Landscape (Prussia)

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As landscapes (actually "Scenic credit institutions") is known since the 18th century in the Prussian provinces (except for the Rhine Province founded) knightly mortgage lenders .

backgrounds

These were real estate credit institutions for aristocratic property. The economic background was the high indebtedness of the goods. Last but not least, the effects of the wars of the 18th century under Frederick the Great also played a role. It was possible to take out mortgages , but high interest rates had to be paid for them. It was hoped on the part of the state through a merger at the corporate level that loan requests could be made easier and cheaper. At least in the beginning, these were not voluntary institutions, but compulsory cooperatives. An exception was the landscape of the province of Brandenburg , a voluntary association.

Organization and functioning

The landscapes were organized as a Pfandbrief system. The landscape issued mortgage bonds with unlimited validity for their property to a member seeking credit. The amount was based on the value of the property.

This was then sold to investors, often wealthy merchants, and increasingly to private banks. The sale could take place both from the side of the landscape and from the side of the landowner. The buyer could resell and trade in the shares. It was not the landowner who was liable to the lender, but the landscape for the investment capital and the corresponding interest. On the other hand, the landscape had the right, if necessary, to take the property into compulsory administration or even to sell it to the borrowing landowner .

In detail, there were different statutes in the various landscapes from the beginning, which differed further in the 19th century. Ultimately, therefore, the landscapes only largely agreed in their basic principles.

The landscapes were under the supervision of the state, but were independent and self-administered. Within a province, the landscapes were divided into knighthood colleges. There were five of them in Kur- and Neumark: Altmark , Prignitz , Mittelmark , Uckermark and Neumark . These were subordinate to the main board of directors in Berlin. Elsewhere at the head was the General Landscape Directorate. Juridically educated Syndici were assigned to the aristocratic general landscape directors . Their top executives were elected by the members of the Landscapes and confirmed by the state. There were also various bodies. In East Prussia and other regions, for example, the general assembly of members was called the General Assembly. In some cases, these bodies also served as a replacement for the state parliaments that were no longer convened, at least until the provincial parliaments were created .

Consequences and meaning

The founding of the landscapes had different consequences. After the financial crisis resulting from the Seven Years' War , they restored the creditworthiness of the landowners. On the other hand, the ease of obtaining credit led them to further increase their debt of goods. For 1799 it was estimated that the mostly mortgage debt of the goods in the Kurmark was half their value. As a result, there were forced and voluntary sales and an overall mobilization of property.

In addition to government bonds, Pfandbriefe temporarily became the most important form of investment for private capital.

The farmers were excluded from the landscape system because the state wanted to prevent the farms from becoming heavily indebted. It was criticized early on that the large landowners in Prussia benefited from this system because they could get loans more easily than the rural landowners. With the help of the landscape loans, the landowners were able to acquire new property, which in turn could be borrowed in order to then purchase additional land with the capital. The manor owners used their own creditworthiness and the difficulties of the peasants to get cheap peasant properties. In some districts in East Prussia , for example, the farmers were almost completely ousted before agricultural pension banks were established after 1849.

Based on the model of the Prussian landscapes, townships emerged as public credit institutions for the towns. The oldest was the Württemberg credit association from 1825 in which urban homeowners and rural landowners were united.

Eight Prussian landscapes merged in 1873 to form the Central Landscape for the Prussian States , which issued joint “ central landscape ” Pfandbriefe.

Individual landscapes

landscape founding annotation
Silesian landscape 1770
Kur- und Neumärkisches Ritterschaftliches credit institute 1777 The institute was not called a landscape because it was not a forced association.
Pomeranian landscape 1781 Until 1945; in addition, from 1871 to 1934 the New Pomeranian Landscape existed for small land holdings
West Prussian landscape 1787 New West Prussian landscape from 1861
East Prussian landscape 1788
New credit association for the province of Poznan 1857 Poznan Landscape from 1887
Landscape of the Province of Saxony 1864
Agricultural credit institute for Upper and Lower Lusatia 1865
New Brandenburg credit institute 1869
Landscape for the province of Westphalia 1877 In the 1980s it was converted into WL Bank AG Westfälische Landschaft Bodenkreditbank, merged into DZ Hyp AG in 2018
Landscape credit association for the province of Schleswig-Holstein 1882 Schleswig-Holstein landscape from 1895
Märkische landscape 1934 Merger of the Kur- und Neumärkischer Ritterschaftlichen credit institute with the New Brandenburg credit institute

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ compare to Brandenburg: Rene Schiller: From the manor to the large estate. Economic and social transformation processes of the rural elites in Brandenburg in the 19th century. Berlin, 2003 p. 86f.
  2. ↑ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 12. Leipzig 1908, pp. 122–123. ( Online ).
  3. ^ Leopold-Michael Marzi: The Law of Pfandbriefe and Mortgage Banks in the Past and Present , Dissertation, Vienna 2000, p. 13
  4. ↑ Christoph Barth: The agricultural credit in the 19th century in Prussia and in the Rhineland, 2003, page 26 online

literature

  • The credit and agricultural policy of the Prussian landscapes . In: Max Weber: Max Weber Complete Edition . Volume I / 4.1: The question of agricultural workers, the nation state and national economic policy. Writings and speeches 1892-1899. Tübingen, 1993 ISBN 978-3-16-145733-3 p. 327ff
  • Eckhard Wandel: Banks and Insurance in the 19th and 20th Centuries . Göttingen, 1998 ISBN 3-486-53691-5 p. 6
  • Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German history of society. Vol. 1: From the feudalism of the Old Empire to the defensive modernization of the reform era 1700-1815 . Munich, 1989 ISBN 3-406-32261-1 p. 85
  • Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German history of society. Vol. 2: From the reform era to the industrial and political German double revolution 1815-1845 / 49. Munich, 1989 ISBN 3-406-32490-8 p. 39f.