This presentation evaluates the "servant village theory," a foundational model of early medieval Central European historiography formulated by Karol Modzelewski and Karol Buczek. The theory posits that 11th- and 12th-century states in Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary relied on a specialized administrative-economic system: specialized villages provided specific services (e.g., milling, smithing) to central courts and castles, facilitating state-building before the rise of a cash-based market economy.

Despite its long-standing influence, the theory remains problematic. Written records show a stark discrepancy: while hundreds of individuals were obligated to perform services, their residences rarely align with eponymous "service" village names. Traditional historiography explains this as a relic of an 11th-century system that dissolved by the 12th and 13th century. However, as written sources are insufficient to confirm this hypothesis, this study employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Digital Humanities methodologies to test the theory’s spatial validity.

The paper examines the proximity and uniformity of service villages relative to administrative centers across two datasets: villages with documented 11th/12th-century services and those with service-derived names appearing before 1500.

Preliminary results challenge the traditional narrative. Spatial analysis reveals that part of villages with service names were established during 13th- and 14th-century colonization waves—long after the servant system’s supposed demise. These findings suggest that toponymy is an unreliable indicator of early medieval function and highlight a more dynamic socio-economic landscape than the servant village theory assumes.