Knighthood - Rittergut

Japanese: 騎士領 - きしりょう（英語表記）Rittergut

In a broad sense, it refers to land whose owner is obligated to perform military service as a knight to the feudal lord. In a narrow sense, it refers to the privileged land in the Holy Roman Empire that the feudal lord officially recognized the rural nobles who had the qualification of knights. In exchange for performing military service to the lord, the owner enjoyed a reduction in ordinary state taxes (direct taxes), an exemption from tolls, membership in the feudal assemblies, hunting rights, and a monopoly on water mills. In particular, in the colonies east of the Elbe River, from the mid-15th century onwards, with the changes in the military system and the booming grain exports, knights incorporated peasant land into the feudal lord's directly managed farms (guts), and exercised lower judicial and police powers over hereditary peasants who were bound by the guts and suffered under heavy corvée labor, and the knights' land took on the character of an extraterritorial district.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

広義には，その領有者が封主に対して騎士としての軍役奉仕を義務づけられている所領。狭義には神聖ローマ帝国で，領邦君主が騎士資格ある農村貴族に公認していた特権的所領。領有者は，君主に軍役奉仕を負うのと引換えに，通常邦租(直接税)の減免，通行税の免除，領邦議会の成員資格，狩猟権，水車独占権などを享有した。とくにエルベ川以東の植民地域の諸領邦では，15世紀中葉以降，軍制の変化や穀物輸出の活況に伴い，騎士による農民保有地の領主直営農場(グート)への編入，グートに緊縛され重い賦役に喘（あえ）ぐ世襲隷属農民に対する下級裁判権･警察権の行使が常態化し，騎士領は治外法権区の性格を帯びた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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