Ludność województwa podlaskiego w drugiej połowie XVII wieku by Anna Laszuk (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 751 (theposthumous manifestationof Alexander I) and those concerning Alexander 's younger brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Unfortunately, Szvak does not do much more than provide a factual narrative of his protagonists' careers, and he fails to draw adequate distinctions between differenttypes of pretender.Although he refersto the worksof K. V. Chistov and B. A. Uspenskii, he does not seriously engage with these scholars' conceptualizations of the phenomenon of samozvanchestvo. In his concluding chapter he attempts to make connections between false-tsar beliefs and popular movements, but the discussion is somewhat vague and general. Nevertheless, this is a sound and often entertaining brief introduction to the topic, which may encourage readersto pursueit further. CentreforRussianandEast EuropeanStudies MAUREEN PERRIE UniversityofBirmingham Laszuk,Anna. Ludnosc wojewdodztwapodlaskiego wdrugiejpolowie XVIIwieku.Prace BialostockiegoTowarzystwaNaukowego, 43. Naczelna DyrekcjaArchiw6w Pan'stwowych,for Bialostockie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Warsaw, I999. 239 pp. Notes. Tables. Graphs. Bibliography. Index. Price Unknown. THE demography of early modern Poland constitutes extremely uncertain terrain. What was the population of Poland and Lithuania in c. I500? Eight million?Twelve million a centurylater?What was the impact of the so-called 'Deluge' (Potop) of wars during the i65os? This reviewer has seen estimates which place the population as low as 4.5 million by the end of the seventeenth century, and thisbefore takinginto account the impact of the GreatNorthern War. Yet by I772, and the First Partition of Poland, the consensus among Polish historians is of a population of between twelve and fourteen million. Unless these figurescan be woven into a plausiblewhole, a true appreciation of Poland'shistoryis almost impossible.Yetthe havoc historyhas wreakedon Poland's archival materials may well ensure that satisfactory answers will never be found. Anna Laszukis very conscious of the shortcomingsof the source materials and of the problems raised by historians' guesstimates. The palatinate of Podlasie straddled the boundary between Poland proper and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, attractingpetty nobles and peasant colonists from the main ethnic and religious groups which made up the population of the old Rzeczpospolita. This excellent studyrevealsjust how much can be convincingly achieved using often fragmentarysource materials.The classic demographic resource, parish registers,exist in a very incomplete state. Those that Laszuk has used figure, alongside legal records and occasional entries in chancellery registers,in a supplementaryrole to the poll-tax (pogl6wne) registerscompiled in I662, I673, I674 and I676, mainly by the parishclergy.The Polishpoll tax was exceptional for its time, not only in that it applied to all social groups, including the nobility, but that it was the nobility who enacted it in their parliament(bycontrast,the Frenchcapitationwas introducedin I695 and only then by royaldecree). 752 SEER, 79, 4, 200I The resultof Laszuk'slaboursmirrorsrecent workon the assessmentof the localized impact of conflictduringthe ThirtyYearsWarin Germany.Damage was severe, but not everywhere as deeply inflicted as Polish historians have often suggested.A severedemographicdrop duringthe I65os was followed by fair recovery to the end of the seventeenth century. Laszuk points out that many earlier estimates have been based on returns from crown leaseholds, whose tenants had a vested interest in maximizing the impact of war and plague. The poll tax registersare farfromperfectin this respect:Laszuktakes the most reliablereturnsto be the earliest,those of I662; laterreturnsshowed a suspicious tendency to diminishing returns. Nonetheless, with 'restrained optimism' she puts the population of Podlasie at some 200,000 in I66o, of whom half paid the pogldwne. She remains sceptical of estimates for earlier periods, though is prepared to settle for some 220,000 in I629. Although she does not go into the impact of the GreatNorthernWarat the beginning of the eighteenth century, she does not believe the i629 levels were regained until the I78os. Laszuk's data, of course, permit more than just a study of numbers. She examines household and family structures,concluding that the view of the prevalence of extended familyin easternEurope is something of a myth:most of her families, in all social spheres, were small and nuclear (she suggestsan averageof six personsper family).There is a fascinatingwealth of detailabout the petty nobility, who made up some twenty-five per cent of the Podlasie population: the only material thing that distinguished most of them from peasants was their outright ownership of their small...