Pomerania During The Early Modern Age - Free Farmers Become Serfs of The Nobility

Free Farmers Become Serfs of The Nobility

Throughout the High and Late Middle Ages, the rural population of Pomerania was dominated by free farmers working on their own, small, hereditary farms. Although the situation had worsened already before the war, the Thirty Years' War devastation marked a changing point, that was manifested by legal changes and the devastations of the wars yet to come.

Most free farmers who survived the war were stripped of their livestock and had repeatedly lost their crops. Thus, they had to raise their income from service at the estates of the nobles. In Swedish Pomerania, the legal environment was changed by new regulations (Bauernordnung) in 1647 and 1670. Farmers were now forced by their economic situation as well as the law to serve at the noble estates. The amount of service that had to be done varied, reaching a peak at 75% of a farmer's workforce. Farmers were tied by law to their home village and thus were not free to leave. This kind of serfdom is described by the German term Leibeigenschaft. At the same time, the noble landowners enjoyed the benefits of financial aid programs, and expanded their estates.

A small farmer, however, could free himself from the service by a monetary payment, if his economical standing allowed him to do so. This minority had a considerably better social standing and were personally free.