(I return to "A Social History of Hesse", by Dan C. Heinemeier.)
(Continuing with Rural Life in Hesse-Kassel:  Inheritance Practices.)

When the peasants obtained the right to pass land on to their heirs, two basic plans evolved.  In the procedure of the last note, the property generally went to only one heir, with the other heirs receiving cash or goods from the estate.  The second plan was to divide the property among the heirs.  Even the house might be divided between some of them.  The net result of this form of distribution was the fracturing of the physical assets into smaller and smaller pieces, often below the sizes necessary to support families.

(In the Nassau-Siegen region, the furnaces and hammers could not be subdivided.  The alternative was to divide the output.  A man might have the right to seven days of output, say per year.  At this rate, one lost the skills necessary to work the assets.)  Everywhere, this tendency was observed by the rulers, who preferred economically viable units in strong hands.  Some rulers forbid the division of property into units below a certain size.

The Landgraves, or Landlords, or Lords (take your pick), were usually landowners themselves.  They, in essence, put the land into the long term custody of the peasants, and exacted taxes in return.  From the peasants, they earned a major part of their income.  Prosperous farmers were solid taxpayers; economically weak farmers made little contribution to the state's coffers.  The state sought to keep the land together in plots large enough to sustain a family and ensure a surplus.  Laws were enacted to prevent too much division and too much debt.  The Kassel authorities held that a farm should be more than 18 acres to provide an adequate living to its owner.

The net effect was to inflict hardship on the disinherited.  Parents were unable to provide for some of their children.  Many complaints were raised against this policy.  Children cut out of an inheritance were not willing workers on the farm.  A class of impoverished people was created who became dependent on the state.  Officials passed the word along to the top that the policy was creating a burden on local governments as the relief rolls grew.  Finally, the government relented and allowed limited division.

Pressure for multiple heir inheritances grew in the eighteenth century.  After The Thirty Years' War ended in 1648 there were surplus production facilities.  The population grew, and by 1730 the old levels had been reached.  The wars and epidemic diseases which had held the population in check were minimal in the eighteenth century.  Village after village reported doubling populations, which doubled again.  The means for production were strained beyond the limit of what they could produce for the population.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the farms were so small that many of the farmers had to have another job to make ends meet.  They became part-time weavers, potters, nail makers, turners, etc.