Die ökonomische Aktivität des polnischen Adels im 16.-18. Jahrhundert [Economic Activity of the Polish Nobility in the 16th-18th Centuries]

Abstract

The economic activity of the European nobility in the 16th century is a key problem in economic history, previously studied mainly in relation to grain production and the corvee estate system. Less attention has been paid to the diverse forms of economic activity beyond grain production and to their long-term consequences for the domestic market and economic progress in Poland.
This article aims to comprehensively analyze the forms, mechanisms, and consequences of the economic activity of the Polish nobility from the 16th to the 18th century, and to assess its impact on Poland's economic development.
The study draws on a wide range of printed sources and findings from relevant economic-historical research, including works on corvee estate farming, agrarian prices, pond farming, and agricultural production in various regions of Poland (Greater Poland, Central and Lesser Poland).
The findings show that the main form of the Polish nobility's economic activity – export-oriented grain production within the corvee estate system – enabled significant production growth in the 16th century, but in the long run led to the contraction of the domestic market, declining investment, and the impoverishment of the peasantry. Alongside this dominant form, other types of economic activity existed: pond farming, production diversification, sheep breeding, propination, and forest exploitation. In the Enlightenment period (second half of the 18th century), new elements of economic activity emerged: transition to money rents, introduction of root crops and fodder plants, and growing interest in technological progress. Overall, however, feudal and predatory forms of activity prevailed, deepening Poland's economic backwardness relative to Western Europe.