Nineteenth Century Agrarian and Land-use History

Scott Madry, Carole Crumley, Amanda Tickner & Elizabeth Jones

This project attempts to reconstruct land-use within the Commune of Uxeau ( Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy) from the time the first cadastral maps were made of the Commune (1835) up to the next restructuring of the Commune in 1912. To reconstruct agrarian practice and land-use we are utilizing cadastral maps and the associated tax records for each parcel, other historic maps, satellite imagery, agricultural reports, botanical survey, social data from the Commune’s parish/civil records, and ethnohistoric/ethnographic data. We are starting our study with Cadastral sections C & D (see map below). We have the most complete 19th-century data for these sections, and most of our research to date falls within those sections as well. The tax records give the type of land use for each parcel every time it is sold or changes hands (inheritance, marriage, etc.) throughout the study period. A preliminary survey of the data indicates amazing continuity in land use throughout the century. And this is in spite of climate swings, economic and political turmoil (including wars), agricultural innovation (especially in farm equipment), and diseases (there were several diseases affecting the vineyards, oïdium in the 1840s and 1850s, and black rot from 1885 through the 1890s, but Phylloxera which spread from the mid 1860s through the 1880s was the most devastating. 

All the vines in France had to be replanted using American root stocks with the French vines grafted on to them.

It would seem that farmers had perfected their knowledge of microenvironments and the most effective use for each plot of land. To examine this hypothesis we are in the process of digitizing the maps (Dr. Madry & Ms. Tickner) for incorporation into a GIS database, and processing the tax records and agricultural reports describing land use, crops grown, and animals kept in various years (Dr. Jones). The parish/civil records are being used to reconstruct the social network and household/farm composition so that when land is transferred in the tax records we know what farms are acquiring it, and the relationship between the seller and buyer (Dr. Jones). By looking at the parish records and tax records together we can reconstruct the landholdings of individual farms. We are giving special attention to woodlands (Dr. Madry & Ms. Tickner) and vineyards (Dr. Jones) within the commune. Dr. Crumley has collected ethnographic/ethnohistoric information on 19th-century farms and practices that will enhance interpretation of the other data.

In our study we are utilizing the methods of historical ecology and the concept of ecotype.

Preliminary Research Area (1965)
Sections C & D - A & B (former C4)

Uxeau Commune (2006 IGN 1:25,000)

Last updated 4/27/2008.