Parish Shepherd

Swineherd in the Middle Ages

The congregation shepherd or village shepherd or city shepherd was until well into the 19th century, a shepherd to treasure the private cattle of the citizens and farmers during the grazing season, which was hired by the municipalities and supply. He was responsible for horses, cattle, pigs and sheep. Pig herders, also called sow herders in the region, existed after the advent of stable feeding until the interwar period .

Reward

He received his agreed wages at the end of the grazing season, usually on the Sunday before Martini (November 11th) from the community. The cattle farmers each contributed proportionately to the size of their property, only occasionally according to the number of cattle to be looked after, to the shepherd's wages. Occasionally he also lived on the income from a piece of land, the Hirtenackers , which was partly made available in addition to or instead of money wages, partly owned by himself.

Social position

The community shepherd was often on the fringes of rural society. In addition to his frequent poverty and insecure employment, tasks such as "killing and skinning decrepit or sick animals that brought them near the skinner, as well as their frequent absence from worship" contributed to this. However, this was not always the case, the social position could also reflect the high level of responsibility for the animals entrusted to them and the skills as a “veterinarian” and could be expressed in comparatively good pay.

literature

Norbert Göttler: Agriculture then and now . In: Wilhelm Liebhart (Ed.): Altomünster: Monastery, market and community . Altomünster 1999, pp. 17-28, ISBN 3-00-005192-9 .

Web links

Peter CA Schels: Shepherd . In: Small encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages .
Pull into the wood and guard in the forest . ( Memento from August 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the Association for the Conservation of the Harz Red Cattle.
Poor people needed permission to marry. On the location of the servants and shepherds in the Schmidmühlen market . In: Amberger Nachrichten , April 21, 2001

Individual evidence

↑ Town Shepherd. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 17 : Speaker - standing clock - (X, 2nd section, part 1). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1919 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
^ Parish Shepherd . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 7 . Altenburg 1859, p. 129 ( zeno.org ).
↑ Shepherd's Field . In: Palatinate dictionary . Founded by Ernst Christmann. Stuttgart 1965-1998.
↑ ^a ^b Peter CA Schels: Shepherd . In: Small encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages .
↑ cf. Archive Dombühl - The Dombühl sheep law and its lawyers. (PDF) In: Official and bulletin of the market town of Dombühl , number 16/17, August 3, 2016.

[1] Town Shepherd. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 17 : Speaker - standing clock - (X, 2nd section, part 1). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1919 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).

[pierer1857-2] Parish Shepherd . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 7 . Altenburg 1859, p. 129 ( zeno.org ).

[3] Shepherd's Field . In: Palatinate dictionary . Founded by Ernst Christmann. Stuttgart 1965-1998.

[EnzMA-4] Peter CA Schels: Shepherd . In: Small encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages .

[5] . Archive Dombühl - The Dombühl sheep law and its lawyers. (PDF) In: Official and bulletin of the market town of Dombühl , number 16/17, August 3, 2016.