Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-12-08
Genesis OF the IRnkeeper.

Hospitality was duty among the
Germanic races. According to Bur-
gundian law, the Roman who received
a traveller was not allowed to do so
gratis; the poorer Burgundian host was
bound 10 pay the Roman for the keep
of the traveller If he was unable to ac-
commodate him in his own house. The
honor Of receiving guest freely was
too great to be conceded to a conquered
people. When Theodoric with his Os-
trogoths conquered Italy they were
amazed at the Roman tavern system,
and at the iniquity of the taverners,
who had double measures, just one
for natives and an unjust one for
foreigners. Why, the traveller should
be treated freely, the Ostrogoth argued;
and Cassiodorus, under the orders of
the king drew up laws to enforce at
least honesty. if he could not bring
about liberality, in the Latin osteria.
We are inclined to be overheard in our
judgment of the knights and barons Of
Germany in the Middle Ages, whose
castles are perched on every command
ing rock by every road and river, but
we are scarcely just. 1t is true that
there were robber knights, but so there
are at all times raScals among class,
and We are wrong in supp0sing that
every ruined keep was the nest of a
robber knight 1t was not so. The
knights kept the roads in order, and
supplied mules and horses to travellers;
they also gave them free hospitality
when they halted for the night. The
travellers paid small toll for the main-
tenance of the road, and also for the
use of the horses and mules which car
rled them on to the next stage. On the
navigable rivers the barOns kept the
tow-path, and supplied the beasts
which would drag the barges up the
stream, and for this they received, and
very properly, toll.
Here and there an ill-conditi0ned
knight exacted more than was his due,
but he was speedily reduced to order.
1t was to the interest of all the knights
and tarons along the highway to keep
the communication open, and not to
divert il into another channel: cOnse-
quently when one member of the con-
fraternity wsls exacting and trouble
some the rest combined against him, or
his oyer-lord reduced him to reason.
AS the knights and barons had their
castles on heights for purposes OF de-
fence, and these heights were consider
able, it was not convenient for the way
farers at the end of a tollsome journey
to have to scramble up the side OF a
mountain to the castle of the lord TO
enjoy his hospitality. Accordingly they
were entertained by him below in the
village built on the highway.
As commerce increased, and the
roads became better, 1t was Impossible
for the mobiles to entertain freely. More
over. the Thirty Years War, again the
Seven Years War, and finally the Ma
poleonic wars, had so Impoverished
them that they were forced to charge
for entertainment, and to derive a
revenue from it. From one cause or
another they lost their land, and then
sank to be mere innkeepers. This was
rarely the case In Germany, but it was
not uncommon in Tyrol. where to this
day the hotel and tavern keepers repre-
sent the best blood in the land. They
have well-attested pedigrees, OF which
they are proud; and they dispense nos
pitaIity, not now gratuitously, but with
courtesy and kindliness, In the very
houses in which their ancestars have
lived for three or four hundred years,
and the sign which adorned the helmets
and shields of their forefathers when
they rode In tournament or battle.
Now. this state of things in Iyrol Is
peculiarly interesting, because it shows
ms a social condition which has passed
into oblivion everywhere else, and OF
which, among ourselves, the only re-
minlscences are to be found In the
beraldic signs of inns, and in the host
being termed landlord. Tne lord OF the
manor ceased to be landlord OF INNS
with us long time ago. and probably
very early put in substitute to act as
host, and kept himself aloof from his
guests. He lived in his manor-house,
and entertained at a guest-house, a
hostelry.