Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/329

AGRICULTURAL LIFE 317 returned by gifts or otherwise. The tenant or his mes- senger was entertained by the lord ; in some places even clothed and amused by music and dancing. For instance, the Eanger of Laufen, when he paid his dues of swine at the Castle of Constance, received in return ' the weight of his fattest pig in rye.' The messenger who brought the shoulders and hams of swine to the Castle at Hirscholm was to be honourably received and placed at a table with white vessels. His horse was to be placed in the stable overnight, and have enough of oats ; on taking his departure in the morning the man was to receive a fee ' according to ancient custom.' The carpenters and coalmen belonging to the manor of Sigolsheim, between Colmar and Schlettstadt, fared even better. On presenting their dues ' each man shall receive one yard of cloth to make a pair of breeches. . . . Whoever shall cut wood in our forests shall receive from each house an ounce of pennies, and be well and kindly received at Munsterthal.' ' At night a straw bed shall be made for him ; an old man shall watch his clothes in order that they may not be burned. The- Abbot of St. Gregory shall give him two pairs of new shoes. He shall then go to the farm of Wilze to break- fast, and thence to the farm of Durincheim, where he shall be well treated, and given red wine out of the cask. In the book of ' Manor Eights ' of Menchinger (1441) we read: 'The bailiff has a " harvest right"; all those who cannot mow must rake one day for him. 1 1 Grimm, Bechtsalterthiimer, p. 395 (see p. 318). ' I consider,' saj'S- Grimm, ' that the terms of leasing and of service in the olden time were better and easier than the conditions under which the peasants and factory workers are now. The law which prevailed through the whole German Empire making the rising and setting of the sun legal time, so to speak, was often advantageous to the worker.'