A munkácsi-szentmiklósi uradalom család és háztartásvizsgálata [An examination of family and household in the Munkács-Szentmikós manor]

Veres, Tünde (2024) A munkácsi-szentmiklósi uradalom család és háztartásvizsgálata [An examination of family and household in the Munkács-Szentmikós manor]. AGRÁRTÖRTÉNETI SZEMLE, 65 (1-4). pp. 219-240. ISSN 0002-1105

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Abstract

We have relatively few ways to examine the lifestyle and family connections of serfs. While the members of noble society, especially the aristocracy, originated documents in such numbers – for example private correspondence – that makes it possible to reconstruct family disputes or family trees after several centuries, in the case of illiterate serfs this obviously does not apply, even though they were not passive members of society either. They certainly had their disputes, births and deaths of their children, and also had to manage the family farm. It is clear that a survey of the innermost life of serfdom is impossible in the absence of written sources such as correspondence. There are however certain documents that can give an insight into the structure of local communities. It is important because the family is the smallest unit of each community, and family structures develop and change due to economic effects. Based on this we can find connections between the economic conditions and typical family models of a certain area or settlement. The aim of this essay is exactly this. The detailed survey drawn up by Mátyás Hagara in 1704 describes the financial condition of members of a household as well as their family connections. The examination of this source is important as the results may contribute to the knowledge of the lifestyle of serfs in the Early Modern period.

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