The Roztocze Village Jędrzejówka in the Era of the Josephine Reforms in Galicia (1777–1789)

Abstract

The village of Jędrzejówka was settled before 1660 by Jan Lipski in the still poorly developed area of Eastern Roztocze, in the vicinity of the town of Lipsk, which was founded in 1613. After the First Partition of Poland, Jędrzejówka, along with a number of other Roztocze villages, became part of the Habsburg Monarchy. The reforms of rural relations, relations between heirs and serfs, and especially tax and municipal reforms aimed at establishing a uniform land tax, carried out by the Austrian authorities in Galicia, resulted in abundant documentation on the condition of villages, their ownership and social structure, their agrarian culture and the resulting benefits. On the basis of the so-called Josephine Metryka, urbarial descriptions and house descriptions from the 1880s, it was possible to reconstruct the potential of the village inhabited by 23 farmers, their land endowment, the agrarian culture they cultivated and the effects of their farming. The status of the dominion property and the emoluments accruing to the church are also shown. The appendices include lists of the villagers.