(Still in Hesse.)
Tension between the forest owners and the local peasants and townsmen was a constant phenomenon because local needs always exceeded the Lords' willingness to grant access and use. The preservation of existing woods and wild game to ensure viable stocks of prey for the hunts also created much wrangling. The game animals often emerged from the woods into nearby fields (where the food was much better) but killing the game was forbidden under poaching laws. Farmers had to hire watchmen to guard the fields day and night, and still much was lost to the animals.
The periodic hunts were grand spectacles of butchery. It was common for 500 head of deer to be dispatched and sent around to local communities. Here the game was required to be sold to the locals. To add to the unpopularity of hunts, they also required compulsory service by the local farmers. A major hunt in the Landeck District required that 440 horses be provided by the district population for the use of the hunting party. Adjacent districts had to provide another 80 horses.
Periodic efforts were made by the Landgraves to reduce the nobles' use of compulsory service in support of the hunts because it took time that the peasants needed, instead, to be working in their fields and providing mandatory service in more important tasks. Some improvement was made in this situation by 1763 regulations.
Over the years the Landgraves began to fear for the health of their forests because oak trees were in an obvious decline. By the 1730's, new building could only be undertaken with the express approval of the State Exchequer. Lower stories of houses were to be built of stone or other materials to spare the oaks. Spaces between the beams were ordered to be increased. A fine of 100 guilders was levied for selling wood outside Hesse. In 1740, a man in Widdershausen had to pay a five Taler fine for sending a cord of wood to his widowed mother near Eisenach when she was in dire need. In 1790, joiners were directed to stop using so many horizontal spars that used the scarce oak.
A combination school house and prayer room built in 1721 in the Westerwald area (between Koblenz and Siegen) illustrates the competing demands of forest preservation and community buildings. [Think of the Trupbach Chapel School.] Decorative gothic elements were added to its facade by about 1730; shortly thereafter this type of building with wooden decorations was banned in the interest of saving wood. These chapel schools were typical of the kind of structures that appeared in the center of many small villages. They served as multipurpose meeting houses for secular and religious needs.
(03 Feb 03)
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.