Minor Nobility in the 16th Century

[AvM]

Most of us are vaguely familiar with what monarchs do with their time, and merchants and workers lives are fairly easy to figure out.

But I really haven't the faintest idea what a minor noble would do with his time.

I'm particularly interested in German lesser nobles. I've heard that the lower levels of German (HRE) nobility were more numerous and therefore poorer than their French and English counterparts.

What would posess him to outfit himself in a company of Reiters and go to War?

What would his home life be like?
Servant(s)?
Would he own land?

When he wasn't on campaign, what would he fill his time with?
What would he have done for fun? I suspect that because this is Germany, hunting was a favorite, but is there anything else?

I'm not *particularly* interested in portraying a court hanger-on unless it's particularly relevant, but if it is, lemme know.

Thanks!

[DavidEvans]

I think the term you might be looking for is Gentry, particulary in a British context.

The day to day live of most Nobility, be they Peers or Gentry revolves around their land. Depending on their status they may either directly manage their land, possibly with the aid of a steward, or through agents or stewards. This would depend if they are seeking Court favour or involved in Royal Government, either locally or nationaly. Land ownership, possesion, improving, tenants, judging local law cases depending if the person in question has low court rights, favourable marriages, assigning land to new tenants, water rights, mining rights, charters for fairs and markets. Rents, fines, fees, feudal rights. All important parts of a gentleman's estates. These are the source of his wealth and power and would be carefully guarded and governed. This would take up a large part of their time....dull but potentally amusing.

Second, third or lesser sons are more likely to be sent off to seek their fortune as it's normal to pass an estate on in a single parcel.



Edited cos I is a mong......

[Donal Mac Ruiseart]

Tghis would take up a large part of their time....dull but potentally amusing.

Was ist?

[Giano]

If you can get your hands on them (I don't know how difficult that is where you live), you may want to look at the writings of Franz von Sickingen and the autobiography of Götz von Berlichingen. Neither of the men was average, but their situation was.

Generally spweaking, the inheritance pattern in most of Germany dictated that nobles would own land, though often enough only indirectly (in terms of claims on fees and taxation, not to work or sell). I'm not 100% sure about the boundaries, but in parts of North Germamny, they had strict primogeniture which means the oldest son got everything and nobody else inherited any land. This applied - with increasing strictness - to titled holdings as well, so the younger son of a sovereign knight's fee holder might be worse off - getting none of the land - than the younger son of a mere 'von'. School was a while ago, I'd have to look up the details.

The crux of the matter was, though, that too many nobles owned too little land. Especially in Southwest Germany, the inheritance was simply not enough to live on. A further problem in the 16th century is the long-term inflation that especially traditional holdings with fixed money rents can not keep up with. Some nobles tried to squeeze more out of their peasants (see: German Peasants' Revolt of 1525 for details), some tried to modernise (turfing out peassants in favour of rationalised cash crop production, selling lands or raising loans to meliorate - this is the time when land starts becoming 'just another asset'), and some gave up. The options for German lesser nobles who couldn't or didn't want to live off their lands were threefold: a traditional career in the church (usually beginning with a monastic education, a university degree and an early ordination with a view to serving a powerful master), taking military service with someone, or the new option of a secular academic education followed by a career at law, in the administrative service of a sovereign noble, or at court.

Military service was far from uncommon, it was considered a perfectly normal thing to do for impoverished nobles. Germans had been a fixture in Italian armies for generations, and they served abroad elsewhere, as well as, naturally, in the hundreds of military forces in the Empire itself. Many nobles considered serving a merchant for pay less demeaning than being one (the Welser expedition to Venezuela included German noblemen in the military contingent). By the 1520s, it had become socially acceptable for them to serve on foot (as Landsknecht officers) as well as on horseback.

Home life could vary greatly, depending on where the family lived and how much money it had. Typically, Central German nobility owned castles, which in most cases meant old and often multiply subdivided buildings in impractical locations. Oswald von Wolkenstein (100 years earlier) recally the typical atmosphere of a castle was mostly the smell of animal excrement, because the horses, cattle and dogs were cooped up in its narrow confines. Most noble families would have had servants as part of the household, but in most cases these would be busy doing chores and running the economic aspects of the holding, not acting as bodyservants. Cavalrymen had to have servants to look after the horses and armour, and most senior administrators or clerics had assistants. Anyone who keeps a 'proper' household needs household servants, of course. Many poor nobles couldn't, but it was an expense they would willingly go through whenever possible.

Of course you also have noble families living in cities and all kinds of oddities. But your stereotypical minor German noble lives in a draughty castle full of sheep and cattle and surrounded by run-down villages, and sends his sons off to go to war or rob merchants (the two activities being separated by a blurry line).