Land Use

How landholding worked (in plain language)

Think of land as having two layers:

The prince’s estate (the “lordship”) kept a big block of land and rights. That block is often called the demesne: fields, meadows, woods, and the income tied to them that legally belonged to the ruler.
Families ran farms on that land under long-standing rights. A family that ran a full farm was often called a Meier (you’ll also see Meyer) or, in your area, a Colon. In practice here, Meier and Colon are near-synonyms:
- A Meier/Colon ran a numbered farm (e.g., “No. 10”) for the lordship.
- He didn’t “own” the farm the way a modern homeowner owns a house, but his right to run it was inherited in the family, usually with fixed dues (money, produce, sometimes work days).
- Think of it as a family farm under a very strong, long-term right, supervised by the lordship’s finance office (the Rentkammer).

Alongside that core farm, families could also add extra pieces in two common ways:

The domain sometimes sold a parcel outright, or
It sold a permanent, inheritable right to use a parcel (functionally very close to ownership).

That’s exactly what your document describes: in 1814 and 1818 the Krückeberg family paid the domain for a parcel by the Söhre pasture/forest. Years later, when Krückeberg was in debt to Hempel & Sons, the Rentkammer considered buying that parcel (or the permanent right to it) back so he’d have cash to pay his creditors. The head forester inspected it, found poor drainage and frequent flooding, valued it at about half of what was paid in 1814, and advised against the buy-back as not in the lordship’s interest. In short: they were not buying his whole tenant farm; they were weighing reacquiring that specific add-on parcel/right the family had purchased earlier.

What the church-book “Stand” labels mean

These words describe a person’s social/economic position at the moment of the entry (baptism, marriage, burial). They’re quick tags, not full biographies.

Hausherr — literally “house-master”: the head of a household. He might be a big farmer, a smallholder, or a craftsman; the word itself doesn’t tell you how much land he has—only that he’s in charge of that dwelling.
Einlieger — a lodger/subtenant. Usually has little or no land, lives in someone else’s house or on a corner of a farm, works for wages or odd jobs.
Knecht — a hired farmhand (male). Works for a farmer; status can change over time.
Meier/Meyer — a full farm holder running one of the village’s numbered farms for the domain; the family right is heritable and comes with dues/obligations.
Colon — in your area, used much like Meier for a full farm holder.
Anerbe — the designated single heir to a farm within a one-heir system. It’s a family role, not a job. It tells you who is slated to take over the core farm.
Reuter/Reiter — a horseman/soldier.
Carabinier — also a soldier (light cavalry).

"Stand" Percentages

You noted (combining your lines): many Hausherr and Einlieger, very few Meier, a fair number of Anerbe, and an occasional Knecht or soldier.

That’s a classic small-state village profile:

A small number of full farms (the Meier/Colon households) sit at the core.
Many more dependent or modest households surround them: Hausherrn (heads of small houses) and Einlieger (lodgers with little land).
Anerbe entries show which families are managing succession to keep the core farm intact.
Knechte and the odd soldier appear as people cycle through service, marriage, or burial.

Two cautions when interpreting:

A person’s Stand can change (a Knecht can later become a Hausherr; an Einlieger can become a smallholder). The label is “now,” not “forever.”
Scribes vary. One may prefer “Hausherr,” another may write “Einwohner” or add an occupation; so frequencies are useful, but they reflect what the scribe chose to note on those pages.

If you’d like, I can turn the definitions above into a short glossary block you can drop into your Antora site—plain English, with one-line German quotes from your records for each term.