modern days, and played its _role_ under the
code of feudalism. In Poland, the noblemen arrogated the right to
deflower any maid they pleased, and a hundred lashes were given him who
complained. That the sacrifice of maidenly honor seems even to-day a
matter of course to landlords and their officials in the country,
transpires, not only in Germany, oftener than one imagines, but it is a
frequent occurrence all over the East and South of Europe, as is
asserted by experts in countries and the peoples.

In the days of feudalism, marriage was a matter of interest to the
landlord. The children that sprang therefrom entered into the same
relation of subjection to him as their parents; the labor-power at his
disposal increased in numbers, his income rose. Hence _spiritual_ and
_temporal_ landlords favored marriage among their vassals. The matter
lay otherwise, particularly for the Church, if, by the prevention of
marriage, the prospect existed of bringing land into the possession of
the Church by testamentary bequests. This, however, occurred only with
the lower ranks of freemen, whose condition, due to the circumstances
already mentioned, became ever more precarious, and who, listening to
religious suggestions and superstition, relinquished their property to
the Church in order to find protection and peace behind the walls of a
cloister. Others, again, placed themselves under the protection of the
Church, in consideration of the payment of duties, and the rendering of
services. Frequently their descendants fell on this route a prey to the
very fate which their ancestors had sought to escape. They either
gradually became Church dependents, or were turned into novices for the
cloisters.

The towns, which, since the eleventh century were springing up, then had
at that time a lively interest in promoting the increase of population;
settlement in them and marriage were made as easy as possible. The towns
became especially asylums for countrymen, fleeing from unbearable
oppression, and for fugitive serfs and dependents. Later, however,
matters changed. So soon as the towns had acquired power, and contained
a well-organized body of the trades, hostility arose against new
immigrants, mostly propertyless peasants, who wanted to settle as
handicraftsmen. Inconvenient competitors were scented in these. The
barriers raised against immigration were multiplied. High settlement
fees, expensive examinations, limitations of a trade to a cer