The ''lokator'' (lat. ''locator'':

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

, land allocator, from Latin to allocate, rent, establish, settle or locate; also ''magister incolarum''; in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

and

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

also or , similar to the ''Reutemeister'' in South Germany) was a medieval sub-contractor, who was responsible to a territorial lord or landlord for the clearing, survey and apportionment of land that was to be settled. In addition, he hired

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

s for this purpose, provided their means of subsistence during the transitional period (e.g. during the clearing of the land) and made materiel and implements available, such as

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

draught animal A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...

s, iron ploughs, etc. He thus played a key role during the establishment of new towns and villages, as well as the clearing of uncultivated land during the phase of internal colonisation (''Binnenkolonisation'') in North German and the German '' Ostsiedlung'' and participated in its success.

Literature

* Matthias Hardt: Linien und Säume, Zonen und Räume an der Ostgrenze des Reiches im frühen und hohen Mittelalter, in: Walter Pohl / Helmut Reimitz (ed.): Grenze und Differenz im frühen Mittelalter, Vienna, 2000, pp. 39-57. * Matthias Hardt: Formen und Wege der hochmittelalterlichen Siedlungsgründung, in: Enno Bünz (ed.): Ostsiedlung und Landesausbau in Sachsen. Die Kührener Urkunde von 1154 und ihr historisches Umfeld, Leipzig, 2008, pp.143-160. * Herbert Helbig (ed.): Urkunden und erzählende Quellen zur deutschen Ostsiedlung im Mittelalter. Vol. 1: Mittel- und Norddeutschland. Ostseeküste, Darmstadt, 1975. * Franz Kössler: "Die Nachfahren des Lokators" - zur Siedlungsgeschichte einer deutschsprachigen Landschaft im böhmisch–mährischen Raum, Bad Schussenried, 2010. * Paul Richard Kötzschke: Das Unternehmertum in der ostdeutschen Kolonisation des Mittelalters (Diss.), Bautzen, 1894. * Josef Joachim Menzel: Der Beitrag der Urkundenwissenschaft zur Erforschung der deutschen Ostsiedlung am Beispiel Schlesiens, in: Walter Schelsinger (ed.): Die deutsche Ostsiedlung des Mittelalters als Problem der europäischen Geschichte. Reichenau-Vorträge 1970-1972, Sigmaringen, 1975, pp. 131 - 159.

References

{{reflist Social history of the Holy Roman Empire History of Pomerania