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

Angol nyelvű összefoglaló

tates the employing of the inverted method was allowed, the proceedings nevertheless took place in most cases in the order prescribed by the law. The tithers [decimatores) acted on special instructions. The author publishes an extract of an instruction from the year 1660. The tither had to keep an account (tithe list or register) of the tithe collected. The list contained the names of persons having paid the tithe, the quantities of their tithable produce and live-stock as well as the quantity of tithe received from them. In many cases the whole amount of tithable produce do not figure in the list, only the quantities received. The persons who paid "Christian money" etc. and those who did not live in the village but had some sown land in its outskirts were separately registered. Often we find in the lists some data on the sale of the products collected. Out of the population of the communities, the tithe-lists do not show the following: the clergymen, the teachers, the nobles, the craftsmen or artisans and the herdsmen of the "vlach" type, provided that they did not cultivate land falling under feudal service. This gap may be filled with the help of other sources. The data concerning the harvested quantities cannot be considered complete either; many times the tithe collectors — because of war or the resistance of the people — did not venture to approach the spot; instead, they summoned the serfs to a more secure place. The author then enumerates the types of documents which were used in connection with the tithes. He mentions also some outstanding works drawing on the material of the tithe lists. Students of historical statistics may derive data from the tithe lists for the following main purposes: 1. History of demographic evolution of Hungary in the 16—17th centuries. Especially the lists on tithes of cereals may be here taken into account, but in the interest of computing more exact data every kind of tithe lists should be confronted. Caution is recommended when using lists regarding wine tithes. A great advantage of the tithe lists is that they form continuous series for a given region or county. They cannot be considered complete, but they invariably contain the main and permanent component of the community population, i. e. the number of serf families provided with tenements. From this, a reliable and steady population index may be derived for the purposes of demographic history. The lists are suitable to estimate the number of the heads of families only, but not that of the total population. At the end of the study, the author publishes a diagram showing the population of the county Borsod on the basis of tithe lists. 2. From the data of the lists we may draw a picture of the economic situation of the serfs and, by summarising the data for the villages, conclusions may be drawn concerning the social differentiation of the peasant population in a given county or even in the country as a whole. The study contains some remarks concerning the computation method of harvested quantities on the basis of the tithe lists. These remarks tend to modify the method hitherto used. This method was that the quantity of the tithe was multiplied by ten, and the result was considered the total yield. This is not correct. When the list contains only the quantity of the tithe

y this should be multiplied by 11.25 in order to get the total quantity produced. When the list contains the basis of the tithe, this has to be augmented by 12.50 per cent, in order to provide for the ninth part of the yield which had been already deducted before the tithing. Thus, we may arrive at the total quantity produced. This correction modifies the previous results by a rough 10 per cent. There were, however, cases — especially in the Church estates — where the tithe was deducted first from the total yield. In such cases the multiplication by 10 is correct. 29* 451