Paternalismus aus Kalkül? Adlige Fürsorgepraxis in ländlichen Gesellschaften Sachsens und der Oberlausitz (18. und 19. Jahrhundert)

The framework of the essay is made up by selected rural societies from Saxony and Upper Lusatia in the 18th and 19th century. In this way, a period of time is looked upon that is characterized by the process of transition from traditional to modern society. The substantial emphasis of the essay lies on the influence exercised by lords of the manor and landlords regarding the poor law administration, the public health system and the educational system; an influence that is illustrated by significant examples. In an aggregating synopsis of the individual analyses of these three different fields of manorial welfare work, particularly mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, have to be referred to, as they were used in order to stabilize manorial authority. In this respect, manorial welfare proves to be a suitable sphere for applying subtle methods. Above all, charitable action based on the principle of voluntariness was an important instrument for pacifying the interaction between feudal lords and vassals. At the same time, this corresponded with social control and disciplinary action, for support by the feudal lords basically presupposed good conduct and docility. Only along with the code of laws, especially those that became significant from the 1830s, were manorial welfare benefits set apart from the principle of voluntariness, and there was a process of change from the pre-modern (poor) relief system towards the modern institutionalised social insurance. Moreover, the welfare system as well as the educational system turned out to become spheres of action where municipal councillors also tried to bring in and negotiate their positions.