"Stary sługa" jako przedmiot badań nad klientelizmem magnackim na Litwie w XVII wieku
ENThe aim of the article is to confront the literary topos of “the old servant” (in both the magnate’s worthy old friend and the worn-out pauper variants) with the social practice of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The sources were drawn from the Radziwiłł Archives in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. The main topics addressed are: 1. the status and number of old servants in the clientele system and in the structure of the magnate court; 2. the relationship between servants and patrons in the courts of old magnates; 3. the postulated and real extent of patrons’ support of old servants and their families. The article explores the legal status of “servants”, who in accordance with the 3rd Lithuanian Statute were treated as a separate social group, less privileged than local gentry in terms of property and judicature, but also as part of the patron’s "family", i.e. clientele. [...] It is concluded that although generally “old servants” enjoyed high status and as a group played an important role in recruiting new court members and clients by co-opting, in raising the patron’s children, managing his estates and the public activity of his political faction, the individual position and status of the old servant dependent primarily on his personal relationship with the magnate. The status of old servants and their relations with the patron were verified in every phase of their lives, especially when they aged and ceased to be at the patron’s disposal in all situations. [...].
