Bauernstand

Bauernstand (Bauern = peasants/farmers; Stand = Estate): 1) a collective name for peasantry Bauern; 2) a popular name for the representative bodies of the "valleys and courts" subject to the local prince in the Landtag in the provinces of Tirol and Vorarlberg, sometimes also Salzburg. The fourth "Stand" (Estate) did not, however, represent the peasants as a social group, but the court district subject to the local prince. Courts under the jurisdiction of noblemen or the church (as in Matsch or the courts in Brixen/Bressanone) were therefore not represented in the Representative Assemblies. 3) a concept used in conservative social analyses indicating the stability and constancy of the peasant's/farmers' way of life.