The Historical Demography of a Proper Hungarian Village: Átány in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

Átány is the first village in the Great Plain region in Hungary to be analyzed by means family reconstitution. Therefore it might be considered a “typical” Hungarian village inhabited by “proper peasants” (Fél and Hofer 1969). Mortality did not improve until the end of the nineteenth century. The age at first marriage for women was slightly above twenty years, and very few women remained single until the end of their reproductive ages. Fertility remained high until the end of the nineteenth century. The development of fertility was very different from the southern Transdanubian villages characterized by early birth control. Nearly half the households had complicated structure, falling between the middle European, Mediterranean, and Eastern household types. These characteristics might be explained by the relative abundance of land in the Great Plain region.