Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/339

AGRICULTURAL LIFE 327 princes and lords of the soil, and favoured the cruel amusement of the chase, they were much to blame for the peasant wars. A report of the regulations drawn up by a Ehine- lander, Nicholas Engelman, head-steward from 1495 to 1516 for the demesne of Erfurt, which belonged to the estate of the archbishopric of Mentz, gives us a very vivid idea of the peasant life of the time. This property in and around Erfurt consisted of several parcels of land containing fields, gardens, pas- tures and vineyards, besides forests of willows, alders and evergreens, covering in all six hundred and sixty acres. There were also several mills and houses in the surrounding villages which paid rent or service to the estate. During his stewardship Engelman renewed all the registers, cleared up the intricacies of the laws affecting the different classes of tenants, established well-defined water-right laws, and, finally, completed the above- mentioned report, which is an exhaustive account of the management of the demesne. The regulations with regard to field, forest, and vineyard show an advanced state of agricultural science. This work of Engelman's is a memorial for the close of the Middle Ages in some respects similar to the Agricultural Capitulary of Charlemagne for the beginning of that period. At the head of those responsible for the management of the estate stood the * kitchen steward,' who was en- trusted with the care of the house expenses and the gene- ral supervision of the farm work. Next to him came the porter, who was an expert, and decided questions about the farming : then followed the kitchen steward's secretary, who kept an account of the harvest ; and the forester, who, besides the management of the woods,