fwo_750112 - GERMANY - GRAND DUCHY OF MECKLEMBURG-SCHWERIN - FREDERICK-FRANCIS IV 2 Mark 1904 Berlin

GERMANY - GRAND DUCHY OF MECKLEMBURG-SCHWERIN - FREDERICK-FRANCIS IV

(1897-1918)

The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was ruled by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV from 1898 to 1918. The diet, the political assembly at the time, was made up of knights (nobles and upper bourgeois landowners) and representatives cities. A democratic representation of the rural population does not exist. Although serfdom was abolished around 1820 in the German Empire, Mecklenburg remains the stronghold of the knights, who have kept absolute supremacy there thanks to the old feudal constitution. Their domains constitute the smallest administrative entities of the region. Industry was almost non-existent in Mecklenburg around 1900 and agriculture reigned supreme there: cereals, fodder, potatoes and legumes. The harvest is sold in Berlin and Leipzig.