Lay mirror
The Laienspiegel is one of the most important legal books of the early modern period. Its aim was to convey Roman law content in German as generally understandable as possible. The target group were mainly legal practitioners (judges, lawyers, writers) who had not studied, which was the majority at the time.
Woodcut depicting various death and body punishments, from a pirated print of the Laienspiegel ( Strasbourg , 1510).
history
Under the title “Laijen Spiegel. of lawful order in civil and embarrassing regiments. with allegation [en] vn [d] bewerungen ausgeschribnenrechte vnnd sentences ” the law book in mirror form was first printed in 1509 in Augsburg . It is the work of Ulrich Tengler (1445–1521 / 22). The editor was the important publisher Johann Rynmann von Öhringen. The humanist, Strasbourg city clerk and assessor at the Reich Chamber of Commerce Sebastian Brant , who also wrote a foreword, supported and promoted this company. In 1511 the Laienspiegel appeared in a revised version as “Der neu Laienspiegel”. The importance of the work can be measured by the fact that it saw at least 14 printed editions in the course of the 16th century, including numerous "pirated prints" (unauthorized reprints).
The lay mirror, which is divided into three books, contains private law , criminal law - each embedded in corresponding procedural provisions - and public law . Its structure and partly also its content is based on the older Klagspiegel (around 1436), which Sebastian Brant had reprinted a few years later, not without recommending that you always use both books together. Examples of the lay mirror are also likely to include the “Speculum iudiciale” of Durantis (2nd half of the 13th century), the “ Malleus Maleficarum ” of the Dominican Institoris (1487; so-called witch's hammer ), the “ Constitutio Criminalis Bambergensis ” (1507) and perhaps also the "Magdeburg Questions" (a private collection of Magdeburger Oberhofsprüche).
The numerous important woodcuts of the lay mirror are remarkable. For the first edition of 1509 printed in Augsburg it was partly created by the so far not clearly identifiable master “HF” (presumably H. Furtenbach), who probably worked in Strasbourg. Six woodcuts by the famous Hans Schäufelin were added for the expanded “Neue Laienspiegel” (first print in Augsburg 1511) . In the reprints made in Strasbourg, the woodcuts from the Augsburg editions are imitated much more simply and in a smaller format.
Ulrich Tengler, who had probably never studied law, was, like Conrad Heyden , the author of the Klagspiegel , town clerk in a southern German imperial city : Tengler held this office in Nördlingen from 1479, then from 1485 he was rent master in Heidenheim (Brenz) and later To become bailiff in Höchstädt (Danube) . During his time as bailiff - looking back on the experiences of a long life as a legal practitioner - he wrote his work.
literature
- Andreas Deutsch (Ed.): Ulrich Tenglers Laienspiegel - A legal book between humanism and witchcraft , Academy Conferences Vol. 11, Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8253-5910-2
- Andreas Deutsch: Laienspiegel. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria
- Andreas Deutsch: The Klagspiegel and its author Conrad Heyden. A 15th century legal book paving the way for reception . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-412-13003-6 , p. 430 ff.
- Bernhard Koehler: lay mirror . In: Adalbert Erler (ed.) U. a .: Concise dictionary on German legal history . Volume 2. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-503-00015-1 , Sp. 1357-1361.
- Bernhard Pahlmann: Ulrich Tengler . In: Gerd Kleinheyer, Jan Schröder (ed.): German and European lawyers from nine centuries . 4th edition. Müller, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-0578-9 , pp. 418-420.
- Roderich von Stintzing: History of the popular literature of Roman canon law in Germany at the end of the fifteenth and in the beginning of the sixteenth century . Hirzel Verlag, Leipzig 1867. - Digitized version of the Heidelberg University Library