Economic Co-operation between Feudal Lords and Feudal Peasants in the Late Middle Ages: Swiss and Southern German Case Studies

Abstract This article uses case studies from eastern Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria to analyse economic relationships between feudal lords and peasants in the late Middle Ages. The focus is on agriculture. In principle, this was an asymmetrical relationship, as the feudal tenants were bound to their lords of the manor by feudal law and were therefore dependent upon them for their property and, in some cases, also personally. The aim of this article is to show that, despite the dependence of peasants on their lords, a certain consensus between them was common in everyday economic life. In the late Middle Ages, the region under study was dominated by the manorial system ( Rentengrundherrschaft) . The holders of fiefs had great power of disposal over the estates granted to them by the lords of the manor. Peasants acted entrepreneurially and promoted select agricultural sectors together with their lords. Co-operation between feudal lords and peasants was also common when it came to investing in the maintenance and expansion of the fiefs. The relationship required a certain degree of trust. The presence of landlords with institutions that served as an internal market for economic exchange with their fiefholders was important. In addition, lords of the manor sometimes coordinated the exchange between individual farmers.