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 (Ritter) or barons, 
while the fiefs to the small farmer gave rise to the class 
of peasants (Bauern, this name appearing first in 1106 
under Conrad IT). 
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). 
