Property Inventories. P.3. What the Property Inventories Contain.

Author: Piotr Zelny

Generally, property inventories consist of three basic parts. The title, the descriptive part, and the normative part. This type of documentation may refer to a single settlement or to an entire complex of properties, which could include many villages and towns. They can be in the form of a separate book (a manuscript), a notebook, a loose document or a record entry in court books.

The title of the inventory provided the collective name of the complex of properties e.g. the property of Serednie, as well as the names of individual localities included in this property inventory. Depending on the circumstances of preparing the documentation, the purpose of its creation and its content may be specified, too. The title contained the name of the owner or owners of the properties and, if the properties were on lease, also the lessee. The date of the origin of the document and, in the case of a lease, the period of its validity were included.

Title page of an inventory. The complex of properties of Serednie, 1747. AP Przemysl

The second part of the document, i.e. the descriptive part, usually contained a detailed description of a manor, farm buildings and agricultural land. The areas of individual villages were divided into the noble (the manor farm), the ecclesiastical (the church area) and the rural (peasants’ fields) terrains. The manor area was the part of the village managed directly by the officials of the landlord. It consisted of an administrative and residential building, i.e. a manor house, farm buildings and farm land. The whole entity was called the manor or manorial farm.

The descriptive part of the inventory provided the location of the manor and farm buildings, the external appearance of these buildings and their internal layout, the number and area of ​​rooms, equipment and their condition. There was a description of the farmland, agricultural crops, pastures, meadows, gardens and a register of the livestock. The peasants were obliged to serve and fulfil various duties on this manorial farm. Some more complex inventories also provided very precious descriptions of peasants’ cottages as well as inns and other rural buildings located in the specific village.

Descriptive part of an inventory. Description of the palace in Nowy Targ, 1767. AN Krakow

The third part of the document, i.e. the normative portion, was divided into two parts. The first part contained a register of population along with the property of individual families as well as their feudal obligations. The second part provided detailed instructions and regulations in regard to the relations between peasants and the landlord as well as rules of the village’s internal system.

The register of population usually was presented in tabular form. It listed the first and the last name, or only the first name, or the first name and the nickname of the head of individual peasant families living in the village. Other family members were frequently omitted. The population was divided into various categories. Belonging to a particular category depended on property status. The state of property of a particular family determined the amount of feudal service and other tributes required. For this reason, the inventories sometimes provided more detailed information about the area of land being cultivated by a particular family. Families belonging to a particular category usually farmed a specific amount of land e.g. ‘a field’, ‘a half-field’, ‘a quarter-field’, ‘a garden’. Also the census included the number of oxen and horses owned by a family or more frequently, just the number of the animals used by the family to cultivate the lord’s farm as part of the peasant’s feudal obligation. It was very important information because it determined the type of the feudal service required of the serf (with animals or on foot) and the number of duties related to transportation.

Subsequent columns listed the number of days of feudal service required of the serf (in division on its type) per week, and also the number of oxen and horses, the amount of rent in money, the amount of oats in bushels and the other tributes such as: geese, capons, chickens, eggs, yarn etc.

Unfortunately, not all the categories of rural population were listed in the registers. The usual categories listed included the part of the population which owned houses and farmed the land allocated to them or, if not farm fields, at least land sufficient for a garden. The categories found were: ‘kmieć’ (a peasant farmer cultivating about 1 ‘łan’ of farming land, depending on a region and a historical period it was equal to at least 40 acres),‘półrolnik/półkmieć’ (a peasant farmer cultivating about a half of the ‘łan’ of farming land), ‘zarębnik’ (a peasant farmer cultivating about a quarter of the ‘łan’ of farming land), ‘zagrodnik’ (owner of a cottage with a small amount of land), ‘ogrodnik’ (a gardener), and ‘chałupnik’ (a cottager).

Families which did not have their own houses and did not cultivate any land, i.e. ‘komornik’ (a landless peasant) and ‘kątnik’ (a landless peasant) were mentioned less frequently. Other groups of the population, such as farm workers, maidens, hired workers or servants were almost always absent or occurred very rarely in the registers.

Apart from the rural inventories, there were also municipal inventories which contained lists of the population of individual towns. They provided data regarding the property of townspeople as well as their burdens such as taxes, rents, fees and tributes.

Register of subjects and their feudal obligations of the village of Trościaniec, 1765. AGAD Warsaw

At the end of the normative part of the inventory, were found detailed instructions regarding the performance of the feudal duties of serfdom, the so-called regulations or descriptions of obligations. The instructions developed in detail and precisely regulated the duties of the communities towards the landlord and determined the internal system of the village. The instructions regulated the amount of time to be worked, the number and length of breaks during the workday when a serf fulfilled his feudal obligations, working conditions related to variables such as the weather, the use of agricultural tools and draft animals. They enumerated the types of annual agricultural work as well as regulated matters related to the other duties and fees, such as the transport of goods, deadlines for paying rents and for paying tributes in the form of agricultural products, animals and cash. They also regulated important issues such as land trades between peasants, etc.

Normative part of an inventory. Regulations of obligations of Kalnica, 1767. AP Przemysl

In addition to such complete inventories containing all three parts, there also exist partial documents containing only some of the above-mentioned elements. For example, if there was neither a manor house nor a manor farm in a particular village then the inventory would not contain a descriptive part of these elements. The most painful fact for genealogists is that some documents may not contain a list of peasant or town families, their property status and feudal obligations. On the other hand, there are also some documents which may contain much richer material.

Documents of this type were written by thousands of scribes and officials employed in offices. Their content corresponded to the needs and purposes necessary for managing a particular property. Hence their content and accuracy largely depended on the need of the moment and the experience of the clerk drawing up the document.

See villages and towns available for search in the Land Records database.

Part 4 ASSESSMENT OF THE SOURCE 

22 comments

  1. Very interesting explanation of “property inventories.”

    Is there a centralized listing of such inventories according to village or region ? Where does one look for such records ?

    1. Hi Chet,
      Definitely it’s the crucial question. I’m trying to answer to this question in the fifth and the last part of the article which is going to be published in two weeks. I don’t wont to anticipate the facts here and spoil that part of the text, so, let’s come back to this issue when the last part of the study be already published.
      Piotr

  2. I know my family had an estate in Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). I would love to know how to track down these inventories. According to the Archives in Vilnius, it would be too difficult for them to do such a search. I know the name of the estate and years they owned it. Would that help me to get the Archives to do such a search? I hope you can address my question in the last part of this study is published. Thank you!

    1. Hi Joanne,
      I have no idea what could get the Archives in Vilnius to do the research. Definitely, every information you’ve got is important and can help in finding the files you have searched for. However, You must remember, that every system has changed from time to time. It refers also to the system of land ownership. The article presents the documents of the feudal system which ended in the region of Vilnius in 1861.

      Maybe, you can try to get the PolishOrigins to do the research 😉
      https://polishorigins.com/genealogy/

      Good luck
      Piotr

  3. This is absolutely fascinating! Your explanation of the property inventories suggests that when they are available, they would enable us to better imagine the lives of our ancestors who were serfs.

    Will PolishOrigins offer research of such property inventories?

    1. Alaine,

      Wherever it will be possible, meaning where the inventories survived, we will try to help and check the available sources.

  4. Fascinating! I too would be very interested in researching the property inventories that may include info about lives of my Polish ancestors. I look forward to reading more about the possibility of obtaining such records.

  5. My grandfather’s family owned a farm in the Village of Niewodowo. How can I get information on it?
    The family name is “CWIKLOWSKI”

    1. Hi Donald,

      There is needed more information to find this out. You can consult this with our team.
      You may fill out the Genealogy Research Request form or contact us by email: [email protected]

      Good luck
      Piotr

  6. Love these emails, my grandfather and great grandfather built and owned a building in Gdynia. I have the architectural plans of the building. I had a local solicitor briefly look into this, he told me that the building was given back tot he state when unclaimed and some of it has been sold off but without the deeds they can do nothing? Is this a similar thing, could this help me? My Grandfather left Poland in September 1939 aged 34 years, leaving a wife, a job, the building, all of his family and everything he had worked for up until that point and joined the British air forces, he was never able to return to Poland or see any of his family again, I would love to be able in his honour to retrieve such information on the property. I have been trying to do this for 10-15 years and would appreciate any advice

    1. Hi Melanie,
      This article will not help to solve your case. The article presents the feudal system which had ended long before your Grandfather was borne. To get information on the property of your Grandfather you must know the name or the number of the mortgage book of the plot and/or the number of the real estate register of the plot. To get the information you can apply to https://ekw.ms.gov.pl/eukw_ogol/menu.do
      Such books for the town of Gdynia are kept in the Rejonowy Court in Gdynia, the V (fifth) Department of the Real Estate Registers. The initial code for the registers of Gdynia is GD1Y……….then number…….
      To get the information on the number of the real estate register you must know the address or the number of the parcel.

      Here, You can find information about our services as well as contact with our team:
      https://polishorigins.com/genealogy/

      Good luck
      Piotr

  7. This is a fascinating subject! Even if my ancestors aren’t included in the registers, it would provide invaluable background information on the area and and a glimpse of daily life. I’m hoping I’ll be fortunate enough to find one that includes the my family’s villages.

    1. Hi Therese,

      I completely agree with you and would like to add that even there are no inventories of your family’s village you don’t need to be upset. For, there are many other sources, from the both periods of Polish monarchy as well as partitions. I do not know the settlement which don’t have historical sources.

      Good luck in you search
      Piotr

  8. Very interesting! I look forward to the upcoming parts of this series.

    I had land owning nobles in the region of Sokoły, Kobylin-Borzymy, Puchały and surrounding parishes in the Łomża area.

  9. Hi! Thanks so much for the article! I am trying to research my Bilinski family. They lived in Meszna Opacka or Rychweld. The story goes that the land they had was granted to them by the pope after them battle against the turks which would be the battle of Vienna I believe. And possibly this is when the crust was given to them. I’m wondering if there’s a listing of land grants anywhere and/Or how to further my investigation in the right direction. Even if the story isn’t true, I still would like to know where this property was. As far as I know it was all lost during WWI and/or WWII.

  10. Fascinating! If you ever come across records for the Jaslo and Szebnie areas I would be interested in knowing.
    Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

    1. Hello Anita
      Thank you. Indeed the subject is really fascinating. I checked sources for Szebnie. There are at least several such documents referring to Szebnie.
      1. Register of peasants and their feudal obligations from 1711 – 1819 (I guess that the original document might be from 1711 and it provides register of peasants for that particular year, however there might be also some notes from later times till 1819);
      2. Document of abolition of serfdom from 1851 – 1855 [1859] which also contains register of peasants and their feudal obligations as well as other information like area of land belonging to particular family;
      3. 1786 – 89 Register of owners of particular plots, area of particular plots (up to one yard), its type etc. The original document is inaccessible now for the reason of war as it is kept in Ukraine but I think that I could be able to get printed compilation of this document. The original will be available after the war.
      4. I guess that there are three more such documents from the years 1772 – 1820 but all of them are kept in Ukraine and are inaccessible nowadays.
      So, Anita if you are interested in documents from 1711 – 1819, 1851 – 1855 and 1786 – 1789 (printed compilation) just let me know please.
      I didn’t check Jaslo but I guess that there might also be many very precious documents saying about its inhabitant.
      All the best
      Piotr

      1. Hi Piotr,

        I already have the Cadastral map Index for Szebnie from 1851. I found one ancestor (Soltys) in the index and many names of people who married into the family.
        I am very interested in 1786-1789 (printed compilation) and possibly the documents from 1711-1819.
        Are these documents available in Poland at an archive or online? If only a researcher in Poland can access them what are your costs? I look forward to hearing from you.
        Anita

  11. Hi Anita,

    The document number 2 from 1851 – 1855, it is not a cadastral map and index. The cadaster was created for fiscal purposes in order to calculate appropriate land tax for every owner of particular land.
    While the document which I found, it is documentation created in result of conducting state reform of land property rights which abolished serfdom and granted the land property rights to peasants. These sources provide completely different information about the social and financial situation of your family then the cadaster documentation.
    For more information like costs and farther explanations please contact me at: [email protected]
    Piotr

  12. Any of the documents are available on-line, they are available only at archives in Poland.

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