City clerk (head of the office)

A town clerk was the name given to the medieval or early modern head of a town chancellery . Due to his education, experience and long service, he was often able to exert a more significant influence on urban development than the mayor, who only held office for a short time. A similar function exercised in the United Netherlands a pensioner ( Pensionaris off). In the municipal administration of Switzerland there is still the town clerk as head of the chancellery today (although the municipality clerk has a similar function).

The institution

meaning

The medieval and early modern town clerk was at the head of the town administration (the highest town official) and was one of the most powerful men in the town , especially in the imperial towns. In the documents he is often simply referred to as schreiber , scribae or notarius civitatis . Today's writing activity, which sounds modest and subordinate, does not do justice to the larger and more essential tasks of the incumbent at the time. His business experience (e.g. as a cameraman) and his legal knowledge (as Notarius publius Caesar or Dr. jur. Juris Consultus and thus as a lawyer) brought the town clerk into the role of a permanent advisor for mayors and councilors. The relatively good salary, the growing number of tasks, the high level of responsibility as well as the social and political reputation in the city and beyond attracted potential applicants for the office of city clerk.

Term of office

It was common practice to appoint town clerks for a long time. As long as nothing came in between, there was usually a position in life. The intention was to ensure continuity in city politics. The official city leaders, the mayors, could not guarantee this demand given their short term of office and the short-term change.

So a city desperately needed someone

who had a full overview because all the threads came together in his hands,
who was familiar with the correspondence of the city and monitored important appointments,
who knew the city law regulations and knew how to deal with them,
who was able to maintain the difficult balance of a pledged imperial city between the ideas and demands of the pledgee (regional ruler, prince, bishop) and those of the pledgee (emperor),
who guaranteed that the formal acts of city politics (official acts) proceeded properly,
who initiated necessary interventions in the process in good time,
who helped to correct errors quickly,
who was able to react to shortcomings and needs of political and administrative bodies on a daily basis,
who was able to resolve a need for regulation identified in day-to-day legal business through appropriate proposals or legal definitions,
who handled all his internal administrative activities very carefully and skillfully and had to be secretive.

A town clerk could only meet these requirements if he was given the opportunity to gain experience in his position for a long time and to implement it.

conditions

Knowledge of writing and the Latin language was sufficient in the beginning . Later, working in a major law firm was only possible with extensive administrative training . Since the 15th century at the latest, prospective town clerks had to prove an academic or legal training , although a degree was initially not considered necessary. However, in many, especially larger cities, a legal scholar was preferred .

In any case, it was essential for a town clerk to have legal knowledge, because without it he could not carry out his duties, especially as a law enforcement officer and as an agent in litigation and political negotiations.

When hiring a legal scholar, the city had the option of having him act as a public notary at the same time . The author of the Reformation of Emperor Sigismunds of 1438 demanded that all imperial cities should have a town clerk who was a public notary, “where it was necessary to make (notarial) instruments that he made, that one was not looking for or looking for another had to ”, and then says:“ You had enough ain in ainer instead ”.

tasks

The main task of the town clerk was the preparation of the town documents (including the town book ) and the correspondence , whereby he was able to have the paperwork done at least in larger towns by assistant clerks and often also chancellery students.

In addition, the town clerk often was responsible for the task of court hearings to monitor and judgments to make. In doing so, he is likely to have had a decisive influence on the tenor of the judgment - also due to his legal knowledge .

The city clerk was also an important partner of the city government ( mayor and magistrate ) in planning urban development , including in areas such as personnel policy.

At important conferences and negotiations, the city was represented by its chief diplomat, the city clerk, as an authorized representative. Cities sometimes had to make statements about political implications, protests or appeals. It is better to do this in front of a legal entity in your own company than in front of external notaries. Likewise, statements by third parties of political interest were sometimes preferred to have their own official notarized. Since the city governments were reluctant to entrust their original documents to strangers and to send them overland, certification by a public notary who was also a city official was desired. A foreign notary was concerned that strangers might gain unpleasant glimpses into the situation in the city.

It should be noted that at that time there was still no generally applicable written public and private law. From his daily work, the town clerk recognized a need for regulation in this area. That is why he was very often entrusted with drafting new municipal laws and statutes . Many city clerks did pioneering work in the field of legal development and made a name for themselves in history.

Examples are Ulrich Zasius as the author of the Freiburg city law from 1520 and his pupil Johann Fichard as the creator of the Frankfurt city law reformation (1571 and 1578). Several city clerks also acted as authors of legal books, in particular Conrad Heyden , who created the Klagspiegel around 1436 , and Ulrich Tengler , who wrote the Laienspiegel (1507). By Jacob Köbel are legal writings known about the court order (1523), Public Law (1532) and German Law (posthumously in 1537).

In accordance with the importance of his office, the town clerk was usually entitled to the highest salary of all municipal employees (the mayor or town master was regularly active on a voluntary basis), which he was often able to top up through notarial services and the training of young clerks.

The town clerk or council secretary is to be distinguished from the Syndici, the legal scholars of the towns, who often belonged to the town council itself with a special status. In the early modern period , the Free Imperial City of Lübeck had up to three Syndici at the same time and an additional three council clerks for the administration, the oldest of whom was called Protonotarius and the youngest was the Registrar .

Important town clerks

As can be seen from the following list, eminent town clerks often did an excellent job in developing written law; some also as historians. In the biography of many town clerks, in addition to additional academic work, their proximity to the humanist movement is often noticeable.

Gottfried Hagen (* 1230; † 1299), city clerk of Cologne, specialist for legal documents (deeds)

Johannes Rothe (* 1360; † 1434), town clerk, canon, historian and author of the Eisenach legal books ("chain book")

Conrad Heyden (* 1385; † 1444), town clerk of Schwäbisch Hall, created the lament mirror (around 1436)

Hans vom Staal (* 1419, † 1499), town clerk of Solothurn, played an important role in Solothurn's admission to the Swiss Confederation

Johannes Frauenburg (* around 1430; † 1495), town clerk in Görlitz (1463–1482), wrote the mayor's mirror , the instruction for the office of mayor, with reference to Plato , Aristotle and Cicero (1476)

Johannes Purgold , town clerk of Eisenach (from 1491), wrote the legal book on the town council and the councilors (beginning of the 16th century) on the basis of the Eisenach legal books written by the priest and Eisenach town chronicler Johannes Rothe

Ulrich Tengler (* 1447; † 1511), town clerk in Nördlingen (from 1479), rent master in Heidenheim (Brenz) (from 1485), later governor in Höchstädt (Danube), wrote the Layenspiegel (1507)

Hermen Bote , (* around 1450; † 1520), customs clerk in Braunschweig, Middle Low German chronicler and writer

Sebastian Brant (* 1457/1458; † 1521), town clerk of Strasbourg (from 1503), later imperial councilor and assessor at the court in Speyer, published Layenspiegel and Klagspiegel (1509)

Paul Schneevogel (* approx. 1460; † after 1514), town clerk in Zittau (from 1490) and Bautzen (from 1497), humanist (Latinized Paulus Niavis) and reformer of Latin lessons

Thuringia Fricker (around 1429; † 1519), town clerk in Bern (from 1465)

Ulrich Zasius (* 1461; † 1535), clerk and notary with the Bishop of Constance (from 1483), town clerk in Baden (Switzerland) in Aargau (from 1489), town clerk for the city of Freiburg (from 1494); Author of the Freiburg city law (1520)

Jakob Köbel (* 1462; † 1533), town clerk of Oppenheim (1494–1533), printer, publisher, mathematical and legal writer, drafted judicial order of notification and introduction of judicial order (court order, 1523), credible revelation (public law, 1532) and German Jura. Regulae LL. Closing speeches, rules and abridgement of rights, ... Of ordinary inheritance cases, except for wills ... (1537)

Konrad Peutinger (* 1465; † 1547), town clerk of Augsburg (1497–1534), lawyer and humanist, a. a. close confidante and imperial councilor of Maximilian I , owned the largest private scholarly library north of the Alps, Tabula Peutingeriana (1507)

Johann Fichard (* 1512; † 1581), city clerk of Frankfurt am Main, creator of the Frankfurt city law reformation 1571/1578

Mathias Baux (* in Mennekrath), town clerk of Erkelenz (1544–1558), wrote the Erkelenz Chronicle and the Erkelenz Law Book around 1550

Renward Cysat (* 1545; † 1614), city clerk of Lucerne , wrote the Collectanea Chronica and memorable items per Chronica Lucernensis et Helvetiae and other informative works on the chronicle and history of the city of Lucerne and Switzerland.

Johann Textor (* 1582; † 1626) lawyer and historian, from 1608 town clerk in Haiger, known as the author of the Nassau Chronicle (Herborn, 1617).

Johann Adolph Höltich (* 1641; † 1704), was a doctor of both rights, 1670 town clerk of Mölln and lawyer of Lübeck.

literature

Richard Hergenhahn: Jakob Köbel to Oppenheim . (Chapter: The office of the town clerk ). In: Oppenheimer Heft 11, December 1995, ISBN 3-87854-115-5 , pp. 3-9.
Elisabeth Breiter: The Schaffhausen town clerk. The office and its holders from the beginning until 1798 . Keller, Winterthur 1962, (at the same time: Zurich, Univ., Diss., 1962).
Friedrich Bruns : The Lübeck syndicists and council secretaries until the constitutional amendment of 1851 . In: ZVLGA 29, 1938, pp. 91-168.
Gerhard Burger: The South German town clerks of the Middle Ages. Tübingen 1960 (dissertation).
Gerhard Burger: The southwest German town clerk in the Middle Ages. Boeblingen 1960.
Ferdinand Elsener: Notaries and town clerks. On the history of the Swiss notary's office . Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne a. a. 1962, ( Publications of the Working Group for Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia 100, ISSN 0570-5649 ).
Peter Hoheisel: The Göttingen town clerks up to the Reformation. Influence, social professional, official duties . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-525-85422-6 , ( Studies on the history of the city of Göttingen 21), (At the same time: Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 1996/97).
Erich Kleeberg: Town clerks and town books in Mühlhausen in Thuringia from the 14th to the 16th century, along with an overview of the editions of medieval town books . In: Archiv für Urkundenforschung 2, 1909, ZDB -ID 212111-6 , pp. 407-490.
Udo Künzel: The Schweinfurt town clerks and council advocates from 1337 to 1803 . Würzburg 1974, (dissertation).
Josef Pauser, Martin Scheutz: Early modern town and market clerks in Austria - an outline. In: Andrea Griesebener, Herwig Weigl, Martin Scheutz (eds.), Stadt - Macht - Rat 1607. The council minutes of Perchtoldsdorf, Retz, Waidhofen / Ybbs, Zwettl in context. St. Pölten 2008 (Research on regional studies of Lower Austria 33, ISBN 978-3-901234-16-3 ), pp. 515-563.
Manfred J. Schmied: The council clerks of the imperial city of Nuremberg . Stadtarchiv, Nürnberg 1979, ISBN 3-87432-067-7 , ( Nürnberger Werkstücke zur Stadt- und Landesgeschichte 28), (At the same time: Würzburg, Diss., 1979).
Juraj Sedivý: The beginners of notarisation in medieval Pressburg (Bratislava) . In: Karel Hruza, Paul Herold (ed.): Paths to the document, paths to the document. Contributions to European diplomacy in the Middle Ages . Vienna conference on the genesis, use and effect of medieval documents and letters under the paradigmatic key words “pragmatic writing” and “writing”. Böhlau, Wien et al. 2005, ISBN 3-205-77271-7 , ( Research on the history of the emperor and the pope / supplements to JF Böhmer, Regesta Imperii 24), pp. 81–116.
Folkmar Thiele: The Freiburg town clerk in the Middle Ages . Wagner, Freiburg im Breisgau 1973, ( publications from the archive of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau 13, ZDB -ID 531462-8 ), (also: Freiburg im Breisgau, Univ., Diss., 1970).
Jörn-Wolfgang Uhde: The Lüneburg town clerk from the beginning up to the year 1378 . Hamburg 1977, (dissertation).
Wolfgang Wille: The Reutlingen town clerks of the 14th century and their documents . In: Reutlinger Geschichtsblätter NF 37, 1998, ISSN 0486-5901 , pp. 165-230.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ In the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era, the job titles clerk, schoolmaster, clergyman had a significant sound, but in the course of the modern era they lost their appreciation in the eyes of the population and were later even used in a mocking sense.

^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch up to 1933. Ph. C. W. Schmidt, Neustadt a. d. Aisch 1950, OCLC 42823280 ; New edition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Ph. C. W. Schmidt publishing house, Neustadt an der Aisch 1828–1978. Ibid 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , p. 306.

↑ Reasons: The mayor's office was an honorary position that required a lot of effort and lost earnings and was therefore only exercised for a short time (for example in the imperial city of Oppenheim only one year). On the other hand, this prevented a person from building up too much power.

↑ This is a book chained to protect against theft, especially legal records.

[1] In the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era, the job titles clerk, schoolmaster, clergyman had a significant sound, but in the course of the modern era they lost their appreciation in the eyes of the population and were later even used in a mocking sense.