Page 107 - Changing Living Spaces

The Transformation of the Migratory Strategies of the Rural Population

Figure 1 The Region of South Bohemia and the Actual Borders
of the Czech Republic (Map By Václav Černý)

lord, often with draft animals as well as human workers. Below the peas-
ants came the ‘smallholders’ (Czech zahradník, German Gärtner) who
held some arable land but not enough to subsist from, paid lower dues and
taxes, and owed forced services to the landlord with human labour only.
Finally, the ‘cottagers’ (Czech chalupník, German Häusler) held only their
own cottages and gardens, paid minor dues and taxes, and owed light-
er (though increasing) labour to the overlord. All other Bohemian serfs
lived in households headed by members of these three official strata, as
family members, servants, or inmate-lodgers (Czech podruh, German
Hausleute or Hausgenoßen). A few outsiders, mainly freemen (Czech svo-
bodník, German Freibauer) and Jews (Czech žid, German Jude), also lived
in Bohemian villages under special ‘privileges’ granted by the landlord
(Klein and Ogilvie 2016, 505).

Release Letters as Historical Sources
A serf was legally subject to the estate on which he was born. If some-
body wanted to leave the estate legally and permanently, they had to
obtain the permission of the lord of that estate. This process generat-
ed ‘release letters’ or ‘letters of discharge’ (figure 2), which are the main
source of evidence used in this article.2 The Czech term for these docu-

2 The source and its use were described by Maur (1978, 67) and Čáňová (1986,
151–2).

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