The Estates diploma, Estates manuscripts and the
Public Land Records of the Moravian Province (tabulae terrae Moraviae)
since the year 1348 are the most precious parts of the Archives.
Important documents of the Estates were made in the Market Books,
the records of the Provincial Diet were entered in the Memorial
Books and the judicial statements were inscribed in the Books
of Summons. The Public Land Records are thus a very valuable source
for analyzing the political and economical history of Moravia
and the genealogy since the middle ages.
The Manuscripts and Charters, confirming the main provincial privileges. (1310 - 1847)
The most of above mentioned manuscripts were issued
in Codex diplomaticus et epistolaris Moraviae (1836
- 1903, total XV volumes)
The Market Books for the regions of Brno and Olomouc , from the years 1348 - 1642
The Market Books for the whole Moravia 1642 - 1850
The Memorial Books of the Administration of the Landtafel
The Main Books of free citizens (1797 - 1844)
The tax system in the 16th century was
based on the taxation of the property, that was later modified
into taxation per capita, resp. per armored horse (Giltpferd).
Only the summaries for all Moravia have been preserved until nowadays.
More important and more interesting material is from
the years 1583 - 1623. The base for taxation in this period was
the number of serfs on a dominion completed by the sale taxes,
resp. taxes based on the production of crop, and other agricultural
products. The towns were taxed in accordance with the number
of chimneys.
From these returns one may follow the number and
mostly even the lists of inhabitants, of Jews and the complete
social and economical situation on a particular dominion - estate.
From this very rich register I draw your attention especially to following inventories:
One of the most important collections for the genealogy
of the Noble families residing in Moravia. All the collection
consists of 91 parchment documents and 91 big boxes with various
manuscripts ( wedding contracts, wills, nobilitation, granting
of coat-of-arms, royal donations, judicial proceedings, various
confirmations etc.)
The records were created between 1324 - 1951. A researcher
can find here a multitude of documents of all the highest regional
political authorities of the Tribunal, Delegations, Governor's
Office, Highest Administration Office, Provincial Authorities,
Police Headquarters etc.
From among the records I would like to mention especially
the documents of the Spilberg Prison in Brno, which in the 19th
century was a prison for Italian, Hungarian, Polish, German and
Czech patriots, struggling against the Habsbourg state.
For the genealogy purposes there are for instance files referring to:
The most important material are the School Rolls
of 1787 and 1807. For each individual dominion-estate they contain
1. the seat of school, parish, 2. the list of the villages of
the school circle, 3. name of the priest, 4. name of the school
supervisor, 5. name of the school-master, stating his age, service
age, and summary of his abilities, qualification and manners,
6. same data for the junior teacher, 7. the number of school children,
filed according to villages, sex and religion, 7. The schoolmaster´s
income.
Other material that could be of importance for a
genealogy researcher are the lists of Moravian teacher from 1770
- 1872.
This is a very extensive collection of the papers
of highest importance for the political administration of Moravia
in the past two centuries. I can give only a glimpse to its files
which may help in genealogical research in Moravia:
State and Civil Personnel Files, Police Files, French
Emigrants in Moravia (1793-1807), Hungarian State Prisoners in
Spielberg, Moravian Huntsmen Regiments, Emigration Files and Passports,
Riots and Uprising of Serfs and Workers, Politically unreliable
persons, the Serfdom's matters, Teachers and professors at higher
schools, Description of all state dominions-estates, Personal
files of the clergy, Abolition of convents during the Joseph´s
II reign.
The most of files are of economical nature - Accounts,
Assets and Liabilities of the towns, town´s breweries, mills
etc.
Teachers´ exams, the educational administration, Pesonal Files of schoolmasters and teachers, School supervisors, Statistics
They contain among others also the registers of students
and professors.
The genealogy researcher will perhaps value the archive
funds of the Supreme Court with the documents about inheritance-
and court matters of numerous Austrian and Moravia Nobility.
Of the top importance is the collection of Land Records - Land
Books for the Brno region in period 1484 - 1884.
They are filed by individual dominions. The books
contain the summary of all movable and immovable properties of
the noble families.
They were similar to Land Books, resp. registers,
but here the mining claims and court decisions were written.
The Land registers are public books, where the legal relations of all immovable properties, their sales, various payments, taxes, debts and other burdens were incorporated. They all referred to the rustical (serf) properties on individual estates, towns or villages. The dominical (the landlords´ ) possession and its changes were written in Stands Public Land Registers - the Landtafel - see A3
The Land Registers had various names - Grund Books, Town Books, Orphan Books, Burgrecht Books. They were administered by the dominion's officers.
There, where the vital registers are not preserved,
the Land Registers may replace them in order to follow the family
relations of individual serf families - the weddings, death, children,
relatives, etc.
In the Moravian Provincial Archives in Brno are kept
the Land Registers from the following dominions BOSKOVICE, BREZOVA,
LEDNICE, MIKULOVICE, MORAVEC, SVITAVY, VYSKOV, ZNOJMO, VELKA BITES,
MORAVSKA TREBOVA, MIKULOV, ZIDLOCHOVICE, LITOVEL, HOLESOV, PROSTEJOV,
JAROMERICE, NOSISLAV, MODRICE, TASOV, BYSTRICE, TREBIC, VELKE
MEZIRICI, SLAVKOV, LETOVICE, BUCOVICE, DRNHOLEC, DOLNI KOUNICE,
JAROSLAVICE, JEVISOVICE, KR. POLE, LECHOVICE, LOMNICE, LOUKA,
MORAVSKY KRUMLOV, MIKULOV, PRIMETICE? RADESIN ROZINKA, STARE BRNO,
SEBETOV, TISNOV, VELKA BITES, VELKE PAVLOVICE, VYSKOV, etc.
The list is not complete and for a specific information
one must ask the Archives directly.
Since 1850 the Land registers were administered by
district courts. A newly established Public Land Registers are
kept in respective District court's inventories, that are stored
either in Moravian Provincial Archives in Brno, in Provincial
Archives in Opava (for North Moravia and Silesia) or in District
Archives throughout Moravia.
This department contain all the Moravian Cadastral
Surveys from the 17th to 20th century, alongside
with the documents from different financial authorities and a
rich collection of maps and plans. The importance of Cadastral
Surveys for the study of economic, social, demography development
of the Moravian towns and villages need not be emphasized. They
have big importance for genealogical purposes, because of a complete
listing of nearly all serf population in the respective years.
The first complete Tax Survey in Moravia was made between 1655 - 1657. It was called the Lansky rejstrik - Lahnregister, later known as the First Lahn visitatio. In Bohemia the same tax survey was called Berni rolle - the Tax Roll. Between 1669 - 1679 a revision of the original survey because of inaccuracy and omissions had to be done. This revision is called the Second Lahn visitatio. This Lahnregister is the source of first importance for any genealogist, homeland historians, social and demography scholars.
Any village and subject towns contain the list of all homesteads - farms, houses, cottages, the names of inhabitants, the appearance of trades and crafts, the quality of fields and their distribution.
The basic tax unit was a Lahn. This term had a broader
sense than a piece of land. As far as the diversification of rural
population is concerned cf. my contribution here.
During the reign of Maria Theresia a new Cadastral
Survey was made, because the older one had not corresponded with
the social and economical development of the country from 1679.
Between 1749 - 1753 so called Theresianer Cadastre was
adopted.
The third Cadastral survey was done during the reign
of her son, the emperor Joseph II (Josephiner Cadastre
- 1787 - 1789) and the taxable land was broaden to landlords´
possession. After his death the Teresianer Cadastre came again
into being.
The last Cadastral survey was so called Stabil
Cadastre, accepted between 1817 - 1851. The information on
each landholder is completed by the evaluation of the whole village
and by a series of cadastral maps in the measure 1:2880.
There is a separate article on individual cadastres
in Moravia.
This is a collection of nearly 3000 various maps and plans:
The examples of the oldest Moravian maps you may
find on http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/durer/23/maps.html.
This inventory contains the Archives of all 75 Moravian convents and their dominions from the years 1045 - 1950. The richest archives are those of the Benedictines of Rajhrad, of the Augustians of Stare Brno, of the Jesuits of Olomouc, of the Cistercians at Velehrad and of the Premonstratensiens at Klasterni Hradisko (Znojmo) and Louka.
The Parish Vital Registers dating from the years
1579 - (1900) cover the whole Brno Region from Jihlava in the
West to Zlin and Valasske Kloubouky in the East. The vital registers
had the most significant importance for the genealogical surveys.
There is a general article on the Vital registers in the Bohemian Lands at
https://members.tripod.com/~zlimpkk/index.html.
To complete the information about the oldest registers in Moravia, here is the list of them prior to year 1612:
1571 - Razova
1579 - Dolni Vestonice
1583 - Ryzoviste
1587 - Moravska Trebova
1587 - Brno, St. Jacob
1590 - Razova
1599 - Jihlava, St. Jacob
1599 - Olomouc St. Maurice
1599 - Svitavy
1602 - Vendoli
1602 - Vyskov
1607 - Unicov
1607 - Brno, Zabrdovice
1607 - Krtiny
1608 - Kucerov
1608 - Zdar n.S.
1609 - Ivancice
1610 - Odry
1610 - Bruzovice
1610 - Usov
1611 - Stary Jicin
1612 - Rajhrad
The most important are the Archives of the Estates
of Slavkov (Austerlitz), Vizovice, Hodonin, Ruda n.M., Uhersky
Brod, Vsetin, Bludov etc. They contain masuscripts, privileges,
correspondence of the feudal lords, sometimes various books, land
registers, contracts, administration of the estate´s ventures,
registers of the serfs, accounting books etc.
This part contains several documentary and filing
collections, among them the famous collection of the first Moravian
archivist Antonin Bocek the collections of Cerroni, of the Historic
Society, of the Provincial Museum, ethnographic collection of
F. Bartos and a collection of the top importance for Moravian
and Silesian genealogy, the collection of famous genealogist Josef
Pilnacek.