Saxon tribal nobility
The Saxon tribal nobility is understood to be the families that held leading positions in Saxony until the conquest by Charlemagne in 804. After the peace treaty they received positions as counts in the Franconian feudal constitution . This group of people is also referred to in the literature as " noble free " or " schöffenbarfrei ".
Among the Germanic tribes, the nobility initially referred to the hereditary farmers on his family estate, which differed from the other free people in that he was superior to them in terms of power, property and claim to warlike and political leadership. Through personal bravery, other free people came into the allegiance of noble lords. During the migration of peoples, the army kings arose from the followers, which conferred conquered land and military-political leadership positions to its followers. The large estates acquired in the conquest became the economic basis of the political position of the nobility .
In Frankish times, the aristocrats rising up in the service of the king merged with the remains of the Germanic, d. H. also of the Saxon tribal nobility, the imperial nobility, which occupied all leading positions in the army, administration and church. The empire aristocracy of the Carolingian era was able to develop its power in the 9th and 10th centuries and was the main component of the later high nobility, from which the prince class emerged in Germany.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Brockhaus encyclopedia . 21st edition. tape 1 . Leipzig u. a. 2006, ISBN 978-3-7653-4101-4 , pp. 183-188 .