland].

Translator's and editor's notes or definitions are entered in [brackets].
(Parentheses) in the translation appear here as they appeared in the original text.
Latin phrases in italics appear as they appear in the original text.

Translated from Polish by: Norman J. Pieniazek. Edited by: Jose Gutstein.