Peasant Portraits. Rural Self-Representations in the German Lands Since the Middle Ages

Abstract

This article examines self-representations of peasant communities in the German lands since the Middle Ages. It focuses on two well-documented contexts of collective expression: key political ideals in the records of imperial villages (i.e., rural polities without an intermediate territorial lord) on the one hand, and shared cultural meanings emerging from numerous writings as well as objects deposited in the tower spheres of prominent buildings on the other. Consultation of charters, law books and visual evidence suggests that autonomy, agency and accountability were three principles that imperial villages held in high regard, while (divine) protection, adequate portraiture (of user communities at specific points in time) and projection (of messages as well as customs to posterity) appear as salient features in tower capsule deposits. Taken together, these so far neglected sources provide important insights for deepening our understanding of peasant values and priorities.