Extracted & translated by Posen-L subscriber Sue Wolf, 2000 (Other contributions by Sue Wolf)
[Information in brackets added by Sue Wolf]
p. 77-78
German colonization in Poland had already begun by the end of the 12th century, when Boleslas the Tall, Duke of Silesia, and after him his son, Henry Longbeard, brought in German peasants and citizens to populate the wastelands. The civil unrest in Germany which followed the extinction of the Hohenstaufen line furthered this movement. It was only natural that the dense population of Franconia, Saxony and Swabia should overflow eastward, into the wide and thinly populated Polish plains, where it found a warm welcome. The other Polish Princes followed the example of the Dukes of Silesia in granting special privileges and a wider liberty to the German immigrants. The colonists retained their own rights and administrative principles (called after the towns of their origin: Magdeburg, Culm, etc.); they enjoyed complete autonomy, with their own burgomaster or bailiffs, their own councils and corporations, and their own language. In the villages they were liable, as tenants enjoying the usufruct [the right of using the property of another and keeping the profits] of their allotments, to pay the lord of the manor a certain sum in money and in kind; they were, however, free of all obligations at the beginning of their settlement and for several (from 5-15) years thereafter.
"Law of Magdeburg [Saxony]" - named after the town of origin of the settlers; progressive, liberal and favorable to the lower classes; used not only in new towns but in existing ones.
p. 119
Peasant groups: 1) "holendry" or "olendry", numbering about 10,000, were Germans, brought into the country from time to time by the nobles. They were freemen, and enjoyed certain privileges, besides a measure of autonomy and an administration of their own, according to the ancient German law.