Tatjana: Fascinating stuff! Several years ago someone in Croatia sent me a copy of my grandfather's "graduation" from his apprenticeship in Djakova in 1908. He was a carpenter. I realize this is out the period under discussion, but do you think this type of education was expensive then? He had wanted to pursue his education (or so the story goes) but the local priest said no, he was to be a craftsman. This was his excuse for rejecting the church and might have been understandable if it wasn't for the fact that someone cared enough to have paid for this education. (He was born in 1893 and his father was dead.) Thanks, Peg On Apr 2, 2007, at 1:38 AM, 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

Not sure if this was in reply to my post or not. However there were such people as "freeman". Under the medieval feudal system, an individual differentiated from a villein, a serf tied to the land. Freeman is very different than the classification of a peasant and that of a serf. On Apr 2, 2007, at 1:38 AM, 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 ------------------------------- 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