The potential of taxation records as a data source for historical climatology

Abstract

The tax liability of peasants significantly influenced their lives and the total monetary income of the country. The damaging effects of weather extremes on crop yields were considered grounds for tax relief. Administrative documentation connected with requests for tax relief can serve as an important source of data for historical climatology, as demonstrated by the example of the Prácheň Region in southwestern Bohemia during the 17th–19th centuries. Based on the first land registry system, only hailstorm damage to crops and fires qualified peasants for tax relief from 1655 CE, while the subsequent land registry system from 1748 CE extended this to include water damage from 1775 CE. Taxation data made it possible to analyse the spatiotemporal variability of significant hailstorms, water torrents, and lightning-caused fires, together with their impacts on agriculture and the lives of peasants during the 1655–1707 and 1748–1827 CE periods in the Prácheň Region, for which summary data at governmental and regional levels were preserved. Data related to weather damage were further supplemented with other documentary sources to create a chronology of significant hailstorms, water torrents, and additional weather extremes for the analyzed region. This study and its results clearly demonstrate the potential of taxation records – available in the Czech Lands as well as in many other countries – for historical-climatological research into past damaging weather events and their human impacts.