Peasant republic

Common card · No. 474803

Peasant republic (a calque of the German word Bauernrepublik) is a term used to describe rural societies in the Middle Ages, especially in the Holy Roman Empire and in parts of the Nordics, in which royal, aristocratic and ecclesiastical power was unusually weak or non-existent, allowing the local farmers to enjoy a high degree of autonomy. In this context the term 'republic' does not necessarily imply the existence of the apparatus of a formal state, though this did exist in some such communities, but rather simply the absence of effective royal/princely power. Typically peasant republics were located in remote and inaccessible areas (such as marshlands and mountain valleys) which were difficult for outside authorities to interfere in, and generally too poor to attract a lot of attention.

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