Estimation of age structure of the inhabitants of Bohemia in 1651 according to the List of Serfs according to faith (case study Eggenbergs´ dominion)

Eva Kacerova, University of Economics , Prague (VSE)
Jiri Henzler, University of Economics , Prague (VSE)

One of the most valuable sources for Czech historical demography is the List of Serfs according to Faith of 1651. It captured the situation immediately following the end of the Thirty Years War. The most complicated pitfall for the researcher studying the age structure of the population on the basis of the List is the sub-registration of children before the age at which they can make confessions on certain estates (or in certain communities). The children are recorded systematically only from the age of 12 The basic prerequisite for estimating the number of children under the age of 12 was that women (men) of the same age in various parts of the estates had on average the same or at least a similar number of children in the individual age groups. This article came into being within the framework of the long-term research project 2D06026, "Reproduction of Human Capital", financed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport within the framework of National Research Program II