The Agricultural Homestead

[LuxyLucy 691]

Spoiler

 

ISSUED BY THE COUNTY OF JEROVITZ

c. [571] E.S.

 

 

 

The goal of this work is to describe the organization of an agricultural homestead and its equipment and function. One of the main units of the agricultural homestead was a house. We will focus on the ground plan, building material, wall construction, roofing, facilities and furnishing of such a house. The house together with a courtyard forms a connected system sensitively reflecting every change in living conditions of the living person. Therefore, the next task in this area is to find out what makes up the compound of an agricultural settlement, what kinds of yards there are to accompany it. How such a settlement functions, the agricultural tools and how animals are kept. Thus, contributing to a full understanding of aspects of the social and economic status of the people in our times.

 

Manors are also part of a number of villages. These are mostly residences of the gentry, and in their organization, they are not much different from larger servile homesteads. Another reason why we will be referencing manors is the fact that agricultural production techniques used at manors are the same as those of servile homesteads. By surveying the manors and servile homesteads, we can cover the agricultural production of the whole Koravian village.

 

The agricultural production is directly related to a croft, which forms the economic base of any village. Studying it will provide us with the characteristics of the natural environment and cultivated land. A grouping of all agricultural homesteads in the village together with a central common as its significant part forms the village ground plan. Besides homesteads, there are other important constructions in the overall arrangement of a village, such as a church, possibly a fort, a mill, a smithy and, in bigger villages, a tavern.

 

 

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The evolution of village rural settlements has undergone a number of changes coming to a climax in our current century. The village is a basic unit of settlement, whose inhabitants make a living growing crops and keeping livestock.

One of the major changes concerning the layout of the house is the study of early Koravian settlements. The continuity concerns size, function and furnishing of the interior. The single-chamber dugout as well as surface structure which do not radically differ in size are omnipresent. This tells us that there were no great social and economic differences in the early Koravian settlements.

 

 

The key issue to be clarified is the process through which the single-chamber house has evolved into the three-part house and why these changes have occurred. The evolution of house layouts in fact plays an important role in determining the contemporary economic as well as social situations. The three-part house was created by the attaching of a hall to the single-chamber dwelling, thus creating a two-part house. The originally separate storage room was then attached to this two-part house. One may find constant study in the process of the enlarging of the single-chamber house by means of new rooms being attached along the lengthwise axis of the house.

 

Single-Chambered

A dwelling is termed single-chambered if it is one room equipped with a heating unit. It is important to note that single-chamber houses including dugouts have not disappeared, most predominantly found in the urban setting. They also often serve auxiliary purposes as well. Dugouts often serve as provisional measures and as auxiliary buildings.

 

Apart from single-chamber dugouts there are also single-chamber houses built on ground level. Their layouts are designated by either stone walls or by a system of postholes. The floor is often paved with large flat stones. The heating unit found in the corners, sometimes they may even contain an oven. Though they will often be accompanied with a hall of a post construction type, in effect creating a two-part house along with a separate storage room standing in the yard.

 

Two-Part Houses

Houses with two basic parts - the chamber and the hall - continue this category. The chamber is the most important room and is equipped with a heating unit, usually an oven. The hall also serves purposes concerning agriculture. All two-part houses lack a storage room. Consequently, these houses lacking an auxiliary element are often considered to be the dwellings of those of a landless class, writings often regarding these habitations as huts.

 

Three-Part Houses

A house is termed three-part when it includes three rooms: the chamber, the hall and the storage room. The hall is accessible from the yard and is the central part of the house; one door leads to the chamber and a door on the opposite side enters the auxiliary buildings - usually a storage room or granary. Consequently, these types of houses are termed the three-part house of the chamber and granary type respectively. 

There are three distinguishable types of these houses. The first of which being the terraced three-part house which is a classic case of the house constituted by a chamber, hall and storage room or a multiple storey granary along a lengthwise axis. Some may also feature the three-part core to which auxiliary buildings are attached. Though rarely are the farm buildings on the chamber side of the house. 

 

The three-part house of a segmented two-wing layout also features the basic core, constituted by a chamber, a hall and a storage room or granary, but the rectangular layout is not only divided crosswise, but also lengthwise, creating in effect the so-called two-wing house. Narrow rooms are often located along the chamber, hall and storage room. Sometimes they may all give accessway to the cellar. Auxiliary buildings, especially stables, are attached along the lengthwise axis to three-part houses of segmented layouts in much the same manner as to terraced three-part houses. 

 

There are also atypical layouts, such as almost square ones where it is divided into four rooms and comes into existence through the process of inside segmentation. Where the other three rooms are accessible through the hall: the smaller storage room, which is built into the hall in its western end, the chamber itself and the storage room next to the chamber, which is akin to that of multiple storey storage rooms in other houses. A small cellar will be dug out into the weather-worn rock of the adjacent hillside as another accessible place for storage.

 

 

 

Apart from layouts, buildings are usually constructed of stone, wood, red-fired daub along with building components and fittings along with roofing material. The largest mass of construction material is constituted by quarry stone, some of which is scabbled, especially that which is used for thresholds, portals, swivels for doors and bollards placed beside gates. The stonework in all houses comes from a local source. The prevailing type of rock is granite, used for a majority of all constructions. The stonework is laid directly onto the soil. In the construction of the less afforded people there will be no mortar to be used in construction, the width of stone foundations generally ranges from sixty to ninety cm. The walls are faced on both sides. Larger quarry stones are used for the two faces while the middle is filled with smaller ones and dirt.

 

Stones for quoins are chosen on account of their size and their shape which has to permit the attaching of the wall masonry in between corners. The height of the walls varies according to their function: they could either be underpinning for a log construction or a building constructed entirely of stone. In the latter case the height of the walls may reach two meters. Buildings which are fully built of stone are represented by multiple storey granaries.

 

Stone thresholds are found in the entrance doors of houses and the doors to individual rooms, often equipped with a threshold of two pieces of scabbled stone. The entrances to houses are lined with large flat stones. An important part of the entrances are doors. Their swivels are placed either directly into the stone thresholds or in separate swivel stones. Doors are made of vertically oriented planks held together by massive iron bands with hinges at one end. This type of door is suspended on massive masonry fixings. Besides the masonry fixing, the other important part of the door is the mechanism which ensures the locking of residential and auxiliary buildings. Three types of keys are included: a hook type, an insert type and a turning type. There is also a number of keyhole fittings, padlocks, door handles, latches and hasps and staples. Locks which are an integral part of the door are also found by iron latches or in stone jamb modifications.

 

Wood is also an important construction material. Widely used woods are majority pine, though included with spruce, rowan and aspen. Coniferous trees are used more widely mostly because of their straight-grained wood. The chambers are usually constructed of timber, along with shreds of daub within the chambers. This is used for pointing - filling in cracks between beams and for wall daub. Wood is used for thresholds, frames etc. Wall daub is used for curbed walls of two kinds: those with round impressions are used for whole logs while ones with straight imprints are constructed of beams.

 

Ceilings are to be found in most houses, especially within the chamber room. Which will make use of ceiling daub, which falls in together with the wooden ceiling construction - usually of a staging type. The heavy ceilings are supported by wooden props which are placed in the middle of the room. Set in by flat stones, or by post holes in the case of farm buildings. The layout of houses often is created with the use of gabled roofs. Though they may use either a rafter or clasp type of construction. The roofs are covered by straw thatch, although ridge tiles are used as well.

 

 

The Chamber

The central room of the house is the chamber. It is there that the most important equipment in the house is situated - the heating unit. These are primarily ovens, they usually have a rectangular horseshoe-shaped, pear-shaped or circular layout. The rectangular ovens usually have a low wall enclosing area of the oven and are usually block-shaped. If the layout is horseshoe-shaped, pear shaped or circular, the body of the oven is usually dome-shaped. Ovens are usually placed in a corner of the room along the wall separating the chamber from the hall. The bottoms of ovens are lined with small stones - usually quartz, or with shreds of pottery and finished with a layer of fine clay hard fired to colors ranging from a variety of shades red to a black, grey hue on the surface. There will generally be several layers of clay daub located at the bottom of an oven. The body of the oven itself is a dome or a block, created by a wattle-and-daub construction. The ovens are relatively large; the oven in the chamber of houses may generally fill almost twenty-five percent of the area of the room.

 

Fireplaces are situated before the mouth of the oven - the fireplace bottoms are daubed in the same manner as the bottoms of ovens and are on the same level. The space of the fireplace itself is enclosed by large flat stones placed vertically. The space before the oven is daubed with clay and lined with stones as well. A small stone oven may be bridged over by a large stone slab, which can be used to keep food warm or for heating water, etc.

 

They are usually bordered by two flat stones. An important fact is that all ovens are handled and fueled from inside the chamber. The fuel burned in ovens as well as in fireplaces was wood. The charred remains of it are found in all homesteads. The types of wood used included pine, fir, birch, oak, hornbeam, maple, elm, lime, alder, polar, aspen, and cherry. Pine, birch, aspen and maple were primarily used for fuel. Most villages prefer the use of light-demanding trees like birch, aspen, pine and spruce. The alder is also widely used for fuel.

 

The connected fireplace and oven within the area of the chamber tells of their respective roles in the functioning of the household. The fireplace was used for preparing meals. Tripods served the purpose. Hanging kettles, which could be used for cooking out in an open fireplace are not to be found within the chamber, pots with loops and handles along the rim are used instead. The oven is primarily a source of warmth and is used for preparing meals that require baking. Particularly this means the preparation of breads.

 

 

Only a minority of the poorer housing would have any form of smoke management, though because of the absence of post holes in the immediate proximity of the heating units it is possible to augment such with chimney hoods, which may be suspended above the oven and fireplace. Though those of the gentry who occupy manors may be fortunate enough to install stoves in replacement of ovens. Having both an oven and an open fireplace in front of the oven in the chamber allows for preparing meals in the open hearth as well as baking in the oven. An important piece of equipment in the homestead is the tripod with a hollow handle; a wooden handle can be inserted into this, and the tripod can be placed directly into the fire. 

 

Floors in chambers may often be made of packed earth. Though some may feature a floor of clay daub or a lining of flat stones. Ceramic articles are an important piece of equipment in the chamber, including pots of various sizes, lids, bowls, pitchers and cups. Beside ceramic ones, the chamber is also furnished with wooden vessels and utensils: pails, bowls, plates and spoons for eating. They may also own tin utensils or a small tin kettle. These dishes are often stored on a shelf. The pails may stand on the floor next to the oven.

 

Some furniture may also be included: a table, benches, bedding, in some cases also cabinets. It is also possible to sleep on the oven. Chests are used to store dresses, shirts, comforters, tarps, towels, tablecloths, undershirts, woolen jackets, leather trousers, rabbit skin coats, sheets, Koravian skirts and scarves. And are often fitted with lock and key.

 

The Hall

The middle part of the three-part house is the hall, accessed directly from the yard. The hall is primarily a passage into both the chamber and the storage room. Its size, however, may allow the allotment of a workspace. Especially in the larger hallways of those living in better conditions. That may feature hallways that range from forty-five to almost fifty percent of the total house area. Though in areas living under worse conditions the halls are often much smaller than the chambers. Some halls may feature two entrances - one from the yard and another from the common. This will often imply its higher status within the village. The only items of interest regarding the furnishings of halls are stone beater mills found in the more affluent of homes. This is a tool used for the hulling of grain, i.e. for obtaining hulled barley and millet.

 

Sometimes halls are illustrative cases of a fireplace situated in the corner of the hall at the wall separating the hall itself and the chamber. In these cases, the fireplace is moved because of a lack of room in the chambers. Though sometimes it is done with the intentional purpose of separating the fireplace and the oven. Though this may also be an Auvergnian influence on the Koravian house that still lingers.

 

Torches are used for lighting the interiors but are being replaced by lamps to prevent fire. Burners are standard equipment in a Koravian homestead. Iron lamps are used alongside ceramic ones. The third part of the three-part house was the storage room, or a garner or granary. The storage room is not heated and commonly is the smallest part of the house. It is used for storing foodstuffs, tools and other equipment necessary for running a household. The furniture of a storage room consists of chests for storing clothes and chests to keep flour in.

 

In the storage room of manors, they will often also house the weaponry that pertains to that house. Which may list such things as an iron crossbow, a jack for the crossbow, a sword, spurs, a halberd, a neck-collar, a rapier, lances and front body armor. Along with items such as daggers, arrowheads used for both bows and crossbows, cocking hooks for crossbows or even stirrups for cavalry.

 

The floor of the storage room lay on the same level as the floors of the chamber and hall. The three-part dwelling, whose third room serves as a storage room is termed a chamber house. On the other hand, in case a granary is adjacent to the hall, its floor is sunken below ground level and in consequence was a multiple storey room. A three-part house of this construction is termed a granary house. 

 

The existence of storage rooms and granaries indicates that the storage room is used for different purposes than the granary. Because granaries are fully built of stone, they offer better protection in case of a fire. Granaries are used to store a vast quantity of grains, buckwheat, peas, flax seed, poppy seed, millet, foodstuffs like bacon, smoked meat, cheese, pots of butter and honey. Though they may also double as temporary living quarters for spending the first winter. Or the solution to the coexistence of two families - the farmer and the old parents - under a common roof.

 

Cellars

Cellars form part of the homestead. The underground rooms are usually situated outside of the layout but are accessible from the hall or from the chamber. The cellar itself and the hallway leading to it are lined with stone. Generally accessible from the hall by means of a short ramp-shaped hallway. There would be a recess in a sidewall. The walls are hewn out and halfway along each lengthwise wall there are post holes which prevent the ceiling from falling in. The cellar is accessible by means of a staircase from inside the house. The walls of the passage are lined with large flat stones. Though the most affluent may have a ramp-like entrance with stone sidewalls led into a masonry-lined passage with a barrel vault ceiling. This passage placed along the lengthwise axis of the house wouldn’t be straight, but is angled at a right angle into a hallway which is somewhat wider, from which the passage then leads in the direction of the transversal axis under the whole breadth of the chamber and into yet another wider room, which has the barrel vault ceiling that takes up all the space under the chamber alongside the perimeter walls and all the way to the gable. These vaulted rooms are divided in two by a wall with a doorway. This type of cellar is unique in a rural environment, showing the special status of such homesteads.

 

Some sidewalls may not be reinforced by stone, but by a lining of timber to prevent them from sagging. Lighting is provided for by torches or even lamps, which are placed into nooks near the ceiling. Round vents are placed in the hallways, functioning as ventilation holes. The underground area itself can be closed off from the entrance hall by a door, which can be fastened by means of a latch which leaves distinct marks in the sidewalls. Cellars undoubtedly have a practical use and are used for storage of foods which have to be kept cold, such as milk, cheese and meat.

 

Auxiliary Buildings

Apart from the house itself, farm buildings form an important part of the homestead, the Koravian homestead consists of sties, stables and cowsheds, barns, garners, haylofts, grain dryers etc. This cluster of buildings has to be enclosed.

 

Sties, stables and cowsheds play an important role in the homestead. The development of agriculture was and is closely linked with the role of the horse and what the horse required was a stable. Although cattle, sheep and pigs could spend most of the year outside, they also had to have a place to spend the wintertime. Large homesteads have several stables or sties for different animals. In the case of single-span homesteads the stable was placed right next to the living quarters, but in all cases the stables were accessed by separate entrances from the yard. With most other types of yards, the stables and sties are opposite the house.

 

Other kinds of stalls for livestock besides stables are also to be found within the yard. With the location of a stable one may notice the discoloration of the soil, the so-called “fat clay” and the depth to which the discoloration has penetrated the subsoil. Stone-lined channels for draining away dung-water have also been built. These channels lead from either the stables or stie itself or from its immediate vicinity. The sizes of stables differ, some are wooden structures with thatched roofs, plank or wicker walls; these are structural elements which are common in Koravian design.

 

There are several reasons as to why stalls and sties were established in the homestead. Cattle stands for wealth and so it is necessary to guard it from robbers as well as from wild animals. Production of manure is no less important; in the case of cows and sheep also the production of milk plays an important role. With the introduction of traction, the horses and cows concerned have to be at hand in the yard. There are no cases of a stable accessible from inside of the hall of a house.

 

 

Up till the recent century, structures called “klet” are noted as being a part of the settlement. Though within our own current it is noted that these have become a third part of the tripartite house or an isolated structure within the yard. In the case it is turned into a part of the house it has become a multiple storey storage room, if the structure remains isolated or integrated among the other structures of the yard it is called a granary or garner. Klet is an old Koravian term most likely meaning granary.

 

The ground plans may also include “cuts” which lead into the sunken parts of a granary. These are called “šíje”. They are usually placed at the center of the walls facing the yard. The “šíje” of the granary in the homestead may be curved at an angle at the end. Floors of the “šíje” are ramp shaped. Above ground levels of a granary are constructed of stone. Postholes, stone thresholds and other works of masonry, along with doors that opened on the inside. Separately standing granaries must have a “šíje” sheltered by a covering, especially when the “šíje” was a long one. Granaries differ from semi-subterranean structures in that they have a ceiling.

 

Barns

While barns built on manors are of stone and have shingle roofs, those of the lower status have ones made of wood and covered with straw. The barn has two main functions associated with growing grain: it is a dry place to store unthreshed grain and it then serves as a covered threshing-floor to thresh it. They are often the targets of bandits or the first to be damaged or destroyed in quarrels among the landed gentry. The basic criterion is a passable threshing-floor. Generally taking up a whole of one side of a yard - the side facing the garden and fields. The walls are generally made of logs, though in some cases stoneworks.

 

 

Haylofts And Sheds

These are necessary in the homesteads for storing agricultural equipment, especially wagons. Though they are also lean-tos where hay may be stored. Often located just beside the barn, they are often stored with all the basic farm equipment necessary for both growing grain and for keeping livestock.

 

The Shaping of the Agricultural Homestead

The homestead is a general term for an agricultural estate. The homestead as an agricultural unit contains not only the house and the farm buildings, but also the fields, the meadows, the garden, the forest and in regions where wine is grown also the vineyard. Some claim that the formation of different types of agricultural homesteads is connected with the ethnic and tribal peculiarities among the population. Settlement geography perceives the agricultural homestead as a unit and its functionality as that of an agricultural whole. The development of individual homesteads of the normed type in the present-day Jerovitz can be dated back to the influences of the “Auvergnian yard”. The so-called Auvergnian yard type of gothic homestead has become a part of the Koravian village. The Auvergnian yard has been preserved in the places where it developed along with the Waldenian populace. Within Jerovitz it is mainly located within the Karoswood.

 

Single-chamber dwellings grouped in an arc- or horseshoe-shaped layout surrounding an open area, which formed the common yard. As far as farm buildings are concerned, grain pits are to be seen in these settlements. These are usually close to the dwellings and are used to feed the family, while others in the common yard contain seed grain. As land cultivation is a communal activity.

 

Early Koravian settlements in Haense were of agricultural character with an autarchic economy. Research of the earliest phase of settlement in Markev has shown that the importance of the family within the village community gradually grew. There is an emphasized importance of the family in the development of the enclosed complex of farm buildings, the time of origin as “from time immemorial, as soon as the family began to live economically”. 

 

 

The courtyards in individual homesteads, beside houses the yard also contained stables, several “klet”, a threshing floor and several grain pits. The grouping of buildings within the yard is the oldest evidence of the collective or type of yard in Jerovitz. Entrances into underground passages are located outside of the yard and are common for several families. This led to the development of gentry land ownership and to their rights of ownership of land and serfs. In this way new requirements regarding the social system and rule of court came into existence for the control of the rural population.

 

According to the area of individual yards the homesteads may be divided into two groups: homesteads with yards over four-hundred meters and homesteads with yards under four-hundred meters. Yards are bounded by a wall of masonry with gateways and small entrance gates on the side facing the common. The basic type of the regular yard is the one-wing yard, where the farm buildings are connected to the house along a longitudinal axis. An important characteristic of living quarters as well as of farm buildings were separate entrances into the farm buildings directly from the yard. Another type of building arrangement is defined by buildings standing on opposite sides of the yard. This type of yard is known as two-wing, parallel or paired. Both of these types of yard layout are to be found throughout Haense upon inspiration from their Koravian equals.

 

Now that the different kinds of yards encountered in Koravian villages have been defined, several questions appear. The shift from a collective homestead to a regular grouping of residential and auxiliary buildings within one yard was due to a change in the economic situation after the second half of the last century. Theories advocate the spreading of normative types of yards, especially, the so-called Auvergnian yard type by means of Waldenian migrations.

 

A second issue is the evolution of the various yard types. All basic types existed throughout the last century, along with several types were to be found in one place: all types were to be found in Jerovitz. The type of development was largely determined by the size of the settlement. Half-yardland homesteads were of the one-wing type yard, while more complex types of yards with more farm buildings corresponded to one-yardland homesteads. As far as our current time is concerned, it is impossible to delimit regions by specific types of yards occurring there. If we are to compare earlier theories with the evidence produced by that the Auvergnian yard spread into the present-day Jerovitz, that the house with the hip roof is of the Old Koravian origin and that the shift from the side orientation to gable orientation is stated in the last century, that the spreading of the gable design among rural buildings has only started within recent decades during the leadership of the Kortrevich Greats, it may be plainly discerned there is a lack of archaeological sources.

 

Ethnographic Analogies

If we were to compare the types of agricultural homesteads ascertained to date with maps, we will come to the conclusion that yard types have not experienced any significant changes since the arrival of the Koravians to Haense. Irregular yard types with free-standing buildings can be found in the rural parts of Jerovitz within the Karoswood, settled by shepherds.

 

By far the most numerous in Jerovitz, however, are yards which feature the house and auxiliary buildings spread out around its perimeter. The one-wing yards with a gable orientation towards the common can be seen just along the hillside along the Karoswood, overlooking the valley where the River Lahy flows.

 

Attempts at tracking the development of settlement types throughout history up till the present day are futile when lacking archaeological sources. The most important issue regarding rural architecture is the question of continuity or discontinuity. While current standing villages are evidence of continuity of development regarding village settlement. It is difficult to find deserted villages for excavation of Koravian origin. The only few to be found are of old Waldenian origin prior to their movement to the establishment of Reinmar.
 

 

 

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Spoiler

 

 

 

The agricultural homestead is the basic unit of agricultural production. For judging this production, it is necessary to start with the area of the fields, meadows and pastures belonging to a homestead. All other factors, such as the number of animals and equipment, are derived from the area. The unit of area is the yardland. Its real area is not standard but rather fluctuates according to the value and quality of the land and also to the whole amount of land that the village has at its disposal. An average yardland has an area of about eighteen ha. Ploughland can end up having an overall area of one-hundred and twenty-four ha of arable land and over two-hundred ha of meadows and pastures.

 

One of the most important pieces of equipment for tilling land is the plough. This means a land plough, which has an asymmetrical iron ploughshare and an iron coulter. A plate that dumps the soil to the side is featured as well. The wooden shaft rests on wheels and is connected to these by means of an iron axle pin. A plough staff completed the fitting. This is used for scraping off soil from the ploughshare. Oxen or Horses provide for traction. 

 

The homestead not only uses the plough, but also the wooden plough. These sweeps had sockets for attaching to a spade or an axle guide stay. Ranks among handlebars may be considered a special type. V-sweepers can also be a part of the handlebars for a plough. 

 

Wooden harrows with iron spikes are used for finishing the ploughed field. They are to be found in all agricultural villages in Jerovitz. Hoes and spades are also used for fieldwork. There are two types of hoes identified. Narrow ones - grubbers or grubbing axes. And the second type - known as pronghoes. Spades are made of wood and fitted with a sharpened iron blade at the edge.

 

An important event in the life of a Koravian village is the haymaking time and the annual harvest. The tools necessary for the jobs associated with these events are scythes, rakes and hayforks. Whetstones used for honing the scythes, an important procedure is also hammering the scythe out with a special scythe hammer. On a stock anvil, which is a head of iron on a pedestal onto which the scythe is laid when being hammered out with a scythe hammer. Other tools needed for haymaking are wooden rakes, along with double-pronged hay forks are used for loading hay.

 

The most frequently used tools of the harvest are sickles. They are the basic tool of every homestead. The mowed hay is tied into sheaves and when dry is carted to a barn or an “oboroh” which is a Koravian term for hay racks. A chaffcutter is used for cutting straw into chaff, which is fed to livestock. Grass, which is mixed with the chaff, is also cut in this way. A chaffcutter is a simple wooden box with four legs. The important part is an iron knife with a “spike” for attaching a handle at one end and a round hole at the other. The knife in question is attached onto the bottom part of the front part of the box in such a manner as to enable moving the blade up and down, thus cutting the hay. A wooden handle is attached to the aforementioned “spike”. The right front leg is longer to prevent the box from moving from side to side. A Waldenian leaflet depicts the cutter has a crosswise beam, protruding on one side and thus enabling the connection of the bottom part of the knife by means of a round hole. 

 

For processing flax homesteads are equipped with iron hackles “which chafe the flax”. These hackles are used to rid the flaxen fibre of any ligneous remains. There are also often numerous ceramic spindles for processing flaxen or hempen fibre further on into the process.

 

A homestead is also equipped with wagons for carting hay and grain: the so-called wains which are fittings for the wagon when carting hay or grains. They’re fittings of axles, hubs, poles and wooden stakes. A wain is also equipped with a number of axle pins. There are several types of wagons one may list in their inventories: a wooden wagon, wagon platforms, twined baskets for manure, an iron-fitted wagon, etc. Grain stored in a barn or in an “oboroh” is threshed with flails during the wintertime. Homesteads in wine-producing regions are also equipped with vine pruning knives.

 

A number of tools in the agricultural homestead has much to do with raising livestock. Stables and sties are equipped with pitchforks and hoes for manure. Along with for the purposes of horse breeding which may include horseshoes, bridles, stirrups, spurs and various parts of harnesses such as collars and traces. Stables are also equipped with currycombs.

 

Besides tools for expressly agricultural and livestock-keeping purposes, homesteads also held tools for everyday use such as axes, saws, chisels, pliers, drills, hammers, scythe hammers, drawknives, augers, wedges, chains, etc. Stone tolls are also found often in cases such as the beater mill which is used for husking grain, usually for obtaining hulled barley, millet and buckwheat. The beating in a stone beater mill is done with a wooden mallet called a beater.

 

Besides the beater mill, stone mortars are also used for grinding the seeds of oleaginous plants, these mortars are made of non-calciferous Ruskan sandstone. Stone grinding disks have a central square-shaped hole for attaching to a wooden axle.

 

The Economy of an Average Homestead

Any analysis of the economy of an average half-yardland vassal homestead takes into account so many unknowns such as soil condition, climate and unpredictable events in the life of the farmer or the livestock. Yield of the crop often has a ratio of 1:3. The yield generally being about eight hundred to one-thousand kg from one ha. If we take into account the total area sown, the total yield can hit six-thousand four hundred to eight-thousand kg of grain. The individual kinds of grain in a half-yardland homestead within Jerovitz can be a wide variety, though the most notable are to be named as Oats, Rye, Wheat and Buckwheat. Along with other crops such as barley and peas.

 

Oats are a staple feed for livestock. A homestead with four horses will generally feed about five hundred to seven-hundred kg of oats per horse per year. Rye, wheat and buckwheat are used to feed the family. These grains altogether meant two-thousand three hundred to two-thousand nine-hundred kg, which is enough to feed a family of seven to ten for a whole year. On condition that the family only has six members, five hundred to one-thousand kg is left either for sale or as a reserve in case of a poor crop. Some grain is also consumed by poultry. Besides grain only, livestock is an important source of foodstuffs. Six to eight cows need about ten ha of meadows and pastures. Cattle are not only important as a source of meat, but also of milk and - last but not least - of manure, produced during winter stabling. Average yearly milk production of one cow is around six-hundred liters. Five dairy cows means that the family would have three-thousand litres of milk yearly, i.e. almost ten litres per day. Cream is collected off of the milk for butter production. Sheep’s milk is used either for making cheese or for feeding pigs. 

 

During the warmer months of the year pigs are left to fend for themselves in the woods, but in the winter, they have to be kept in sties. Pigs are mostly for meat and lard along with for sale. Poultry is also a significant source of foodstuffs. A half-yardland homestead may generally keep twenty to forty chickens, along with some geese and ducks. One hen is expected to lay about one-hundred eggs per year. If there are about twenty layers in the homestead, the family would have about four-thousand eggs per year. If the family consumed one half of this, almost two-thousand eggs would still be left to be sold. Geese are kept mostly for their feathers.

 

This analysis of the economy of a half-yardland homestead shows that a family's sustenance is fully provided for. There is enough grain, meat, milk, butter and eggs. Moreover, weather conditions permitting, there is actually a surplus, which can be used to pay taxes, purchase tools and other equipment. The situation in one-yard land homesteads is even more favorable. It may be safely stated that the standard of living in one-yardland homesteads is evidence of a relatively good economic status of the people within Jerovitz and Haense as a whole.

 

Manors within Jerovitz

Within the Koravian village the manors hold a unique position both regarding architecture and layout. They also play an important role in the economics of Hanseti-Ruska’s society. We are given two terms: a ‘court’ for the residence of a prince and a ‘courtyard’ for a complex with residential buildings as well as auxiliary buildings such as stables, barns, granaries, haylofts and oast houses. For the purpose of further discourse, I will use the term courtyard. This term is always used for a manor with residential and auxiliary buildings. The term ‘court’ comes from the Koravian language. Likely derived from the ruling family of Kortrevich.

 

 

There are also places termed Velkolepý Manor where they did not function as producers of agricultural products but rather served as centres for their accumulation within the Koravian lands. The “court” is enclosed by a log stockade, there is a number of residential as well as auxiliary buildings and it serves as both a residence as well as for representation. The right-angle shape is reminiscent of the Auvergnian agricultural homestead. Though now often sport Churches built in following of Koravian influences.

 

Within the last century, manors have started to become a standard part of a number of rural settlements. These courtyards are centers of agriculture for the gentry. Individual buildings are situated along the sides, so that the yard itself is enclosed on all sides. Places along the perimeter with no buildings are closed with stone walls. The north side is occupied by a three-part house, the western by laborers’ quarters, a stone tower and the main gate. On the other side of the gate there are stables for horses and cattle. On the side facing the walls there is a blacksmith shop, two smaller stables and sheds. New structures will often be attached, such as a chamber, a kitchen and an oven for baking bread. Auxiliary buildings like the already mentioned blacksmith shop or a sheepfold. The yard is also enclosed by a stone wall. A new type of auxiliary building was also built: the brewery. Breweries become the most profitable enterprise within the scope of the economy of scale.

 

The residential type of manor usually functions as the owner’s residence or serves as a base for supplying the residence - sometimes that being a fortress. Entrepreneurial manors do not have to be the owner’s residence but are at least situated on land which he owns.

 

Ploughland

An inseparable part of every rural settlement is the ploughland, i.e. the management of land used for agriculture. The village itself is usually situated in the centre of the croft. The immediate connection of the houses and estate is a basic trait of every village and rural settlement. Consequently, one cannot just focus solely on residential and auxiliary buildings, but must also take into account the adjacent fields, meadows and pastures.

 

The croft is the economic foundation of each village. Its shape was delimited by the lay of the land as well as on the manner in which land ownership is distributed in the particular village, thus several croft types are distinguished. The documentation of crofts in the Karoswood has found that in the hilly forested terrain the crofts have formed into a segmented type. Two to three additional tracts are situated along the croft base, which corresponds with the three-field economy.

 

Beside the croft base, there is also a tract type of land, which features narrow strips of fields. The lower classes have fields in all tracts. Because the tract land originally had no paths at first the peasants had to work simultaneously. This type of fieldwork is associated with the three-field economy, because the croft is divided into three parts, which are alternatively sown with the spring crop and winter wheat and then left as fallow land for a year. Such crofts only took hold for the Koravians upon the joining of Haense and innovating upon their already established institutions.

 

All of the changes taking place in the rural areas of what is now the County of Jerovitz have impacted the arrangement of the ploughland. Particular pieces of evidence are provided by the crofts which have adjusted in such a clever manner that - with only minor changes - its main characteristics have started to spread across Haense. One of such being the introduction of a new type of field with the arrangement of a rectangular field. The new field provides all farmers with a necessary share in each tract. In accordance with the three-year cycle strategy the fields are divided into three tracts whose functions shift every three years: spring crop, winter wheat and fallow.

 

The rectangular field is also advantageous for ploughing with the new plough with an asymmetrical ploughshare, which not only cuts the ground up but also overturns the soil. Oxen and Horses provide the traction. An animal-drawn plough enables the farmer to cultivate larger fields. Furthermore, it makes the process more thorough than it was during the first arrival of the Koravians to Markev, when their only tools were wooden ploughs with small sweeps.

 

This century has been a turning point for the villages not only as concerns the equipment of individual homesteads, but also regarding croft arrangement. This economic and legal reorganization, while having started within the Koravian led lands of Jerovitz, is now an omnipresent function of lands across Haense, thus making the study and documentation of the croft an inseparable part of rural settlement.

 

 

 

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HER LADYSHIP, PRIMROSE EMELYA KORTREVICH,

The “Rose” of Kortrevich

 

[MissToni 3565]

Kareena Nasrid took a small break from the baking of the coronation cake to have a long read together with a meal of grilled fish. 

"What lovely formatting, the girl must have worked hard on this. Her family must be proud to have such a dutiful daughter." the elderly servant mused, a smile escaping her lips.

[HIGH_FIRE 5490]

Caliope Mariya Colborn sat in her study at Kazan reading the document her cousin had written. It took her a while, however she enjoyed reading it greatly, her cousin had put out quite the scholarly article. Once she finished the missive she would sit down and pen a letter to Primrose:

 

 

'Dear Primrose,

 

I told you, you have a far better writing style than I. 

 

You proved me correct once more!

 

Love,

Cali'