| Chapter 1: | A Brief Account of Formative Historical Events That Shaped Social and Agrarian Relations Until the Mid-Eighteenth Century in Livonia |
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The Latvian and Estonian populations and tribes remained, however, hostile and resistant to the German crusaders. These uneasy conditions and relations formed the basis for an ethnically determined feudal society in Livonia. That is, linguistic and cultural identity and affiliation became major determinants of class structure and status in the Ständegesellschaft from a very early stage in the Livonian crusader state. In this regard, the conquest and Germanization of Livonia, in comparison to Prussia, was incomplete and, in the long term, “untenable” due to this failure to “Germanize” the indigenous populations. The contrasting nature of the subsequent colonization processes of the Prussian and Livonian crusades does, however, allow a certain degree of retrospective comparison. The success of the Livonian crusade was, in this regard, limited, especially when considered in the context of the hard-won, but overwhelming, success of the Teutonic Order in both the colonization of and complete subjugation and assimilation—cultural and linguistic—over time of the ancient Prussians in Prussia.
The development of an agrarian constitution in Livonia in the second half of the fourteenth century and into the fifteenth century was influenced adversely by the depopulation of entire parts of Livonia, which had been caused by raids, war, and subsequent plague throughout the first half of the fourteenth century.61 The economic implications of these events led to an important development in fourteenth-century agrarian relations. Depopulation resulted in an oversupply and devaluation of land. Large areas of land had been depopulated, and, as a result, large tracts of agricultural land lay either ravaged or fallow and thus inactive and unproductive. As a result, land and property rights defaulted back to the Baltic German manorial lords (Heimfallsrecht).62 The resulting loss in value of depopulated areas of land forced the Baltic German manorial lords to adopt new measures to attract new settlers and settle landless and displaced peasants, most commonly by enticing peasants with offers of loans of livestock or seed. The prevailing conditions of uncertainty and instability over this period of time were accompanied by deteriorating economic conditions that resulted in many peasants falling into debt. The significance and consequences of this development have been identified by Christoph Schmidt, most notably that the serfs were included in the price and contract of the transferal of rights and property ownership.63