Frankfurter Bürgerbuch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Page from the Frankfurt Citizens Register from December 1311

The Frankfurter Bürgerbuch is a document that was kept from 1311/12 to 1868 by the city ​​clerk of the city of Frankfurt am Main . Next to it included civic oath which conducted annually citizen lists , where the new citizens were recorded. In addition, the bystanders' oath is handed down, which granted a reduced citizenship.

description

The citizen lists recorded the new naturalizations of the city in chronological order. At least the name of a person was recorded and that the oath was taken from him. Further information can be in addition to marital status, descent and origin, the amount of citizen benefits, real estate and pensions, occupation, reason for naturalization or exceptions to the standard procedure.

For example, it was possible to take the oath or pay the citizens' money retrospectively if there were good reasons (war or lack of liquidity) either. However, this depended on the economic situation of the city . If this was to prevent immigration as much as possible, these exceptions were not granted. Conversely, they were granted if the councilors wanted to bring in particular (sought-after and valuable) skilled workers such as well builders or gunsmiths into the city.

meaning

Since 1398 at the latest, entry into civil rights has been mandatory. Belonging to the oath community of the city and participating in the protection it granted was a novelty, as one was no longer at the mercy of the (supposed) arbitrariness of a territorial lord (prince). In return, civic obligations also had to be fulfilled. These included, for example, certain public services known as citizens ' frones , compulsory military service in the city army and participation in fire fighting. Every citizen received a leather fire bucket when taking his citizenship oath , which he had to keep ready in his house at all times. In the 14 quarters of the city - two in Sachsenhausen , twelve in the old town and the new town - the citizen fire brigade was under the command of a citizen captain . If a citizen did not fulfill his duties, he lost his citizenship.

The citizen is characterized by a timocratic affiliation to the bourgeois oath and protection community and participates in the city's jurisdiction and politics.

In general, the city undertakes through the council, which is committed to the common good, to ensure the personal security, calm and legal security of the citizens, to secure their employment opportunities through the economic system and to serve their welfare and welfare through the city administration. (Isenmann 2012)

There was a legal unit of civil rights, entry in the civil register and citizen oath . This legal unit resulted from the fact that one did not hold the status as a citizen until one had sworn off the oath and achieved the entry in the civil register.

Requirements for entry in the civil register

In addition to the citizen's allowance and the household or the pension, a minimum wealth, membership in a guild or proof of a business to be founded and, if necessary, the parenting of a citizen were required. (Citizens' sons and daughters were “born into” citizenship, so only had to swear the oath when they came of age.)

One was not allowed to be under the rule of a foreign prince or citizen of a foreign city. Proof of this also had to be provided. With the proof of a handicraft, trade and property one wanted from the start to avoid that the new citizens immediately fall prey to the city welfare. Beggars and the poor were to be kept out of the city, as city welfare was one of the civil rights that came with being accepted into the bourgeoisie. At the same time, urban welfare should presumably be largely self-supporting through the taxes of wealthy citizens.

Nevertheless, the city attracted the poor and the unemployed because as a holder of civil rights you could enjoy these civil liberties and privileges. The members of this lowest class of the population (paupertas), however, were mostly unable to pay city taxes. From the point of view of the city, they were negative business, especially since many were often physically impaired, which also classified them as unsuitable for the city security service.

The city was rather interested in attracting and retaining rich citizens (see also expatriates ). Therefore, a deduction had to be paid and you lost your citizenship if you wanted to leave the city permanently.

Abandonment of civil rights

If you wanted to give up citizenship, this had to be formally terminated. This was also noted in the civil register. At the same time one was obliged to pay a deduction (as compensation to the city for the tax losses of the citizen who had moved away). The relatives, on the other hand, retained citizenship if a resident left.

Special positions

Guests of the city, Jews , women, clergy and aristocracy could usually not be included in the civil register because they were not allowed to exercise full citizenship. The clergy and the nobility belonged to their own class and were not supposed to have a share in the property of the city.

Jews as royal chamberlains were under the protection of the Jewish shelves . They had their own oath to swear and generally did not enjoy civil rights.

Women participated in the civil rights of their spouses, but were only rarely able to achieve civil rights and entry in the civil register for themselves.

Citizens' children were granted citizenship by birth.

Source value

Since professions, commerce and places of origin were recorded in the Civil book next to the names and lineages, in addition from this genealogy and economic history and social history derived information. The listed citizen funds provide information about financial circumstances. There is also political information, if z. B. Citizens' benefits only had to be paid after the spouse returned from the war. Last but not least, the traditional oaths provide information about medieval legal history .

See also

literature

swell

Lexicons

  • H. Walberg: Bürgerbuch , in: Lexikon des Mittelalters , 10 Vols. (Stuttgart: Metzler, [1977] -1999), Vol. 2, Sp. 1042, in: Brepolis Medieval Encyclopaedias - Lexikon des Mittelalters Online.
  • B.-U. Hergemöller: Bürgereid , in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, 10 Vols. (Stuttgart: Metzler, [1977] -1999), Vol. 2, Sp. 1042-1043, in: Brepolis Medieval Encyclopaedias - Lexikon des Mittelalters Online.

Representations

  • Max Weber : Economy and Society. Edited by Max Weber (Grundriß der Sozialökonomik 3), Tübingen 1922. In the Internet Archive
  • Dietrich Andernacht , Otto Stamm (Ed.): The Citizens' Books of the Imperial City of Frankfurt 1311–1400 , (Publications of the Historical Commission of the City of Frankfurt am Main 12), Frankfurt am Main 1955.
  • Eberhard Sandmann: Citizenship in medieval Frankfurt , Frankfurt am Main 1957. (Dissertation)
  • Armin Wolf (Ed.): The Laws of the City of Frankfurt am Main in the Middle Ages (Publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission 13), Frankfurt am Main 1969.
  • Dietrich Andernacht, Erna Berger (Ed.): The Citizens' Books of the Imperial City of Frankfurt 1401–1470 , (Publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission 14), Frankfurt am Main 1978.
  • Rainer Koch : The citizen and his city. Lecture on Limpurger Tag 1990, Noble Ganerbschaft des Haus Alten Limpurg [Ed.] (Limpurger Brief), Frankfurt am Main 1991, pp. 5–22.
  • Elsbet Orth : Frankfurt am Main in the early and high Middle Ages , in: Frankfurter Historical Commission (Hrsg.): Frankfurt am Main - The history of the city in nine articles. (=  Publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XVII ). Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4158-6 , p. 13-23 .
  • Konrad Bund: Frankfurt am Main in the late Middle Ages 1311–1519 , in: Frankfurter Historical Commission (ed.): Frankfurt am Main - The history of the city in nine articles. (=  Publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XVII ). Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4158-6 , p. 53-149 .
  • Rainer Christoph Schwinges [ed.]: New citizens in the late Middle Ages. Migration and Exchange in the Urban Landscape of the Old Reich (1250-1550) in: (Journal for Historical Research: Supplement 30), Berlin 2002.
  • Eberhard Isenmann : The German city in the Middle Ages 1150–1550. City shape, law, constitution, city government, church, society, economy. Vienna [u. a.] 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holdings in the Institute for Urban History , Section 1.2.2 Council Matters and Administration in General
  2. ↑ a b Wolf 1969, p. 170 (Q 60)
  3. ↑ Wolf 1969, p. 171 (Q 61) and Isenmann 2012, p. 148.
  4. ↑ a b Isenmann 2012, p. 144.
  5. ↑ Wolf 1969, p. 173 (Q 64)
  6. ↑ Isenmann 2012, p. 146f.
  7. ↑ definitio auctoris
  8. ↑ Isenmann 2012, p. 148.
  9. ↑ Sandmann 1957, p. 18. Share in a piece of land or a property. This institution enabled homeowners and landowners to convert their formerly "immobile" assets into liquid assets by means of "annuity" and thus into a kind of financial investment, which favored the flow of money within the city.
  10. ↑ a b Isenmann 2012, p. 136f.
  11. ↑ Isenmann 2012, p. 137.
  12. ^ U. Lindgren: Armut und Armenfürsorge , in: LexMA, Vol. 1, Stuttgart 1980, Sp. 984-992. (In Brepolis Medieval Encyclopaedias - Lexikon des Mittelalters Online. Accessed November 12, 2013).
  13. ↑ Koch 1991, p. 14.
  14. ↑ Isenmann 2012, pp. 138, 146.
  15. ↑ en detail: Isenmann 2012, pp. 133–147 and Dilcher 2002, in: Rainer Christoph Schwinges (Hrsg.): Neubürger im late Mittelalter. Migration and Exchange in the Urban Landscape of the Old Reich (1250-1550) (= Journal for Historical Research: Supplement 30), Berlin 2002. P. 83f.
  16. ↑ Sandmann 1957, pp. 18-25, 35.