The noble family Jełowicki in the Crown Tribunal in 1589–1647: chronology and personalities

the inhabitants of the Ukrainian voivodships in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth appeared at the meetings of the Crown Tribunal to participate in the court proceedings (as сlaimants or defendants). Therefore we can analyze such presence only referring to the cases of some noble families. Thanks to the fact that original documents from the so-called Lanovets Archive of Jełowickis are preserved (e.g., some early-modern extracts from the lost books of the Crown Tribunal), 755 tribunal acts (1589–1647) are known, in which 48 representatives of this family (27 men and 21 women) were mentioned. Since the extension of the Crown Tribunal jurisdiction to their “native” Volyn’ Voivodeship, they have been actively involved in the functioning of this judicial institution. This activity persisted for the next six decades, which accounted for three generations of the Jełowicki family’s actions. Although the frequency of the presence of some members of the family in the Tribunal decreased somewhat over the years, the number of Jełowicki involved in tribunal trials increased. Almost every member of the family was mentioned on the pages of tribunal acts at least once. During this period, no more than a dozen male and female representatives of the Jełowickis were active in the Tribunal. The presence of the latter was quantitatively more noticeable (and even equal with the men from the Jełowicki family). Moreover, women were three times less likely to be admitted to the Tribunal, ultimately in most cases assisted by men, parents, or brothers. Instead, widows participated more independently and regularly in trials, with several of them accounting for the main part of the Jełowickis “female” representation in the Crown Tribunal.