Saturday, July 23, 2022

Moravian land registers of 1656-1676, part I

One of the sources I haven't mentioned before are Moravian land registers created between 1656 and 1676 (they are called lánový rejstřík or lánové rejstříky in Czech). It's the oldest Moravian register of dependent farms, houses and plots, from which the taxes were paid. It is similar to berní rula, which is the oldest Czech register of such farms and houses.

It was created in two versions, first one done in 1656-1657, second one between 1669-1679. The second one was needed because the first one had many mistakes and the tax system needed and accurate version.

This land register contains quite a lot of information about the farms and their owners. The 1669-1679 version is fully available online on the Moravian Land Archive website. And here is a short guide to these registers...

Here is the page you get when you click on the link above. The website is in Czech but it's quite easy to navigate there. First of all, you need to look up the town or village your ancestors are from - remember, these registers are ONLY for Moravia, not for Bohemia or Silesia. Fill in the place name to the search field at the top of the middle section - I chose Strachoňovice, where my ancestors were from. 

The place name has to be with all the proper marks, the best way how to get it is to copy it from Wikipedia or some other place where it's properly written.

Then press enter and the site will give you results of your search. If you are looking for a place which has common name (for example Újezd), you have to know to which estate the place belonged to determinate the right one.

When you have the right one, click on the icon of three sheets (marked by the red circle on the screenshot above) and you'll get the cover page of the register the place is in.

I wasn't able to persuade the website to show proper diacritics, so sorry for those wrong icons - it might happen to you too.

Check for the place name in the list of all places listed in the book you opened. When you click on the name, the book section of that village or town will appear.

It shows a list of people who owned farms and houses in the town or village. Now you have to go through and look for your family name. As the books were written in the official language, ie. German, it's written in kurent script and not so easy to read.

And what are all those columns there? More to come in another blog post!

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