Asega

Asega is the old Frisian name for a lawyer or judge in the Middle Ages. Etymologically, the name is made up of the Frisian a for "law" and sega for "speaker". Due to the development towards more cooperative structures in the regional communities of Friesland, the Asega was in the 12./13. It was replaced by the Redjeven in the 19th century .

In the 10th and 11th centuries in Friesland, the court was carried out by a Count Schulzen and the Asega. The extent to which the office of Asega already existed cannot be proven with certainty. The Asega performed the function of the judge, as he was familiar with Frisian law, while the Schulze was supposed to enforce the judgment. These were determined by the respective landlord of an area, presumably after a preselection by the regional municipality. When taking office, an Asega had to commit to compliance with the law, which was recorded in the form of elections. An example of a Frisian collection of laws is the Asegabuch .

The third section of Rüstringen law reports on the tasks and duties of the Asega:

“Thit is thiv thredde liodkest and thes kynig Kerles ieft, theter allera monna ek ana sina eyna gode bisitte vmberavad, hit ne se thet ma hini vrwinne mith tele and mith rethe and mith rivchta thingathe; sa hebbere, alsam sin asega deme and dele to lioda londriuchte. Ther ne hach ​​nen asega nenne dom to delande, hit ne se thet hi tofara tha keysere fon Rvme esweren hebbe and thet hi fon da liodon ekeren se. Sa hach ​​hi thenne to witande alle riuchta thing, thet send kesta and londrivcht. Sa hach ​​hi thenne to demande and to delande tha fiande alsare tha frionde thruch thes ethes willa, ther hi tofara tha keysere fon Rume esweren heth, widuon and weson, waluberon and alle werlase liodon like to helpande and sine thredknilinge. Alsa thi asega nimth tha unrivchta mida and tha urlouada panninga and ma hini urtiuga mi mith twam sine juenethon an thes kyninges bonne, sa ne hach ​​hi nenne dom mar to delande, thruch thet thi asega thi biteknath thene prestere, hwandande and hia send siande skilun wesa agon there heliga kerstenede; hia skilun helpa alle tham, ther hiam seluon nauwet helpa ne mugun. "

“This is the third popular choice and King Karl's privilege that everyone has his own property unchallenged, unless he is brought against him by speech and counter-speech and in a lawful process; then he has to do what his asega gives and imposes on him under the land law of the people. No asega should pass judgment unless he had sworn to the Emperor of Rome and was elected by the people. Then he should be familiar with all legal statutes, these are the freedoms and land rights. So he has to judge and speak right to the enemy and his friend alike because of the oath he swore before the Emperor of Rome to help widows and orphans, pilgrims and all defenseless people in the same way as his relatives in the third degree . If the Asega accepts unjust gifts and unauthorized money and one can convict him with two of his fellow officials in the king's jurisdiction, he is no longer allowed to pass judgment because the Asega designates the priest, because these are seeing and they should be the eyes of holy Christianity ; they are supposed to help all those who cannot help themselves. "

- Asegabuch : third Küre.

literature

• Jan Wybren Buma, Wilhelm Ebel : The Rüstringer right . Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1963.
• Philipp Heck : The old Frisian court system , Weimar 1894.
• Hugo Jaekel: Research on the old Frisian court and estate constitution , Weimar 1907.
• Gerhard Köbler : Asega . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1104.
• Karl von Richthofen : Studies on the Frisian legal history II, 1, Berlin 1882.
• Heinrich Schmidt : Political History of East Friesland (East Friesland in the protection of the dike; Volume 5), Pewsum 1975.
• Heinrich Schmidt: On the rise of the high medieval state communities in eastern Friesland . In: ders .: Ostfriesland and Oldenburg: Collected contributions to the North German regional history . Aurich 2008, pp. 311-328.
• Benno Eide Siebs : Basics and structure of the old Frisian constitution , Breslau 1933.
• Gerhard Teschke: Studies on the social and constitutional history of Friesland in the high and late Middle Ages (treatises on the history of East Friesland, vol. 42), Aurich 1966.
• Tileman Dothias Wiarda : Asega book, an old Frisian code of the Rüstringer . Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin and Stettin 1805. ( digitized )

See also

• Redjeve
• Asegabuch

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Gerbenzon: The Old Frisian Asega, the Old Saxon Eosago and the Old High German Esago . In: Tiijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis . No. 41, 1973, pp. 75-91, p. 76.
2. ↑ See Phillipp Heck: The old Frisian court constitution , Weimar 1894, p. 38ff. Likewise Benno E. Siebs: Basics and structure of the old Frisian constitution , Breslau 1933, p. 53ff.
3. ^ Heinrich Schmidt, Political History of Ostfriesland (Ostfriesland in the protection of the dike 5), Pewsum 1975, p. 22ff.
4. ^ Tilemann Dothias Wiarda: Asega book, an old Frisian code of law of the Rüstringer . Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin and Stettin 1805 ( digitized version  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ), Viewed September 9, 2011.