Suchergebnisse

This article explores living arrangements and both informal and formal support for the elderly who had no surviving children in the Russian Baltic province of Livland from 1850 to 1905. The article examines with whom the elderly who had no spouse and descendants to rely on lived out their twilight years; whether there were differences between the farmers and farm laborers; the role of poor relief, and whether adoption served well to ensure upkeep in old age.

AbstractThis article addresses how long tenant farmers in the Russian Baltic Provinces of Estland and Livland managed to occupy the farms and whether they transferred them within the family in the early phase of agricultural transformation (1841–1889). It contributes to the long-standing debate over the relative power of manorial lords and tenants in the (East Elbian) manorial system. Looking at individual-level data on the changes in tenantship on more than 1,000 farmsteads across 5 parishes, the article demonstrates the relative instability of tenant holdings and lack of independence in land transfers on noble manors.

The article explores the survival chances of children born out of wedlock in the Russian Baltic province of Livland from 1834 to 1891 and is based on court records as well as individual-level vital events data. The absence of a consistent mortality penalty for illegitimate infants and the considerable proportion of single mothers who went on to marry point to the lack of a strong social stigma. Other indicators, such as rates of stillbirths and early childhood mortality, mother's age and socioeconomic status, and the time span between the birth and marriage, give evidence of marginalization.

AbstractThis article is a case study of wrecking, based on a database of hundreds of shipwrecks that occurred between 1780 and 1870, in what is today Estonia. Through a qualitative analysis of narrative sources, it examines the wrecking activities of manorial lords as well as of their peasants. Contrary to the international scholarly tradition, which views wrecking as an activity of the common people, this article sheds light on the deceptive and opportunistic activities of manorial lords, who were responsible for enforcing the law at the local level by performing police and court functions, but who, at the same time, benefited on a large scale from wrecking. The article contrasts this with the opportunities coastal peasants had to wreck for their own profit. In wrecking and salvage, the three characteristic elements of peasant-landlord relationships – exploitation, partnership, and patronage – emerge. In contrast with studies focusing on the friction between peasants and their lords in regions dominated by manorialism, this article argues that, in wrecking, their collaboration apparently proceeded without much conflict in this period.