Ottonian knighthood: at the origins of the German ministeriales

[The Lawspeaker]

Today we talk about the genesis of the knightly class in the realm of the Eastern Franks, focusing on the figure of the "milites agrarii" and of the "Gefolgschaft" of mixed legal origin which developed in the retinues the Ottonian aristocracy. The genesis of the ministeriales, that is the servile (i.e. not free) class that identifies the Medieval German chivalry, is to be found in the relative lack of freemen employed by the weak vassalatic lordships that characterize post-Carolingian Germany, which they consequently adopted mainly serfs. A characteristic of his period is in fact the solid permanence of infantry forces in the ethnic duchies of the kingdom of the eEstern Franks. In the video we also talk about the Indiculus Loricatorum, which testifies on the other hand the progressive development of armed retinues of the major nobles of the Empire at the time of Otto I. These knights would have proved crucial in countering the Hungar raids in Germany that made their fortune of the Ottonian dynasty.

[Kamal900]

The Franks are one of my favorite Germanic groups..like ever. I am willing to learn Dutch or Franconian German since the Frankish language is an ancestral language to both of them. You Dutch should take pride in that.

[The Lawspeaker]

The Franks are one of my favorite Germanic groups..like ever. I am willing to learn Dutch or Franconian German since the Frankish language is an ancestral language to both of them. You Dutch should take pride in that.

I know I'm very proud of them. The South is pretty much the Frankish heartland in the Lowlands.