This landmark study of family relations in a village in southern Germany is the product of deep reflection on anthropological approaches to historical problems.

List of tables; Abbreviations; Abbreviations of sources; Weights, measures, and coinage; On reading kinship diagrams; Glossary; Preface; Introduction; 1. Productive forces and social differentiation; 2. Magistrates and records; 3. The ideology of the house; 4. Patterns of marital conflict; 5. The changing context of production; 6. Marital relations in the context of production; 7. Marital estate; 8. State and estate; 9. Marital fund; 10. Generational transition; 11. Reciprocities of labor and property; 12. Reciprocities in parent - child relations; 13. Authority, solidarity, and abuse, 14. Family charges on the transfer of property; 15. The real estate market; 16. Kinship and the sale of property; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.