Page 71 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

The Family Economy in the Bohemian Rural Milieu in the Long-Term Perspective

some of them. For example, in Zmišovice, the price for two farms, original-
ly valued at 200 kopas, fell to 90 and 77 kopas, respectively, whereas other
homesteads, for example No. 1 in Pobistrýce, almost doubled their value,
and it is not always possible to find out why. In the following decades, price
fluctuations were no longer so frequent and common, and the estimated
price for some farms remained the same even across several generations.
All the more significant is the decline in the average prices for subjects’
immovable property after 1680, which is evident until the beginning of
the Enlightenment era. In the period after 1770, prices rose rapidly, not
only for farms but also for smaller homesteads. The average value of cot-
tages and small houses in previous decades never exceeded 15 percent of
the average price of rural farms. From the last quarter of the eighteenth
century, however, it always varied at around one third of the value of the
farms, which can be explained by the reduced size of farms and the sale of
land in favour of cottages, but undoubtedly also by the increasing demand
for vacant homesteads in this period. A role was certainly also played by
rising inflation and the financial crisis during the Napoleonic Wars, which,
among other things, resulted in the sale of rural homesteads for huge nom-
inal sums exceeding thousands of guldens.
The development of prices can be demonstrated in cottage No. 5 in
Svépravice.Thefirst owner builtit justbefore1714onthe placeoriginally
belonging to his family. In 1720 the cottage was sold for 25 guldens, in 1747
and1778for 30 guldens, butin1804Jan Kovářleftittohis sonfor 190
gulden of Convention Currency (na, apa i, inv. no. 2609, fol 29; na apa,
vs ,inv.no. 60, fol38,and inv.no. 52,fol.109).
The nominal value of a homestead in older periods was primarily reduced
by the unpaid emphyteutic price that had to be repaid to the landlord, as
well as by the inheritance shares claimed by relatives and, of course, by
other debts. The ratio of assets to liabilities was resolved whenever the
homestead changed hands; the price was based either on a previous en-
tryinthe land register, oronanestimate madebythe reeveorrespectable
neighbours, or the price could be set directly by the householder, who de-
cided to sell the homestead or cede it to one of his descendants. The re-
payment of the obligations of the new householder towards the landlord
and relatives was interest-free and for most of the period under study, it
passed through a system of regular annual instalments. On the day of the
annual village court, repayments were placed in the hands of the reeve and
the manorial official, who decided on the further use of the money, which
could be handed over to the landlord or given into the hands of one of

69