Wydatki na żywność w budżecie domowym żołnierzy polskich i litewskich w połowie XVII wieku

ENThe article is devoted to the share of expenditure on food in the household budget of Polish and Lithuanian soldiers in the mid-seventeenth century. The research focused primarily on military privates, mainly serving in the infantry and in the national cavalry contingent or enlistment, called autorament. The expenditures changed depending on the frequency of the pay, the wealth of a given soldier, and looting and plundering done by him. The analysis of the military’s purchasing potential was carried out by comparing prices on the free market and military bazaars with the legal income of soldiers. In an attempt to establish the food needs of seventeenth-century servicemen, contemporary findings on this topic are helpful. Using the soldiers’ average height established by anthropologists, it is possible to determine their weight and thus energy requirements. To determine a hypothetical menu of soldiers that would fulfill energy requirements and its costs, references to city prices, especially in Lviv, were made. The most popular products in the Commonwealth were taken into account: wholemeal rye bread, peas, beef, pork fat and beer. Vegetables, fruit, dairy products, fish and vegetable fats were not included due to a lack of research into their prices. Calculations were made for 1649 and 1654. They show that a military man had to spend about 40 per cent of his pay on food products. If the commander took a larger part of the pay to feed his subordinates, e.g. 50 per cent, it could have meant that the surplus was used to support the operation of the units at the back. Keywords: food costs, soldier’s rations, food history, military household budget, army in the 17th century. [From the publication]

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