Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/325

AGRIOULTUEAL LIFE 313 Kantzow writes further of the manor tenants of the island of Rugen : * ' The peasants of this land are rich and well to do ; they pay a small toll and render some service, but otherwise they have no obligations. Most of them pay money instead of services ; such persons consider themselves entirely free and refuse to pay court to the petty nobility. Their position is so good that sometimes a pcor nobleman gives his daughter in marriage to a rich peasant, whose children look on themselves as half noble.' The holdings of the ' temporary tenants ' (termed leases on pleasure) could not be revoked, any more than the hereditary leases, for the sake of increase of rent or any arbitrary whim of the landlord. The rights and obligations of the manor lords and manor tenants in most parts of Germany were clearly laid down in the so-called ' Oracles or Manor Rights.' These regulations, particularly those published in the fifteenth century, are striking evidences of the broad and impartial character of the German laws and of the good sense which inspired them. Complaints of tres- passing and infringement on the part of both manor lord and tenant were frequent enough. In times of disturbance there were instances of encroachments and violence against the weak ; but, generally, these troubles were settled either by legal redress or amicable com- pensation. The manor lords and manor tenants were put in 1 Lette and V. Ronne, i. 17. The farms were formerly hereditary. In East and West Prussia the following law was in force until 1414 : ' If the tenant makes over his lease to a bondsman with the permission of the landlord, having paid his tax, the latter cannot prevent his leaving.' In Westphalia we find the word slavery first in 1558 (see Kindlinger, Horig- keit). There was no question of serfdom ; it was unknown before the six- teenth century (see G. Haussen, p. 12).