\[ **BT: [[countries of the world]]** ] --- # Germany ## Germany’s constituent states ### Hessen - includes: - [[Darmstadt]] - [[Bickenbach]] - [[Eberstadt (Hesse)|Eberstadt]] --- ## history of Germany ### early medieval Germany > [[‘Early medieval German society had a bilateral kinship system that traced descent through both the male and the female lines and emphasized the equality of all members of the sibling group.’]][^1] ### high medieval Germany [[In the wake of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, no one dynasty was able to establish a claim to absolute power. The provisons of the Golden Bull (1356) accorded a ‘defined group of electors’ the right to elect the new German King.]][^2] [[During the high medieval period, German society was divided into different states (‘each with defined rights and privileges’). At the top sat the king… while at the bottom were peasants, who were often considered to be ‘part of the landed estate’.]][^3] [[In high medieval Germany, ‘increasing emphasis was placed on descent in the male line; women were forced to renounce their claims … and accept dowries at the time of marriage’; nevertheless, the the ideal of ‘equality among brothers’ remained.]][^4] ### late medieval Germany [[Late medieval ‘Southwest German nobles practiced a highly restrictive marriage policy … Barely half of the sons and daughters born in the fifteenth century who survived to adulthood ever married.’]][^5] [[‘In the fifteenth century the majority of unmarried sons, as well as virtually all of the unmarried daughters, entered the church. Ecclesiastical careers were most common among the lower-ranking families …’]][^6] [[In the 14th and 15th centuries, northern German society was characterised by great landlords tightening their hold on previously free tenants - turning them into serfs.]][^7] [[During the 14th and 15th centuries in southern German society, the practice of division by patrimony amongst heirs left farms impractically small and led to people leaving for the city.]][^8] ### early modern Germany [[By the 1500s, the practice of primogeniture had become common among the aristocracy in England, France, Castile, and Italy. German nobles, however, were ‘conspicuous among Western European landed elites in their reluctance to adopt primogeniture’.]][^9] [[Until the mid-1500s, German fathers leaving estates to only one son ‘exercised their traditional right to choose the “best-qualified” … The eldest son was the most common choice, but between 1400 and 1550 he was chosen in only 10 out of I9 cases.’]][^10] --- ## ↬ external resources - [Landesarchiv (Hessen)](https://landesarchiv.hessen.de/) - Catholic historical records: [Matricula](https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/) [^1]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), pp. 700–701, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280). [^2]: ‘The High and Late Middle Ages’, Deutschland Museum, n.d., accessed 7 April 2026, https://www.deutschlandmuseum.de/en/history/the-high-and-late-middle-ages/. [^3]: ‘The High and Late Middle Ages’, Deutschland Museum, n.d., accessed 7 April 2026, https://www.deutschlandmuseum.de/en/history/the-high-and-late-middle-ages/. [^4]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), pp. 700–701, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280). [^5]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), p. 707, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280). [^6]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), p. 707, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280). [^7]: ‘German Society, Economy, and Culture in the 14th and 15th Centuries’, *Britannica* (online, accessed 12 June 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/German-society-economy-and-culture-in-the-14th-and-15th-centuries. [^8]: ‘German Society, Economy, and Culture in the 14th and 15th Centuries’, *Britannica* (online, accessed 12 June 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/German-society-economy-and-culture-in-the-14th-and-15th-centuries. [^9]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), p. 709, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280). [^10]: Judith Hurwich, ‘[[Hurwich, ‘Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany’, 1993|Inheritance Practices in Early Modern Germany]]’, *The Journal of Interdisciplinary History*, vol. 23, no. 4 (1993), p. 715, [https://doi.org/10.2307/206280](https://doi.org/10.2307/206280).io