Wallach reform was a land reform in parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

 (Lithuania propria, Eldership of Samogitia

Eldership of Samogitia

The Duchy of Samogitia had been the administrative unit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1422 . Between 1422 to 1441 it was known as the Eldership of Samogitia...

 and partially in White Ruthenia lands). Main goal of the reform was to increase revenue to the state treasury, and to distribute feodal services to the peasants. Grand Duchess Bona Sforza

Bona Sforza

Bona Sforza was a member of the powerful Milanese House of Sforza. In 1518, she became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.She was the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife...

 was the first to implement the reform in her possessions.

History

Wallach reform started 1547 in the Grand Duke's lands, it was made a law in 1557 and the reform lasted until the 1580s. During the reform all land belonging to folwark

Folwark

Folwark is a Polish word for a primarily serfdom-based farm and agricultural enterprise , often very large. Folwarks were operated in the Crown of Poland from the 14th century and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 15th century, from the second half of the 16th century in the joint...

s and villages was measured up, some villages were moved. The land of peasants was divided into three fields, and every peasant got one strip of land in every one of them. Three of them comprised one wallach

Wallach

Wallach is a word of Germanic origin:* meaning a gelding* referring especially to Latin people, particularly Romanians and Italians. See the history of the term Vlach.- Family name :* Eli Wallach , American actor...

 (about 21.38 ha.

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

). The three different lands were used for crop rotation.

Wallach reform increased effectiveness of agriculture and fully established serfdom

Serfdom

Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...

 in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. Peasants services to the landowner was established from the wallach - peasant owning one wallach had to perform corvée

Corvée

Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or a superior . The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization...

2 days in a week, pay 4 to 24 grosz feudal land rent, and pay tribute by oath and hay. In 17th century corvee increased to 6 days a week.