Published: 2023-11-06

Franciszka Kramarz– the story of a woman who wanted to change her fate

Dorota Żołądź-Strzelczyk
Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings
Section: Rozprawy i Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2023.30.1.9

Abstract

Using court records of the village of Krowodrze, the article recreates the fate of an inhabitant of this village, Franciszka Kramarz. In 1763, she was accused, tried, and sentenced. Because she did not give her husband any offspring, he showed his displeasure by blaming her for this fact. Franciszka stole a two-week-old baby from Krakow's Holy Spirit Hospital, brought it home, and pretended to have given birth to it. A woman who used to take care of those during childbirth and the puerperium, carried the infant to the church, where it was baptised. The priest did not know that it had already been baptised at the hospital. When the caretakers at the hospital discovered what Franciszka Kramarz had done, they found her and demanded that she hand over the baby. At this point, everything came to light and the case was dealt with by the commune head and jurors. After examining the case, Franciszka Kramarz was sentenced to six months of cuchhaus, flogging, and a fine. She was also ordered to sell her farm in Krowodrze and probably move out of the village. The entries in the court book, parish books, and studies have made it possible to reconstruct a fragment of Franciszka's life and show the reasons for her behaviour.

Keywords:

court records, childlessness, biography, rural woman, Holy Spirit Hospital

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Citation rules

Żołądź-Strzelczyk, D. (2023). Franciszka Kramarz– the story of a woman who wanted to change her fate. Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings, 30(1), 124–135. https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2023.30.1.9

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