Peasantry

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A peasantry (ndd. Buerschap ; not to be confused with the term peasantry, which is also wrongly used in this context ) is a rural type of settlement in the Lower Saxon - Westphalian- speaking area , which is often composed of only a few, scattered farms ; there are similarities to the form of settlement of a hamlet . At the same time, it denotes a certain medieval form of organization - similar to the Rhenish honnships , peasant guilds or neighborhoods, partly on a local, partly on a regional level.

Use of terms

The use of peasantry in the sense of a settlement goes back to the designation Bauer -schaft (without “n”): The Low German burschap or buerschap and the Latinized form burscapium are derived from bur = house and originally meant something like “farm association” or smaller in the Middle Ages Settlement complex. It is not possible to uniformly describe the type of settlement of a peasantry in the German-speaking countries. Rather, it saw itself as a settlement community of a few more or less nearby farms.

Often these peasant communities were part of several small settlements as a whole within the framework of the feudal system of a dominion - for example a castle - and, since historically and regionally the organizational form and the type of settlement are interwoven, also its special type of settlement.

The peasantry also marked a legal district and therefore an early form of self-government . The Assembly of farmers such burschap , the burger maybe , it made the judicial organ of the Community . The awareness of belonging to a peasantry was not only shaped by one's own elected building judge , but also by the respective brand affiliation . In addition there were the communal celebrations, for example drinking the fines levied by the building judge ( Brüchten ) or later sometimes shooting festivals as well as the joint responsibility for tax payments.

Modern times

Memorial stone for the Rodde farmers , now part of Rheine .

Until the 1970s, individual farmers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony were also independent communities . More often, however, several farmers were grouped together to form one community (e.g. under the name parish , as in Dülmen ). The majority of the peasantry was never politically independent, but always part of a community. Since the municipal reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, there are no longer any farmers as independent communities.

The term is often still used officially, especially in north-west Germany , although these settlements have long since grown beyond a few courtyards (see, for example, Isernhagen ). In the Münsterland , the farmers' associations have retained their street names. A branched network of tiny streets then bears a peasantry name, sometimes on both sides of a differently named main street, such as in the outer areas of the city of Warendorf .

In some areas, the scope of a (former) peasantry only on location and names of the individual farms and their leaves lands and considering the corridor forms and field names in Urkataster develop accurate.

Place names with farmers

The Prussian community encyclopedias of the individual provinces in 1895 document residential place names that are combined with ‑ peasantry .

  • Province of Westphalia : Aabauerschaft in the Coesfeld district; Brewing association in the district of Gelsenkirchen (renamed Bismarck in 1900 and incorporated into Gelsenkirchen in 1903 , but still the street name there today); Village farmers in the Warendorf district; Village farmers (3 times) in the Münster district; Village, cross, north and upper farmers (3 times), Easter farmers (2 times) and West farmers in the Lüdinghausen district; Village farmers in the Paderborn district; Field, church and western farmers in the Steinfurt district; Monastery farmers in the Herford district.
  • Province of Hanover : Upper, Middle and Lower Farmers Rodewald in the Neustadt am Rübenberge district; Sand farmers in the north district.
  • Province of Rhineland : sub-builderships in Rees district; Neviges farmers in the Elberfeld district.

The farmers using the example of the Hardenberg estate

Exact knowledge of the peasantry exists for the Hardenberg rule , which existed until 1806 , as the peasantry book of the Obensiebeneick peasantry has been preserved in the parish archive (Velbert-) Langenberg . It was kept in legible script from 1675 to 1729 by the heads of the peasantry, who held this office for life or until they resigned as they requested.

Important tasks of the rulers were the convocation of the farm , to which all farm owners were called at least once a year, the representation of the interests of the farmers towards the owner of the rule and the apportionment of the taxes on the individual farms. Difficult calculations were necessary for this, as there were whole , half , quarter (to sixteenth) courtyards. The Hardenberger peasantry as a whole negotiated with the owners of the lordship on all issues affecting the residents of the peasantry. Through payments they managed to free themselves from some burdens, for example in 1551 they achieved free marriage law (i.e. the abolition of the obligation to obtain a marriage license), in 1573 the replacement of manual and tension services , in 1615 the restriction of guard services and other things.

In addition to the heads of the farming communities, often but not necessarily at the Hard Berger district court as jurors acted, there were the residents of all the peasantry annual farm owners selected Bauermeister . Their most important task seems to have been the collection of tax amounts from the peasants and the settlement of taxes with the representatives of the government.

The farmers in Hardenberg are a clearly delimited area with their residents. It is - similar to the Honnschaft - the lowest administrative unit that was endowed with some rights (this also applies to the Westphalian area). Several peasants formed one office . The regional courts and parishes also built on the peasantry. The farmers (as well as the honnships) built and maintained their own schools since the 17th century when the way to the parish schools was too far.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Community dictionary for the province of Westphalia. Based on materials from the census of December 1, 1895 and other official sources, edited by the Royal Statistical Bureau. In: Royal Statistical Bureau (Hrsg.): Community encyclopedia for the Kingdom of Prussia. tape X , 1897, ZDB -ID 1046036-6 ( digitized ).
  2. ^ Community encyclopedia for the province of Rhineland. Based on materials from the census of December 1, 1885 and other official sources, edited by the Royal Statistical Bureau. In: Royal Statistical Bureau (Hrsg.): Community encyclopedia for the Kingdom of Prussia. tape XII , 1888, ZDB -ID 1046036-6 ( digitized version ).
  3. K. Wesoly: Court and Honnschaftschulen in Bergisch Land until the end of the Old Kingdom . In: Ulrich Andermann u. a .: Regional aspects of the early school system ( Kraichtaler Colloquia  2). Bibliotheca Academica Verlag, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-928471-27-9 , pp. 201-220.