Transcriber's Note:
1. Page scan source:http://www.archive.org/details/picturesgermanl04freygoog
Introduction.--The nation and the individual--Aim of thebook--Peculiarities in the development of the German people sincethe Thirty Years' War
Life of the German Peasant (1240-1790).--The duration of modernnations--German agriculture in the time of the Romans, theCarlovingians, and the Hohenstauffen--Description of the peasants byNeidhart von Reuenthal--Narrative of young Helmbrecht, by Wernherthe Gardener--The fifteenth century--The Peasant War--Eberlin vonGünzburg--Condition of the peasants after the war; their service andburdens; their different condition according to districts, anddeterioration by oppression--First signs of improvement--Description ofthe German peasant by Christian Garve--Insurrection of the peasantry in1790, and their present position
The Life of the Lower Nobility (1500-1800).--The country noblesin the sixteenth century--The court nobles--The detrimental effectsof the Great War--Description of a wealthy nobleman from1650-1700--Patents of nobility--Description of the life of thenewly-ennobled merchants from 1650-1700--The country nobles andKrippenreiters from 1660-1700--Description of the same from "TheNobleman," by Paul Winckler--Better condition after 1700--Privileges ofthe nobles--Introduction of a new culture--Gellert--Union of the nobleswith the citizens
The German Citizen and his Shooting Festivals (1300-1800).-Gradualdevelopment of the citizen class--Decline after the Thirty Years'War--The prize shooting as an example of their former wealth andimportance--May feasts of the old citizens--Prize shooting before1400--Preparations for the festival--The Pritschmeister andprocession--Prizes and fortune's urn--Hospitality, and conclusion ofthe festival--Zurich and Strasbourg--Differences of the festivalsaccording to districts--Their decline--Description of the Breslau"Königschiessens" of 1738, by Kundmann
The State Policy and the Individual (1600-1700).--The