The landed elite of Hesse-Cassel in the nineteenth century

At the end of the eighteenth century the small landed elite of Hesse-Cassel consisted almost entirely of nobles. Peasants owned approximately 90 per cent of the non-forest land, but most of these holdings were small, scattered and often burdened with manorial dues and services to the state or local landlords. This pattern of landownership was typical of the system of Grundherrschaft (landlordship) prevalent in western and southern Germany, in contrast to eastern Germany with its system of Gutsherrschaft (estate lordship), which was characterized by large noble estates and a peasantry heavily burdened with services to landlords and owning little land of its own.