The Past of the Demographic Conversion Factors for the Middle Ages Tax Sources

The article presents the demographic conversion factors that have been used for a hundred years in the research on Poland’s population of the second half of the 16th century. The forerunner of research in that sphere and the editor of basic sources was Adolf Pawiński; his proposal for the conversion factors was criticised by many researchers, among others Włodzimierz Czerkawski, Witold Kula, Irena Gieysztorowa. After a hundred-year discussion it may be said that «Źródła Dziejowe» and the method of computing urban populations used by Pawiński are not the recommended tools; similarly, demographic conversion factors for rural populations should be modified or specified