Column not found, message from server: "Unknown column 'type' in 'field list'" You may get this error if you add a many-to-one relationship to a class, and forget to add the corresponding column to the corresponding table. For example, if you have a table like this: create table cd ( id integer primary key, title varchar(255) ); and a class CD: public class CD { protected int id; protected String title; } with a Hibernate mapping document: then, if you add a property to the class and mapping document: public class CD { protected int id; protected String title; protected Colour colour; } then you will get an error message something like the above unless you remember to add a column to the table cd: create table cd ( id integer primary key, title varchar(255), colour_ref integer ); create table colour ( id integer primary key, name varchar(255) ); "Collections may not contain other collections." -- http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/reference/en/html/collections.html#collections-persistent