Nobility, Peasantry and Estates in southwestern Germany, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century By Daniel Menning An Attack Not long after the German Revolution on November 6, 8689, two hand gre- Oppenweiler Palace, built in the nades were thrown into the garden salon of Schloss Wachendorf in Würt- 1234s for Baron Franz Georg temberg. 8 Apparently due to the wet weather conditions, they did not ex- Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler The structure stands on an island and was plode. But they certainly showed the dissatisfaction of some inhabitants of built on the remains of a medieval moated the village with the status quo and the behaviour of Baron Hans-Otto von castle. The palace was sold to the municipal- Ow. There had, of course, been a build-up to the incident. A few days ear- ity in 89:9. (Photo: Daniel Menning) lier, the parish and the revolutionary peasants’ council had asked the baron to relinquish his right to the personal use of the Chörle , the manorial family pew or chapel, reserved for the patron and directly accessible from the pal- ace. After four years of hardship during the First World War, they believed they were entitled to equality within the church, but Baron von Ow had refused the request. He proclaimed that his privileged seat was justified by his position as patron of the church. Unknown inhabitants then reacted by simply demolishing the wall between the church’s nave and the Chörle , to which von Ow responded by filing a criminal complaint. When he was asked to withdraw his complaint, he at first refused, but the unwanted pre- sents flying into his salon made him reconsider. Shortly after the incident, he renounced his right to the Chörle , but also never visited another service in ‘his’ church again. The conflict, thus, seemed resolved, and when von Ow died around two and a half years later, according to his descendants, large numbers of the area’s population attended his funeral. T Historically, this conflict was only one in a long series of intermittent clashes between the noble owners of estates and the village populations ! ." | Map of Wachendorf Palace in southwestern Germany which had occurred since at least the late Mid- and its surroundings around +,-.. The dle Ages. While much research has been devoted to these conflicts in the estate has been in the possession of the von early-modern period, especially the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ow family since the Middle Ages. Legend as hardly any has been conducted into the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. follows: + old palace; B new palace; - bakery; There are distinct reasons for this neglect. During the eighteenth century D oxen stable, IV tower; I old sheep stable; J new sheep stable; K cow stable; , fountain; the lower nobility was quite weak and, for a historiography focused on L entrance to the church; +. pig stable; ++, state formation, it appeared to be a curious, but unimportant aberration. +I and +L herb and vege table gardens; +B In addition, the lower nobility were relatively poor and, therefore, left few palace garden; +- church; +D rectory; +J sac- architectural statements of importance in the landscape of southwestern ristan’s house; +, and B. village dwellings. Germany. Württemberg and Baden, the two states that actively sought to (Hauptstaats archiv Stuttgart E +IK/+, Bü. subdue the lower nobility of the region at the beginning of the nineteenth -L,) century, are considered to be very bourgeois with regard to the leading circles of government and society. S As German historiography was mostly interested in the role of the nobility within new elites and their influence upon the catastrophic political development of Germany up to TUVW, look- !" !"#$#%&, )*+,+ %-& + . *,%+%*, ing at a region whose nobility was not part of the political elite was deemed largely unnecessary. D However, the fact that clashes like the one in Wachendorf kept occur- ring should cause historians to pause and reconsider. Just because the lower nobility in Baden and Württemberg were no longer important at a state level, or for Germany as a whole at the beginning of the twentieth century, it does not mean that they were negligible. Evidently, the inhabitants of Wachendorf were still very much aware of the remaining influence of the nobility and their estates at a local level. Estates and the rights attached to them shaped the lives of thousands of people in villages throughout the southwest at least until after the Second World War – and in some cases continue to do so today. It is in this local arena that we need to search for the remaining influence of the lower nobility in southwest Germany. Looking at their estates, their inheritance patterns, and their agricultural economy opens up new avenues into the social history of the region and new ways of understanding the remaining influence of the nobility itself, which was evidenced by the hand grenades thrown in Wachendorf, as well as its limits. To do this, the chapter will proceed in four steps. It will first intro- duce the lower nobility in southwestern Germany, roughly coinciding with the modern federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The second part will look at the nobility’s relationship to their estates and inheritance patterns in particular. This will be followed by a consideration of the feudal relation- ship between the nobility and the peasants, and its dissolution from the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Finally, the size of estates, their management and their impact on the relationship with the peasants will be considered. The Nobility in Southwestern Germany In contrast to other parts of the continent, but in common with central Eu- rope, a centralized power did not develop in southwestern Germany before the early YZ[[s. The kings from the Staufer dynasty may have come clos- est to developing a unified territory during the Middle Ages. After their extinction in the thirteenth century, however, several powers faced each other in the region – especially Württemberg and the Habsburgs – each thereby effectively blocking the expansion of the other. This had a last- ing influence on the landscape, to which Fig. `.a testifies. The region was !"#$#%&, )*+,+ %-& + . *,%+%*, !" zu BADEN DALBERG V. GEM- PFALZ- KFSM. J.O. Philippsburg V. V. RS. VEN- MINGEN- FÜRSTEN UND HZM. Pirmasens ZWEIBRÜCKEN Landau G.-H. HOH. Germersheim G.-H. NIN- HORN- WIM- D.O. Öhringen D.O. v.d. BERG GRAFEN HOH. LEYEN FSBM. GEN G.-H. HELM- PFEN Neckarsulm BAYERN STADT D.O. MARKGRAFSCHAFT GFS. PFALZ- SPEYER BAYERN MM REICHSSTADT PFALZ- Eppingen RS. Weinsberg Crailsheim HANAU- zu zu Bruchsal MENT- HOHEN- LEININGEN FSBM. ZINGEN NEIP- HEIL- J.O. HALL SPEYER GÖLER v. G.-H. GEM- LOHE J.O. LICHTEN- PERG BRONN WEILER ANSBACH D.O. Bergzabern RAVENS- MINGEN zum FSBM. BERG BURG D.O. WÜRZBURG FSBM. GRACHT Lauffen D.O. HOFER Weingarten SPEYER H.-D. LÖWENSTEIN- BERLICH- RS. INGEN DINKELS - Weißenburg Bretten BÜHL Karlsruhe WERTHEIM FÜRSTPROPSTEI Besigheim Durlach Maulbronn Murrhardt GFS. ST. ADEL- ANDRÉ Bietigheim LIMPURG MANN Ellwangen Ettlingen Marbach Backnang Untergröningen ELLWANGEN GFS. Vaihingen OET KÖNIGREICH MARK- Pforzheim Ludwigsburg TIN- Winnenden FUGGER GEN GRAFSCHAFT TESSIN Wasser- FRANKREICH zu Welzheim BADEN AUGS- alfingen Rastatt RS. D.O. BURG Waiblingen RS. GMÜND AALEN Hagenau GEMMINGEN RS. Gaggenau Leonberg Cannstatt Schorndorf Oberkochen GMÜND WÖLL- Gernsbach RS. WARTH A. Baden Stuttgart RS. Bischweiler WEIL DER ESSLINGEN NERES- Wildbad STADT zu HEIM Lichtenau ESSLINGEN Plochingen Calw J.O. Sindelfingen Göppingen HERRSCHAFT HERZOGTUM Bühl FBM. RECHBERG Heidenheim Böblingen SPEYER GFT. HERZOGTUM Kirchheim Achern WÜRTTEMBERG RS. HANAU- Nürtingen Straßburg GIENGEN LICHTEN- GÜLTLINGEN Geislingen Herrenberg BERG FSBM. WÜRTTEMBERG REICHSSTADT Kehl J.O. BAYERN Nagold Niederstotzingen Metzingen ULM Oberkirch ULM Tübingen ECK HORN- STAUFFEN- RS. STEIN BERG SAINT REUT- A. Langenau RS. ELCHIN- STRASS- KECHLER ANDRÉ LINGEN Urach N.-U. OFFEN- Freudenstadt TESSIN GEN BURG SALEM BURG ÖSTERREICH RASS- Pfulingen D.O. A. REICHS- LER Rottenburg ELCHINGEN Günzburg J.O. STADT Blaubeuren CASTELL Ulm Erstein DUN- FRANCKEN- Horb GENGEN- OW A. GERN zu MÜNCH J.O. Müsingen REICHS- A. WÄCHTER SÖFLIN- STEIN BACH SPON- MURI GEN TAL D.O. zu ECK LIEBEN- RAT- HARMERS- Hechingen STEIN NASSAU- BACH Alpirsbach A. SAMS- USINGEN REICHS- FÜRSTEN- MARCH- D.O. HAUSEN FSM. FSM. SA- GFS. STADT BERG TAL LEM FREYBERG Weißen- Lahr HOHEN- FÜRSTENBERG FÜRSTEN- SPETH horn GEROLDS- ZELL HOHENZOLLERN FUGGER FBSM. Wolfach BERG CASTELL ABTEI ECK zu SPETH ÖSTERREICH ROGGEN- ROTTWEIL STAUFFEN- Ehingen ULM Mahlberg v.d.Leyen Haslach BERG MARIA- FREY- D.O. BURG BÖCK- Balingen BERG S BERG STAUFFEN- LIN ABTEI BERG BI. BAYERN WELDEN STRASSBURG SPETH ZWIEFALTEN MARCH- FUGGER STOTZ- Ebingen RS. STAUFFEN- TAL OH. Kenzingen Hornberg INGEN ABTEI Laup- Illertissen BERG GFS. BI. heim HORN- IFFLINGER STADION SALEM STEIN HERR- AUGS- Elzach SPETH BI. MANN BURG MGFT. zu SCHWAR- FUG- ROTTWEIL ABTEI MARCH- ABTEI ZEN- GER Endingen St. FREI- Riedlingen T.u.T. OSTER- BERG BUCHAU HEGG- A. BADEN Georgen FSM. T.u.T. BACH BERG FÜRSTENBERG RS. GUTEN- Emmendingen Triberg ÖSTERREICH ZELL A. ROTTEN- BERG ABTEI TAL BIBERACH BUX- J.O. MÜNSTER SALEM T.u.T. HEIM Waldkirch ENZ- Sigmaringen BEMMEL- Spaichingen BERG ABTEI BERG ABTEI A. RS. v.ULM Furtwangen BEURON FSM. BUCHAU OCHSEN- Breisach Villingen Schwenningen ENZ- HOHEN- Mengen FSM. ZOLLERN BUCHAU HAUSEN A. BERG FÜRSTENBERG FÜRSTEN Saulgau ABTEI D.O. ROT ENZ- THURN UND SCHUSSENRIED J.O. J.O. FBM. ABTEI KONSTANZ BERG Meßkirch TAXIS Freiburg RS. OTTO- J.O. MEM- BEU- Tuttlingen Aulendorf REN zu MIN- ST. D.O. GFS. GALLEN Donaueschingen PETERS- GFS. KÖNIGSEGG GEN u HAUSEN RS. KÖNIGSEGG Dona REISCH- GRAFSCHAFT HS. Neustadt ACH PFULLEN- BOUL RAVENS- Bad KRON- J.O. ÖSTERREICH DORF WALDBURG BERG FSM. D.O. BURG Waldsee SALEM D.O. ABTEI A. Stockach RS. WG FÜRSTENBERG WELSCH- P.H. WEINGARTEN D.O.