On the Stages of Development of the Demesne Economy in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This study focuses on the economic foundations and developmental stages of the demesne economy (lordly estate economy) in Central and Eastern Europe from the late Middle Ages to the 18th century. The central question is which economic factors determined the emergence, flourishing, and eventual decline of this form of agrarian production.
The analysis begins with the premise that even under feudalism, the principle of profitability played a role—for both peasants and landowners. The author draws on extensive source material from Poland, Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, as well as a broad historiographical literature, to conduct a comparative, structure-oriented economic analysis.
The study shows that the development of the demesne economy was closely linked to the rise of a broader and more receptive market—whether domestic or in the Western export sector. The opportunity to sell agricultural products profitably in larger quantities served as the main incentive for the expansion of the manorial economy.
Rusiński examines various forms of surplus extraction—from payments in kind and cash rents to sharecropping and labor services—and demonstrates how, under favorable market conditions, the latter (serf labor) became the dominant form of production. However, as land reserves were exhausted, productivity declined, and social tensions rose, the system entered a structural crisis by the 17th century.
The study concludes that the demesne economy contained internal contradictions from the outset that ultimately led to its collapse. Its profitability depended on specific demographic, technological, and market conditions, and once these changed, the economic model proved unsustainable.