Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T02:47:53.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How permanent were farms in the manorial system? Changes of farm occupancy in the nineteenth-century Russian Baltic Provinces of Estland and Livland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2020

Kersti Lust
Kersti Lust*
Affiliation:
Tallinn University
*
*Corresponding author. Email: kersti_lust@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article addresses how long tenant farmers in the Russian Baltic Provinces of Estland and Livland managed to occupy the farms and whether they transferred them within the family in the early phase of agricultural transformation (1841–1889). It contributes to the long-standing debate over the relative power of manorial lords and tenants in the (East Elbian) manorial system. Looking at individual-level data on the changes in tenantship on more than 1,000 farmsteads across 5 parishes, the article demonstrates the relative instability of tenant holdings and lack of independence in land transfers on noble manors.

French abstract

French Abstract

Dans quelle mesure les fermes du système seigneurial étaient-elles permanentes? Changements de tenancier d'exploitation agricole dans les provinces baltes russes d'Estonie et Livonie au XIXe siècle

Combien de temps les fermiers des provinces baltes russes d'Estonie et Livonie réussissaient-ils à tenir une exploitation agricole? Ont-ils pu en transférer la charge à un membre de leur famille au début de la transformation agricole (1841–1889)? Cet article contribue au débat de longue date sur le pouvoir relatif des seigneurs fonciers et de leurs fermiers dans le cadre du système seigneurial à l'Est de l'Elbe. L’étude repose sur un corpus de données individuelles concernant les fermiers qui se sont succédé à la tête de plus d'un millier de fermes dans cinq paroisses. Elle démontre la relative instabilité des tenures et le manque d'indépendance des fermiers en matière de transmission des exploitations foncières dans le cadre des seigneuries nobles.

German abstract

German Abstract

Wie dauerhaft waren Höfe in der Gutsherrschaft? Wechsel des Hofbesitzes in den russisch-baltischen Provinzen Estland und Livland im 19. Jahrhundert

Dieser Aufsatz geht der Frage nach, wie lange bäuerliche Pächter in den russisch-baltischen Provinzen Estland und Livland ihre Höfe innehaben konnten und ob sie diese in der Frühphase der landwirtschaftlichen Umgestaltung (1841–1889) innerhalb der Familie weitergaben. Er versteht sich auch als Beitrag zu der langjährigen Debatte über die Machtverhältnisse zwischen Gutsherren und Pächtern innerhalb des Systems der ostelbischen Gutsherrschaft. Aus der Analyse von Einzelfalldaten zum Besitzwechsel für mehr als tausend Höfe in fünf Gemeinden ergibt sich, dass landwirtschaftliche Pachtbetriebe relativ instabil waren und auf adligen Gütern kaum unabhängige Landübertragungen erfolgten.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , August 2020 , pp. 215 - 243
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Svensson, Patrick, ‘Land market, property rights, and agricultural transformation in southern Sweden, 1680–1870’, in Béaur, Gerard and Schofield, Phillipp eds., Property rights, land market, and economic growth in Europe (13th–19th centuries) (Turnhout, 2013), 455–7Google Scholar, 473; Dribe, Martin, Olsson, Mats and Svensson, Patrick, ‘If the landlord so wanted … Family, farm production, and land transfers in the manorial system’, Economic History Review 65, 2 (2012), 746–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 For a review, see Ogilvie, Sheilagh, ‘Choices and constraints in the pre-industrial countryside’, in Briggs, Chris, Kitson, P. M. and Thompson, S. J. eds., Population, welfare and economic change in Britain 1290–1834 (Woodbridge, 2014), 269–305Google Scholar.

3 Knapp, Georg Friedrich, Die Bauernbefreiung und der Ursprung der Landarbeiter in der älteren Theilen Preußens (Leipzig, 1887)Google Scholar; Kriedtke, Peter, Peasants, landlords and merchant capitalists: Europe and the world economy 1500–1800 (Oxford, 1983)Google Scholar.

4 Hagen, William W., Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840 (Cambridge, 2002)Google Scholar; Jan Peters ed., Gutsherrschaft als soziales Modell. Vergleichende Betrachtungen zur Funktionsweise frühneuzeitlicher Agrargesellschaften (Historische Zeitschrift, Beihefte 18) (München, 1995); Jansen, Ea, Eestlane muutuvas ajas. Seisusühiskonnast kodanikuühiskonda (Tartu, 2007)Google Scholar; Kahk, Juhan, Bauer und Baron im Baltikum (Tallinn, 1999)Google Scholar; Plakans, Andrejs and Wetherell, Charles, ‘Family and economy in an early nineteenth-century Baltic serf estate’, Continuity and Change 7, 2 (1992), 199–223CrossRefGoogle Scholar; For a discussion about Danish manorial economy, see Christiansen, Palle Ove, ‘Culture and contrasts in a Northern European village: lifestyles among manorial peasants in 18th-century Denmark’, Journal of Social History 29, 2 (1995), 275–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘If the landlord’, 746–8.

6 Cited after Cerman, Markus, ‘Social structure and land markets in late medieval central and east-central Europe’, Continuity and Change 23 (2008), 78CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See, for example, Hermann Zeitlhofer, ‘Besitztransfer in frühneuzeitlichen ländlichen Gesellschaften: Die südböhmische Pfarre Kapličky (Herrschaft Vyšší Brod), 1640–1840’, in Markus Cerman and Hermann Zeitlhofer eds., Soziale Strukturen in Böhmen. Ein regionaler Vergleich von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Gutsherrschaften 16.–19. Jahrhundert (Munich, 2002), 240–61, here p. 252; Dana Štefanová, Erbschaftspraxis, Besitztransfer und Handlungsspielräume von Untertanen in der Gutsherrschaft. Die Herrschaft Frýdlant in Nordböhmen, 1558–1750 (Munich, 2009). For a summary of the literature supporting such a conclusion, see Dribe et al., ‘If the landlord’, 746–52.

7 Alice Velková, ‘Der Besitztransfer untertäniger Anwesen in Št’áhlavy im 18. und in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jarhunderts’, in Cerman and Zeitlhofer eds., Soziale Strukturen, 228; H. Zeitlhofer, ‘Headship succession and retirement in south Bohemia, 1640–1840’, in D. R. Green and A. Owens eds., Family welfare: gender, property, and inheritance since the seventeenth century (Westport, 2004), 80, 89.

8 Plakans, Andrejs, ‘Seigneurial authority and peasant family life: the Baltic area in the eighteenth century’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 5, 4 (1975), 629–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wetherell, Charles, Plakans, Andrejs and Wellman, Barry, ‘Social networks, kinship, and community in Eastern Europe’, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 24, 4 (1994), 639–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Ogilvie, ‘Choices and constraints’, 273–6.

10 Jürgen Schlumbohm, ‘Strong myths and flexible practices: house and stem family in Germany’, in Fauve-Chamoux and Ochiai eds., The stem family, 81–102; Sabean, David, Property, production, and family in Neckarhausen, 1700–1870 (Cambridge, 1990), 353Google Scholar; Peil, Tiina and Bonow, Madeleine, ‘Permanence of the family farm questioned: rural mobility in the nineteenth century Estonia and Sweden’, Journal of Baltic Studies 45 (2014), 247−67CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Sølvi Sogner, ‘The Norwegian stem family: myth or reality?’, in Fauve-Chamoux and Ochiai eds., The stem family in Eurasian perspective: revisiting house societies, 17th–20th centuries (Bern, 2009), 151–72; Cf., for example, ‘The transfer of a farm to offspring was one of the main ambitions of the family in most rural households’ (Thijs Lambrecht et al., ‘Conclusion: making a living in rural societies in the North Sea area, 500–2000’, in Eric Vanhaute, Isabelle Devos and Thijs Lambrecht eds., Making a living: family, income and labour (Turnhout, 2011), 334–5) and ‘[i]n many regions [ … ] land transactions between non-related buyers were nearly as important, if not more important than transfers within the family’ (Anne-Lise Head-König, ‘Inheritance regulations and inheritance practices, marriage and household in rural societies’, in ed., Inheritance practices, marriage strategies and household formation in European rural societies (Turnhout, 2012), 21).

11 Lundh, Christer, ‘Households and families in pre-industrial Sweden’, Continuity and Change 10 (1995), 64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘If the landlord’, 755–60.

12 The topic will be discussed in more detail in a forthcoming work.

13 Dennison, Tracy, The institutional framework of Russian serfdom (Cambridge, 2011), 43, 76–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 103–110.

14 Bohac, Rodney D., ‘Peasant inheritance strategies in Russia’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 16, 1 (1985), 23–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 S. Cavaciocchi ed., Schiavitu e serviaggio nell'economia europea. Secc. XI-XVIII. / Slavery and serfdom in the European economy from the 11th to the 18th centuries. XLV settimana di studi della Fondazione Istituto Internationazionale di storia economica F. Datini, Prato 14–18 April 2013 (Florence, 2014), 689–90 (Sheilagh Ogilvie, round table contribution).

16 Cavaciocchi ed., Schiavitu e serviaggio, 690 (Ogilvie, round table contribution).

17 Vasar, Juhan, ‘Teoorjuse-aja põhiprobleemidest’, Ajalooline Ajakiri 14, 3 (1935), 124, 127Google Scholar; Henrik Sepp, Otto Liiv and Juhan Vasar eds., Eesti majandusajalugu, Vol. 1 (Tartu, 1937), 423, 457–8; August Traat, ‘Talurahva õiguslik olukord Liivimaal feodalismi lagunemise perioodil’ (unpublished candidate dissertation in jurisprudence) (Tartu, 1955), 484, 499; Melita Svarāne, Saimnieks un kalps Kurzemē un Vidzemē XIX gadsimta vidū (Rīga, 1971), 73–4; Juhan Kahk, Die Krise der feudalen Landwirtschaft in Estland (Tallinn, 1969), 165–74; Kahk, Bauer und Baron, 146.

18 Vassar, Artur, ‘Eesti talurahva vaated maavaldusele XIX sajandi teisel poolel’, in Jansen, Ea and Kahk, Juhan eds., Eesti talurahva sotsiaalseid vaateid XIX sajandil (Tallinn, 1977), 142–6Google Scholar.

19 Juhan Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise aegu (Tallinn, 1993), 82, 87.

20 Wetherell, Plakans and Wellman, ‘Social networks’, 639–63.

21 Ibid., 661–2.

22 Peil and Bonow, ‘Permanence of the family farm’, 247–67.

23 Rahvusarhiivi Tartu osakond (National Archives of Estonia) (hereafter RA, EAA) 895.1.43–54; EAA.931.1.29, 30, 33, 34, 39, 42–43, 46–49, 51, 52a; EAA.932.1.38, 39, 41–46, 6433; EAA.934.1.6–14; EAA.972.1.292–294, 296; EAA.374.1.2117, 2126, 2129; EAA.3760.1.119–131 and EAA.3760.1.7313–7341); EAA.2486.1.2242-2261. Rent contracts in the fonds no. 69.

24 The collections of census lists (RA, EAA, fonds nos. 1864 and 1865).

25 The fonds of Lutheran parishes (RA, EAA, fonds nos. 1246, 1281, 1290, 1296 and 3131).

26 RA, EAA, fonds nos. 567 and 931; RA, EAA.4341.1.35−37 and EAA.3040.2.12−13.

27 Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise, 83; parish magistrate of the 4th district of Pärnu county to governor-general, 10.12.1847 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1024).

28 The focus on the property works well with Estonian (Baltic) data before the late-nineteenth century. This approach is not easy to adapt to circumstances in which property is sold to strangers, divided, converted into movables, and dissipated. For a discussion, see Richard Wall, ‘Introduction’, in Richard Wall, Jean Robin and Peter Laslett eds., Family forms in historic Europe (Cambridge, 1987), 1–63.

29 For a survey, see Juhan Kahk and Enn Tarvel, An economic history of the Baltic countries (Stockholm, 1997), 83−91.

30 Vassar, ‘Eesti talurahva vaated’, 144; Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise, 102−5.

31 For example, on the state estate of Pati (30 farms in 1850 and 36 farms in 1875), there was only one incident of an exchange of farms during the study period and even this was related to the tenant's granary debts (RA, EAA.3988.1.2, f. 25v, 28.5.1855 and EAA.3988.1.3, ff. 76−76v, 2.11.1861).

32 Traat, Õiguslik olukord, 491–2; Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise, 13, 24; Vassar, ‘Eesti talurahva vaated’, 143–4.

33 Plakans and Wetherell, ‘Family and economy’, 199–224; Plakans, ‘Seigneurial authority’, 649.

34 From 1841–1875, 74 per cent of eldest living sons of farmers married a socially equal partner (from 1856–1875, 84 per cent).

35 Dribe, Martin and Svensson, Patrick, ‘Social mobility in nineteenth century rural Sweden – a micro level analysis’, Scandinavian Economic History Review 56, 2 (2008), 127CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 135; Dribe, Martin and Lundh, Christer, ‘Finding the right partner: rural homogamy in nineteenth-century Sweden’, International Review of Social History 50 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Supplement, 152, 149–77; Christine Fertig, Familie, verwandtschaftliche Netzwerke und Klassenbildung im ländlichen Westfalen (1750–1874) (Stuttgart, 2012). In the Central European context, see Alice Klášterská, ‘Výběr partnera a sňatkový věk dědiců venkovských usedlostí na Šťáhlavsku a jejich sourozenců v 18. a na počátku 19. století’, Historická demografie 22 (1998), 145–68; Alice Velková, ‘Staatliches Eingreifen in die Beziehungen zwischen Gutsherrschaft und Untertanen. Zu Erbrecht und ländlicher Familienstruktur in Westböhmen an der Wende vom 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert’, in Markus Cerman and Robert Luft eds., Untertanen, Herrschaft und Staat in Böhmen und im ‘Alten Reich’. Sozialgeschichtliche Studien zur Frühen Neuzeit (Munich, 2005), 171–3.

36 Peil and Bonow, ‘Permanence of the family farm’, 262.

37 Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘If the landlord’, 747. In the Estonian context, Eesti talurahva ajalugu, 628.

38 Toomas Karjahärm and Tiit Rosenberg eds., Eesti ajalugu, Vol. 5 (Tartu, 2010), 104−37; Raun, Estonia and the Estonians, 2nd edn (Stanford, 2001), 68−70.

39 For a comprehensive survey of reforms, see Andrejs Plakans, A concise history of the Baltic states (Cambridge, New York, 2011), 184−98, 217−21.

40 Eestimaa Talorahva Seadus (Tallinn, 1858) (=ETS 1856) § 65, Lihwlandi Talorahwa Säädüse-raamat (Tartu, 1863) (=LTS 1860) § 119; Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov (=PSZ) II, T. XXXVIII (1863), no. 40,034a, § 11.

41 Order of the Livland governor, no. 67 (7 July 1865), Seädmissed tallorahwa rentima luggu kinnitamisseks Saremaal (Kuressaare, 1865), § 26-7; PSZ II, T. XXXVIII (1863), no. 40034a, § 1.

42 Eestima Tallorahwa Kässo-Ramat (Tallinn, 1816) (=ETS 1816) § 195–6; Lihwlandi-ma Tallorahwa Seädus (Tartu, 1820) (=LTS 1819) § 480.

43 Lust, Kersti, ‘Kas Eestis osteti päriseks oma esivanemate talud? Taluperemeeste vahetumisest 1840–1889’, Tuna 69, 4 (2015), 38−40Google Scholar.

44 RA, EAA.2419.1.215 and EAA.2419.1.218, correspondence of the local district official of state domains, 1849–1850, and 1852.

45 Juhan Kahk ed., Eesti talurahva ajalugu, Vol. 1 (Tallinn, 1992), 508; Juhan Kahk, Heldur Palli and Halliki Uibu, ‘Peasant family in Estonia in the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries’, Journal of Family History 7 (1982), 78.

46 Mikhail Kozin, Latyshskaia derevnia v 50-70-e gody XIX veka (Riga, 1976), 231.

47 Lust, Kersti, Pärisorjast päriskohaomanikuks: talurahva emantsipatsioon eestikeelse Liivimaa kroonukülas 1819–1915 (Tartu, 2005), 121–54Google Scholar; Olsson, Mats, ‘Manorial economy and corvée labour in southern Sweden 1650–1850’, Economic History Review 59, 3 (2006), 484CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

48 The fertile southern ends of Viljandi and Pärnu counties: parishes of Halliste, Karksi, Paistu, Tarvastu and Helme.

49 Gea Troska, ‘Sotsiaalne diferentseerumine Mulgimaa suurtalude peredes 19. sajandil’, in Ants Viires ed., Eesti külaelu arengujooni (Tallinn, 1985), 5−6. Lists of communicants (1859–1869) and members of Helme parish (1841−1862) support the same conclusion (RA, EAA.1296.1.203; 1296.1.402; 1296.1.403; 1296.1.404 and 1296.1.405). Lists of communicants in Viljandi, 1838−1845 (RA, EAA.1290.1.100). For a discussion of Kurland, see Plakans, ‘Seigneurial authority’, 631–40; A. Plakans, ‘The familial context of early childhood in Baltic serf society’, in R. Wall, J. Robin and P. Laslett eds., Family forms in historic Europe (Cambridge, 1983), 167–206.

50 Succession was a usual practice in economically more progressive and prosperous southern Estonia, while it was not so important in regions where farming did not yield the household's entire livelihood and maintaining the integrity of the farmstead was not as imperative (Ülle Tarkiainen, ‘Talude pärimine Eesti agraarühiskonnas 19. sajandi lõpul ja 20. sajandi alguses’, Eesti Ajalooarhiivi Toimetised 18 (2010), 255–82. For comparison, see Andrejs Plakans and Charles Wetherell, ‘The death of the Father in the complex households of eastern European serf societies. A Baltic case study’, in Derosas and Oris eds., When dad died, 200–2.

51 RA, EAA.919.1.3520. See also EAA.1151.1.271, ff. 10v–11 (Jäärja, 1869). In the 1860s, there also were death-related evictions in Vana-Võidu and heirs’ protests remained fruitless (EAA.2054.1.3056 and EAA.2054.1.249).

52 Lust, Kersti, ‘Teraviljahinnad Eesti kohalikel turgudel ja neid mõjutanud tegurid 1840–1900’, Ajalooline Ajakiri 144, 2 (2013), 240–43Google Scholar.

53 Kersti Lust, ‘The question of moral economy and famine relief in the Russian Baltic Provinces of Estland and Livland, 1840–69’, in Andrew Newby ed., “The enormous failure of nature”: famine and society in the nineteenth century, Collegium, Vol. 22 (2017), 46, 51.

54 Dribe, Martin, Olsson, Mats and Svensson, Patrick, ‘Was the manorial system an efficient insurance institution? Economic stress and demographic response in Sweden, 1749–1859’, European Review of Economic History 16, 3 (2012), 296–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 Lust, Kersti, ‘Die Rolle der Gutshöfe bei der Hungerhilfe für die livländischen Bauern in den Krisenjahren 1841–1847’, Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 61, 2 (2012), 219–46Google Scholar; for Helme, see estate administrators’ reports about grain needs of the communities: EAA.934.1.22.

56 Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘Was the manorial system’, 292–310.

57 Martin Klesment and Kersti Lust, ‘Short-term economic stress and mortality differentials in rural Estonia, 1834–1884’, Scandinavian Economic History Review (2020).

58 The proceedings of Avinurme community court, 1845–1854 (RA, EAA.1134.1.3, 4), and Martna parish court, 7.2, 2.6.1851, 22.10.1852, 30.9.1853 (RA, EAA.892.1.2, f. 3, 8–10, 12v).

59 Governor-general to parish magistrate of the 4th district of Pärnu county, 1 November 1843 and 4 November 1843 (RA, EAA.932.1.243).

60 For the data, see Lust, ‘The question of moral economy’, 53–5.

61 As a rule, large farms are those over 20 thaler. The thaler was a fiscal measure of the farm's grain production capacity, not a land unit measure. Jung-Stilling estimates, however, that one thaler in the area of investigation was about 2.2–3.3 ha of agricultural land in the 1880s.

62 Data on farm sizes derive from the Wackebücher, sales contracts, and cadastral data (RA, EAA.3724).

63 There were no small farms on the manor.

64 Plakans, ‘Seigneurial authority’, 639. Plakans describes the serf household, but this practice changed very little after the abolition of serfdom.

65 LVVA (Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs, hereafter LVVA), 77.15.531; RA, EAA.931.1.40.

66 Local district officer of state domains to the Livland Office of State Domains, 31 October 1846 (LVVA.185.9.476, ff. 1–5).

67 Correspondence of the local district officer of state domains (RA, EAA.2419.1.211 and EAA.2419.1.218).

68 Reports of the estate administrations from 1847 and 1849 (RA, EAA.934.1.95). The state government allowed communities to not collect these debts from other community members.

69 Lust, ‘Kas Eestis’, 42–3.

70 Correspondence of the governor-general with the parish magistrate in 1848 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1084). See also community court protocols on this issue: EAA.2419.1.214.

71 Jüri Kiis to governor-general, 5 May 1847 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1024).

72 Governor-general to Viljandi county magistrate, 25 August 1847 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1627).

73 Viljandi county magistrate to governor-general, 3 October 1847 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1627). Occasionally, evictions due to conversion to Russian Orthodoxy continued well into the 1860s: EAA.2054.1.2735.

74 Karjahärm and Rosenberg eds., Eesti ajalugu, 82–4.

75 Riga Archbishop to governor-general, 31 December 1849 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1627).

76 Kiis to governor-general, 8 March 1848 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1024); governor-general to parish magistrate, 26 February 1848 (EAA.2054.1.1084); Henrik Rebane to governor-general, 17 March 1849 (EAA.2054.1.1161).

77 Lord of Lõve manor to governor-general, 31 May 1849 (RA, EAA.2054.1.1161).

78 RA, EAA.2054.1.727 (Jaan Varik in Helme, 1842–1843). Jaan Varik was eventually evicted.

79 Kahk, Die Krise, 135–9.

80 For the characteristics of the two landlord types, see Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘Was the manorial system’, 296–7.

81 http://www.ra.ee/apps/kinnistud/ [last accessed 23 June 2019].

82 For example, Jaan Varik protested against the lords of Helme and Kärstna manors three times, on the last occasion he appealed to the Minister of Interior twice: RA, EAA.2054.1.727 (1842–1843); EAA.2054.1.772 (1843–1850); EAA. 2054.1.2330 (1861). Jaan Varik was not a negligent farmer but a ‘striver’ (characterised as such also by the lord of Kärstna manor to the parish magistrate in 1850) whose interests often did not coincide with those of the manorial lords.

83 Parish records of Martna and Jämaja do not note the socio-economic status of people, which remains unknown.

84 In 1866, half of the farms on noble and church lands were subject to corvée or mixed rent in northern Livland. Artur Vassar, Uut maad otsimas: agraarne ümberasumisliikumine Eestis kuni 1863. aastani (Tallinn, 1975), 20–22; Tiit Rosenberg, ‘Sotsiaalse kihistumise süvenemisest Eesti külas XIX sajandi teisel poolel’ in idem., Künnivaod (Tartu, 2013), 223.

85 Lust, ‘Kas Eestis’, 45–6.

86 RA, EAA.919.1.1702 (Päri, 1865); 919.1.1675 (Hummuli, 1864).

87 Sivers to parish magistrate, 16 February 1865 (RA, EAA.924.1.607).

88 RA, EAA.919.1.1832 and 1923 (Suure-Kõpu, 1867 and 1870); EAA.923.1.5849 (Sootaga, 1864); EAA.3990.1.10 (Laatre, 1864). Wood theft was often only an excuse for eviction since harvesting timber without the landlord's permission was a widespread practice. In Viljandi, even a farm purchaser was expelled from his farm because of stealing fodder (EAA. 932.1.496, community court minutes, 25 August 1872).

89 Parish magistrate to governor-general, 18 September 1864 (RA, EAA. 2054.1.2488, Kärstna); Välgita 8 March 1863 (EAA.2418.1.306, ff. 40–40v).

90 RA, EAA.931.1.701 (on Saarde church estate, 1865).

91 RA, EAA.919.1.1673 (Jäärja, 1863).

92 RA, EAA.919.1.1797 (Jäärja, 1867). This was the main accusation after other problems like dilapidated buildings and rent and granary debts.

93 RA, EAA.924.1.284 (Laatre); EAA.931.1.669 (Karksi).

94 Ogilvie, ‘Choices and constraints’, 279–80.

95 About the noble manors in Ösel, see Kersti Lust, ‘Talude päriseksostmine Saaremaa eramõisais aastatel 1905–1915’, Eesti Ajalooarhiivi Toimetised 7, 14 (Tartu, 2001), 116–7.

96 Plakans, A concise history, 219.

97 Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise aegu, 67.

98 Wetherell, Charles and Plakans, Andrejs, ‘Borders, ethnicity, and demographic patterns in the Russian Baltic provinces in the late nineteenth century’, Continuity and Change 14, 1 (1999), 48CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

99 Hans Hollmann,Kurlands Agrarverhältnisse. Eine historisch-statistische Studie (Riga, 1893), 38; Austra Mierina, K voprosu o razvitii kapitalizma v sel'skom khoziaistve Kurliandskoi gubernii vo vtoroi polovine ХХ veka, in Protiv idelaizatsii mladolatyshoskogo dvizheniia (Riga, 1960), 209.

100 Lust, ‘Kas Eestis’, 47–8.

101 Kersti Lust, ‘Mulgi hädaoht ehk kuidas mulgid võõrsil talusid päriseks ostsid (kuni 1889)’, Tuna 64, 3 (2014), 56–8.

102 Ibid., 59.

103 Ibid., 50–63.

104 Data on manors of Helme, Jõgeveste, Leebiku, Lõve, Patküla and Riidaja.

105 Lust, ‘Mulgi hädaoht’, 44.

106 Viljandi farmers to the Emperor, 15 September 1864 (RA, EAA, 2054.1.2464, ff. 218–25); Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise, 82.

107 Lord of Jäärja manor, Ungern-Sternberg, to Pärnu county court, 26 April 1870 (RA, EAA.919.1.3480).

108 Riga archbishop to governor-general, 11 August 1864 and parish magistrate to governor-general, 18 September 1864 (RA, EAA.2054.1.2488); EAA.919.1.1699; EAA.934.1.1136 and EAA.934.1.1149.

109 Petition, 2 November 1864 (RA, EAA.2054.1.2464, ff. 228–9).

110 Lust, Kersti, ‘Eestikeelse Liivimaa talupoegade suhtumine talude päriseksostmisse 1863–1882’, Eesti Ajalooarhiivi Toimetised 18, 25 (Tartu, 2010), 244–51Google Scholar; Vassar, ‘Eesti talurahva vaated’, 139. Viljandi farmers to governor-general, 20 July 1867 (RA, EAA.2054.1.2833, ff. 1–4).

111 Hans Kruus, ‘Eesti talupoegade palvekirjade-aktsioonid’, in idem., Eesti ajaloost XIX sajandi teisel poolel. 60–80-ndad aastad. Lühiuurimusi (Tallinn, 1957), 17–18, 52–62, 68.

112 Viljandi county police to governor, 9 June 1865 (RA, EAA.2054.1.2464, ff. 279–82).

113 RA, EAA.2054.1.3409 and EAA.2054.1.3804 (Päri, Karl Kreimann, evicted in 1865 and 1872). He refused to leave the farm before he had received a large compensation (EAA.932.1.4864).

114 RA, EAA.919.1.3446 and EAA.919.1.3456 (Puiatu, 1867–1868).

115 Kahk, Talude päriseksostmise, 88; EAA.2054.1.1768 (Jäärja, 1855).

116 RA, EAA.2054.1.2329 (Kärstna, 1862).

117 RA, EAA.2054.1.2417 (Jäärja 1863).

118 On Viljandi manor, 1866 (RA, EAA.952.1.2104 and EAA.915.1.4055).

119 On Viljandi manor, 1866 (RA, EAA.952.1.2104).

120 E.g. in Suure-Kõpu (RA, EAA.2054.1.2464, ff. 279–82, Viljandi county magistrate to governor of Livland, 9 June 1865); Vassar, ‘Eesti talurahva vaated’, 146.

121 Lust, ‘Kas Eestis’, 48.

122 Palle Ove Christiansen, ‘The household in the local setting: a study of peasant stratification’, in Sune Åkerman, Hans Chr. Johansen and David Gaunt eds., Chance and change: social and economic studies in historical demography in the Baltic area (Odense, 1978), 53–5; Löfgren, Orvar, ‘Historical perspectives on Scandinavian peasantries’, Annual Review of Anthropology 9 (1980), 199CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dribe, Olsson and Svensson, ‘If the landlord, 746–69; Olsson, ‘Manorial economy’, 495–6; Rasmussen, Carsten Porskrog, ‘Modern manors? The character of some manors in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein’, in Sundberg, Kerstin, Germundsson, Tomas and Hansen, Kjell eds., Modernisation and tradition: European local and manorial societies 1500–1900 (Lund, 2004), 57Google Scholar.

123 Parish member lists suggest that in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, there were remarkable differences in the share of individuals not born locally between the manors of Helme. On manors owned by paternalist lords (Jõgeveste and Riidaja), their share was considerably lower than on manors owned by conventional lords.