Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/327

 AGRICULTURAL LIFE 315 nature was exactly agreed upon. For instance, in Austria, only twelve days' service during the year was required. A very peculiar tax was the ' death tax,' by which on the death of a tenant the heir was obliged to pay ' the best head or chattel,' which meant the best head of cattle or piece of clothing. This tax corre- sponded to the ' succession tax,' which was exacted in towns from ' non-burghers,' although not nearly so high as the latter, which in some cases reached 25 per cent. 1 In the Austrian dukedoms, where the ' best tax ' was abolished as an intolerable imposition, there was a death tax of 5 per cent, on all unencumbered inheritance, from which, however, pious bequests, instruments of husbandry, and clothing, and such things, were excepted. In Tyrol the lord of the soil received a ' succession tax ' of only 1 per cent. As an acknowledgment of suzerainty the law in many places prescribed a service clause. In the dis- trict of Langenberg, for instance, the inhabitants of eight villages were in the habit of coming in pairs un- invited during the three days of Whitsuntide, and dancing under the linden trees in the presence of the landlord, who entertained them with cake and beer. Those who remained away or refused to dance were punished. While performing their feudal services the peasants were supported by the landlord. We find the knights of the Teutonic order at Tischingen gave their service tenants red wine, beef, and barley bread while they rendered their service. In the documents of the arch- bishopric of Strasburg we read : ' Be it known that all manor tenants shall pay each year three days' bodily 1 As in Constance, 1512. Mone, xvii. p. 132.