Iron cows
Iron cows ( vaccae ferreae ) were cows that were rooted on a property (legally bound to the property, area-specific legal agreement) so that they would be present in the same number and quality when the property or property is transferred or the lease is terminated or had to be replaced (accordingly also: Iron Sheep ). The term was used throughout the German-speaking area from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century and was probably the result of customary law .
Other terms for Iron Cows are Eternal Cows or Evercows . For example, if one was donated to a pilgrimage church for the sake of salvation, the farmer with whom it was employed and who benefited from the milk and the calves of the corresponding cow had to pay taxes to the pilgrimage church, in the case of the pilgrimage to Mariabrunn near Heidenheim (Middle Franconia ) a pound of wax annually.
literature
- Iron cows. In: Reinhard Heydenreuter , Wolfgang Pledl, Konrad Ackermann : From burn-off to Zentgraf. Dictionary of regional history and local research in Bavaria. 2nd Edition. Volk Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-937200-65-1 , p. 62.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martin Winter: From the Kreuthof near Heidenheim . In: Alt-Gunzenhausen 57 (2002), pp. 71-81, especially pp. 78f.