Hello Tatjana, In the Link I sent you they called them "Free Peasants" perhas their terminology is not correct, "Despite the financial support of the Inner Austrian nobility, the financing of the Military Frontier was not efficient enough. The military leadership in Graz decided to try solutions other than mercenary units. In the 1630s, the Imperial Court decided to give land and certain privileges to immigrants into the Frontier (the uskok guerrillas as well as refugees from Turkish-occupied lands) at the area of ÂŽumberak, and in return they would serve in the Imperial army. The remaining local population was also encouraged to stay by receiving the status of free peasants (rather than serfs) and other privileges. These new units were organized into ten or more voivodships per each captaincy." http://tscholars.com/encyclopedia/Military_Frontier Its very interesting that Vukovar was a walled City, I knew they had walled Cities in Germany but had know Idea they had them In Croatia. I also didn't know they locked the doors at night but sounds real safe. If there were only 2 hundred homes in the free city of Vukovar and 3000 people most of the people must have slept in barns huts or tents. I had seen a painting of the city of Vukovar while the City was under control of the Turks.............It had tents surrounding the town. I thought it was a fair, of some sort........I still have the copy of the picture Very interesting, but these people couldn't have made it through the winter in tents, could they have? I imagine it wasn't an easy thing to move from one village to another but they did it, not sure how it worked when the entered the City or village, In one of my villages in Germany circa 14001-500 they have to pay to get in. I wonder if that was a common practice. Thank You Best regards Kurt Tat417761@cs.com wrote: Hi, I do not think there is such an entity as a "free peasant". Peasant is occupation, not the legal description of the person. Until not long ago farming required a large number of people to produce the necessary food. So, of course, peasants (people doing farm work) were quite numerous. they were not just moving around as factory worker may. You plant, you wait for food to grow. No paycheck. And you do not just arrive in village: "here I am" and start planting. Where are you going to sleep, where are your tools etc? Craftsmen and artisans would settle where they were needed. Their education was rigorously prescribed and rather expensive. They had to have exams and license. They were the ones who usually absorbed the athnicity of their new home. The German farmers who were brought to Slavonia, came because after the Turks left, the land was depopulated. They came in groups with animals etc. They knew how to run a farm, probably younger children who did not inherit their family's land. when I mentioned the city of Vukovar, this is the city. Those cities were not districts. They had walls to protect them and doors which were locked in the evening. When you travel in Europe you see remnants of those walls. In Rome the doors keep their old names, though they had to make them larger for modern traffic. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CROATIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.