Civic oath

A citizen oath is the obligation of new citizens of a medieval-early modern city to adhere to the given legal system and to respect the local government. The citizen oath was usually the prerequisite for receiving the civil rights of a city. Its exact wording was regulated in writing by the city and often recorded in the city register or in the citizen register . The citizen oath was taken on the day of oath . Typologically, the citizen's oath is counted among the promissory oaths (promise oaths).

Examples

Around the middle of the 15th century in Bolzano, when taking the oath, the newly admitted citizens or residents were asked to swear by their oaths: 1) loyalty to the sovereign ; 2) obedience to city council and mayor ; 3) Clothing or fulfillment of all offices and services that are assigned by the city council in the interests of the common good ( wolfart ); 4) Assistance in the event of a catastrophe ( landfall, Aufauffen, durchzigen, dying, spluttering, Wassergefarn, etc.) that hit the city.

In the course of the Reformation in Memmingen (from 1513), clergymen were accepted into guilds and taxed in 1525 , and their citizens' oath was taken away.

During the French Revolution , to implement the civil constitution of the clergy in November 1790, a citizen oath was required from bishops and priests. About half of the priests refused; only seven bishops out of a total of 135 office holders removed it. Many priests performed it against their convictions in order to avoid disadvantages and to maintain pastoral care. There was a split in the church between oath-taking priests ( église constitutionelle ) and clerics loyal to Rome ( église romaine ).

literature

Wilhelm Ebel : The citizen oath as a validity and design principle of the German and medieval city law. Weimar 1958.
Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller : Art. Citizens' oath . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Tl. 2, Zurich 1983, Sp. 1042-1043.
Sonja Heim: The citizen oath in the Middle Ages and its power to promote integration: ritual practice, function and change in meaning of the days of oaths in Augsburg. Augsburg 2007.

Individual evidence

↑ Eberhard Isenmann : The German city in the Middle Ages 1150–1550: city structure, law, constitution, city regiment, church, society, economy. Böhlau: Köln-Weimar Vienna 2014. ISBN 978-3-412-22358-8 , pp. 212-214.
^ Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 2 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-901870-1-8 , p. 103, no.1032 .
↑ Stefan Samerski : Public materials for lecture Church modern history II (PDF; 141 kB). Pp. 2–4, viewed in January 2019.

[1] Eberhard Isenmann : The German city in the Middle Ages 1150–1550: city structure, law, constitution, city regiment, church, society, economy. Böhlau: Köln-Weimar Vienna 2014. ISBN 978-3-412-22358-8 , pp. 212-214.

[2] Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 2 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-901870-1-8 , p. 103, no.1032 .

[3] Stefan Samerski : Public materials for lecture Church modern history II (PDF; 141 kB). Pp. 2–4, viewed in January 2019.