Page 66 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Markéta Skořepová

Table 2.2 Number of Newly Established Homesteads According to the Origin
of Provided Land
Village Land used for establishing a new homestead () ()
– – – –
(c) (f) (c) (f) (o) (c) (f) (o) (c) (f) (o)
Pobistrýce             
Popelištná             
Svépravice             
Těchoraz             
Zmišovice             
Total             
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) in total, (2) strych of common land in 1740, (c)
common, (f) farm, (o) other. Based on data from na, apa i, inv. no. 1, 1754, and 2609; na,
apa, vs ,inv. no. 52,53,and60.

from the protocols revising former tax declarations from 1713.⁷ The mano-
rial administration might have been ordered to establish new homesteads
to improve the economic capability of the estate. Also equally significant
was the interest of the landlord, who set up taxes and labour duties as soon
as the new unit had been established.
For most of the eighteenth century, buildings were made mainly from
wood and self-built, and had only minimal value. The plot of land that was
needed to establish a new household was much more expensive and im-
portant. It could be provided to interested parties either on the common
land with the consent of all municipal authorities, or it could be separated
from a farm, both of course with the permission of the landlord.
Until 1780, which marked the beginning of the ten-year reign of Emper-
or Joseph ii, associated with a lot of reforms concerning the rural space,
new small houses in the region under study were founded mainly on com-
mon land. Among the 21 small houses built up to 1780, only 8 were found-
ed by separation from a farm, whereas the other 12 were probably built on
common land belonging to the municipality. During the following twenty
years, not only were more new homesteads founded than in the previous
century, but most were built on private land. Only five small houses were
built purely on common land. The other three houses were built on com-

⁷ An inspection of reeves from neighbouring villages in 1714 pronounced serious imperfec-
tions in the original tax declaration of the Zmišovice judicial district, as they revealed tens
of hectares of land that had not been declared. Another ocular visitation in 1722 was men-
tioned above (na, tk, inv. no. 3056, 886).

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