Urbárium Census of 1767

We had previously mentioned the 1767 Urbárium census in our latest Research Tip #12, but we felt it needed much more attention. As previously mentioned, these "records were ordered by Empress Mária Terézia in 1767 to help grasp a better understanding of the peasantry of Hungary. The over 300,000 pages of material contains a wealth of information such as how much livestock a peasant had, who the serf owed his obligations to and the amount of land the serf cultivated. These records only provide the name of the 'head' of the household/land. Most images are available for this collection and the front page [of the website] is available in English. Navigation of the documents are easily organized by county and then town or village name, alphabetically. Archaic or older spelling variations for the town or village name may be used. These records are not indexed by name."

Carl Kotlarchik and Martin Votruba have created and provided column header translations for the 1767 Urbárium census. More information about Martin Votruba and his resources can be found here. We have based these translations entirely off their work, with only a few minor changes and updates.

Kereszt és Vezeték Nevek = first name and surname

Jobbágy Helynek Minémösége = indicates the size of the farm in terms of a whole or fraction of a sessio;  the size of a sessio varied depending on the quality of the land;  a sessio included a house, barn, garden area, cultivation field and meadowland used to produce hay

Jobbágy helynek = peasant’s place (the farm)

• Belső & Külső = (Internal & External) indicates the location of the land either out in the fields or inside the village
• Mivolta = the nature of or type of land 
• Posonyi Mérőre való = Pozsonyi Mero = Bratislava Merica;  this is a unit of grain equal to about 14 dry gallons;  it is used here to measure the land under the house and barns and the garden the size of which is determined by how many Bratislava merica would be need to sow this land if it were not built upon;  
• Szántó Föld, Hold = ploughland; this a measure of the number of “holds” of land that the peasant had under cultivation;  a hold is equivalent to ~1.066 acres
• Rét Ember Vágó = meadowland used for growing hay the size of which is indicated by the number of men required to cut this hayfield in one day
• No. = number

Esztendőbeki Szolgálatok avagy Robot = yearly service requirement; this is the peasant’s days of obligation to work on the squire’s land each year based on the size of the land he farmed

• Marhás Robot Két Marhával = These are the number of days the peasant had to work on the squire’s estate if he used draft animals;  note that only oxen and horses were used as draft animals
• Vagy e hel[y]ettkézi Szolgálat = these are the number of days a peasant had to work on the estate if he did not use draft animals
• Nap = day

Kilenczed = ninth;  the peasant farmer had to give the 1/9th  part of his crops to the nobleman

Adózások = taxes

• Esztendőbeli Árenda = household tax of 1 florin (gulden) per year
• Tűzre való Fa = fire wood the peasant had to provide measured in “öly”  
• Fonyás = yarn measured in “funt” ( ~ 1.2 pounds)    
• Ki főzött Vaj = butter measured as oil (melted)
• Icze = 8.5 dl 
• Kappany = capons; a castrated rooster used for food; castration made the meat more tender
• Csérke = chickens
• Tojás = eggs
• No. = number

Belső ház-hely, és Rétek fogyatkozásának helyrehozása, a' melyből kilenczed nem adattatik = this says that the peasant did not have to give 1/9th of the things he grew in his house garden or in depleted or damaged fields