Stock ledger
Stock book is a technical term used in archiving .
A stock ledger is a handwritten record of the possessions and the income associated with them that belonged to a particular dominion or administrative unit ( office ). They came up in the 15th century and are the successors of the land registers , salbuch and interest toboggan ( rotuli ) that were common up until then . Stock books were kept up into the 18th century. The term is also used synonymously with the term Urbar (directory) . It is particularly popular in Württemberg , but is also used in the Rhineland . In archives in Baden , warehouse books are called beraine .
These are not bundles of files that can be expanded at will, but bound books . Therefore, they often had to be updated, from which the alternative term renewal arose.
Stock books usually begin with a preface in which the reason for the entry and the names of the clerk and the officials and witnesses involved are given. As a rule, the main part of the stock registers are arranged alphabetically according to the location and list each farm and property title individually. There the respective farmers or tenants are noted, whose names were deleted after their death and added to that of the successor. In addition, they often contain general information on the legal situation and extracts from older documents.
After it had been re-created, a stock book was read out to the farmers concerned and confirmed by them by oath. It was thus a central document for clarifying the legal relationships between master and subjects and the basis for an orderly administration.
The quality of the stock books depended on the level of training of the administrative staff, so that the registers for the Duchy of Württemberg usually appear much more professional than the books of small ecclesiastical and secular lords, which were mostly written by them themselves.
Today, the stock books are one of the most important sources for historical regional studies and other sub-disciplines of history , cultural studies and genealogy . The majority of the stock books that have been preserved are now being kept in the main state archive in Stuttgart and the other Baden-Württemberg state archives.
In some areas, for example in Baden , the concept of the stock register has become so firmly established in the population and administration that a "stock register number" is often used today instead of the parcel number .
- Examples: burger stock book
Literature and Links
- Christian Keitel u. a. (Ed.): Serial sources in south-west German archives , Stuttgart 2005 (Publication by the Württemberg History and Antiquity Association), ISBN 3-17-018758-9 , online .
- Gregor Richter: Stock books or land register doctrine. Auxiliary scientific basics according to Württemberg sources , Stuttgart 1979 (publications of the state archive administration Baden-Württemberg 36).