A ''Dienstmann'' (plural: ''Dienstleute'', or, in Austria, ''Dienstmänner'', ) was a medieval retainer or

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

and, later, a hired man, in German-speaking countries, particularly in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

until the first half of the 20th century.

Usage

The term ''Dienstmann'' first surfaced in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

as a Germanicization of the Latin word

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

, for men, who served at a court and, in the course of time, were raised to be

armiger In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...

s with a social status similar to that of free

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

s (''Ritter''). However the term ''Dienstmann'' could also refer to men who were obliged to pay duties or render

socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in exchange for ...

to their

liege lord Homage (/ˈhɒmɪdʒ/ or ) (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title t ...

s a '' socager'', or ''socman''. Unlike ministeriales, they held a lower social rank equivalent to the English

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

.Bachrach, Bernard S. "Charlemagne and the Carolingian General Staff" Journal of Military History 66, no. 2 (2002) p. 316-7 Later, the term described was used to describe a hired man who, in public service or in a private household, was contracted to perform time-limited functions of all types in return for a fee. His main duties were the carriage of belongings, such as

suitcase A suitcase is a form of baggage. It is a rectangular container with a handle and is typically used to carry one's clothes and other belongings while traveling. The first suitcases appeared in the late 19th century due to the increased popular ...

s, and messenger duties.

In fiction

Well-known fictional ''Dienstmänner'' are the ''Dienstmann'', Alois Hingerl, in Ludwig Thoma's Satire ''Ein Münchner im Himmel'' or Hans Moser and

Paul Hörbiger Paul Hörbiger (29 April 1894 – 5 March 1981) was an Austrians, Austrian theatre and film actor. Life and work Paul Hörbiger was born in the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Hungarian capital Budapest, then part of Austria-Hungary, the ...

, the ''Dienstmänner'' in the film ''Hallo Dienstmann''. As a so-called ''Berliner Original'', the ''Dienstmann'', Ferdinand Strumpf, went under the name, Eckensteher Nante.

References

Literature

* Hans Delbrück, trans. Walter Renfroe Jr. History of the Art of War, Volume III: Medieval Warfare (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1982) * Fritz Keller: ''Hallo Dienstmann!'' In: ''Wiener Geschichtsblätter'' 62. Jg., 2007, , pp. 1–16. * Fritz Keller: ''Ignaz Israel Pokart – der letzte jüdische Dienstmann''. In: Verena Pawlowsky, Harald Wendelin (ed.): ''Raub und Rückgabe''. Vol. 2: ''Arisierte Wirtschaft''. Mandelbaum-Verlag, Vienna, 2005, , pp. 85–88. * Valentin Ferdinand von Gudenus, Friedrich Carl von Buri, Heinrich Wilhelm Anton Buri (ed.): ''Codex Diplomaticvs. Exhibens Anectoda Ab Anno DCCCLXXXI, Ad MCCC. Mogvntiaca, Ivs Germanicvm, Et S. R. I. Historiam Illvstrantia''. 5 vols., Göttingen etc., 1743–1768. * Wilhelm Scherer (ed.): ''Hohenfurter Benedictinerregel''. In: ''Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum'' NF 4 = 16, 1872, , pp. 224–279. * Richard Schröder: ''Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte''. 6th revised edition by Eberhard von Künßberg. de Gruyter, Berlin etc., 1922. * James Westfall Thompson. "German Feudalism". The American Historical Review 28, no. 3 (1923) 440-474.

External links

{{Authority control Ministeriales German feudalism Civil service ranks Law of the Holy Roman Empire German words and phrases Society of Austria-Hungary Working class in Europe 20th-century endings Early modern history of Austria