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INQUILINUS / ZSELLER / JELERI

In Banat, a zsellér is a serf with his own house and 1/8 Session of land [that means 7 Joch/iugar [composed by: 5 Joch/iugar agricultural land; 1 Joch/iugar of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugar land for the house]; but this is a very complex concept.

After the 1780 conscription [the "Conscriptio Urbarialis Banaticum" made by Count Kristof Niczky's Commission using as example the already existing Hungarian one], there where 3 categories of peasants in Banat:

     -serfs;

     -colonized peasants [colonus]

     -contracting peasants.

The serfs where split in 2 categories:

     -sessionati [in Latin; serfs with land]

     -non sessionati [serfs without land].

If the serfs had less than an eight of Session but had his own house, he was named "inquilini / inquilinus" in Latin language [jeleri in Romanian language; zsellér / zsoller or kis-házas in Hungarian language].

If the serfs lived in somebody's house, he was named "subinquilini".

Felix Game's Web Site has a page explaining these terms for Hungary and even if the situation is a little different in Hungary than in Banat, it is a good opportunity for making an opinion:

     -the Farmer (colonus)

     -the Cotter (Hungarian: zsellér [or kis-házos], Latin: inquilinus, German: Kleinhäusler).

     -the Subtenant (also zsellér in Hungarian, but subinquilinus in Latin and Holden in German).

In the dictionaries you can find:

     Inquiliny [Latin] = alien / strain [tenant=Mieter (in German language), chiriaş (in Romanian language) / lodger=chiriaş]

     Inquilinus [Latin] = locatar [Romanian] / lodger [English]; chiriaş / tenant; venetic / alien [figurative]

     Colonus [Latin] = colonist but also farmer / cultivator of land, peasant

     Coloni = plural for colonus

     Colona [Latin] = wife of a farmer / cultivator

In Banat, the standard dimension and composition of a farm was:

 -Peasant with a full Session = 34 Joch/iugar [24 Joch/iugar agricultural land; 6 Joch/iugar of hay field; 3 Joch/iugar of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugar land for the house].

 -Peasant with a half of Session = 19 Joch/iugar [12 Joch/iugar agricultural land; 4 Joch/iugar of hay field; 2 Joch/iugar of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugar land for the house].

 -Peasant with a quarter of Session = 11 Joch/iugar [6 Joch/iugar agricultural land; 3 Joch/iugar of hay field; 1 Joch/iugar of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugar land for the house].

 -Peasant with an eight of Session = 7 Joch/iugar [5 Joch/iugar agricultural land; 1 Joch/iugar of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugar land for the house].

[Note: the measurement of a Joch/iugar differed during the time] 

The size of these assignments varied slightly in the different settlements. For example, in Grabatz's case a full assignment was made up of the following:
 -12 hectares of fields [champs]
 -3 hectares of meadows [prairies]
 -1 hectare of pasture [paturages].
A smaller number of Grabatz's inhabitants were distributed as half-assignments [demi-cessions] made up as follows:
 -6 hectares of fields
 -2 hectares of meadows
 -1 hectare of pasture.
In some settlements only quarter-assignments [quarts de cessions] were allocated and were composed of:
 -3 hectares of fields
 -1 hectare and a half of meadows
 -1 hectare of pasture.
Over and above this, around each house was a garden of half a hectare.

Measurement Units in Banat:

 1 Session (Ansassigkeit)=4 Viertel-4 quarters=1 Joch / iugar=0,575 Hektar / Hectare[Ha]=1,43 acres
 1/2 Session (Halbe Ansassigkeit)=2 Viertel-two quarters=1/2 Joch

 1 Joch (Tagwerk) zu 1.600 Quadratklafter=0,575 Hektar=1,43 acres.

 1 Joch / iugar = 1600 Wiener Klfter² / stanjeni vienezi²=5751,7 m²

 1 Wiener Klfter / stanjeni vienezi=6 foot / picioare =1,896 m

 1 Schuh (Fuß) / foot / picioare = 31,6 cm

 1 Quadratklafter - square fathom = 3,6 qm = 4,3 square yards
 1 Motike (200 Quadratklafter) = 72 Ar = 0,18 acres
 1 Viertel (400 Quadratklafter) - quarter = 144 Ar = 0,36 acres
 1 Morgen = 0,26 Hektar = 0.64 acres
 1 Acker - acre = 0,41 Hektar = 1 acre
 1 Joch (Tagwerk) zu 1.600 Quadratklafter = 0,58 Hektar = 1,43 acres 
 9 Ketten - chains = 1 Viertel = 1/4 Joch
 1 Hufe = 10 Hektar = 24,71 acres
 1 Ar = 100 qm = 120 square yards
 1 Hektar = 100 Ar = 2,5 acres