Asegabuch
The Asegabuch (First Rüstringer Manuscript) is a collection of Old Frisian law from the 13th to 15th centuries.
It is a valuable testimony to old Frisian folklore, the Rüstringer code of law , named after the "asega", the Frisian judge who was obliged to comply with the law when he took office.
The Frisians had several general laws that went back to the Germanic times and applied across the whole of Friesland from the mouth of the Weser to the Zuiderzee . In addition, there were other special rights in individual Frisian regions. In Rüstringen, the former landscape on both sides of today's Jadebusen , z. B. also the Rüstringer Küren, the fine taxes, the legal statutes and the broadcasting right . All these laws formed the content of the Rüstringer Landrecht or Asegabuches. There is only a single copy that has been preserved in the Lower Saxony State Archives in Oldenburg . But this document too is only a copy of an older manuscript made around 1300.
The Asega book is of immeasurable value for research into the early history of the Frisian landscape. The following excerpts and their translations into standard German give a small impression of the old Frisian language :
"Thet is ac londriucht, thet wi Frisa hagon ene seburch to stiftande an to sterande, enne geldene hop ther umbe al Frislond lith."
"It is also a land law that we Frisians have to build and maintain a Seeburg, a golden ring that surrounds all of Friesland."
“Uta skilu wi Frisa use lond halda mith thrium tauwon, mith tha spada and mith there bera and mith there forke; ac skilu wi use lond were mith egge and mith orde, and mith tha bruna skelde, with thena stapa helm and with thene rada skeld an with thet unriuchte herskipi. Aldus skilu wi Frisa halda use lond fon oua to uta, ief us god helpa wili and sante Pederr. "
“We Frisians are also supposed to hold our land with three tools, with the spade, with the stretcher and with the fork; We are also to defend our country with sword and spear and with the brown shield against the high helmet and against the red shield and against unjust rule. So we Frisians should keep our country from beginning to end, that God and Saint Peter may help us. "
literature
- Tilemann Dothias Wiarda: Asega book, an old Frisian law book of the Rüstringer . Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin and Stettin 1805 ( digitized version )
- Wilhelm Ebel, Jan Wybren Buma: The Rüstringer right . Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1963.
- Bremmer, Rolf H. Jr: Language and Content of the Old Frisian Manuscripts from Rüstringen (c.1300): A 'Veritable Mixtum Compositum' . In: Rolf H. Bremmer Jr, Stephen Laker, Oebele Vries (eds.): Advances in Old Frisian Philology . Rodopi, Amsterdam 2007, pp. 29-64.