The Campaign against Sparrows in the Habsburg Monarchy during the Theresian–Josephine Era: The Case of the Celje (Cilli) District in a Broader Context

Abstract

This article examines the state-organized culling of sparrows in the Habsburg Monarchy, using the Celje District as a case study. It begins with the introduction of this campaign during the Haugwitz reforms of 1749 and concludes with its end in 1782. It compares normative sources with various types of administrative sources produced as the campaign was implemented: patents and circulars; sources assembled by the Styrian Representation and Chamber; sources produced in the Celje district office, including a summary table from 1753 for the entire district, which lists data on the number of sparrow heads submitted at the level of feudal estates and princely urban settlements; and sources created in the Gornji Grad (Oberburg) estate of the Diocese of Ljubljana. The data are contextualized using literature on a similar campaign in the territory of Brandenburg–Prussia. Using the example of the Upper Savinja Valley in the eighteenth century, the article generates added value by comparing accounts of sparrow distribution, contemporaneous cereal grain tithe registers, and data on the current distribution of the house sparrow and the tree sparrow. It emphasizes the importance of a nuanced understanding of the sources under consideration and contributes to an understanding of the multispecies history of the Habsburg Monarchy.