Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/324

 312 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE generally to the eldest. In case of no male issue the eldest daughter inherited. In case of there being no children the land reverted to the lord of the soil. Taxes were charged on the ' colonial ' land (land culti- vated by ' coloni'), whilst the seignorial and ecclesiastical proprietors were exempt with respect to their own land (i.e. land under their immediate management), which is an unanswerable proof that the ' colonial ' estates were not looked upon as the exclusive property of the lord of the soil. They were ' tied property ' for land- lord and tenant alike. From a politico-economic point of view this species of tenure-right over tenants personally free was evi- dence of a care for the peasant on a hereditary basis. Through it he was assured a habitation and a living, the surest foundation of self-respecting independence. The hereditary leasing worked well agriculturally, for the tenant with a perpetual lease was as much inte- rested in the improvement of the land as the lord of the soil. The hereditary tenant, even in those pro- vinces, Pomerania for instance, where at a later date the peasantry became so miserable, did not fear to improve the property, for the buildings and all their furniture, the seed and the cattle, were his. Even the forests were at his disposal for the necessities of husbandry. The contemporary writer Kantzow says : ' The peasants of Pomerania pay a modest toll and render, besides, certain personal services. They are well-to-do, and when they no longer wish to belong to the manor they can, with the permission of the landlord, sell their holding and pay him a tenth of the price. Then they are free to go, and take their children where they will.'