Year book

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Year book of the Dominican convent of St. Peter in Bludenz (1592)

Year books ( Latin libri anniversariorum ) are ecclesiastical calendars in which deceased benefactors of an ecclesiastical institution are entered, so that one prays for their salvation every year in the season . From the late Middle Ages onwards , they form the most important basis for ecclesiastical and liturgical commemoration of the dead (memorial system) and the associated foundation system .

Terminology

The term “Jahreszeit-” or “Jahreszeitenbuch” is mainly used in Switzerland and southern Germany. Other names are anniversaries, books of the year, souls or the dead. In French and Italian, the term obituaires or obituari has been established for this. In the Middle Ages, the books in question were referred to as liber anniversariorum , mortuarium , martyrologium , catalogus , tabula or simply calendarium as well as liber vitae based on the heavenly book of life . It was not until the early modern period that the new Greek-Latin word necrologium appeared.

Origin and Distribution

Excerpt (September 27 to 30) from the necrology of the Möllenbeck Monastery , created in the 13th century At Michaelmas each nun receives a bread, a liter of beer ( ciphum cervisie ) and two eggs.

Actual annual books appeared from the 12th century. In contrast to the older monastic necrologies , not only the names of the deceased dignitaries and benefactors were recorded, but also the foundations with which the memorial was financed. At first it was mainly cathedral and collegiate monasteries that operated this type of bookkeeping. However, it was soon taken up by the religious orders , and from the 14th century onwards, corresponding records were made in parish churches and chapels as well as in hospitals and infirmaries.

While the reformers denied the use of intercession and abolished the season system, this custom experienced a new bloom in Catholic areas. Some annual books were continued into the 20th century. They were replaced by the possibilities of electronic data processing .

Functions

Page from the Jegenstorf year book with February 27 and 28, followed by the beginning of the month marked in red on March 1 and the reference to the festival of saints in honor of Bishop Albinus ("Albini epi"). The Sunday letters "b", "c" and "d" can be seen on the left-hand side ; the categorized dates are followed by the entries for the seasons of individual donors.

The basic grid of year books is the perpetual Roman calendar , enriched with the names of the Christian saints of the day and possibly other calendar information such as the golden number and the Sunday letters . The names and foundations of deceased benefactors were then successively entered into this grid on the date of their death or another significant date, together with regulations for the distribution of the donated goods. In addition to their liturgical function for celebrating the celebrations of the masses , the year books were also of considerable administrative importance for the administration of income and goods.

Yearbooks sometimes contain chronical accounts of memorable events. Particularly noteworthy for the area of ​​the Old Confederation are the so-called slaughter seasons . In rare cases, the donors were also given the family coat of arms, so that they are early heraldic evidence. The year book of Uster is considered a particularly beautiful example due to its coat of arms entries .

expenditure

As a supraregional edition series for the German-speaking area, only the Antiquities department of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica is available with the older volumes Necrologia Germaniae and the modern series Libri Memoriales and Libri memoriales et Necrologia. Nova Series . Within the Necrologia , only the southern German dioceses of Augsburg, Constance, Chur, Salzburg, Brixen, Freising, Regensburg and Passau were processed.

In France, the Obituaires des Recueil des historiens de la France series is devoted to necrological sources.

literature

  • Karl Siegfried Bader : Principles and questions of the publication of church annual books. In: Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte 85 (1939), pp. 192–203 ( MDZ ).
  • Rainer Hugener: Bookkeeping for eternity. Remembrance of the dead, written down and tradition formation in the late Middle Ages. Chronos, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-0340-1196-9 ( PDF ).
  • Peter-Johannes Schuler: The Anniversar. On mentality and family awareness in the late Middle Ages. In the S. (Ed.): The family as a social and historical association. Investigations into the late Middle Ages and early modern times. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1987, pp. 67-117.

Overviews of the German-speaking area

  • August Potthast : Guide through the historical works of the European Middle Ages up to 1500. Volume 2, 2nd edition. Berlin 1896, pp. 807-842 ( Internet Archive - also other countries).
  • Wilhelm Wattenbach : Germany's historical sources in the Middle Ages up to the middle of the thirteenth century. Volume 1, 6th edition. Berlin 1893, pp. 437-460 ( ULB Düsseldorf : Directory in full or as an excerpt of printed necrologies - also other countries).
  • Database historical sources of the German Middle Ages. Keyword: Memoria

Southwest Germany and the Rhineland

  • Franz Ludwig Baumann : Report on Swabian death books. In: New archive of the society for older German history. 7, 1882, pp. 19-41 ( DigiZeitschriften ).
  • Franz Ludwig Baumann: About death books of the dioceses Cur and Constanz. In: New archive of the society for older German history. 8, 1883, pp. 425-447 ( DigiZeitschriften ).
  • Franz Ludwig Baumann: About the death books of the dioceses of Augsburg, Constanz and Cur. In: New archive of the society for older German history. 13 1888, pp. 409-429 ( DigiZeitschriften ).
  • Anna-Dorothee von den Brincken : The books of the dead of the city Cologne monasteries, monasteries and parishes. In: Yearbook of the Cologne History Association. 42, 1968, pp. 137-175 ( Cologne University Library ).
  • Franz Falk : Necrologia Moguntina. In: New archive of the society for older German history. 19, 1894, pp. 693-704 ( DigiZeitschriften, Mainz ).
  • Jean-Loup Lemaître: Repertoire des documents nécrologiques français. Publiés sous la direction de Pierre Marot. Imprimerie nationale, de Boccard, Paris 1980. Several supplementary volumes up to 2008 (Recueil des historiens de la France publié par l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Obituaires, 7) (includes Alsace and Lorraine).
  • Ferdinand Wilhelm Emil Roth : Nassauer necrologies. In: New archive of the society for older German history. 23, 1898, pp. 566-568 ( DigiZeitschriften ).
  • Johannes Weingart: Palatine lake books of the late Middle Ages: General overview and presentation of the lake book of the St. Georgen Hospital in Speyer. In: Communications of the Historical Association of the Palatinate. 103, 2005, pp. 125-152.
  • Dieter Geuenich : Medieval necrologies from the Lower Rhine . In: Rhein-Maas 3 (2012), pp. 13-21.

Northern Germany

  • Hans Mahrenholtz: Evidence of necrology and memory books in the area of ​​Lower Saxony and adjacent areas. In: North German family studies. 12, 29, 1980, pp. 65-74, 97-104.

Austria

Switzerland

France

  • Jean-Loup Lemaître: Directives pour la préparation d'une édition de document nécrologique. In: Bulletin philologique et historique. 1979, pp. 11-17.
  • Jean-Loup Lemaître: La commémoration des défunts et les obituaires dans l'Occident chrétien. In: Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France. 71, 1985, pp. 131-145.

Netherlands

  • Repertory van handschriften en edities van middeleeuwse necrologische bronnen concerning Nederland ( archive version of a website ).

Italy

  • Heinrich Appelt , Leo Santifaller (arrangement): Calendar and necrology of the collegiate monastery in the cloister at Bressanone from the 13th century. Athesia, Bozen 1939 (= yearbook for history, culture and art. Supplements 4) ( online ).
  • Cosimo Damiano Fonseca (ed.): La Tradizione commemorativa nel Mezzogiorno medioevale: ricerche e problemi . Congedo editore, Galatina 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Recueil des historiens de la France . Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. Retrieved May 17, 2019.