The Arable Area Belonging to the Nobility of the Bydgoszcz Administrative Unit. On the Basis of the Recruitment Register of 1583

Abstract

The paper is about the arable area belonging to the nobility of the Bydgoszcz administrative unit on the basis of the recruitment register of 1583. This unit was part of the Inowrocław voivodship and embraced the territories lying near the royal town of Bydgoszcz. The territory in question was inhabited mostly by the serfs' nobility owing from a couple of settlements to one village or only its part (89 per cent of the arable acreage in the unit but only 56.5 per cent owners). Generally speaking, one may say that this nobility having several fields was rarely in possession of a dozen or so or a few dozen fields. They were not so rich in land as the owner living in the Świeck unit (within the Royal Prussia borders). The arable area which belonged to the nobility who possessed the unsettled lands was considerably smaller. Despite that they constituted a clear percentage of the nobility (over 34 per cent of owners), as a rule they possessed farms which did not extend two fields. As a result, it amounted to barely 7 per cent of the registered arable area. Some part of the nobility possessed both the serfs' and nonserfs' fields. They were, however, not numerous (somewhat more than 9 per cent of owners and 4 per cent of the total number of the registered fields). Another problem which has not been completely settled was the question of the farms belonging to the nobility. Certainly there were such within the Bydgoszcz unit. The attempts, however, that have been made in the paper to estimate their size are insufficient and call for more detailed research.