Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.58565/vda.3.1.12
Living conditions in cadastre municipality Stravča in Konavle in the 19th century
Marija Gjurašić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5111-3986
; Studij Povijest Jadrana i Mediterana Sveučilišta u Dubrovniku, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Barbara Tereza Knez
Sažetak
Based on relevant literature, cadastral data from the cadastre of Francis I, data from the 19th century registry book State of Souls in Stravča Parish and other previously unexplored archival materials, the paper presents the socio-demographic and economic situation and land relations in that rural Konavle municipality, on the border of the Habsburg Monarchy with the Ottoman Empire, during the second Austrian administration. According to the cadastral description, the settlement is predominantly hilly. The entire municipality is divided into 140 construction and 1400 land parcels with a total area of about 1959 acres. Sown fields occupy the most fertile locations of the municipality (135 acres), while pastures and wooded areas cover a total of 1810 acres. According to data from 1840, 26 families with a total of 157 members lived in Stravča. Almost 70% of families (18/26) were working exclusively in agriculture (three members from each), while 8/26 families are working in farming (two members from each) and crafts. Wheat, barley, rye, corn, and potatoes were mostly grown on the sown fields, as a substitute for cereals the production of which was not entirely sufficient. To achieve the best possible land productivity, the crops were rotated on an annual basis for three years, and one part of the land was put under fallow. According to cadastral data, the people of Stravča were neither involved in olive growing nor viticulture, and the way of living in Stravča somewhat deviated from that common one in the remaining part of the district, especially in terms of consuming less oil, wine, and fresh fish, and consuming more dairy products and potatoes. On average, almost every house had one cattle or one ox and a mule or a horse, 13 goats and 5 sheep, and every other household had one piglet. The paper presents all the households recorded in the State of Souls, and 31 December 1890 was taken as the key moment for researching the size and structure of families. The analysis of the State of Souls showed that Stravča in the 19th century was characterized mostly by large and complex households. These are most often examples of three-generation families, and several horizontally extended families were also recorded. At the same time, there were also quite a few nuclear families where only parents and their unmarried children lived, and two households with one or two members. The analysis of cadastral registers reveals that in the 19th century all the people of Stravča were in a serfdom-colonate relationship because Dubrovnik lords from Pucić and Getaldić families were registered as owners of almost all construction particles, as well as several wealthy landowners, while onlyone cadastral particle of buildings was owned by an inhabitant of Stravča. It was the same with soil particles. Colonate relations, such as those we find in Stravča, were widespread throughout Konavle, and their roots date back to the 15th century when almost all Konavle’s land was divided among the lords of Dubrovnik. Land relations of that kind inhibited economic development in the 19th century and they also present one of the main reasons why many people from Stravča and other people from Konavle leave their homeland and emigrate, especially to America and New Zeland.
Ključne riječi
Stravča; Konavle; rural environment; 19th century; colonate relations; Francis I cadastre; state of souls; models of families
Hrčak ID:
293977
URI
Datum izdavanja:
24.2.2023.
Posjeta: 557 *