Struktura własności ziemskiej i jej dochodów w województwie kijowskim w 1789 r.

Abstrakt

Structure of Landed Property and Its Revenues in the Voivodeship of Kiev in 1789

(Summary)

The voivodeship of Kiev was situated in the eastern part of the Commonwealth along the frontier with the Russian Empire. At the end of the eighteenth century its area totalled over 59 000 sq. km. The dominating form of landed property was the gentry estate, which embraced ca. 78.8% of all towns and villages. The dimension of royal and Church property was similar and comprised 12,4% and 12,8% of all settlements, respectively. Emphasis must be placed on the considerable participation of large estates (gentry, Church, and leased royal estates) within the property and income structure in the voivodeship in question: 46% of local cities and 32% of revenues from landed property. In this respect, an exceptional rank was enjoyed by Hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, the owner of 10% of settlements, with an annual income of over a million zlotys, i.e. 16,2% of revenues obtained from all estates in the voivodeship. Apart from Branicki, the list of the largest owners did not correspond to that of persons with the most imposing revenues. This state of affairs was the outcome predominantly of the administration of the estates. The northern part of the voivodeship of Kiev (the county of Ovruts) was worse administered and its characteristic feature was a significant number of small settlements and a twice lower income from a single village than in other regions of the voivodeship. Alongside large landed property, the titular voivodeship, and in particular its northern part, was also distinctive for estates-owners of small parts of villages.