Abstract: The lifestyle of the Baltic nobility became more luxurious and refined in the 18th century compared to the preceding centuries. In order to keep up with the changing necessities of life, estate owners were interested in the continual growth of their incomes. This forced them to increase the estate’s production of goods and to account more for the needs of the market. The nobility was more and more oriented to the profits gained from selling their estates. Al- though the incomes of estates increased during the 18th century, they often did not manage to keep up with the nobility’s consumption expenses. This led to an increase in the burden of debt for estates and the first serious wave of bankruptcies during the final decades of the century. I have in this article analysed the monetary in- comes and expenditures of the family of the estate owner de la Barre during the period of 1733-1748 in light of these general processes. The account books kept by the lady of the manor Christina de la Barre (1702-1777), where all the monetary income and expenses of the family are recorded with noteworthy meticulousness, made this analysis possible. The widowed Christina de la Barre lived with her three daughters during the period under consideration in Karki Estate in present day Northern Latvia. The adjacent Turna Estate and Eivere Estate in the province of Estonia also belonged to the family. The size of the financial incomes of the de la Barre family fluctuated widely from year to year. The wholesale of rye to merchants in Tallinn and Riga, and the retail sale of beer, liquor and tobacco in the taverns of the estate were the most stable sources of income. The most important article of sale was rye, from which 35% of monetary income was received. Thus, fluctuation in the retail price of rye significantly affected the family’s economic position. The second most important article of sale was barley that had been processed into malt. Other produce from the cultivation of plants-oats, wheat, flax, linseed and hemp – played a small role in the formation of monetary incomes. Only the sale of butter was of importance in produce from livestock farming. Rental income and interest received from loans also increased monetary income. Consumption expenses associated with various merchandise accounted for nearly half of the family’s expenditures, whereas import and luxury goods for this noble family’s personal consumption predominate. Nearly a third of the money spent on the purchase of goods went towards the purchase of various textiles and articles of clothing. Surprisingly large expenditures were also made on valuables and medicines. Most of the money spent on food products was used to purchase coffee, tea, sugar, and many varieties of wine. Food from southern climates and various delicacies also formed part of the family’s diet. Large quantities of salt, iron and tobacco were procured and these were probably resold to peasants. Books were purchased surprisingly frequently, whereas most of them were spiritual and educational literature in Estonian and Latvian meant to be distributed free of charge to the peasants. The purchase of two globes and a clavier can be pointed out from among the more unique items. Household items (tools, fittings for the distillery, and so on) and building materials also required monetary expenditures but compared to the amounts spent on the personal consumption of the estate owner, these expenditures were small. A second, considerably smaller group of expenditures was payments for various services. Most of this consisted of wages for representatives of various types of handicrafts-tailors, shoemakers, cabinetmakers, saddlers, weavers, watchmakers, and so on. The painting of portraits and the payment of musicians also required expenditures. The surgeon was paid regularly for bloodletting. Master builders, cabinetmakers and glaziers were often paid for work both in the manor house as well as in the church and the parsonage. The wages of the manor servants accounted for only a small portion of the expenditures of estate owners. Much larger amounts were spent on fees for various officials-secretaries, lawyers and notaries. In addition to paying for goods and services, money was spent otherwise as well. The payment of debts and the purchase of Eivere Estate were large expenditures in the 1730’s. Taxes to the state, the pastor and the treasury of the knighthood accounted for 4.8% of monetary expenditures. A surprisingly large amount of money was spent on charitable aims, including significant support for reprinting the Latvian language Bible amounting to 150 thalers. It appears to have been traditional to give money as gifts to peasants and manor servants on the occasion of christenings and weddings. Bribes were also paid on occasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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