The Pictures of German Life Throughout History. Gustav Freytag
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The diversity of German coinage, and the unscrupulousness of the rulers, favoured an endless kipperei: to buy up good coin at an advantage, to clip gold of full weight, and to bring light money into circulation, became the most profitable occupation. As now, multifarious stockjobbing, so then, illegal traffic in coined metal, was to a great extent the plague of commercial towns. It was not to be exterminated. If sometimes the scandal became too great, then indeed the governments tried a blundering interference: but their courts were hoodwinked. Thus, in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, the clipping of ducats was carried on to such an extent, that a special commission was sent from Vienna to the free Imperial city; Jews had been the colporteurs of Christian commercial houses, among which many great firms, whose names are still in existence, were the great culprits. The only result was that the Imperial commissaries pocketed the larger portion of the illicit gains.
Such wealth, acquired rapidly, and contrary to law, had, as now, all the characteristics of an unstable acquisition: it seldom lasted to the third generation. It turned the culprits into spendthrifts and pleasure-seekers; their arrogance and deficiency of culture, and their ostentation, became especially offensive to their own fellow-citizens. It was more particularly such individuals who bought patents of nobility; and it was assuredly no accident that, of the numerous noble families of this kind, many in proportion have become extinct.
One of the newly ennobled of such a circle kept his real name in the firm, but among his fellow-citizens he adhered jealously to the privileges of his new order. He liked to have his coat of arms carved in stone and richly gilt on the outside of his large house, but the stone did not guarantee long duration to its possessor. It was striking, for example, to observe in Breslau, how quickly the houses on the great crescent, which then belonged almost exclusively to the new patent nobles, changed their possessors. In the interior of the house ostentatious luxury was displayed, which in this period of misery was doubly grating to the people. The rooms were decorated with costly carpets, with Venetian mirrors of immense size, with silk hangings and tapestry, which on festive occasions were fixed on the walls or on a special framework, and afterwards removed. The women sewed diamond buckles on their shoes, and it was a subject of complaint that they would wear no lace that was not brought from Venice or Paris, and did not cost at least twenty thalers the ell; nay, it was reported of them that their night utensils were of silver. Great was the number of their lackeys; their carriages were richly gilt, the coachmen drove from a high box four horses, which were then harnessed abreast; but when the splendid equipage rattled through the streets, the people called out deridingly, "That the pot always tasted of the first soup." The rich man could well keep fine horses, as he at the same time traded in them; and the workmen in the business, the porter, carpenter, and apprentice, were put into the costume of lackeys, but the page who went behind the lady was generally a child from the poor school. In such houses there was also the most luxurious living. The invited guest was received with a formality that was then characteristic of the highly educated; the host met him on the staircase, and to one of the highest distinction went even to the house door; verbose were the compliments on receiving precedence or the higher place at table, and yet the greatest value was attached to not humbling themselves too much. As soon as they were seated at table, the buffet was opened, in which was a mass of costly plate. The dishes were large and the viands in keeping, but out of all proportion to the number of guests; the most expensive things were procured, with a refinement that still astonishes us; great pies, filled with various game, black game, pike liver, and Italian salad. The pheasants and partridges were caponed and fed, a brace cost as much as a ducat; it was thought horrible that these spendthrifts gave a gulden for a fresh herring, and from eight to ten thalers for a hundred oysters. To these were added the costly wines of the seventeenth century, Tokay, Canary, Marzenin, Frontignac, Muscat, and finally wine of Lebanon; at dessert there was no longer marchpane, but candied citron, the fashionable delicacy. The ladies sat adorned and silent. It was complained that their principal anxiety in the choice of a husband was, that their intended should be of rank, that they might follow near to the corpse at funerals, and have a high place at weddings. On such occasions they went little short of boxing each other's ears for precedence. So far was the eagerness for rank carried, that he considered himself materially better whose new patent of nobility dated ten years earlier than that of another; and these city nobles considered fresh creations in nowise their equals. Whoever had been lately ennobled was only called "Wohledel" (just ennobled), but he who had for some time been in possession of his patent, was called, "Hoch-and-edelgeborne Gestrengigkeit" (high and noble-born worship). Every effort was made to obtain a title in addition to their city dignity.
The military dignities also of the city were often occupied by the greenhorns of such families; a poor wight who had never been on a battle-field, with a staff thickly set with silver, with armed jäger behind him, might be seen passing daily from city gate to city gate, in order to parade before the people, and to receive the salute of the guard.
Only one thing was required of him, he must know how to handle his sword, for duels were part of the existence of the nobleman. It was desirable for him to have been at least once called out by cartel. He then rode with his second to the nearest village; behind a hedge he pulled off his riding-boots, put on light fencing shoes, fastened his long curly hair under his cap,[49] took off his upper garments, and had to choose one of the rapiers which were presented to him. They fought in rounds, by cut and thrust, and a well-settled duel never failed to be followed by a reconciliatory drinking bout. They liked to boast of such heroic deeds.
Such were the "Pfeffersäcke," who were called also by the country nobles, "Heringsnasen" (flatnoses). This country nobility was of quite another stamp.
They were more numerous two centuries ago than at present. Besides the family seat, they possessed village-houses, and small farms. Sometimes a family had increased so much, that in the neighbourhood of an old estate, many villages were occupied by relatives; and still more frequently did branches of different families dwell indiscriminately in a village, in every grade of authority. Even in our century there have been middle-sized villages, enclosing ten, twelve, and more gentlemen's seats. In such districts, each little despot exercised dominion over a few miserable villagers, and had a seigneurial right to a portion of the village district; but the poorest had no real property, and sometimes only rented their dwellings. Thus it was in almost all the provinces of Germany, more especially east of the Elbe, in the colonised Sclavonian countries; also in Franconia, Thuringia, and Swabia. Many of the Junkers only differed from the other country people in their pretensions, and their contempt for field labour. Even before the war, most of them had been impoverished, and when peace came at last, they were in still worse plight. War and pestilence had made havoc among them, and the survivors had not become better. The more powerful had tried their luck as soldiers and partisans, differing little sometimes from highway robbers. During the war they had laid out their booty in the purchase of some small estate, on which they dwelt, restless and discontented. These fortunate individuals received frequent visits from old comrades, and then ventured to make raids from their property on their own account, which seldom ended without bloodshed. After the war they ceased plundering; but the lawlessness, the craving for excitement, the restless roving, and the inclination for wild revelry and quarrels remained in the next generation. They united themselves into a large company, which, in spite of endless brawls, continued to hold together, like entangled water-plants on a marsh. This family connection became a ceaseless plague to the better disposed, and a misfortune for the whole class; and more than any other evil retarded, during the following century, the culture, civilisation, and prosperity of the landed nobility.
The sons of these poor landowners learnt to ride, dance, and fence, and perhaps the first rudiments of Latin from a poor candidate; then, if the father had connections, they served as pages at some small court, or to a distinguished nobleman. There they learnt, to a certain extent, good manners; and, more certainly, the weaknesses and vices of the higher orders. If they remained some years in noble service they were, according to old usage, declared capable of bearing arms, and released as Junkers with a gracious box on the ear. Then they returned to the parental estate, or the parents sold what they could spare to procure them an outfit befitting a gentleman, and sent them as aspirants for subaltern places in the Imperial army. Few of them prospered in the inglorious wars of that period; most returned home, after some campaigns, corrupted and poor both in honour and booty, to share with