As the knights in the Northern Kraichgau emerged from the long series of disasters in the Seventeenth Century, they struggled to maintain their independent existence. They saw enemies on two fronts, the surrounding powers and their own subjects.
The motivations for the knights were both political and financial. They needed new revenues to rebuild their own residences and the infrastructure of the villages. Having lost the power to direct the communities during the war years, they sought to reestablish their authority. The new residences and village structures were expensive, especially because of the huge demographic losses suffered during the war years had eroded the tax base. Those that survived faced double or even quadrupled burdens.
The knights of the Kraichgau attempted to raise the necessary funds by increasing the feudal dues, and by vigorously enforcing payment of the traditional dues. The hope of the knights was that new structures for the church and the community and new residences for themselves would put them clearly at the top.
The clash between the nobles and the villagers in the Kraichgau reached its most intense levels in the late 1710's and early 1720's. It is no wonder that this period was the start of intense emigration to North America. Thus, many of the emigrants were experienced in political struggles, especially with their local rulers.
In Ittlingen, a village north of Eppingen and northwest of Schwaigern, the history shows a clear pattern of conflict between the villagers and the rulers of the villagers. In 1699, the rulers attempted to increase duties in violation of an agreement dating back to 1579 but the inhabitants succeeded in blocking this by complaining to the Reichsritterschaftsdirecktion (an imperial court in Heilbronn). This was the first of many appeals that the inhabitants would make to state authorities for protection against the local nobility. In the late 1710's the impoverished, heavily indebted von Kochendorf family began to increase feudal dues to pay for a new residence. They also began enclosing the common fields for their own private use. They banned meetings of the village assembly and began selling off village interests to outsiders. A salt monopoly was sold to a Jewish merchant, and the 200-year old common bakery to a private individual. They began inflicting excessive punishments for slight infractions of local ordinances. A strong warning sign developed when the Herrschaft (rulers) took over the cellar of the town hall, which was village property, and converted it into a jail.
(16 Jun 06)
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.