The Peasants of Ottobeuren, 1487-1726

Focusing on the lands of the Benedictine monastery of Ottobeuren and based on a mass of archival data, this study presents a detailed reconstruction of peasant society in early modern Germany. It argues that the German rural economy performed much better than has previously been believed. The Ottobeuren peasantry generated large agricultural surpluses, became progressively more active in land and credit markets, and traded in ever wider circuits of commerce. Their peasant society is shown therefore to have been stable economically, and surprisingly resilient to war, plague and famine.