The obște (pl. ''obști'') was an autonomous agricultural community of the

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Mixing private and

common ownership Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, enterprise, or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in every economi ...

, the communities generally employed an

open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acr ...

. The obști were usually based on one or more extended families. This system of organization was similar throughout the Romanian-inhabited areas and it generally receded as overlords assumed more power over the rural communities and as the peasants lost their freedom by becoming

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

Etymology

The word '' obște'' is of Slavic origin, its original meaning being "common", referring to the common ownership and usage of the fields. Nevertheless, the organization system predates the Slavic contact, previously the word for community being '' cătun'' (cognate with Albanian '' katund''), a word that changed its meaning in modern Romanian into "

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

" or "mountain village".Russu, p. 228

Characteristics

The villages, autonomous and lacking a political superstructure, employed their own defense system: the very words for village in Romanian (''

sat The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

'', archaic ''fsat'') and Albanian ('' fshat'') are derived from the Latin word '' fossatum'', meaning "a ditch used for fortifications". Most villages were not ancient, but they were founded and discarded during successive colonization steps. As

extensive farming Extensive farming or extensive agriculture (as opposed to intensive farming) is an agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labour, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed. Systems Extensive farming m ...

was used, the areas with depleted soil were abandoned for new land, often obtained through deforestation.Russu, p. 229 Sometimes, they were divided into more groups, each looking to found its own obște on fertile land, something known as the "swarming of the obști" (''roirea obștilor''). The villagers in an obște were often the descendants of the founder (or sometimes, founders) of the village, which was known as ''moș'' ("forefather"). By the 16th century, in Wallachia, each extended family (''moșneni'', people with a common forefather) had its own tracts of land which they used in common. The obști had their own

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

system, known in Romanian as '' obiceiul pământului'' ("custom of the land"), an unwritten law system which set rules for the relations between the villagers, including the rules for the usage of the land. The obști had judicial powers on their members, the elders of the village being the judges.

Origins

Whereas some historians such as Ioan C. Filitti argued that the obști were an exceptional way of organization and a recent development,

Nicolae Iorga Nicolae Iorga (17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet and playwright. Co-founder (in 1910) of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament ...

argued that the obște was one of the most ancient institutions of the Romanian peasant, being prior to the founding of the medieval Romanian states.Costăchel, p. 84 Some historians such as P. P. Panaitescu argued that its origin can be found in the organization of the Dacian settlements, which was revived following the Roman retreat. As arguments for its origin being previous to the Slavic contact are given words such as ''gint'' (pl. ''ginture'') which was a term of Latin origin (from ''

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

''/''gentilis'') to refer to a community formed by an extended family.Russu, p. 227–228

History

As the feudal states were created, the obști were affected by the system of princely decrees, which gave land (''danii'') to a newly created nobility. This led to a gradual disappearance of the common ownership of land, transforming the free peasants into serfs. The feudal system, which was already formed by the 15th century, did not destroy the obști, but a greater number of obști became serf obști: while the

Hospodar ''Gospodar'' or ''hospodar'', also ''gospodin'' as a diminutive, is a term of Slavic origin, meaning "lord" or " master". The compound (, , , sh-Latn-Cyrl, gospodar, господар, ) is a derivative of ''gospod'' / ''gospodin'', , or when spe ...

or the

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s owned the whole villages, they kept their internal organization. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was still found in some mountainous areas of Romania, such as Vrancea and

Câmpulung Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , , Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'') is a municipiu, city in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is attested on the Fra Mauro map fro ...

in Moldavia as well as

Rucăr Rucăr is a commune located in the north-eastern part of Argeș County, Romania, situated in the Carpathian Mountains. The commune is composed of two villages, Rucăr and Sătic, and its population as of 2021 was 5,259. Historically important for ...

in Wallachia.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* I. I. Russu, ''Etnogeneza Românilor'', Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1981. * V. Costăchel, ''Obștea Sătească'', in V. Costăchel; P. P. Panaitescu; A. Cazacu, ''Viața feudală în Țara Românească și Moldova (secolele XIV–XVI)'', Editura Științifică. 1957. {{DEFAULTSORT:Obste Medieval history of Romania Agriculture in Romania Social history of Romania Types of populated places