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- Title
Sissevaateid Liivimaa kulauhiskonda 15.-16. sajandil.
- Authors
Poltsam-Jurjo, Inna
- Abstract
The history of the peasantry and agrarian history is one of the most thoroughly researched spheres of Estonian medieval history which has also been written about a great deal. Even though few written sources reflecting the history of the peasantry in medieval Livonia have survived, their potential in terms of historical research has not yet been exhausted. It is possible to find new data and themes, and to pose new questions to the sources. This article includes some additions to the history of the peasantry in Livonia in the 15th-16th centuries. Generally speaking, three types of sources form the basis for this treatment: older registers of socage holdings and taxes imposed on them, the records of the town council of Uus-Parnu (New Parnu) from the end of the 16th century concerning crimes committed by the peasants of the area, and materials in the archives of Duke Albrecht of Prussia originating from the pawning of the Grobina bailiwick to Prussia in 1560. The registers of socage holdings provide information concerning the taxes and obligations imposed on peasants and owed to the feudal lord, and it is from just this aspect that they have been studied the most. Yet other interesting information can be found in them as well. The names of peasants merit no less attention. They are one of the most interesting parts of old registers of socage holdings, providing fascinating information about the bearers of those names as well as about village society of that time, the surrounding living environment, interpersonal relations, and other such information. Family names had not yet developed among Estonian peasants by the end of the Middle Ages. Thus the bynames of that time provide an idea of who occupied important official positions in the village as well as of the development of village handicrafts and of handicrafts in the manorial estate. The accounts of criminal acts committed by peasants contained in the Uus-Parnu town council records are valuable and expressive from the standpoint of historical research. The consideration of these kinds of events gives the history of the peasantry an appreciable human dimension, revealing peasants not as anonymous bearers of taxes and laborers subject to serf labor but rather as people of flesh and blood with all imaginable vices and surely virtues as well. Duke Albrecht’s correspondence leads to the topic of the education of Livonia’s peasants. Stray items from diverse sources indicate that even though the overwhelming majority of Livonia’s peasantry in the Middle Ages remained illiterate, there were nevertheless those who had gone to school. More peasants who knew the value of the written word and knew how to use it in everyday life and in attending to their daily business could be found than literate peasants.
- Subjects
LIVONIA; PEASANTS -- History; EDUCATION of peasants; HISTORICAL source material; HISTORY of court records; MANORIALISM; FIFTEENTH century; SIXTEENTH century; HISTORY
- Publication
Tuna, 2011, Issue 1, p20
- ISSN
1406-4030
- Publication type
Article