Hello listers,
I'm trying to understand what happened to farmers in the Oldenburg
area in 1811 after the French abolished the feudal system. I have a
book (in German) that explains it, but some of the words don't really
translate well into English. I've gathered that farmers were allowed
to purchase their freedom to an extent, but what happened to the land
they farmed? Were they able to purchase that as well? What happened
when the French were expelled a few years later? I'd appreciate any
help. My ancestors farmed in Angelbeck (near Loningen) for centuries,
but after 1811 I find them in nearby Ropke.
Thanks,
Andrew Laker
Andrew,
there is a lot of history written about the changes to the
Eigenhörigkeits system which occurred since medieval times. It was
obviously not a beloved system by those living under its yoke but it
kept society functioning for a long time. Napolen offered a new life
but it did not last long. While he did away with an old system, he did
this as an occupier and the powers to be tried their best to bring
things back to normal a couple of years later. But the cat had been
let out of the bag and changes were to come. It just took a little
longer. There were people like Nieberding who were in the
administrative system who knew that justice was not being served and
the farmers were more or less in servitude without much choice in
life. These folks worked from below and by the revolutionary period of
1848 change was accepted but the details still had to be worked out.
The biggest changes were not for the Heuerleute who were now free but
to the existing farmers who became bigger then ever by being able to
get pieces of commonly held land for themselves. But at least land
could be bought, sold and inherited wthout the honerous duties to the
landlord. For the Heuerleute the answer to get their own land was
still to immigrate as they really had little chance of buying land of
any size in their villages.
I dodn't think a Heuermann had an automatic right to buy the land he
farmed fo his livelyhood but didn't own. That was up to a deal between
him and the owners.
The whole mess is really difficult to generalize as things changed
from owner and village to village. I doubt that Napoleon had much to
do with your ancestors moving about. A Heuermann could strike deals
whereever he could and often marriages brought new opportunities to
move elsewhere.
Fred