The so-called Nikolsburg urbar (estate register) lists the feudal services and dues on family properties in the northern Weinviertel and South Moravia. It records the economic activities of the vassals, as well as the income and, in some cases, the size of the estates. The demesnes of Nikolsburg (Mikulov), Dürnholz, Lundenburg (Breclav), Falkenstein, Feldsberg (Valtice), Rabenburg, Mistelbach, Hagenberg and Gnadendorf are described.

Apart from the Mistelbach urbar of 1395 this is the oldest survey in the holdings of the Princely Archives. The history of the family provides no clues as to why the register was drawn up. At the time, the owners of the properties in question were the brothers Heinrich V (1386–1418) and Georg III.(c. 1395–1419) who was the Bishop of Trent, as well as the nephews of the two, Johann IV (1411–1448) and Ulrich (1411–1441/46), and a distant relative, Hartneid V (d. 1426/27). The document forms part of the collection of some 2,500 manuscripts in the archives. In 1930 Berthold Bretholz produced an annotated edition.

The tradition of entailing estates to unify family property and prevent its division originated in Spain, and was not adopted in Central Europe until 1584 when Karl of Inner Austria drew up rules of entailment and primogeniture. These chiefly decreed that that family property could not henceforth be alienated, encumbered or distrained. One of the earliest of many entailment settlements signed after 1600 was that of the House of Liechtenstein, in 1606. The parties to the contract were the brothers Karl (1569–1627), Maximilian (1578–1643) and Gundaker (1580–1658), who subjected their property to the law of entailment in all significant matters. The so-called “inheritance of the firstborn” was to pass to the head of the family — the eldest male descendent — in its entirety, while the remaining possessions, or to be precise, the usufruct thereof, were to be divided among the three.

The document, which has been preserved as a libellus, was a model not just for subsequent Liechtenstein succession arrangements but also for those of other aristocratic families, and was crucial to the continued existence of the Princely Family down to the present.

Maps like this arose from the economic and administrative activities of the family’s properties, and were formerly used by the land registries and estate offices. This example is drawn from a 28-part series of maps which evidently originated from a survey made in or around 1800. The series gives a detailed insight into the topography of the Liechtenstein estates, and the economic and ownership situation at the time.

The map pictured here shows the Feldsberg estate (now Valtice) which used to be part of Lower Austria. Together with Eisgrub (today called Lednice) the estate was the summer residence of the reigning line of the princely house until the 20th century. The map depicts the woods and hunting grounds, sheep farms and cheesemaking farms, the estate pastures, meadows and vineyards, and the parish boundaries and patronage of the churches. The fish ponds, which still play a role in the life of the Thaya Valley today, can clearly be seen.

The Feldsberg map forms part of the map collection in the Princely Archives, which contains some 730 sets of varying sizes.