Dienstmann

Rudolf Graf Rex: Würfelnde Dienstmänner ("Dice-playing Dienstmänner"), around 1890
Memorial for a Dienstmann in Peine, Germany

A Dienstmann (plural: Dienstleute or, in Austria, Dienstmänner) was a medieval retainer or vassal and, later, a hired man, in German-speaking countries, particularly in Austria until the first half of the 20th century.

Origin

The term Dienstmann first surfaced in the Middle Ages as a Germanicization of the Latin word ministerialis,[1] for men, who served at a court and, in the course of time, were raised to be armigers with a social status similar to that of free knights (Ritter).[2]

History

In its original, historic sense, the term Dienstmann referred to men who were obliged to pay duties or render socage to their liege lords a socager, or socman, or those who were ministeriales of various ranks. Either way, they held a social rank equivalent to the English serf.[3]

Later, the term described was used to describe a hired man who, in public service or in a private household, was contracted to perform time-limited functions of all types in return for a fee. His main duties were the carriage of belongings, such as suitcases, and messenger duties.

In fiction

Well-known fictional Dienstmänner are the Dienstmann, Alois Hingerl, in Ludwig Thoma's Satire Ein Münchner im Himmel or Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger, the Dienstmänner in the film Hallo Dienstmann. As a so-called Berliner Original, the Dienstmann, Ferdinand Strumpf, went under the name, Eckensteher Nante.

References

  1. Thompson, p. 470.
  2. Delbrűck, p. 254, note 17
  3. Bachrach, Bernard S. "Charlemagne and the Carolingian General Staff" Journal of Military History 66, no. 2 (2002) p. 316-7

Literature

External links

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