Older Czech and Polish research favoured the idea of so-called service organizations which were supposed to have been one of the mainstays of princely power. In this brief study the author examines the much more significant role of other public works as well as the parallels to these services in Late Antiquity and early medieval Europe, demonstrating their general prevalence and late Roman origin. At the same time, institutions are shown which were comparable to the so called service organization on the territory of the Frankish Empire.