'A fascinating and very original book, based on an enormous amount of primary research. Freed is a leading authority on the ministerials of the Holy Roman Empire, who kept their servile status even while becoming the de facto aristocracy of their regions.'--Constance Brittain Bouchard, author of ?Strong of Body, Brave and Noble?: Chivalry and Society in Medieval France Freed documents the network of marriage practices among ministerials in the archdiocese of Salzburg and in the process reconstructs an important and previously unexplored chapter in the rise of the German principalities.