We present in the following pages a series of tables analysing the list of inhabitants of the Serbian, that is the Orthodox Christian, sector of the city of Belgrade, drawn up evidently, by the responsible clergy, in the year 1733–4. Not being specialists in the subject of Balkan history or society we do not attempt in this brief introduction to study the Serbian household in any detail, either within the settlement from which this evidence comes or in Serbian society as a whole at that time. What we have tried to do is set the pattern of domestic groups recorded in the listing against the pre-industrial English pattern described in Chapters 1 and 4, and relate it to the results of Hammel's and Halpern's work in Chapters 14 and 16.

The year 1733 came in a time of relative peace for Belgrade. The depredations of the warring Turks and Austrians had ravaged the country for long periods and Belgrade had been a major point of resistance before the city fell to the Austrian and Serbian allies in 1717. The Treaty of Pozarevac in 1718 secured peace under Austrian domination and the shattered city was subsequently largely rebuilt under Prince Eugen. Peace probably lasted throughout the duration of Austrian supremacy in North Serbia, that is between 1718 and 1739.

This listing of 1733–4 appears to have had as its object the registration of the pastoral condition of the Christian people living in the Sava Suburb.