Manorial Farm

Excerpts from the publication on Manorial Estates by Wiliam Remus Ph.D. 02

In Pomerania, manorial estates were created by the Dukes of Pommern in the 13th century. Some estates remained the property of the Dukes (royal villages), some were granted to the nobility (largely German and Slavic Knights) that supported the Duke (noble villages), and some were granted to the church. Manorial Farms consisted of a manor house (gut) usually owned by a noble family, many large barns, and residences for the workers.
The picture is a gut in Gross Konarszyn in Kreis Schlochau, West Prussia.

Note that this is not a terribly impressive building. This is because the noble lord of the manor often owned many estates so the gut resident was often the manager of the farm, not the noble.

The small farmer had a one or two room house, outbuildings, and land for a small garden. He might also have land for cash crops such as rye, barley, or oats in the old days (and potatoes after 1750). The small farmer also had access to common land for pasture. The small farmer would pay his rent in grain and in unpaid work on the manorial farm (often 3 days a week). In medieval times, this person would be referred to as a serf. To be successful, the small farmer needed a capable wife to share the tasks and produce little workers (children). The eldest male of resulting offspring typically inherited all the property rights. The marriages were not based on good looks and romantic love but would be best thought of as a business partnership. The financial deal included gaining inheritance rights, a woman's dowry, gifts from both families, the right for the man's parents to retire and live in an outbuilding on the land, and payments to disenfranchised siblings.

A manorial farm typically had upwards of 20 farm workers doing tasks like cooking, cleaning, and working in the dairy. These farm workers were usually hired on an annual contract after they reached the age of their confirmation and were often children of the small farmers attached to the estate.

The village centered on a common area which all could use. The manor house and its many barns were at the head of the village. The large tract of land behind the house and barn was owned by the noble family and the yield of these fields was the main source of income for the estate. These estates largely produced grains for market.

Each worker's house has a small garden behind it and then outside the village are small plots of land for the workers to grow the food for their families. Given that the Prussian plow used during this period were very heavy and hard to turn around, the land outside the village was subdivided into long strips, each associated with a small farmer.

World Change

In 1807 the world of the manorial village changed. Napoleon defeated the vaunted Prussian Army and a reform minded Prussian government took over. The new government began the process of disbanding the manorial farms and dividing up the property between the manor and the farmers with hereditary rights. The time this disbanding took varied widely and could take decades. The rules were such that many farm sizes were uneconomical and the small farmers did not have enough food to eat; they migrated. Many villagers had no opportunity to buy land and migrated. Some workers remained on a contractual basis. Some workers went to the developing industrial towns looking for a job. Other workers went to Volhynia and other parts of the Prussian, Russian, and Austrian lands in Eastern Europe. And some came to the Americas and Australia.

Following the Second World War, many of the manorial farms were converted into state owned farms. The manor house was often destroyed but the barns and workers housing retained; workers were hired by the state to work on the state farm. Following the fall of Communism (in East germany and Poland), the workers left the state farm when better options arose. For those manor houses and estates that survived communism, their glory was sometimes reinstated. Wealthy Poles and Germans bought the old estate houses and restored them. Here is a picture of the restored estate house at Podel in old Pomerania:

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