Rural Society

This study offers an insight into the impact of military service on the lives of 689 men originated in 18 villages in the South Bohemian domains of Protivín and Třeboň, drafted into the army between 1775 and 1830. The analysis is based on sources comprising mostly of data from register books, lists of subjects and land registers. Attention was paid to a social origin, age of the recruits, length of military service, age of veterans and the ways in which they integrated back into rural society. Some details of nuptiality were evaluated-such as age, the age difference between brides and grooms, nuptial migration or a delay between the end of military service and the marriage.

The practices and public reputation of mining have been changing over time. In the past, mining operations stood accused frequently of being socially and environmentally disruptive, whereas mining today invests heavily in 'socially responsible' and 'sustainable' business practices. Changes such as these can be witnessed internationally as well as in places like Western Australia (WA), where the mining sector has matured into an economic pillar of the state, and indeed the nation in the context of the recent resources boom.

Mining activities in Australia tend to be cyclical, with boom and bust times impacting upon associated communities. However, little information exists to classify key impacts or to identify how they vary across mining service towns. In this paper, qualitative social impact assessment techniques have been used to independently assess post-development impacts of mining on six communities in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, following the boom in coal prices between 2003 and 2008. The communities are similar in that they all have at least one mine in the vicinity and have more male than female residents but they differ in town histories, and the size plus growth rate of both their permanent and temporary populations. While the mining boom has been generating social and economic impacts, the pattern of the impacts appears to vary across communities depending on the size of the impact, community structure and history, and the extent to which a non-resident workforce is involved.

GODPARENTHOOD IN THE “PROTO- INDUSTRIAL” REGIONS OF EAST BOHEMIA IN THE MID-17TH CENTURY
This study focuses on a subject that has not yet attracted much scholarly attention – the issue of godparenthood in rural Bohemia during the Early Modern era. In the first part, the authors present a possible methodology for research into godparenthood, drawing primarily on quantitative approaches to social history (historical demographic approaches). When researching the mid-17th century (which is the earliest period for which research on this issue can be conducted), quantitative methods – alongside a limited application of prosopography – essentially represent the only viable way of studying godparenthood in both urban communities and rural areas. The authors then identify key research questions that can be asked in view of the extent of the source material available for the investigated territory. These questions include issues such as baptisms and the relationships between children and parents who were deemed by society to be disreputable, the religious affiliation of godparents in the fragmented religious landscape of the Baroque era, the changing perception and functions of godparenthood over a lengthy timespan, or the extent of godparents’ actual influence over their godchild’s upbringing.
The findings of the study include a comparison of the structure and nature of godparent/godchild relationships in the mid-17th century focusing on two East Bohemian regions whose specific socio-economic features mean that they can be categorized as proto-industrial regions. These are the parishes of Hlinsko (in the northern part of the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands) and Hostinné (in the foothills of the Krkonoše mountains); vital records from both parishes dating from the mid-17th century have been relatively well preserved. Data excerpted from these records underwent comparative analysis alongside the data taken from records of the population (classified according to religious affiliation) dating from 1651; this produced interesting findings of relevance for demographic, social and religious history. The two investigated parishes differed in the practices they used for baptisms and the selection of godparents. At Hlinsko an important role was played by the town – an important local socio-economic centre, which was the home of many of the most sought-after godparents for children from the surrounding villages. By contrast, the situation in the Hostinné parish was characterized by a high degree of insularity in its rural communities; although the parish had only one major urban centre (Hostinné itself), most godparents were recruited from the baptized child’s native village. This can be attributed not only to established patterns of social behaviour among the population, but also to the geographic and economic characteristics of the area (large villages with well-developed home-based trades). The geographical horizons of godparenthood were found to be the same in both investigated regions; 86 % of godparents were from the same parish (or estate). This is fully in line with the restrictions on the movement of the subject population during the 16th and especially the 17th century. With regard to the religious affiliation of godparents and the extent to which this corresponded with the parent’s affiliation, it is evident that this factor did not play a significant role in either of the investigated parishes – though at Hostinné there was a substantially larger proportion of baptized children whose parents were of the same affiliation as their godparents (mainly Catholics). The study also offers answers to other questions concerning godparenthood in the proto-industrial regions of East Bohemia within the social and religious context of the investigated period.