Note 249 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.
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The peasants were, indeed, obliged to more services in the 15th than in the 13th and 14th centuries. But we cannot regard this as a mark of returning serfdom or slavery; for Inama-Sternegg explicitly states that the greater oppression of the rural classes in the 15th century was chiefly due to the increase of the services required by the rulers of the several German states. The services exacted by the landlords had rather diminished249.