The Evolution Of German Rural Organization During The High And The Late Medieval Germany

Rural organization comprising the village community and manor was the basic local management unit in the medieval Germany. Since the king Henry IV, the authority of German kings had been gradually declined. The noble territories were extremely fragmented. This condition resulted in the lack of local officials who were assigned by the kings. What’s more, the local nobles had no intention to participate in the rural management. So the rural organization played an important role in the rural management during that period.The village community and the manor was established in Germany during the high middle age. On the one hand, due to the invasion of Vikings from the north Europe, Slavs from the northeast Europe and Magyars from the southeast Europe, and nobles’annexation of rural area by military force and the influence of the Church, manors developed rapidly in Germany. On the other hand, in order to levy rents and taxes, manage the fragmented territories; and the necessity of cooperation among the villagers, village communities gradually constructed under the frame of the manors. The construction of rural organization was out of sync. The western part, especially the region along the Rhine, village communities and manors were established in the high middle age. However, in the east of Germany, the rural organization of German was never created as late as twelfth or even thirteenth century.At the beginning of rural organizations, they were different and was changed by economic condition of Europe and different individual management measures. Between the 11th century and the 13th century, the German commerce was recovered and cities were more and more prosperous. Village communities participated in reclamation.14th and 15th Centuries, Western Europe entered into the period of economic contraction, Black death and wars brought about population decline and land abandonment, which led to economic stagnation and even regression. Due to the deficiency of labors, peasant status improved during this period. Facing to the unfavorable situation, the German lords began to expand their jurisdiction. Different lords adopted different measures, and led to discrepancy between the eastern and western part of Germany.As for the internal of village communities, peasants from upper layer accumulated wealth by cultivating land which had fixed rents, joining the exchange in local market and working on the handicraft industry. They gradually acted as the leaders of village communities,. What’s more, they tenure the best farmland in their villages, maintain mills and inns in the manor. They used the remaining products in the market exchange. Internally, they had higher authority than other members; externally, they acted as representatives of their village to negotiate with their lords. At the same time, the members of the poor increased. The gap between the rich and poor had deepened the rift inside the village, which is one of the causes of the Peasants’ War in 1525.Eventually, in the process of nation-building outside villages and the differentiation inside villages, the original role and authority of the rural organization was gradually weakened.