36 THE GREEN RISING 



by the end of the fifteenth century the German 

 peasant was experiencing hardships similar to those 

 endured by the farming classes in other European 

 countries. 



There was great difference in the status of the 

 German peasant at the time of the Protestant Re- 

 formation under Luther. Some of the German peas- 

 ants were completely free; some were slaves. But 

 between these extremes there was a great mass of 

 the rural population who were bound by every 

 gradation of servitude. The tendency of the tunes 

 was to restrict more and more the freedom and 

 privileges of the peasant class. "The blame for 

 this state of affairs," says Ernest F. Henderson, "is 

 to be thrown chiefly upon two great causes: the in- 

 crease in luxury of the upper classes, consequent, in 

 part at least on the improved facility for intercourse 

 with other nations; and, secondly, the introduction 

 of the old Roman system of legal procedure into 

 the law courts of Germany." 19 



The burden of providing funds to meet the land- 

 lords' increasing demands fell upon the peasants. 

 "The most hated impositions/' says Henderson, 

 "were the Frohndienste, or menial services, and the 

 Todjall, or inheritance tax, that took from each 

 property so often as it changed hands the best head 

 of cattle or the best piece of raiment. Among the 

 services required were some of the most trivial and 

 galling character to frighten off the wild beasts 



18 A Short History of Germany, Chap. X, p. 246. 



