32 Germany. 



tie between the grantor and grantee, the lord and the 

 vassal ; the lord with the obligation to defend the vassal 

 and the vassal to be a faithful follower of his lord. Sim- 

 ilar relationship arose from the surrender by landown- 

 ers of their estates to the church or other powerful 

 barons, to be received back again as fiefs and to be held 

 by them as tenants in exchange for rent or service. In 

 this way a complete organization of society developed in 

 which, from the king down to the lowest landowner, all 

 were bound together by obligation of service and defence, 

 both the defence and service being regulated by the na- 

 ture and extent of the fief. Finally all kinds of property, 

 of whatever nature, as well as official positions which 

 would give an income, were subject to be treated as fiefs. 

 The obligations of the recipient were of various nature 

 but finally service in army or court became the main one, 

 giving rise to the class of knights {Bitter) or barons, 

 while the fiefs to the small farmer gave rise to the class 

 of peasants (Bauern, this name appearing first in 1106 

 imder Conrad II). 



The fiefs of the higher class, while at first given only 

 to the individual, became early hereditary, and heredi- 

 tary succession to estates and offices generally became the 

 rule. Primogeniture in the succession to the estates did 

 not as in England prevail in Germany; either tenancy 

 in common or equal division among the sons was 

 practised. As a result the very many principalities 

 came into existence in the 14th and 15th centuries, 

 these growing smaller and smaller by subdivision. 

 The first to institute the primogeniture rule by law was 

 the house of Brandenburg (in the 15th century) . 



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