Identification with the farming community is still very high in Tyrol. Although today less than 2% of the population live from agriculture, farmers manage to have above-average representation in society thanks to their lively associations, skilful self-presentation and political structures. This was not always the case. For centuries, the vast majority of people worked in agriculture, but farmers had hardly any political clout. Landlords not only owned the land, but also had power over the people. Builders itself. The rent was regularly collected in kind. The local lesser nobility administered the farming communities within their territory and in turn paid their dues to the sovereign or the bishop.

There were three types of relationship between peasants and landlords. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Leibgeding common. Peasants worked on the manorial estates as serfs. This serfdom could go so far that marriage, property, mobility and other matters of personal life could not be freely decided. This form was already a thing of the past in the vast majority of Tyrol in the early modern period.

The second form, the Free pencilThe tenancy was a lease of a farm for a certain period of time, usually one year. It was usually extended, as both landlords and farmers benefited from a constant business relationship, similar to employers and employees today. However, the subjects did not have a legal right to remain on their estate, nor were there any documents that contractually regulated the legal transaction. Oral contracts were subject to customary law and tradition. The landlord could move his builders back and forth within his estates or hire them out completely. pinThey were thrown out. If the farm was passed on from a farmer to his son within the family with the landlord's consent, an honour was due, a payment of up to 10% of the value of the farm.

The third and most modern form was the Inheritance loan. Even with this form of lease, the land remained the property of the landlord, a Staking was no longer so easily possible. Heirs paid less interest than Pen people. In autumn, either on St Gall's Day (16 October) or on St Martin's Day (11 November), the farmers had to pay their rent in hereditary loans, which shifted more and more from payments in kind to the sounding of coins. Farmers were able to expand their farms through acquisitions or skilful marriage policies. Farms were inherited within the family. Old farmers who sold their property with the warm handThe heirs, who were handed over during their lifetime, retained the right to live at the court and were paid an agreed Ausgedinge supplied.

Peasant inheritance law varied from region to region. In the North Tyrolean Oberland and in South Tyrol, the Real division in other words, the farm was divided up among all the heirs. This automatically led to a fragmentation of the estates and lower profitability. In the Innsbruck region and the lowlands, on the other hand, the Division of inheritance common practice. With few exceptions, the eldest child inherited the entire farm in order to maintain the structure. The siblings of the sole heir usually had no choice but to leave. They had to earn a living as servants, craftsmen, farmhands and maidservants. When Söllhäuslerpeople with a small house and perhaps a garden but no land to speak of, they belonged to the Pofelwhich was made up of innkeepers, travelling folk, prostitutes, servants, maidservants and beggars. In the event of illness or destitution, they had claims against the heir and could be accommodated on the farm for a certain period of time. Depending on the value of the farm, the heir's siblings were also entitled to interest, although this was usually little or nothing. Even back then, farmers were skilful at minimising the book value of their estates.

The 15th century changed the rules of the game. The lesser nobility had always been a thorn in the side of the sovereign princes as an intermediate level with jurisdiction. In order to minimise the influence of the petty nobility, Frederick IV laid down the legal recognition of the Inheritance loan fixed. With the exception of the territories of the prince-bishops of Trento and Brixen in Tyrol, this form of granting agricultural estates subsequently prevailed over the Free pencil through. Legal disputes between peasants and landlords had to be negotiated before the sovereign. With this daring political act, Frederick bought the immediate affection and loyalty of his subjects in order to gain direct access to military manpower and tax payments. The peasants had the advantage of no longer being at the mercy of their landlords.

With the Inheritance loan farmers became entrepreneurs of sorts, participating in early capitalism as market players. Although they were still subject to the whims of nature and the political climate, such as wars or customs regulations, they now had the opportunity to rise from the subsistence level of previous centuries. After paying the tithe and providing for the household, they sold their goods on the market. Motivated and hard-working farmers were able to build up a certain level of prosperity. As a result of the social and economic changes that took place in Innsbruck from the 15th century when it became a royal seat and in the towns of Hall and Schwaz as a result of mining, the farmers in the neighbouring villages also benefited from the upturn. The people who worked as civil servants at court or in the New Industry The people who were employed in mining formed a middle class with greater purchasing power. The demand for meat increased. This in turn led to a change in agriculture. Farmers discovered livestock farming as a more lucrative source of income than arable farming.

Inflation following the discovery of the New World and the financial upheavals of the 16th century also reduced the amount of rent that farmers had to pay as a monetary value. Smaller farmers, who received their farms as freeholds and had to pay their dues in kind, suffered from the devaluation of money, while large farms benefited from it.

These developments led to new social relationships on the farms themselves and to greater differences within the peasantry. Peasants presided over their servants in all matters, similar to the Pater Familias of the extended family in ancient Rome. Life on the estates had little to do with the wholesome family life that is often propagated today as a traditional Tyrolean lifestyle. Rather, they were clan-like extended family groups that were under the strict regime of the farmer in everyday life: He determined the working day, food, lodging, meagre leisure time and personal relationships. Clear hierarchies developed in the villages. Hereditary farmers had higher status than Pen farmers. Large farmers had more prestige than small farmers. They often presided over their villages. Particularly successful and loyal farmers were awarded their own family coat of arms by the prince and were honoured as Peasant nobility. Diese Strukturen hielten sich am Land bis weit ins 19. Jahrhundert, in abgelegeneren Regionen des Landes bis ins 20. Jahrhundert. Die schönen Bauernhäuser in Hötting, Wilten, Pradl und Amras, auf deren Fassaden stolz die Familienwappen und der Hinweis auf den Status als Hereditary farm are testimony to the rise of the peasantry in the early modern period.