Subjects of the Zbiroh manor in the 2nd half of the 17th century

This work has tried to desribe and compare the economic situation of the peasants and the development of the settlement of the Zbiroh manor in the middle of the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century. Thanks to the catastrophic effects of the Thirty-year-war in this area, the peasants could saw only one third of their fields with the result that at least one third of the subjects could not meet their financial obligations such as the contributions, farm installments, landholder duties. In the southern part of the mannor, near the Brdy hills, we can find the only area where, thanks to the iron processing, the craft production was developing to a certain degree. The craftsmen here were able to gain considerable profits compared to the other parts of the mannor and thus were not willing to leave for abandoned farms in more fertile areas. In the second half of the 17the century basically all of the abandoned farms had been settled again and new farms had been founded. The fields of the farms had approximately the same area as those of the midle of the century but larger areas (by 1/3) of fields had been sawn. At the beginning of the 18th century most o the subjects seem to have been able to meet their basic necessary financial cost, even if only with dificulty and without any surplus