The Austrian land register (1817) Carinthia/Bukowina

The land register of 1817 ("Franziszeischer Kataster") including the regulation of agrarian taxation ("Grundsteuerpatent") marks an essential step of the change from feudalism to industrial society in central Europe. Consisting of map sheets for every rural commune and different descriptions of size, character and value of the land parcels the register contains statistical data concerning social and economic questions. But there exists only some research for local history of several communities. Because of the minuteness and diversity of the material the remarkable informations found few consideration in general works on Austrian history of administration, economics and social development. Therefore it would be an essential contribution for initiation of comparative studies about the economic standing of the different regions under Habsburg domination during the starting period of industrialization in Central Europe. With regard to practicability of such an extensive undertaking it is proposed and partially prepared to realize two pilot studies with an edition of the maps in electronic the files in a printed version. Choosing the two examples of Carinthia and Bukowina with two research teams for two extreme different provinces seems to be as well necessary as productive. Beyond the crucial questions of a summarizing presentation of maps and economical descriptions and as the main object and goal of investigation the material would be used for a general interpretation of the process of the secular economic and social change "From feudal dominion to modern assessment of rural taxis". As main topics of analysis would be examined the social structure of the backwarded agrarian society of the central and eastern European regions, the settlement of the cultivated landscape, the productivity of the soil, the texable capacity and the conditions of early steps of industrialization.

Compared to European standards `The Land Register of Franz I.` as map series and agricultural statistics was a unique cultural performance and a logistic feat. Reconstructing this Land Register and making it available for further research is a major contribution towards the `discovery of the Danube region`. This was the aim of the first project which focused on the edition of the cadastral communities of Carinthia and Bukovina. The archival material is, as was to be expected, very different. For Carinthia everything is documented, even beyond the agricultural sector. For the research this means that the starting conditions for the `acricultural revolution` and the `industrial revolution` can be made sufficiently visible. For Bukovina the situation is different. The maps are complete but the statistic material is not very comprehensive. It is unclear, whether only general sums have been created in the course of special recordings for the tax districts, which were carried-out later, or if records which were possessory irrelevant, were sorted out later. It should be noted that the cadastral evaluation was conducted in Bukovina, but the aim of a fair calculation of the property tax fell through due to the opposition of the large landowners in the Galician diet. As a scientifically relevant result the edition of the Land Register file sheets, which were put together to become cadastral communities, was produced in digital form. The economical and organisational basic data of a `small database` was added to each cadastral community. The cartographic representation of the print version shows the various categories of the cultural landscape (field, garden, grassland, pasture, forest, wasteland). The digital version, which is accessible via the project`s homepage (www.franziszeischerkataster.at), shows the illustration as detailed as to the level of the basic plot with reference to the owner. The attached data provides a first introduction to the discussion on larger structural questions on economic and social problems such as the cultural costs, the economic yield, and the tax rating. A diplomatic and cartographic study provides information on the structure and content of the archival sources. Although the return to the `Provisorium` of the tax rectification by Joseph II. and Leopold VI. postponed the issue of property tax assessment, the surveying of plots, the determination of ownership, the estimation of yields, and the provisional estimation of tax was an important prerequisite for the agrarian reform of 1848. The Land Register of Franz I. provides the legal and emotional basis for the emergence of the modern peasantry, even before the agrarian reform. The impetus for modern cultivation by peasants and landowners was an important condition for the `agricultural revolution`. Thereby the agricultural sector became part of the capitalist-bourgeois economic system. In the broader historical context the Land Register was a central element of the internal state reform, which was initiated by Philipp Stadion, the finance minister, and supported by Metternich. The reform can be seen in the context of the introduction of the ABGB (1811), the founding of the `Nationalbank` (1816) and the `Ersten Österreichischen Sparkasse` (1819) and the `Tafeln zur Statistik` (1818). International conflicts, which erupted despite the Congress of Vienna and the Holy Alliance, and the revival of the class-federalist opposition delayed an immediate success. However, the shift from feudal to bourgeois social and economical order could not be prevented.