Between Stagna on and Modernisa on. Economic and Social Transforma ons of Countryside in the Polish-Ruthenian Border in the Late Middle Ages (Example of Hrubieszów County)

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS: Grzegorz Jawor, the Ins tute of History of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, 4A Maria Curie-Skłodowska Square, Lublin 20-031, Poland; Małgorzata Kołacz-Chmiel, the Ins tute of History of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, 4A Maria Curie-Skłodowska Square, Lublin 20-031, Poland SOURCE OF FUNDING: Project of the Na onal Science Centre (Poland), decision no. 2018/29/B/HS3/01742, tled Source edi on XV-centry court records poviat Hrubieszów in Chelm land

The analysed area with the local centre in Hrubieszów was a small fragment of the territory in the Crown Ruthenia (knowns as the Red Ruthenia in Polish historiography), which was created as a result of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia's dissolution and its division that emerged as a consequence of a long-lasting confl ict between Poland and Lithuania. It ended with the union entered by these countries in 1385-1386. Political location of Hrubiszów's surroundings was complicated by Władysław Jagiełło who granted the lands with the centre in Belz as a fi efdom to the Mazovian Piasts in 1388. As a result, until 1462 -when incorporation of Belz Land took place -the analysed area was a territorial enclave surrounded by domains of the Polish kings' vassals. It was most likely due to this situation that in the 1420s Hrubieszów became a centre of an ephemeral judicial district closed around 1465 1 .
The end of the Middle Ages in the Crown Ruthenia's history is a period of initiating serious transformations that included all areas of life, whose common denominator was a pursuit of implementing legal, institutional, economic, and social devices to this area that had been already widespread earlier in other parts of the state. In historical literature this phenomenon is referred to as occidentalisation 2 . It terms of rural population, the process was primarily concerned with the economic and institutional reconstruction that ensued by dissemination of the elements of (German) rental law. Apart from dividing peasants' lands into fi elds and implementing regular triple cropping system, the most visible result of these changes was a reform of peasant duties for the benefi t of village owners, which meant that rent was imposed on them. The rural land was also introduced with the self-governing peasant judiciary in a form of rural bench led by village administrator (sołtys) 3 . The spread of this law, foreign for the Ruthenian countryside, meant a gradual liquidation of a local custom with its characteristic peasant homesteads (area, curia) -farms with diversifi ed, closely unidentifi ed areas, which were dependant on soil conditions, amount of land in a village, and grange's 1 R. Szczygieł, Hrubieszów w okresie staropolskim. Charakterystyka rozwoju miasta, w: Hrubieszów przez dzieje, red. R. Szczygieł, Hrubieszów 1990, s. 24; G. Jawor, Zaplecze osadnicze miasta w późnym średniowieczu, w: Dzieje Hrubieszowa, t. 1, Od pradziejów do 1918 roku, red. R. Szczygieł, Hrubieszów 2006, s. 112 61-72;J. Orzechowski, Okcydentalizacja Rusi Koronnej w XIV, XV i XVI w., w: Państwo, naród, stany w świadomości wieków średnich. Pamięci Benedykta Zientary 1929-1983, red. A. Gieysztor, S. Gawlas, Warszawa 1990. The mutual permeation of infl uences from two civilisation circles, social and cultural, in this area is also noticed by the post-war Ukrainian historiography, see: О. Яcь, Лeв Oкiншeвич "Між Заходом i Сходом", "Poзбудова Держави" 1997, 7-8, s. 105-106. 3 A. Gąsiorowski, Szerzenie się tz w. prawa niemieckiego na wsi śląskiej. Uwagi dyskusyjne, "Roczniki Historyczne" 1962, 28, s. 75-77. demands 4 . The most widespread form of duties were tributes made in honey or other natural products 5 , while the payments in money initially served a minor role, although over time and under the infl uence of the rental law, they were increasingly becoming more important 6 . The old-Ruthenian countryside was known for various forms of burdensome labours (serfdom) carried out for the village owner 7 . These sett lement units were led by chiefs known as watman or tywun, with competences that are poorly recognized in scholarship on the subject. Royal estates were often inhabited by a group of servants (servitores castri), whose origins date 4 One can notice a tendency to their measuring, evening out, and fi nally to identifying them with fi elds in some areas from the mid-15th century onwards, while in other areas -economically underdeveloped -only throughout the 16th century. However, in practice, even then their areas were rarely compliant with the norms. В.Ф. Інкін, Дворище и лан в королевских имениях Галичины в XVI-XVIII вв., "Материалы по истории селського хозяйства и крестьянства СССР" 1974, 8, s. 27-41;F. Persowski, Osady na prawie ruskim, polskim, niemieckim i wołoskim w ziemi lwowskiej. Studium z dziejów osadnictwa, Lwów 1927, s. 12-16. 5 These tributes derive from a former old-Ruthenian law and are mentioned already in the 13th century -Економічна історія України: Історико-економічне дослідження, t. 1, red. В.М. Литвин et al., Київ 2011, s. 309-310. Apart from serfdom and small rents, their presence can be noted already in the 16th century. They were usually paid in honey, wax, grain, furs, and beaver, squirrel, and fox skins, but also in the form of: farm catt le and poultry, linen, hemp, cheeses, butt er, eggs, and fi sh -М.К. Любавский, Областное деление и местное управление Литовско-русского государства ко времени издания первого Литовского статута, Mocквa 1892, s. 13, 15, 56; М.В. Довнар-Запольский, Государственное хозяйство Великого княжества Литовского при Ягеллонах, t. 1, Киев 1901, s. 113-114, Економічна, s. 341, 344-345. On the presence of these types of tributes in the areas of Chełm Land, see: M. Kołacz-Chmiel, Społeczności chłopskie ziemi chełmskiej w późnym średniowieczu, Lublin 2009, s. 50-52. 6 From the mid-15th century it is possible to observe a gradual replacement of tributes paid in natural products by payments in money (see: Економічна, s. 345). 7 Applying this form of feudal duties, carried out by the so-called "tiahli" people, took place in the Ruthenian territories before introducing the German law and it has a very long tradition -В.Ф. Інкін, Сільське суспільство Галицького Прикарпаття у XVI-XVIII століттях: історичні нариси, Львів 2004, s. 151. In the later period is was adopted by the new system, which is confi rmed by the presence of "kmethones laborantes" and "kmethones laborativi" already in the 16th century -Archiwum Państwowe w Lublinie  1564-1565, cz. 1, red. K. Chłapowski, L. Żytkowicz, Warszawa 1992A. Fastnacht, Osadnictwo ziemi sanockiej w latach 1340-1650, Wrocław 1962Д.Л. Похилевич, Крестьяне Белоруссии и Литвы в XVI-XVIII вв., Львов 1957, s. 28-40. As a result, in many areas of the Ruthenian lands, the dominating form of the feudal rent was still the socage in various forms -А. Гурбик, Аграрна реформа в Україні XVI ст., Київ 1997, s. 34; Економічна, s. 341. back to the Early Middle Ages, and who did various specialized works or objects for the rulers 8 .
The subject of our analysis is the micro-region sett lement where towards the end of the 15th century 42 sett lements could exist, of which 32 villages were recorded in the sources from the fi rst half this century, although the actual date of establishing many of them is probably going back to old-Ruthenian times 9 . Focusing research eff orts on this small area allows for an in-depth analysis of modernising processes that took place there. However, the aim of this research is not only to defi ne quantitative relations between the sett lements governed by the Ruthenian law and those organised in accordance with the principles of the German law. A lot of detailed issued need to be resolved, particularly the following: defi ning a group of people who initiated these transformations together with defi ning their ethnic and institutional identity, and territorial background; presenting various means of transplanting the rental law devices to the local area; and also, pointing out the factors which made certain groups and communities hold on to old solutions and resisted the reforms arriving from the west. Thesis on ethnical contexts of the German law, which appears in historical literature, also requires a new assessment. This will refer to an att empt to emphasise the issue of relations between the dissemination of a new custom and the infl ux of foreign people to the local, Ruthenian community 10 .  Law" and their origin, "Speculum" 1951, 26, 2, s. 255-264. 9 G. Jawor,Zaplecze,s. 115. 10 Connections between the location of the basis of the German law and the infl ux of population from the west were present in earlier historical literature (see: A. Gąsiorowski, Ze studiów nad szerzeniem się tz w. prawa niemieckiego we wsiach ziemi krakowskiej i sandomierskiej, "Roczniki Historyczne" 1960, 26, s. 166; B. Zientara, Cudzoziemcy w Polsce X-XV wieku: ich rola w zwierciadle polskiej opinii średniowiecznej, w: Swojskość i cudzoziemszczyzna w dziejach kultury polskiej, red. Z. Stefanowska, Warszawa 1973, s. 17, idem, Henryk Brodaty i jego czasy, Warszawa 1975. In the areas of the Ruthenian land, these views were associated in the earlier historiography with the presence of anti-schismatic provisions in the documents of foundation issued by Władysław Jagiełło (discussion on scholarship, see: A. Janeczek, "Exceptis schismaticis". Upośledzenie Rusinów w przywilejach prawa niemieckiego Władysława Jagiełły, "Przegląd Historyczny" 1984, 75, 3, s. 527-528). However, we can fi nd a verifi cation of this view in this historian's works. Although he notices in the town centres a close relationship with the conferral of the German right, but he nevertheless has serious doubts whether this model was also applied in the cases of the rural sett lements.
The analysis of notes included in the judicial sources will be the foundation for this examination. The most prominent is a relatively small -in terms of its content -handwritt en book recording court years of Hrubieszów from 1429-1465, kept at the State Archives in Lublin 11 . In its nature, the book is a secondary unit which was created later as a result of sewing together separate cards or fragments of contributions constituting record of cases under consideration at this court's sessions. Apart from paleographic problems, the access to its contents is hindered by chronological mix-up of cards and -fi rst and foremost -their poor condition (numerous faded fragments, awash and chipped text). Some new information was also obtained by research into handwritt en court registers of Chełm and Krasnystaw, on cards of which people from the area of Hrubieszów sometimes appear. Sources of diplomatic nature also turned out to be important for the discussed topic. Material until 1450 was published in print by Stanisław Kuraś and Irena Sułkowska-Kuraś 12 , while those from the second half of the century were collected during the research into the resources of The Crown Metrics (Metryka Koronna). Unfortunately, there are no late medieval sources concerning taxes, goods inventories, inspections, etc., of the discussed area, owing to which it could According to him, there was no possibility to exclude the schismatics (in fact, it was the local Ruthenian population) from the scope of the new legal solutions due to a small infl ux of sett lers-Catholics, and also the existence of villages which were mixed in terms of religion and ethnicity, where the abovementioned divisions did not always mean that various legal models were applied. The exclusion of the Orthodox population from the possibility to transfer to the German law was also disappearing very quickly there (idem, Polska ekspansja osadnicza w ziemi lwowskiej w XV-XVI wieku, "Przegląd Historyczny" 1978, 69, 1978idem Kuraś, Wrocław 1975. be possible to try to describe some phenomena in the form of statistics. The oldest records of this kind date back to the fi rst decades of the 16th century, but the att empt to use them in order to approximate the earlier realities -on the basis of anticipation -brings forward fundamental methodological doubts. At the turn of the 15th and 16th century, the areas of the Crown Ruthenia were invaded by exceptionally damaging Tatar att acks 13 , and they were probably not missed by a plague reported in the neighbouring territories of Volhynia and Lublin Land 14 . In some regions they led to a deep destruction of the sett lement fabric inherited from the Middle Ages. Against this background, the register of the ferto tax (wiardunek) of Chełm Land from 1510, off ers a lot to consider. Among 16 villages which used to belong to the County of Hrubieszów, as many as 9 were thought of as having damages which prevented payments. Even Hrubieszów was exempted from taxes -due to damages -since the times of Alexander Jagiellon 15 . In the remaining sett lements only individual tax payers survived and only in one of them -Stefankowice -a tax on mill and pope, apart from the arable land, was recorded 16 .
At the present state of knowledge, it is uncertain what rules were followed while recovering from these damages and, in particular, whether this process accelerated the dissemination of the German law. We are unable to determine whether it took place due to the energy of local people who survived the raids, or whether immigrants from other areas were involved. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that accepting the turn of the 15th and 16th century as the fi nal date of our analysis is justifi ed as it marks a certain phase in the history of sett lement in this area.

TOWARDS MODERNISATION. SPREADING THE GERMAN LAW
According to separate research, the German law was spreading in the areas of Chełm Land (which included the County of Hrubieszów) by both the formal founding of new sett lements and the relocation of those already existing; however, in the majority of cases it was done as a result of a spontaneous reception of its elements in individual villages. 13 H. Gmiterek, W czasach staropolskich (XVI-XVIII wieku), w: Dzieje, s. 127. 14 A. Walawender, Kronika klęsk elementarnych w Polsce i w krajach sąsiednich w latach 1450-1586, t. 1, Zjawiska meteorologiczne i pomory, Lwów 1932, s. 192-193. 15  In the latt er case, it was done without any formal document 17 . This also happened in other regions of Poland. As a consequence, a small number of the preserved founding privileges is accompanied by an observation that the infl uence of this law was in fact much greater, reaching even 100% of rural sett lements in individual areas in the Late Middle Ages 18 . Formal founding of a place on the basis of the German law was carried out in 1425 in the villages of an Orthodox ruler of Chełm: Ślipcze and Kosmów, creating for them a joint administrative unit (sołectwo). Document of foundation was not preserved, we only know about it from a short summary presented in the work by V.M. Ploshchanski. In 1428 it included as many as 6 fi efs of arable land, mills, and a right to fi shing in the Bug, Wołynka, and Konotopa Rivers 19 . They were also listed on the occasion of a few alienations and arguments over administrative unit, which took place in the 1460s. At the time, a watchtower 20 and a mill 21 were mentioned in this area. The founder and the fi rst village administrator (sołtys) was Wawrzyniec Strączek, who six years earlier -as the owner of Bzowiec -had been a benefactor, together with other noblemen, of the parish church in Chłanów (Chełm Land) 22 . Writing about this foundation, Tadeusz. M. Trajdos noticed its nature, which deviated from the then standards. Władysław Jagiełło usually did not grant new privileges to the Orthodox Church, only sometimes he confi rmed the existing ones. There is no doubt that even though Strączek was a Pole and a Catholic, "the eagerness of the Polish nobility's patronage did not obscure a practical calculation of 17  The analysis conducted above allows to present a few hypotheses. In the case of villages of Ślipcze and Kosmów, the process of legal reorganisation of sett lements previously ruled by the Ruthenian law began in 1425. The ruler of Chełm as well as the local noblemen (regardless of their ethnos), who in various times held there the position of village administrators, were keenly interested in the successful implementation of this process. There is no evidence for an infl ux of new Polish sett lers to these villages. Wawrzyniec Strączek appears to be a person who had at his 23 "gorliwość kolatorska polskiej szlachty nie przesłaniała trzeźwej kalkulacji interesu, nawet wtedy, gdy w grę wchodziło wejście w lenny stosunek zależności wobec prawosławnego dostojnika". T.M. Trajdos, Biskupi prawosławni w monarchii Jagiełły, "Nasza Przeszłość" 1986, 66 disposal a suitable knowledge and experience, which were necessary in carrying out this enterprise. Perhaps he should be referred to as a foundation entrepreneur, for whom it was a reward to favourably exchange the life of the administrative unit, which had emerged, for the instruments of the ownership of the village of Sitno.
The location of Putnowice, situated at the northern outskirts of Hrubieszów County, took a diff erent route. The receivers of the king's privilege from 1427 were the owners of the village, Anna, the widow of Walkosz, and her son, Stanisław. Both the terminology as well as the subsequent content of the document prove that they were Catholics. As in the case discussed above, the village had already existed so the issue concerned its actual relocation 29 . Particular att ention should be given to the exclusion of Orthodox Christians from benefi tt ing from these transformations and the order to continue their older customs 30 . In the light of Andrzej Janeczek's research, the exceptis schismaticis formula proves the planning of the colonising action with the use of immigrants arriving from the west. This exclusion applied to the Ruthenian population even when this group converted to Catholicism 31 . However, one should not prejudge the scale of this ethnic segregation, which was limited in time to Władysław Jagiełło's reign. This notion -similarly to the ban on the Ruthenians' moving to the Wallachian villages in the fi rst half of the 15th century in the areas of the Crown Ruthenia -was probably abandoned due to the demand for sett lers in the era of an increased colonising eff orts 32 . In the case of Putnowice, it would have been illogical to apply the exceptis schismaticis principle, if there were no Polish serfs in this village at the time of the foundation. Therefore, it should be assumed that the legal transformation taking place there was based on the migrations of "foreign" people.
In the case of Oburków -a sett lement which does not exist at the moment, but was mentioned in the sources from 1444 onwards and most 29  Need for new sett lers was so bit that their owners were notoriously breaking the law already in the 15th century, bringing Ruthenians to the Wallachian villages, risking prosecution for taking fugitives in. Therefore, the eff ort to separate villages' privileged communities from the local origins of newcomers -G. Jawor, Osady prawa wołoskiego i ich mieszkańcy na Rusi Czerwonej w późnym średniowieczu, Lublin 2004, s. 173-175. likely existed in the vicinity of the town of Gozdawa 33 founded in the mid-16th century -no information on the time and circumstances of the founding were preserved. Important information, perhaps having elements of the lost document of foundation are in a note from 1463 on the sale of an administrative unit in this village, fi nalised for 30 grzywny by Mikołaj, the owner of Oburków on behalf of his sister Beata, the wife of Jan of Nowosiedlce. The local village administrator had at his disposal the so-called Kuźmiński fi eld, half of the fi eld known as Tomkowskie, and Dąbrowa fi eld; moreover, he had 1/6 of rents collected from peasants, 1/3 of claimed penalties. He was exempted from participating in war campaigns, he could fi sh in the pond, but he could also grain all cereals in the local mill for free 34 . It is worth noting that the above-mentioned Mikołaj, is referred to as "Bzowski" and in one case his nickname, "Strączek", was also given 35 . This brings forward the obvious associations with the already known fi gure of Wawrzyniec Strączek of Bzowiec -who carried out the foundation of the villages of Ślipcze and Kosmów in 1425. Perhaps he was his son. This statement captures the suggestion that the founding of Oburków, most likely in cruda radice, is also the doing of this family. Very few preserved names of the residents of this sett lement can suggest their Ruthenian origins. Apart from the abovementioned Kuźmiński fi eld (from "Kuźma"), one should also mention one serf, Borys, who was accused of digging up 80 grzywny that belonged to the miller, Paweł, before his death 36 . This hypothesis is already supported by the already discussed event of selling the administrative unit in Oburków in 1463. For one of the entitlements of its buyer was a share in a payment -typical of the Ruthenian lands -known as kunica, paid in the event of a woman marrying outside of the estates' borders 37 . All the discussed evidence suggests that the Ruthenians were also subjected to the German law in Oburków, while the att ribution of payments known as kunica to the village administrator may prove his belonging to the Ruthenian custom.
The remaining information on modernising scale of the village sett lements in the vicinity of Hrubieszów does not allow for any closer analysis 33  of circumstances due to its concise nature. In Brodzica (Bohurodica) 38 , which existed at least from the turn of the 14th and 15th century -the village administrator in 1429 was Janusz who at the time served in a group of assessors at the court sessions 39 . Village administrator Maciej Puszkowicz, and then three years later Steczko 40 , is present in Szpikołosy (listed at the same time as Brodzica) in 1447. In Dobromierzyce (mentioned in the records for the fi rst time in 1453) -founded probably already in the 15th century -this function was held in 1454-1462 by a nobleman, Jan 41 . Interesting legal situation was in the royal Czerniczyn. Part of this settlement was inhabited by servants who remained in the Ruthenian areas to the modern times. This was a privileged group, people who were obliged to serve for a local prefect (starosta), but were exempted from serf burdens. Performing duty of military nature in particular was becoming a chance to obtain and maintain a status of nobility 42 42 The legal status of borough's servants in Ruthenia is referred to in the sources as servitores curienses and is identifi ed with a group of people -present in early medieval Poland -known as milites castrenses or rulers from the pre-immunity period, which is indicated by the fact that some of them had a hereditary rights to land -K. Buczek  ryczno-Filozofi czny", serya II, 1902, 17, s. 14, 23-24;A. Fastnacht, op. cit., s. 232. Similar practice of social advancement in this category of population was noticed by A. Sochacka in the village of Słotwiny. See: A. Sochacka, Drobna szlachta w województwie lubelskim w średniowieczu, "Rocznik Lubelski" 1983 Status of this group of people -which was not completely defi ned -could have helped with this kind of advancement. On the other hand, crossing state borders by the representatives of this category of population can mean that at present it is diffi cult to unambiguously place it in specifi c frames of social divisions established in historiography. An example of doubts in researching this issue is the opinion by A. Wyrobisz who believes that the legal status of this population was not entirely clear in the areas of Ruthenian land. According to him, it is diffi cult to decide a note was made regarding Piotr, a falconer from this village. His high rank in the local hierarchy of prestige is evidenced by him holding the offi ce of a court assessor 43 . This group survived all the way into the 16th century, the servants of Czerniczyn are mentioned in the tax register of 1510 44 , which was made after the destructive Tartar raid. Another part of this village went through a reform based on the German law. Starting from 1445, village administrators were mentioned in this sett lement. In 1445-1454 Dobiesław and his brother Maciej were village administrators. Their noble background is beyond doubt. Dobiesław not only took part in the Hrubieszów court cases as an assessor, but was also referred to as a bailiff , juror of Chełm, and in one instance even as a chamberlain of Chełm 45 . At least some of the residents of the abovementioned sett lement most certainly came from immigrants of Catholic background if already in 1424 the existence of a Catholic parish in this town was confi rmed, and its functioning is confi rmed throughout the entire 15th century 46 . Analogous situation of legal duality could also have taken place in the neighbouring Czerniczynek. Also in this case, the population of servants who lived there was the heritage of the old-Ruthenian period 47 . Simultaneously, starting from 1467, information about fi elds and half-fi elds typical of the German law appear there 48 , while in 1470-1483 a nobleman, Piotr Kuczała, is mentioned as a village administrator in this sett lement 49 . The list of sett lements whether they belong to the peasant population obliged to special labours -often of military nature -or if they are the representatives of the lower boyars -A. Wyrobisz, Podlasie w Polsce przedrozbiorowej, w: Studia nad społeczeństwem i gospodarką Podlasia w XVI-XVIII w., red. A. Wyrobisz, Warszawa 1981, s. 185-186. Performing many military tasks in the royal castles by this category of population was discussed by K. Nabiałek, Obsada zamków monarszych w Królestwie Polskim na przełomie średniowiecza i czasów nowożytnych, "Roczniki Historyczne" 2008, 74, s. 142-143. 43  included in the reforms of the German law should also be supplemented with the ephemeral Wola Terebińska 50 , and -fi rst and foremost -with the royal Bogucice (Bohutycze), which were mentioned for the fi rst time in 1453. Waśko Skoruta, a master of the pantry from Chełm, was granted a legacy of 100 fl orins there in 1472 51 . Administrative unit was established there most certainly before 1492 if in 1515 King Sigismund the Old confi rmed the legacy of 400 grzywny granted by Casimir IV Jagiellon in favour of Olechny Skoruta, a chamberlain of Chełm 52 .

COUNTRYSIDE SETTLEMENTS WITH THE ELEMENTS OF RUTHENIAN CUSTOM
The review of very fragmentarily preserved information dating back to the 15th century, which recorded the existence of the Ruthenian custom's elements in the Hrubieszów villages, should be commenced with the sett lements inhabited by population of servants, which were situated in the areas of the Crown's lands (in Hrubieszów district). Its relative privileges stemming from the performed duties suggest that, in relation to peasants, it took an unwelcoming att itude towards the German law, treating it as a threat to its position. Also from the prefects' point of view, the services of servants were valuable. Only the demand for grain increasing in the 16th century engendered a change in their att itude, which meant a gradual liquidation of this category of population. The example of the village of Mieniany, which appeared in the source at the beginning of 1429, is characteristic of this process 53 . Similarly to Czerniczyn, one part of the sett lement was inhabited by serfs who had been sett led on the 50 This village was mentioned in a counterfeit made in the second half of the 15th century on remuneration of the parish in Hrubieszów -G. Jawor, Zaplecze, s. 104. There is no connection between names such as Wola with the dissemination of the German law -R. Grodecki old-Ruthenian homesteads 54 , and the other by servants, who are concealed in the sources under a misleading term of "heirs" (heredes) 55 , They survived the Tartar invasions from the turn of the 15th and 16th century 56 .
In the light of a survey carried out in 1564-1565 and the prefectural inventory from 1569, the village was inhabited at that time by serfs and cottagers, and 5 servants. It was their duty to deliver mail at prefect's order: when they order, and to provide three horses for a war campaign 57 . The then prefect of Hrubieszów, Andrzej Dembowski, aimed at eliminating the servants. He bought up two homesteads that belonged to them, he confi scated the third one that was abandoned, and he sett led the above-  estates, which were extensive in this region 61 . In the magnates' point of view, the maintenance of this group of people was not justifi ed. Perhaps their lands were sold out and serfs were sett led there, just as it happened one hundred years later in Mieniany. The Ruthenian law was in force throughout the 15th century in Masłomęcz 62 , mentioned for the fi rst time in 1429, which was in the hands of numerous representatives of the Ruthenian nobility 63 . It is uncertain whether the lack of evidence for this sett lement's modernization was only due to its divisions in ownership, which hugely hindered the foundation process on the basis of the German law. It is worth emphasising that the poorer nobility of Ruthenian or Wallachian background in Podkarpacie was -according to the studies by Ludwik Wyrostek and Przemysław Dąbkowski -characterised by a deep conservatism, ambition to maintain the previous lifestyle, continuation of group ties, and aversion towards foreigners and their lifestyle 64 . Numerous serfs living in Masłomęcz 65 , were also Ruthenians who were farming the old-Ruthenian homesteads. This is proven by the names of farms, formed from the names of their users: Michałkowskie, Chodorowskie, Nazarowskie 66 , Wańczowskie, homesteads used by Paszko, Chodorek and Czarek 67 , homesteads of Iwankowski 68 , Aleksin, Hryńczyński, and Slatko 69 , and fi nally -Ihnat, Toma, Masz, and Piotr 70 , who held them. Despite a relatively good amount of sources on this town, no traces of the German law infl uences have been discovered.
According to the anthroponimic criterion, the owners of Ubrodowice 71 , a sett lement inhabited by the Ruthenians, were Catholic nobility. In 1453, brothers Paweł and Chrystian divided the properties among themselves. Paweł received homesteads held by Nikon, Cyryl, Isaczko, Chyłko, and an owner of inn, Iwaniec. Chrystian took over homesteads of the following names: Chojnczowo, Chaniewskie, Pilipowskie, Ruczewskie, and one of an innkeeper Jakub 72 . There are no elements of the German law recorded in this sett lement. The same economic complexes existed also in old-Ruthenian Modryń 73 , listed in 1460 when Katarzyna, the daughter of Andrzej, the heir of this village, passed on homesteads occupied by Długi and Chon to her brother-in-law 74 . In the case of this village, the att ention should be drawn to information from 1489 regarding the high rents (24 grosze) paid by peasants sett led in the homesteads. It can be interpreted as a permeation of the German law elements into the Ruthenian sett lements without the necessity of a formal foundation 75 . The list of homesteads is also supplemented with information from Wołkowyja (at present -Wilków) 76 . Perhaps this sett lement developed from a single homestead of the same name 77 . It was also recorded in Siedliszcze 78 -currently non-existent, but previously a part of Tęczyńscy estates -and in the act of erecting the Catholic shrine in Gródek from 1420 or 1428, where homesteads were included in the remuneration of the local parish priest 79 .

SUMMARY
Our discussion comes to an end, and thus it is time for a few more general remarks. Collective results of a detailed analysis of the legal situation in individual sett lements were presented in the fi gure added to this article. In the areas of Hrubieszów County that was liquidated around 1465, 42 rural sett lements could have been of medieval date, even though some of them appeared in the sources only in the fi rst decades of the 16th century 80 . Only in the case of 19 of them, the condition of the preserved sources allowed to indicate elements that were typical of various legal and economic solutions. In the case of 9 villages, it was possible to indicate tools typical of the German law, while in other 8 their Ruthenian legal character was confi rmed. Social groups of diff erent legal orders existed side by side in two towns. This allows to state that there were two models of legal organisation of villages existing simultaneously in the examined areas in the 15th century. In the period in question, the areas of Hrubieszów County were signifi cantly transformed not only in the legal sphere, but also in the social and economic one. These processes took place in decades and they infl uenced individual sett lement units to diff erent extent. Gradually, changes started to occur in the structure of previous sett lement system based on the Ruthenian law, which were introduced in line with the model of organising the countryside on the basis of the German law that functioned in the areas of Poland. Its fi rst infl uences can already be noticed during Władysław Jagiełło's reign, and most frequently they assume a formalised form of conducting the foundation activity. Such a fast evolution of some sett lements towards the adaptation of the German law could stem from a few reasons. However, it was most certainly not a consequence of geographical location of 78 "Duas areas in duabus marcis, unam aream in qua Czarny Chodor et alia ubi Iwanyecz pastuch" were pawned in 1457 -APL, ZCh, sygn. 2-z, k. 370v from 1457. 79 ZDM, cz. 2, nr 399: "aream et locum pro mansione plebani et dotem pro edifi canda taberna, otem dat aliam aream dictam dworzysko in toto cum omnibus utilitatibus". 80 The basis for determining hypothetical borders of Hrubieszów County in Figure 1 is research by G. Jawor, Zaplecze, s. 115. The village of Michały is recorded on the right bank of the Bug River only in 1523.
Hrubieszów County, which did not border directly with areas of the later Lublin Voivodeship, from where new infl uences of the socio-economic solutions were permeating. Reasons for this condition should rather be searched in the emergence of a factor interested in reforms. It should be assumed that the land owners were this factor, i.e. the local noblemen and boyars. Introduction of the German law allowed them to abandon the old model based on tributes and labour, and to turn to the rental system. The changes were so att ractive that also the Orthodox Christian clergy stated implementing them in their villages. Implementation of these new solutions was to a large extent possible also because of fertile soil allowing for the agriculture to develop 81 . The foundation of the city of Hrubieszów also had some signifi cance in disseminating this new law 82 . It became not only a model for the future foundation activities, but also a centre of the local trade, allowing the sett lers to obtain cash necessary for regulating the rents. However, on the basis of the analysed material it is not possible to draw the conclusion that these changes were associated with a mass infl ux of population that was ethnically and religiously diff erent. We only have at our disposal the indirect traces of bringing the sett lers in. In the case of Putnowice's relocation, the usage of the exceptis schizmaticis formula in the document of foundation can be indicated and in the case of Czerniczyn, the foundation of the Catholic church. In the majority of cases, the introduction of the new legal solutions was most likely including the local Ruthenian population, which is indicated by the preserved anthroponyms and toponyms. In order to reorganise the entire sett lement, a founder was approached, who was usually the representative of gentry and came from the neighbouring areas that were under the infl uence of the German law.
Nevertheless, the changes mentioned above did not include all the sett lement centres. Some of them continued following the formed economic model. This could have been infl uenced by the property structure. For a longer period of time the royal estates maintained the Ruthenian 81 The areas of the former Hrubieszów County were dominated by fertile chernozems and brown soils, and in the valleys of Huczwa and Bug Rivers -muck bog soils -J. Pawłowski, Środowisko przyrodnicze okolic Hrubieszowa, w: Dzieje, s. 14-15; R. Bednarek, Z. Prusinkiewicz, Geografi a gleb, Warszawa 1999, s. 229; J. Kondracki, Geografi a fi zyczna Polski, Warszawa 1981, s. 197-198, idem, Mezoregiony fi zyczno-geografi czne, Warszawa 1994. The spreading of a new economic model in the areas of the Ruthenian lands was closely linked with natural conditions that were conducive to the development of agriculture -E.