Jean-Jacques Siegrist

Jean-Jacques Siegrist (born March 31, 1918 in Lausanne , † November 6, 1992 in Lenzburg ) was a Swiss historian . He is considered one of the most outstanding researchers in the history of the canton of Aargau . A comprehensive edition of legal sources as well as works on economic, social and legal history deserve special mention .

biography

Siegrist's parents were both hotel employees who worked in different tourist locations. Son Jean-Jacques was born in Lausanne , but grew up in Meisterschwanden . After graduating from high school in Neuchâtel in 1937, he worked for a textile trading company. In 1941 he began studying political science at the University of Bern , which he graduated with a licentiate in 1947 . In 1951 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the constitutional and economic history of the Hallwyl reign .

The lateral entrant, Siegrist, decided not to pursue a habilitation and worked as a freelance historian. As a result, he published numerous monographs and essays. The focus of his work was local history as well as the economic, social and legal history of southern Aargau. He was also a councilor in his home town of Meisterschwanden, as well as school inspector and official guardian of the Lenzburg district .

In 1964 Siegrist came into contact with the legal historian Karl Siegfried Bader . Through him he was commissioned to create a comprehensive legal source edition of the common rule of the free offices for the Swiss Association of Jurists . From 1965 to 1973 he devoted himself entirely to research, which resulted in numerous other publications. In 1974 the government council elected him as state archivist for the canton of Aargau.

The first part of his source edition, which covered the period up to 1712 (division of the free offices after the Second Villmerger War ), was published in 1976 and comprised over 800 pages. Siegrist had also collected material for the second part, but was not edited because he was increasingly suffering from health problems. Nevertheless, he was still able to publish a few essays. In 1983 Siegrist retired, a stroke two years later prevented further research. Finally he died in 1992 in a retirement home in Lenzburg .

Siegrist's academic papers have been in the Aargau State Archives since 1985 . The second part of the legal source edition of the Freie Ämter, which he started, was completed by Anne-Marie Dubler and published in 2006.

Works (selection)

• Jean-Jacques Siegrist, Hans Weber: Castles, palaces and manors in Aargau . AT Verlag, Aarau 1984, ISBN 3-85502-199-6 .
• Jean-Jacques Siegrist: Muri in the free offices - history of the area of ​​the later municipality Muri before 1798 . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 95 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1983, ISBN 3-7941-2441-3 .
• The Free Offices I - The governor's administration until 1712. In: Collection of Swiss legal sources (SSRQ) , Aargau II / 8, 1976 (source edition).
• Anne-Marie Dubler , Jean-Jacques Siegrist: Wohlen - History of law, economy and population of an early industrialized community in Aargau . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 86 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1975, ISBN 3-7941-1367-5 .
• Jean-Jacques Siegrist: Lenzburg in the Middle Ages and in the 16th century . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 67 . Sauerländer Verlag, Aarau 1955.
• Jean-Jacques Siegrist: Contributions to the constitutional and economic history of the Hallwyl reign . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 64 . Sauerländer Verlag, Aarau 1952.

literature

• Anne-Marie Dubler: The Historian Jean Jacques Siegrist (1918-1992) . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 118 . Publisher here + now, Baden 2006.