Peculiarities of the Economic Structure of Eastern White Russia in the Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

The socio-economic history of Eastern White Russia in the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries has been largely marginalized in comparative studies of the corvée-manorial system east of the Elbe, and monographic treatments of the region's specific features have been nearly absent. The weak development of the manor based on serf labour in Eastern White Russia has been attributed to economic backwardness, but this interpretation requires critical revision.
This article analyzes the peculiarities of the economic structure of Eastern White Russia in the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries, examining the land-ownership pattern (magnates' latifundial estates and royal starostships), the retardation of the włóka reform, hemp cultivation as an alternative to grain-based manorial economy, and commercial ties with Riga documented through the Szkłów estates accounts.
The study draws on archival accounts of the Szkłów estates (1644-1778) from the Czartoryski Library and the University Library in Vilnius, on Riga customs registers, and on the author's monograph Dobra szkłowskie na Białorusi wschodniej (Warsaw 1969) and her earlier article on Eastern White Russian trade with Riga.
The analysis shows that the weak development of manorialism in Eastern White Russia did not result from general backwardness. The region's distance from the Baltic ports and the labour-intensive character of hemp cultivation discouraged magnate families (Sieniawski, Sapieha, Radziwiłł) from introducing serf labour. Instead, a system of peasant payments in kind and in money, combined with estate trade in hemp thread and hemp seed via Riga, emerged. The Szkłów estates' Riga trade yielded profits of 19-43.5% on invested capital, achieved through unpaid peasant transport and the estate owner's price monopoly. The monetary-commodity economy of the Orsza county was superior to that of many other territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, contradicting the stereotype of widespread regional backwardness.