Wax interest

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Wachszinsige or wax Tributary were hearing the court people who in return for protection as tax annually only one interest in the form of wax or wax candles had to deliver the so-called wax interest . The wax was also used for writing boards in the early Middle Ages and the bee product was highly traded. Wax interest was the mildest type of bondage.

In the Middle Ages , there were initially hardly any public security authorities or a generally competent police force, so the scattered farms had to seek protection and assistance themselves. To this end, they could voluntarily join a fortified city , an upper court or a monastery community , giving up their property and their freedom , and were thus mostly under ecclesiastical protection as people with wax interest or monks. With the bondage, the courtiers also escaped the obligation to serve the territorial lords , which included military service . Giving up freedom seemed to many to be a better alternative to possible death in a feud or battle .

The wax-interest or censual had a better position than the other courtiers. Their payment obligations were lower and their social status higher, as the whole institute was based on a different origin than court membership.

literature

  • Norbert Becker: Social conditions in the country. In: Johannes Stinner, Karl-Heinz Tekath (ed.): Gelre - Geldern - Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern (= VHVG 100). Publishing house of the historical association for Geldern and the surrounding area, Geldern 2001, ISBN 3-921760-31-3 , ISBN 3-9805419-4-0 .