The tiny principalities in the Kraichgau survived by playing off the larger powers against each other. Before the Thirty Years' War they tended to align themselves with Lutheran Württemberg against the Palatinate, which alternated between Catholicism and Reformed. As power grew in Württemberg, the knights of the Kraichgau sought support from Catholic Vienna and Holy Roman Emperor against the Protestant princes.
Before the Thirty Years' War, the Kraichgau parishes were overpopulated, but during the war many villages of the Kraichgau were nearly depopulated while the knights struggled to hang on to their fiefdoms. The greatest loss was in the population. As an extreme example, Massenbachhausen lost its entire population and was resettled by outsiders. After the Thirty Years' War, the various French wars continued the destruction. (In 1674, the French took Sinsheim and fifteen years later burned it to the ground.)
As the knights emerged from the disasters, they faced two challenges. One arose from the larger neighboring powers and the other arose from their own subjects. The knights needed new revenues to rebuild their own destroyed residences and they sought to direct the rebuilding of the village structures. During the war they had lost their authority and they needed to reestablish their power. With the large damages caused by the wars and the eroded population base, the tax burden on the remaining subjects was very heavy.
The reaction of the knights was to add new feudal dues and to enforce vigorously old collections. The subjects reacted against what they perceived as the injustice. The conflict between the knights and their subjects reached a peak in the late 1710's and early 1720's. This was the period when the Second Germanna Colony began its emigration from the Kraichgau. Though this may not have the prime cause of their emigration, it is clear that many of Second Colony people did come from villages where the knights were trying to increase their presence, status, and wealth.
As an example of the conflict and the methods used by the subjects, consider the case of the village of Weiler. The local ruler, Georg Friedrich von Venningen, moved to the village in 1717 and undertook to build a residence for himself. He added new work requirements to the burdens of the villagers, who felt that this was in violation of the agreement of 1572 with the Palatine Electorate. The villagers appealed to help from the Electorate against the local ruler. Such appeals were a threat to von Venningen as they might be the excuse for the Palatine Electorate to intervene and remove von Venningen. The villagers perhaps did not want the Palatine Electorate to have a presence but they were trying to induce von Venningen to be more rational in his approach to his subjects.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.