Page 61 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 61
peasant income integration in early modern slovenia: a historiographical review
sources of income outside of manorial relations, either in trade or trans-
port, or in the iron industry, rural craftsmanship or the domestic system,
stimulated the mobility of the peasant population, which had alleged-
ly been rather limited until then by the provincial nobility. “For the sub-
jects and their sons, transport in particular was increasingly opening the
doors to entrepreneurial life and to the world, where their landlords had
no authority” (Grafenauer 1973, 27), whereas trade had a significant “im-
pact on the internal stratification of the rural population.” Especially in
Carniola, the class of cottagers (kajžarji) was growing rapidly; due to their
small estates “they could not sustain themselves without rural crafts, trans-
port and trade, and even more so without earnings from the iron indus-
try” (Grafenauer 1974, 133–4). Simultaneously, a smaller group was forming
in the countryside, of peasants who had accumulated a handsome fortune
through trade and freed themselves of their duties to the landlord by pur-
chasing land, as has also been established by Žontar.
In recent years, the topic of non-agricultural sources of income has
been researched by Aleksander Panjek, employing new approaches and re-
search questions. He is trying to determine the reasons why peasants began
to look for non-agricultural sources of income, basing his work on the pre-
viously discussed characteristics of peasant economy in Slovenian lands,
namely that agricultural activity was unable to ensure the food self-suffi-
ciency of the peasant population because of the modest sizes of farms.
Based on the structure of feudal rents and the number of farms (huba)
and cottages (kajža) in manors in the County of Gorizia and the Karst re-
gion (i.e. western Slovenia), Panjek has reached two conclusions, which are
essential to the present discussion. The first concerns the great fragmenta-
tion of huba in the aforementioned areas. Ownership rights for huba were
inherited from generation to generation based on long-term tenancy, which
eventually resulted in the fact that the peasant was given free use of the
huba as its owner and could either lease or sell it. This brought about the
fragmentation of huba, with the land of one huba being cultivated by up to
eighteen co-proprietors (Panjek 2011, 305; 2015a, 192). The second conclu-
sion is based on the structure of feudal rents; Panjek employed a method
which is well established in Slovenian historiography, according to which
the volume of money tributes indicates the involvement of the peasant pop-
ulation in commercial activities. He has established that in the larger man-
the personal status (of subjects) by unburdening them” (quoted in: Grafenauer 1974,
20).
59
sources of income outside of manorial relations, either in trade or trans-
port, or in the iron industry, rural craftsmanship or the domestic system,
stimulated the mobility of the peasant population, which had alleged-
ly been rather limited until then by the provincial nobility. “For the sub-
jects and their sons, transport in particular was increasingly opening the
doors to entrepreneurial life and to the world, where their landlords had
no authority” (Grafenauer 1973, 27), whereas trade had a significant “im-
pact on the internal stratification of the rural population.” Especially in
Carniola, the class of cottagers (kajžarji) was growing rapidly; due to their
small estates “they could not sustain themselves without rural crafts, trans-
port and trade, and even more so without earnings from the iron indus-
try” (Grafenauer 1974, 133–4). Simultaneously, a smaller group was forming
in the countryside, of peasants who had accumulated a handsome fortune
through trade and freed themselves of their duties to the landlord by pur-
chasing land, as has also been established by Žontar.
In recent years, the topic of non-agricultural sources of income has
been researched by Aleksander Panjek, employing new approaches and re-
search questions. He is trying to determine the reasons why peasants began
to look for non-agricultural sources of income, basing his work on the pre-
viously discussed characteristics of peasant economy in Slovenian lands,
namely that agricultural activity was unable to ensure the food self-suffi-
ciency of the peasant population because of the modest sizes of farms.
Based on the structure of feudal rents and the number of farms (huba)
and cottages (kajža) in manors in the County of Gorizia and the Karst re-
gion (i.e. western Slovenia), Panjek has reached two conclusions, which are
essential to the present discussion. The first concerns the great fragmenta-
tion of huba in the aforementioned areas. Ownership rights for huba were
inherited from generation to generation based on long-term tenancy, which
eventually resulted in the fact that the peasant was given free use of the
huba as its owner and could either lease or sell it. This brought about the
fragmentation of huba, with the land of one huba being cultivated by up to
eighteen co-proprietors (Panjek 2011, 305; 2015a, 192). The second conclu-
sion is based on the structure of feudal rents; Panjek employed a method
which is well established in Slovenian historiography, according to which
the volume of money tributes indicates the involvement of the peasant pop-
ulation in commercial activities. He has established that in the larger man-
the personal status (of subjects) by unburdening them” (quoted in: Grafenauer 1974,
20).
59
