Cohabitation “In Bread” in Bihor at the Beginning of the 18th Century
Cohabitation “In Bread” in Bihor at the Beginning of the 18th Century

Summary/Abstract: The problem of cohabitation “in bread” meaning brothers and/or sons who, even married, continued to leave in the same household with their parents was a specific topic in the Romanian historiogrphy about Transylvania long ago. The social historians and demographers preocupied by the 18th Century history - especially David Prodan - had shown the contradiction between the Austrian state policy, consistent in this aspect with that of the great domains, preoccupied in taxing more properties and that of the rural communities, who wanted to keep the number of these as low as possible. The frequency of the state and domain authorities records on people motivated by the populationist component of the imperial policy was constantly increasing and, from this data, one can estimate the number of the cohabitants. A substantial decrease of their number can be seen between 1720 and the first decades of the 19th century, proving that the peasants' resistence on this line also diminished due to a significant improvement of the economic situation of the peasant household on one hand, following the consequences of the theresian rules for Hungary and, on another hand, because of the increased vigilence of the bureaucratic machine of the state, brought by the rationalization which was specific for the Century of Lights. The late persistence of this phenomenon, often on a wide scale, is due on one hand to the invoked peasant resistence, which sees this extended family as an escapism practice and, on another hand, to the periodical comeback of “old regimen crisis” which, in order to be overcame, required a number solidarity at the level of the peasant household.

• Details
• Contents