Page 74 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Markéta Skořepová

Table 2.6 Number of Rural Farms According to the Indebtedness Rate at the End
of the Householder’s Tenure
Share of debt Year of the homestead’s takeover
on the price for – – – – – – – –
the homestead        
–        
–        
–        
–        
–        
–        
Total        
Notes Only the first transfers in given periods are included. Based on data from na, apa
i, inv. no. 1754, and 2609; na, apa, vs , inv. no. 52, 53, and 60.

ers, who were intensively trying to reinstate the economic balance of their
farms, were allowed to buy the claims of the manorial administration for
a third of their original value; in other words, the landlord was willing to
forgive most of the amount owed. Thanks to this, the proportion of home-
steads that entered the next transfer with only a low indebtedness rate
began to gradually increase. The most interesting in this regard is a group
of farmers who took over their farms between 1710 and 1739 – despite the
usually high initial indebtedness, half of them transferred the farm with a
debt not even reaching a quarter of the value of the homestead, and more
than a third managed to rid it of (almost) all indebtedness. In the next
generation, the economic balance of the farmers at the end of their farm-
ing period was even better, but then the situation of some farms began to
deteriorate in this respect as well.
As the epitome of a successful farmer, Jakub Dudek from Popelištná No.
12 can be named. In 1711, he took over his farm, which was valued at 200
kopas but burdened with debts of 196 kopas of groschen, many of which
hadarisen30years before.Hewas obligedtorepay 2 kopas per year: the re-
payment schedule was thus prescribed for nearly one hundred years. Nev-
ertheless, he was able to buy up particular claims, usually for one-third of
their original value, so he managed to rid his homestead of debt as early
as 1730. He retired in 1757 as a respectable reeve (na, apa i, inv. no. 2609,
fol. 92).
As an opposite example the destiny of Kožený’s farm in Pobistrýce No.
6 should be mentioned. In 1708, the time when most homesteads carried

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