Medieval Formation of Settlement and the Dynamics of Property Relations
Colonisation processes in peripheral, mountainous and submontane regions of the Kingdom of Bohemia intensified during the High Middle Ages. The first mentions and the very foundation of the settlement of Babiny I are dated to the end of the 12th century (Pištěk, 2006). This corresponds to a broader wave of both internal and external colonisation, when the ruling power sought to economically exploit previously impenetrable frontier forests. Babiny was initially royal property, demonstrating the interest of the Přemyslid rulers in controlling this territory (Pištěk, 2006). However, direct royal administration of remote mountain enclaves was administratively and logistically inefficient. Therefore, the village soon passed from royal ownership into the hands of the Prague bishops, who possessed an extensive and well-structured economic apparatus (Pištěk, 2006).
A fundamental turning point in the early history of the village came in 1337. The first written mention of Babiny in historical sources comes from a charter issued by Jan IV of Dražice, Bishop of Prague, on 1 October 1337 in Prague (Regesta diplomatica nec non epistolaria Bohemiae et Moraviae, Pars IV., Pragae 1892, p. 192, No. 478, hereinafter RBM). With the consent of the Prague chapter, the bishop exchanged several villages which he had previously donated to the newly established monastery of Augustinian canons in the episcopal town of Roudnice nad Labem. Through this exchange, the Roudnice monastery acquired Smolnice, Hlinná, Babiny, Březí, Budov, Dolín, Želevčice and Bakov (Description of the estates of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Roudnice from 1388, in: Decem registra censuum Bohemica, Prague 1881, pp. V–VI, 4–19; hereinafter DRC). The Roudnice monastery held 14 lán units in Babiny, from which an annual payment of 4 marks minus one quarter of a grivna was collected (DRC, p. 6). (Kasík, Dauphin, Notes on proposals for the municipal coat of arms and flag of the municipality of Malečov, Roudnice n. L., 2020)
The Augustinians of Roudnice belonged in the 14th century to the intellectual, spiritual and economic elite of the Czech lands, enjoying the support of Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice and Emperor Charles IV. The arrival of this order meant the introduction of systematic agriculture, precise demarcation of cadastral boundaries, and probably also the first rational planning of forest and pasture management, which shaped the character of the landscape for centuries (Pištěk, 2006).
The stability of ecclesiastical property, however, did not last long. The pre-Hussite period and subsequent turbulent events brought the secularisation of many estates. As early as 1399, Babiny I passed into secular possession when it was acquired by Jan of Kamýk (Pištěk, 2006). The settlement thus became a firm part of broader feudal structures of the region. Later, it was incorporated into the extensive and economically dominant Liběšice estate (Pištěk, 2006). Over the following centuries, the ownership structure was characterised by considerable fragmentation and instability, indicating that mountainous Babiny was perceived by large landowners more as a marginal economic appendage than as a lucrative centre. Owners changed with surprising frequency: from the Minorites of Litoměřice through other branches of the Kamýk family to the town of Litoměřice, which in the 16th century owned at least part of the village (Pištěk, 2006; Severní Polabí, undated). Some ownership records are cited in the publication Hrady (Sedláček, XIV, 1923, p. 394): in 1468, Vilém of Konice sold Kamýk Castle to Petr of Lstiboř, and Babiny is listed among the associated villages. Likewise, in 1543, when Vilém Kamýtský of Lstiboř entered his property into the Land Registers.
A significant consolidation of property and economic conditions came only in 1630, when, in the midst of the devastating Thirty Years’ War, Babiny I was acquired by the Jesuit college of Litoměřice (Pištěk, 2006; Severní Polabí, undated). The Society of Jesus applied highly efficient, modern, and often proto-capitalist methods of administration on its estates. Despite enormous population losses in Bohemia, the Jesuits managed to stabilise the local estate. They introduced strict accounting, supported crafts linked to agriculture, and sought maximum land productivity. Jesuit administration lasted nearly a century and a half and imprinted a firm structure on the village. After the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773 by decision of Pope Clement XIV, the village reverted once again to the Royal Chamber, that is, the state, thereby closing one long cycle of its property history (Pištěk, 2006; Severní Polabí, undated).
In 1787, Babiny belonged to the Liběšice–Úštěk estate with the farm of Nučnice, administered by the Bohemian Chamber. The village had 26 houses, but parts belonged to Kamýk, Ploskovice, and the town of Litoměřice (Schaller, V., 1787, p. 287).
In 1833, the main part of the village of Babiny belonged to the Liběšice estate with the farms of Nučnice and Čeřeniště. Since 1773, this estate had belonged to the Study Fund of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Babiny consisted of 22 houses with 125 inhabitants. Of these, 5 houses and 30 inhabitants belonged to the Keblice estate owned by the town of Litoměřice. One manor farm and one leased farm with 12 inhabitants belonged to the Lovosice estate. Two houses with 12 inhabitants belonged to the Ploskovice estate.