Demesne

As Fronhof the stately manor is called, the, ie a unit within a medieval form of the manorial system, is at the center of a Villikation. The word derives from Old High German fro "Lord" here. In Latin sources the Fronhof is usually referred to as a villa or curtis dominica, in German, there are also terms like Salhof and Sedelhof.

The Fronhof was under a Hofverbandes ( Villikation ) the economic and manorial center; he was the Lord himself or Hofverwalter, the so-called Meier, farmed. The farmers of the Fronhof imputed hooves paid this on the one hand the basic interest and other charges and made the other hand on the Fronhof the corvee.

A Fronhof was equipped with more or less extensive lands that were operated by the lord or his steward in own economy and its entirety as Salland ( terra salica ) is called. For this purpose, recourse to both the working force of the farm's own servants as well as on the forced labor of peasants hooves. The latter could extend to several days a week. The obligation of the hooves peasants who had so nigh to manage their own farms, compared to the Fronhof was therefore considerable. The Fronhof even included the residential building of the landlord or the Meiers and the servants and day laborers. These included the farm buildings ( such as storehouses and barns ). The Fronhof belonging to Salland sat down often from free float together, depending on how areas were added through debt bondage or other circumstances for Fronhof. Manors had so usually no contiguous area.

The Fronhof was not only economic center of a Villikation, but also the center of the exercise of power. In particular, it was the site of the manorial court, which all members of the impaired Hofverbandes were under.

Large landlords, especially of kings and churches were sometimes entire networks of Hofverbänden, with several manors were under a Oberhof.

The Fronhofsverfassung, also called Villikationsverfassung, spread in the Frankish Empire in the 7th century and shaped the manorial Constitution of early medieval rural society in Western and Central Europe. Since the 12th and 13th century, the growing need for self- economy of the landlords resulted in favor of a pension basic rule to a loss of significance Fronhofes within the rural settlement (for more details see the article Villikation ).