Morning speech

The morning language describes a conversation in the morning in which matters of guilds , guilds or merchants were regulated that were not covered by the provisions of the authorities. The morning language could also take on judicial functions (“cherished morning language”).

Guild meetings

Since the 13th century, morning language has been a very common term for guild meetings in northern Germany. It took place in their office or in a church. One had to appear dressed every Sunday. Under the chairmanship of the old master, quiet was ordered by knocking on the regimental wood and the meeting, held with the drawer open, opened with traditional, formulaic sentences , which continued to be very formal after unwritten ceremonies. The agenda included cash bills, reports about the masterpiece and acquittals of apprentices. The morning language also exercised a kind of lower jurisdiction in commercial matters and in disputes among the guild members. Only if there was no “discovery” was it allowed to use public jurisdiction. Whether the authorities were also present during the morning speech and whether journeymen took part was handled differently in terms of location and time. In Bremen, for example, the two councilors responsible for supervising the respective guild had been present since 1366. When and where journeymen took part, they were certainly denied a say. In the middle of the 19th century, with the introduction of the freedom of trade, the guilds were established and the court function of the morning language was taken over by the trade chambers .

Morning languages outside the guilds

In Bohemian sources from the 14th and early 15th centuries, special assemblies of lay judges , which preceded judicial justice, were referred to as morning language . In other places, too, citizens' assemblies that served the purpose of finding the right law were occasionally called this.

In Cologne , the term “Große Morgenssprache” referred to the city council's reading of the city regulations from the arm of the town hall arbor; with the aim of consolidating order in the city.

The morning language was also used to refer to committees for regulating matters relating to matrimonial property law if a marriage contract was concluded the morning after the marriage was consummated. To confirm the agreements, witnesses were elected, "Kornne brutlude". Since earlier agreements could also be changed in the morning language, older agreements were also repeated and confirmed by the witnesses.

Today's morning language in Hamburg

In Hamburg a morning language in place since 2005 regularly Hamburg Chamber of Commerce instead. The event is sponsored by the “Association for the Promotion of Hamburg Economic History e. V. “, but it is fully financed by participation fees and donations. The Hamburg morning language is reminiscent of the nucleus of the Hanseatic League , which was formed in 1266 by the Hamburg Merchants' Association in London's Stalhof . Their credo is also the credo of their current successors and at the same time also the motto of the event: the clear commitment to freedom of spirit, opportunities and trade. In London's Stalhof, Hamburg merchants were given the right to organize themselves, to do their own business and to meet for the first time. This was a kind of extraterritorial forerunner of the self-government of the Hamburg economy, which began in the Hanseatic city in 1665 with the election of representatives for the Commerzdeputation - and it was thus also a forerunner of today's Chamber of Commerce. The “silent ceremony” performed by Hamburg entrepreneurs in red regalia and with insignia is meticulously based on the historical model of the “morning languages” (merchants' meetings) in the London Stalhof from the 13th to the 16th century, at which the departing members of the twelve-member office management board, the new members were welcomed and an older man (chairman) was elected. Their statute book, which is stored in the Commerzbibliothek in its oldest original from 1457, serves as a template for the exact process . The Museum of Hamburg History and the Institute for German Studies at the University of Hamburg also advised on the implementation and choreography of the “silent ceremony” .

literature

Morning speech. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 12 : L, M - (VI). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1885, Sp. 2581 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
Morning speech . I  1) Guild Assembly . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ).
Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand : Cooperative organization in the mirror of historical names. Hanse, guild, morning speech. In: Nils Jörn (Ed.): Cooperative structures in the Hanseatic League. Sources and representations on Hanseatic history; NF, Volume 48, Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 1999, ISBN 3-412-10798-0 , p. 1.
Fritz Barich: IV. The Dortmund Morning Languages 1600–1617. In: Contributions to the history of Dortmund and the Grafschaft Mark, published by the historical associations for Dortmund and the Grafschaft Mark. Volume XIII, Dortmund 1905, p. 238, no.678.
Matthias Iken: First modern morning language. In: The world . June 9, 2005

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Morning speech . I  1) Guild Assembly . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ).
^ Herbert Black Forest: History of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . Volume 1. Bremen 1975, p. 82.
↑ Morning speech . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ). Paragraphs I, 3 and I, 4, citizens' meeting
↑ Example around 1400: Monika Fehse: The townsperson Conrad von Soest - a socio-historical classification. In: Thomas Schilp, Barbara Welzel (eds.): Dortmund and Conrad von Soest in late medieval Europe. Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2004, ISSN 1612-8648 , ISBN 3-89534-533-4 . - Example 1572, also from Westphalia: Morning language . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ). Paragraph I, 5: Assembly to regulate matters of matrimonial property law.

[1] Morning speech . I  1) Guild Assembly . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ).

[2] Herbert Black Forest: History of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . Volume 1. Bremen 1975, p. 82.

[3] Morning speech . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ). Paragraphs I, 3 and I, 4, citizens' meeting

[4] Example around 1400: Monika Fehse: The townsperson Conrad von Soest - a socio-historical classification. In: Thomas Schilp, Barbara Welzel (eds.): Dortmund and Conrad von Soest in late medieval Europe. Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2004, ISSN 1612-8648 , ISBN 3-89534-533-4 . - Example 1572, also from Westphalia: Morning language . In: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 9 , issue 5/6 (edited by Heino Speer and others). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-7400-0966-7 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de ). Paragraph I, 5: Assembly to regulate matters of matrimonial property law.