The Ittlingen citizens, being very unhappy with their preacher, sent a delegation of six men to the preacher’s home where they demanded he revise his style of preaching or else they would go to church elsewhere and not support him financially. The preacher’s response did nothing to gain the favor with this group. He replied that he had a theological degree from the University of Heidelberg and that it was not necessary for him to defend his style of preaching to them. At this point, the von Gemmingens and the von Kochendorfs once again backed down. They informed the preacher that he would receive no funds from them for construction of a new parsonage and church. This gesture allowed tempers to cool. The preacher toned down his sermons and managed to keep his post for more than twenty years.
Thus the Old World background of the Kraichgauers in America was not one where democracy flourished, but the villagers were by no means apolitical. They reacted vigorously to any perceived threat to the community. In this border region between the larger powers of southwest Germany, the villagers turned to the imperial state to resist the encroachments of the abusive local aristocrats. That is, instead of appealing to the rulers of Wuerttemberg, Baden, or the Palatine Electorate, they turned to the court in Vienna. They were not about to invite the ruler of Wuerttemberg, say, to intervene, for that might result in the local ruler being replaced by the court of Wuerttemberg, which would probably be even worse for them.
There had been agreements between the villagers and the knights going back to the 1500's. These agreements set the fees and duties for the villagers, and they did not forget them. The attempts to increase the fees and the duties by the knights were resisted strenuously.
One result of these conflicts between the villagers and the knights in the Kraichgau during the Eighteenth Century was the development of stronger, more cohesive, peasant villages and towns. Infused with immigrants from adjacent areas, especially Switzerland, and with the need to fight against the encroachments of the local aristocracy, the communities grew stronger. It could not be said that democracy developed, far from it. The villagers did grow more political and learned that their actions could be a force for bettering their life. Many of the leaders in this movement became the leaders of the Germans in America.
Most of the inhabitants of the 47 villages and 6 towns in the Northern Kraichgau practiced subsistence agriculture, or a craft, or, perhaps, a mixture of the two. Villages such as Ittlingen produced virtually no agricultural surplus. In this general region, it was not possible to dispose of any quantity of goods simply because no one could afford to buy very much, if any.
(19 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.