Serfs of Poland and Russia Part V by Robert S. Sherins, M.D.

Glossary of Agricultural, Property,
and Land Subdivision Terms ^[1]
After Emancipation of the Serfs
Abstracted by Robert S. Sherins, M.D.
May 31, 2005

End of Serfdom in Poland:
1. Napoleonic defeat of Prussian and Russian Occupied Poland in 1807 ended serfdom, but emancipation of serfs was delayed until Revolution of 1848.
2. Austro-Hungary Occupied Poland, 1848: Resulted from the peasant revolt in 1846 over abuses of forced labor and greed of the gentry (szlachta).
3. German Occupied Poland: Silesia, Poznania, Pomerania. West Prussia, 1850. East Prussia or Pomerania was not part of the German Occupied Poland, except part of East Prussia, the Northwest part, which was east of Gdansk/Danzig.
4. Congress Poland – “Russian Occupied Poland, 1864: Delayed until after Russian suppression of the Polish Insurrection of 1863.

Category of Serfdom: based upon the amount of land held and worked by the serf. By the 18^th century, serfdom became synonymous with slavery. In Russia, serfs were auctioned; serfs were subjected to justice and death penalties administered by the lords.

By 1781 in Austria, Emperor Joseph II abolished serfdom, so serfs married, moved, or took up trades without the lord’s permission. Serfs could be flogged as punishment, but not executed. Each administrative jurisdiction, Kreis (the German term for county; Polish term is powiat), had a separate court system. Until 1847, courts were often held in the village tavern (karczma; this was the term used for judges, who traveled to different town courts).

Object of “Emancipation” was to limit forced labor by the lords:
1. Cmetho – 3 days labor per week
2. Semi-cmetho – 2 days labor per week
3. Hortulanus – 1 day labor per week
4. Inquilinus – 1 day per month

Legal redistribution of land and tax base:
1. Land distribution: Royal Crown land; Church land; Noble land; and free Peasant land.
2. Lord/land owner received 30-70% of the acreage.
3. Occupations were still under the stewardship of the lords until after 1850.
4. Transition to serf ownership was financed by State bonds and redeemed through taxation.

Tax payments in-kind:
1. Pańszczyzna: Serfdom; serf labor statutes
2. Pańszczyżniany: Serf (chłop)
3. Ellenwanden: amount of woven cloth (paid per year) based upon length of cloth, the ellenwand.
4. Ellenwand: equal to the Polish unit of length – łokieć:
   1. Austria: 0.7775586 meter
   2. Prussia: 0.66694 meter
   3. Russia: 0.57600 meter
   4. Poland: 0.5608 meter
5. Dnie sprzężajne: Peasant (cmethones) compulsory labor cultivating the lord’s fields, but using his own oxen and tools.
6. Dnie piesze: Lesser peasant (hortulanus) compulsory “walking” labor without his own animals or tools.
7. Example of Polish annual payments by peasants to the lord/property owner: 1,560 cultivation hours labor, 8,554 walking hours labor, 10 geese, 322 chickens, 6000 eggs, 1,824 yards of cloth, and 8 florins and 36 groszy cash. Poland tried to standardize equivalent payments:
   1. 1 dzień sprzęż = 24 groszy
   2. 1 dzień piesz = 6 groszy
   3. 1 goose = 12 groszy
   4. 1 chicken = 7 groszy
   5. 60 eggs = 10 groszy
8. Quitrent: American land-servitude after 1776; annual tax payments.
9. Freeholder: Land ownership without symbolic payments of any kind.

Latin	Polish	Definition
Agricola	Rolnik	Rola means soil. Rolnik means the farmer.
Cmetho (cmethonius)	Kmieć	Self-sufficient farmer; later use was peasant. If a serf were self-sufficient, he may have been classified as “cmetho” based upon the land value, regardless of the size of the farm.
Colonus	Kolonista	Settler; Alien colonist farmer
Semi-cmetho	Zagrodnik z rolą or (półrolnik)	Peasant farm was half-sized; Usually 21-42 acres
Hortulanus	Zagrodnik	Peasant farm was quarter-sized Garden-sized; Usual size was 1 - 21 acres. Serfs had to supplement income with outside work.
Hortulanus cum agro		Peasant with minimal subsistence farm, who received additional land
Inquilinus or Rusicus/rustico/plebus	Parobek; Okupnik	Landless peasant had 1 – 1 ½ acre; tenant; often used for “day-laborer”
	Ogrodnik	Peasant had a house with small garden, but no cropland; gardener
	Chałupnik	Peasant had a small cottage (chata)
	Komora	All-purpose living room
	Komornik	Peasant tenant had only one room in someone else’s house - (southeastern Poland). In England the term was Cottager.
Kumornik pauper	Komornik	Peasant without house or farm animals
	Kątnik; aka (podkomornik)	Poor peasant lived in a corner of someone’s room

Latin	Polish	Definition
Rusicus/rustico, or plebus	Parobek	Landless peasant laborer; often a rural farmhand or day-laborer.
Villanus		Villager
Pauperes	Ubogi	Destitute and landless peasant unable to support himself
	Łan	Polish farm – standard unit of area. German = Hufe, mórg, Joch, sążeń squared, or Klafter.
	Łan frankoński	Frankish or German term = 43.2 mórgs or 23ß27 hectares. American homestead farms were 40 acres
	Łan flandryjski	Flemish term = 30.0 mórgs
	Włoka	Flemish term same as Łan flandryjski equal to 41.50 acres.
	Morg or morga	Austrian = 1.422 acres Prussian = 0.631 acres Russian/Poland = 1.388 acres Area about 5,600 sq. meters
	Sążeń	(Sazhen squared) = 4.537 acres A division of a morg
	Ha.	Abbreviation for hectare - 2.471 acres
	Kilometer (km)	0.6641 miles
	Wiorsta	Verst (English) = 1.069 km or 0.70 miles
	Gospodarstwo	Polish farm German: Betrieb/Bauhof/Bauerngut
	Grunt	Any sized ground or soil holding
	Szlachta	Nobility or gentry. Also included knights
Equites		Military knighthood

Governmental terms
Castellanus	Kasztelan	A.k.a. chatelain; governor of castle
Capitaneus	Starosta	County governor (county = starostwo)
Palatinus	Wojewoda	Provincial governor; province = województwo
	Wojskowy	Military
Tribuus	Wojski	Military like (adjective)
Scultetus	Sołtys	Bailiff or head of the village
Subcamerarius	Podkomorzy	Lesser rent collector or Chamberlain
Dominus	Pan	It refers to the Lord, master, or gentleman. As a prefix it could mean Mr. similar to the Spanish padrone.
	Dziedzic	Refers to someone, who inherits Pandziedzic means the inheritor
	Dwór	Manor house
Heares	Właściciel	Owner or proprietor
	Psoiadacz	Proprietor
Praedium	Folwark	Large working farm, i.e. American “grange” or residence and central area of the Polish gentry estate.
Praedium militare		Defensive outpost
Latifundium		Entire estate of a lord
Demesne		Estate not leased to serfs
Mansa	Plebania	Parsonage, rectory
Glaeba	Gleba	Soil or ground; village land that supported the local priest
Economus	Ekonom	Steward of the estate

↑ [1] Ortell, Gerald A.: “Polish Parish Records of the Roman Catholic Church, Their Use and Understanding in Genealogical Research,” Polish Genealogical Society of America, Chicago, IL, 1998.