1767
Urbarium of the Village of Mucsi
This text was
translated from Mutsching/Mucsi: Geschichte und Gesellschaft
einer ehemaligen fuldischen Gemeinde in Ungarn by Wendelin
Hambuch (Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó, 1988) pp. 65-69. Translated by
Steve Jahn on 12 March 2012.
First
Point
Regarding the Description
of the Residences
It is in this village called Mucsi,
recognized as a low cost area, that the included home site of an
entire residence, or an entire farmstead, including its
courtyard, its garden, and any developed land with sheds, should
be extended to a measurement of two Presburger Metzen, or one
Joch=1.42 acre.
The external field grounds of an entire
residence or of an entire farmstead should be measured twenty
two Joch acres, each Joch measuring two Presburger Metzen, plus
eight measured Joch of meadows, so that during the year they are
cared for and mowed twice.
All those measures, as those of the above
entire recorded residence, also should be understood to apply
for a half, quarter, or eighth of a residence in its
proportional measurement.
Second
Point
Regarding the Benefits of
the Tenants
According to the provisions of the
thirty-six Articles of the year 1550, the tenants may enjoy free
consumption of wine from the Feast of St Michael (29 September)
to the Feast of St. George (23 April).
In as far as the condition and the area of
the ground allow, the tenants should have for their animals an
adequate grazing meadow, and use of the same, although with
provisions, and with permission of their Landlord…
Where forested areas are found, it is
permitted for the tenants to gather wind-broken or other dead
wood for their firewood, but only for their own use.
The required construction lumber will be
provided to the tenants from their own grounds, although this
stated allowance should be requested from the Landlord’s
administration, and the trees involved should be pointed out to
the administration.
The oak lumber on the grounds of the
subjects shall be allowed to them for a low welfare price of 6
kreuzer and exempt from all other costs, but in the fertile
woods belonging to the church, the lumber shall be acquired for
the price that is agreed upon by the Landlord of the grounds of
the church.
Third
Point
Regarding the Robot Labor and Service of
the Tenants
Every land owning farmer owes his landlord
each week, one day from sun-up to sundown, including the travel
time to and from, with the exception of the time required to
feed and water the draft animals that are used with two animals
and their own wagon, but in the fields four draft animals and
harnesses to labor for two days, but they are liable for that
only once during the spring season, but it is not allowed to
forego that work and still hold the tenant to the two day labor
service.
During the haymaking and the mowing, as
also during grape harvesting, the manual labor and robot labor
may be doubled, but will be subtracted from the other weeks.
Above all,
the compulsory labor days of all sorts will be monitored, so
that a quarter of it will be held back to use during the six
months of winter.
Every land owning farmer owes his landlord
a yearly total of 18 days, and every landless tenant (those not
owning their own house, but living with others) owes 12 days of
manual labor.
In addition to the above listed usual
compulsory labor, the subjects are required to provide one long
transport, at which the item mentioned below should be observed:
That four land owning farmers and from the
tenant farmers a joint contribution which would total that
amount, as agreed to between them, so that they will provide a
hitch of four animals for transport.
Fourth Point
Regarding the Payments and other
Provisions
Each land owning farmer and resident tenant
without exception is indebted to his Landlord yearly one Gulden
payment in two installments, specifically on the Feast of St.
George (23 April) and the feast of St. Michael (29 September)
but all landless tenants are exempt from this payment.
Each land owning farmer owes his landlord
yearly: two chickens, two capons, twelve eggs, a half measure
of lard, and for the poorer subjects proportionally, the half,
quarter or eighth amount.
Besides the above obligations each group of
thirty 30 resident tenants together shall provide during the
year one calf, or in its stead, 1 florin, 30 kreuzer…
Besides that
each land owning farmer on the upcoming marriage of his Landlord
or Landlady, but not for the upcoming marriage of their sons or
daughters, not minor by circumstances, owes for the priest, but
not the monks or nuns, and his Landlord a large contribution,
and that means for the aforementioned identified, - food, and
from the landless tenants their half, quarter, or eighth
contribution.
Fifth Point
Regarding
the Ninth Portion and the Vineyard Slopes
Of all
earthly produce, excepting those which are cultivated on the
home site, and the same which are raised during each year of
lambs, kid goats, and beehives, the tenant must provide a ninth
portion in kind and not in money or other commodity.
Where the above mentioned ninth portion of
the lambs, kids or beehives are not received by the Landlord,
then the payment will be delivered by the tenant to the landlord
- for each lamb – four kreuzer; for each Kid – three kreuzer;
and for each beehive six kreuzer.
A land owning farmer will provide either a
ninth of his hemp and flax, or in its stead, a sixth of the spun
hemp or flax, and proportionally for the landless tenants, a
half, quarter or eighth portion.
Where the ninth portion of the wine is
given, it shall be given in the same kind, as each type of grape
grown, after the entire harvest is measured, exactly, and not
more nor less and as to the ninth portion, to use none other as
measurement than the 32 measure Pressburger bucket to weigh the
wine.
Sixth
Point
Regarding the Rights and Privileges of the Landlord
According to the content of the 18th
article of the 5th decree of King Ladislav and the 22nd
article of the year 1729, all kinds of hunting, bird trapping
and fishing in the fish bearing waters of the Landlord are
reserved only to the Landlord and are strictly forbidden to the
tenants.
Seventh
Point
Regarding the
Lifting of Restrictions and Prevention of future Misuse or
Excesses
The tenants will not be inhibited by the
Landlord in any way in regards to the free purchase or sale of
tobacco, honey, wax, lard, flax, hemp and other naturally grown
products from whomever or wherever they choose.
The tenants shall not be forced to use the
mill of the Landlord, but shall be allowed to take their produce
to any other mill to grind which they may choose.
Eighth
Point
Regarding the Restriction of the Tenants
and the Penalty
Fines should under no circumstance be
lifted, if there are violations of the clearly stated law of the
land and shall be taken from the tenants by the governing chair
in the presence of the court witnesses, namely of his lawyer and
one juror, as such just decision is made, but he is free to
appeal to the governing chair of the committee.
In all other circumstances, where the
tenant is fined more modestly, the
transgressor with the
exception of either the law or stated in another written rule,
shall pay either in money or in physical labor, of one, two, or
at the most three day manual labor obligation, but this
punishment should not be enforced during the harvest time,
mowing, or cutting time, or grape gathering, but at another
time.
Although as first mentioned, the tenant,
whether he is fined in money or whether in manual labor, but
because it happened in that time that the tenant violated with
his free speech or by physical harm or did not repent after his
three day manual labor, then he shall be subject to corporal
punishment, and in those circumstances he shall be observed. If
the violator is a healthy and strong person, according to the
size of the violation, the most severe punishment shall not
exceed 24 strikes of a switch, or according to the sex of the
violator, 24 leather strikes…
If the tenant fails to do his mandatory
labor intentionally or through carelessness, then he shall be
punished with 12 blows.
Ninth
Point
Concerning the Selection of Courtroom
Members
In the courtroom, the Landlord will make
three recommendations from which the council in the presence of
the governing officials will select one, but the Landlord has
the authority, if there is any violation of the rules, that he
can remove or punish them instead, and in their place again the
same process will be followed and the lawyer and the jurists of
the council can decide by themselves, without influence of the
Landlord, to reinstate or dismiss the nominee.
The judges should not be under the
obligation of the Landlord or any other influence, so that the
judgment is free of influence of any other factors.
So that the oppressed and others may not
suffer an injustice, and justice should be conducted properly,
it shall be observed that the same complaint of the tenants
against the Landlord’s administration should be lodged with the
Landlord’s administration or with the same official, but if they
are unwilling or harmful to them, they can go to the Landlord
and complain, and if they do not get a simple satisfaction, then
they can appeal to the County.
Kölesd, 4 October 1767
This Land
Registry was put in force and distributed on 19 October
1767.
This Urbarium also has an Urbarium table
included. Therein are the baptism and given names of all
colonists, the size of the estate and its inner and outer
grounds, the yearly mandatory labor, the size of the service
obligation in crops, rent, and donations. From this table it
can be stated that most of the tenant farmers, about 95, had
only a 3/8 estate in the year 1767.
