Kovacsics József: A történeti statisztika forrásai (Budapest, 1957)

Angol nyelvű összefoglaló

3. In connection with the types and yield of agricultural products special attention should be paid to the lists of threshing. From these, one may derive the quantity of corn crop per shock, or sometimes even per area unit. 4. Statistics of the live-stock: oxen, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, hens etc. 5. The lists contain continuous data for the prices and marketing possibilities of agricultural and — sometimes — of certain manufactured products. Data are based often on estimates, their confrontation with other sources is recommended. 6. Wages and incomes of sharecroppers, hired threshers, carriers, journeymen and of workers with annual wages. 7. Historical data of settlements for the purposes of historical geography, community-planning and community-development may be copiously found in the lists. (For instance: place-names; decrease in the number of settlements or of their population; war and military devastations; large-scale chasing out or exhange of the population of whole villages; resettlements; the appearance of towns etc.) Also some non-statistical material may be found, e. g. concerning the contemporary system of measures; the currencies and their rates of exchange; names of persons and families; agricultural customs; ethnography etc. STATUTES OF FEUDAL SERVICES ("URBARIA"). The statutes of feudal services were called in Hungary "urbaria". An urbarium was a record containing data on the possession — in the first place, on its non-allodial part used by the peasants — of a feudal landlord, including the number of people who lived there and were in feudal relation with the landlord, and the amount of income to be expected from this land and people. Its purpose was to facilitate for the landlord the exercise of his rights concerning his land, people and income. The antecedents of this kind of statute reach back to the Roman age. It appears, as a developed type, after the stabilization of feudalism, i. e. in the 12th century in Central Europe, and at the end of the 15th century in Hungary. Prior to this, data concerning properties, their populations and services are to be found in Hungary in letters of donation and privileges, in testaments, conscriptions, agreements, juridical sentences, records etc. In the course of the 16th and 17th centuries the use of urbaria became general throughout the country and remained so until the end of the feudal system (i. e. the middle of the 19th century). They were usually drawn up, following the instruction of the landlords, by their stewards or bailiffs who were well acquainted with local conditions; but also the representatives of the self-governing bodies (counties, towns) were expected to be present at the occasion. The study reviews the various groups of data which may be found in urbaria and used for statistical purposes. These are as follows: names and number of the serfs, the size of their land, their special occupations, juridical status and living conditions; historical data from the past of the community; the number of children and livestock; branches of cultivation; location of the property and conditions of farming; amounts of money and naturalia to be paid by the serfs; a regulation of the fines; amount of statute-labour; buildings, implements, cattle, branches of cultivation, harvest and other incomes of the allodial property. In many cases, the urbaria contain also inventories, estimates and, of course, much information of non-statistical character. The types of urbarium constantly changed in the course of centuries; with the expansion and intensification of the production their contents won in detail, exactness and systematic character. The study mentions several types of urbaria. The end of the 16th century marks a turning-point: it is then that urbaria begin to register