1. At what period did the feudal system flourish most highly in central Europe?
2. What were the rights of the feudal lord or baron?
3. Did not a privilege known as maiden rights exist under feudal rule?
4. I have heard that until 1889 or 1890 there was in Germany a law which permitted a man to whip his wife. Is this true? If so, were there any limitations to his authority?
5. What are some of the marriage customs of Poland, Germany and Austria?
6. I understand that public whipping was one of the punishments by law formerly in use in the countries of central Europe. In what manner was this done? Were women ever whipped?
7. About what is the population of Czecho-Slovakia?
If this letter should be published in Adventure, please do not publish my name.
Answer by Mr. Fleischer:—It is only once in a blue moon that I get a letter like yours, in which the questions are put clearly and concisely. Although your order is a large one, I will try to give you all the information you want.
1. The opinions of the historians differ on this subject. At the time the feudal system was in flower, the territory which I cover was, with the exception of Poland, all part of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." For this reason I must cite German sources, and from these, as the best, the works of Prof. Mommsen.
Feudal princes were those who owned the land in the near vicinity of their castles and resident towns and who had leased this land to the peasants. These people were called Leibeigene which means that they were owned soul and body by their lord. They were really slaves. Not only the princes and knights, but also the clerus, the priests, were feudal barons.
There is no set period during which the system was in effect. It started in the thirteenth century, in some parts of Germany even sooner, and did not end until after the Reformation and in Prussia during the reign of Frederick the Great.
In Austria, Joseph the second, son of Maria Theresa, put an end to the system. That's official and history. Truth, however, is the fact that it still existed in Austria until 1866 and in south Germany as late as 1895 in some form or other. We even have a form of this system her in our United States—the famous "padrone system" of the Italian immigrant laborer.
2. The rights of the feudal lords were many, and those of the poor people none. As stated above, the master owned the body of his servants, and they had to follow him through his many wars of aggression. They were not armed with a sword, but carried a halberd.
The feudal lord not only owned the land on which the peasants lived, but also the cottages built thereon, the cattle and the farming-implements. He owned a certain part of the crops, a tribute known as Robot and in later centuries—the sixteenth and seventeenth—as the Zehnt, the "tenth," because he was then entitled to a tenth of all income. This tribute varied in different parts of the country and was paid in kind, including grain, hay, animals, eggs, butter, vegetables, etc.
First of all there was a law, called "maiden right," which permitted a maiden of good character to ask the judges that a criminal sentenced to death be given her in marriage, which act, after having been solemnized by the church, set aside the verdict and freed the culprit.
I find that in 1579 in Saxony during the reign on August a member named Martin Hugert escaped death because a maiden asked that he be united with her in marriage. A similar case happened in 1606 during the reign of John George I and still later in 1725 in a county of Suabia. The histories of the old German cities are full of such stories, and as my library contain numerous volumes I am quite certain that I could cite several hundred. I have picked the above at random.
4. Your informant was quite correct. The husband had what was term,ed the "right of light punishment," but I fail to find an instance where he was ever convicted if he stretched the meaning of "light." In fact it was not until 1892 that this right was taken away from the husband in Bavaria.
5. The marriage customs vary in all countries. You must bear in mind that central Europe is a large territory with people ethnographically as distant from one another as the poles. I can not with this letter give you all the information you want, but will touch lightly on some of them.
In Germany the young man I am speaking of the peasants, and am having a certain part of Germany in mind will appear at the Winter spinning-night gatherings and pick out his intended. There will be a short courtship, and with the old people making the arrangements the wedding date will be set. In the Catholic parts of Germany the wedding will be preceded by three announcements from the pulpit which are given at varying periods. In other parts of the country the new furniture of the couple will be loaded on a wagon and with beribboned horses gaily decorated wheels will be making the rounds of the the whole neighbourhood.
In Poland other customs prevail. I would suggest that you look these matters up in the Encyclopedia Britannica if there is one available in your neighbourhood.
6. There were different manners in which public whipping was carried out. In some cases the "nine-tailed" cat was used, in others whips made from birch strips or twigs. In many towns the public executioner did the whipping; in others the populace formed two ranks, and the culprit had to run through, everybody taking a whack at him.
Women, although I know of cases that have been cited, were punished in a different manner from whipping. It is a curious fact that the women of the middle ages incurred the disfavor of the authorities by either lax morals or pointed, too pointed, tongues. The punishment meted out was severe, but I find no record of whipping.
7. The population of Czecho-Slovakia is about fourteen millions, sixty per cent of which are Slavic races, thirty-seven per cent German and the remainder Magyars and in small part Ruthenians and Poles.
Now that I have told you as much as I could in a letter, I am going to request a favor of you. If you write again, and I hope you will, please adhere to "Ask Adventure" rules. In a letter such as yours, where many questions are asked and a long reply is anticipated, there is no room for a small envelope, and a stamped one at that. We want a self-addressed envelope to get your correct address, but the stamps should not be attached, so that we might use them on containers large enough to get you your order. I am returning your envelope so that you can make use of it. I couldn't.
