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| Antonovka (prior post) was located near Ostrog (lower center). Zofyovka was some distance to the northwest (uppermost dot in the center). |
As with the previous post, we will focus on the terms of the lease most relevant to our questions. This lease can be accessed at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia website here (see Giesinger 1977). We begin with paragraph 1 of section 1:
1. The aforementioned Mennonites and their descendants shall be forever free of taxes and seignorial duties, as well as of money payments in lieu of these, except for the land rent stipulated in this contract. They shall not be subject to compensation payments of any kind; shall not be required to provide quarters for soldiers or make money payments in lieu thereof, at the behest of their lord; shall not be required to furnish army recruits, as their lord’s subjects have to do, or make money payments in lieu thereof; and shall enjoy also all the rights and privileges conferred on Mennonites in the Emperor’s Privilegium.
There is a good deal of information to extract from this paragraph.
1. Unlike the lessees of the prior contract (who enjoyed a one-year tax exemption), these Mennonite renters were forever free of taxes and seignorial duties such as providing a certain amount of unpaid labor each year or giving to the landlord a certain percentage of their produce. These settlers would owe only the rent specified in the contract.
2. Like the Mennonites of the 1804 contract, this group was also freed from the obligation to house soldiers; beyond that, this group was guaranteed freedom from any compensation payments for the enjoyment of that right. This suggests, perhaps, that such compensation payments were imposed on the land owner, who then could pass them on to the renters (1804 contract) or absorb them himself (this contract).
3. More broadly, this contract guarantees “all the rights and privileges conferred on Mennonites in the Emperor’s Privilegium.” As we have observed before, the Privilegium encompassed the benefits first promised by Catherine the Great and ratified by Tzar Paul I in 1800, such as freedom from military service, free exercise of religion, a grant of 65 dessiatines of land, and tax exemption on that land for a limited period of time. The 1804 lease agreement made no reference to the Privilegium, but here it finds clear expression.
Thus far we have learned that this lease promised the Mennonite renters that they would be free from taxes for all time. The rent they were obligated to pay is the other side of the equation. We read about that in the contract’s section.
1. There will be divided among them 33 hides of land, each containing 30 morgen Warsaw measure, for which they will be expected to pay on New Year’s Day annually 18 silver rubles per hide, that is, the equivalent of 120 gulden in the silver currency used here,
2. They will have three rent-free years, from 1 January 1812 to 1 January 1815. On the latter date the first payment of 18 silver rubles, i.e. 120 gulden, of land rent will be expected. …
6. The lord will advance to each colonist 200 gulden in silver currency, which sum the colonists promise to repay in two installments, the first on 1 January 1814, the second on the same date in 1816.
2. They will have three rent-free years, from 1 January 1812 to 1 January 1815. On the latter date the first payment of 18 silver rubles, i.e. 120 gulden, of land rent will be expected. …
6. The lord will advance to each colonist 200 gulden in silver currency, which sum the colonists promise to repay in two installments, the first on 1 January 1814, the second on the same date in 1816.
It is impossible to compare the rental rates from 1804 with those from 1811, since the two contracts use slightly different measures of land and specify different currencies. Still, we can note similarities and differences between the two.
1. Both contracts specify an annual rental payment. This agreement uses a single rental rate for all types of land, whereas the 1804 one based the rent on the type of land being used each year.
2. The 1811 contract gives the lessees three years of rent-free use of the land (in addition to perpetual tax exemption), whereas the 1804 contract granted only two years without payment of rent.
3. The 1811 contract promises each settler a loan of 200 gulden (equal to the rent for to help him establish a household; the 1804 lease had no such provision.
A diagram of the terms of the 1811 contract is significantly different from the 1804 agreement:
landlord
|
renters
| |
| year 1 |
pays taxes and forgoes rent
|
Ø
|
| year 2 |
pays taxes and forgoes rent
|
Ø
|
| year 3 |
pays taxes and forgoes rent
|
Ø
|
| years 4– |
pays taxes
|
pay rent
|
There are other aspect of the leases that would reward closer examination, but for now we will keep the focus on the question of renter taxation and tax exemption. Based on our review of the 1804 and 1811 leases, we can conclude with relative confidence that taxation and rent payments were separate matters. The landlord was responsible for the real estate tax, but he could pass that responsibility on to his renters it (as in the 1804 agreement) or bear it all on his own (1811 agreement). Likewise, the landlord was free to negotiate whatever rental terms he wished, including an initial exemption from rent, if he so wished.
Above all, we can see already that there was no standard template for land leases. Although every lease by necessity had to cover certain elements, the terms negotiated varied widely, as is evident in these two exemplars. We will see to what extent that trend continues when we consider a third lease from nineteenth-century Volhynia.
Work Cited
Giesinger, Adam. 1977. A Volhynian German Contract. American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Work Paper 25:13–15. Available online here.
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