Sachsenspiegel

The Sachsenspiegel (German: [ˈzaksn̩ˌʃpiːɡl̩], literally “Saxon Mirror”; Middle Low German: Sassen Speyghel; Low German: Sassenspegel) is the most important law book and custumal of the Holy Roman Empire. Originating between 1220 and 1235 as a record of existing customary law, it was used in places until as late as 1900. It is important not only for its lasting effect on later German law but also as an early example of written prose in a German language.[1] The Sachsenspiegel is the first comprehensive law book not in Latin, but in Middle Low German. A Latin edition is known to have existed, but only fragmented chapters remain.

This article is about the mediaeval law book. For the German television news series, see Sachsenspiegel (German television news series).
Choosing the king. At the top: the three ecclesiastical princes choosing the king, pointing at him. At the centre: the Count Palatine of the Rhine hands over a golden bowl, acting as a servant. Behind him, the Duke of Saxony with his marshall's staff and the Margrave of Brandenburg bringing a bowl of warm water, as a valet. Below, the new king in front of the great men of the empire (Heidelberg Sachsenspiegel, around 1300)

History

The Sachsenspiegel was one of the first prose works written in the Middle Low German language. The original title is Sassen Speyghel, Sachsenspiegel being a later Standard German translation. It is believed to have been compiled and translated from Latin by the Saxon administrator Eike of Repgow at the behest of his liege lord Count Hoyer of Falkenstein in the years 1220 to 1235.[2] Where the original was compiled is unclear. It was thought to have been written at Burg Falkenstein, but Peter Landau, an expert in medieval canon law, recently suggested that it may have been written at the monastery of Altzelle (now Altzella).[3]

During the 14th century, Johannes Klenkok opposed the Sachsenspiegel with a writing known as the Decadicon because he considered several articles of the law book to contradict the Corpus Juris Canonici.[4] Following a written debate, Klenkok turned to his former disciple, French canonist, and cardinal of the Curia in Avignon, Pierre de la Vergne.[5] In the end, Pope Gregory XI condemned 14 articles with his papal bull Salvator Humani Generis that was issued in 1374, but this did not reduce the success of the Sachsenspiegel.[6]

The Sachsenspiegel served as a model for law books in German (Middle High German) like the Augsburger Sachsenspiegel, the Deutschenspiegel, and the Schwabenspiegel. Its influence extended into Eastern Europe, the Netherlands, and the Baltic States.

In Prussia, the Sachsenspiegel was used until the introduction of the Allgemeines Landrecht für die preußischen Staaten in 1794. In Saxony, it was used until the introduction of the Saxon Civil Code in 1865. In Anhalt and Thuringia, the Sachsenspiegel was not replaced until the introduction of the German Civil Code in 1900. Its precedents continued to be cited as pertinent case law as recently as 1932 by the Reichsgericht (Supreme Court of the Reich) (RGZ 137, 373).

The influence of the Sachsenspiegel, or at least parallels with it, can still be found in modern German law, for instance in inheritance law and the law of neighborly relations (Nachbarrecht; e.g., nuisance, party walls, etc.).

The Sachsenspiegel contains two branches of law: common law and feudal law.

Saxon custom

Saxon customary law, or Landrecht, was the law of free people including the peasant sokemanry. It contains important rules and regulations concerning property rights, inheritance, marriage, the delivery of goods, and certain torts (e.g. trespass, nuisance). It also treats criminal law and the composition of courts. In other words, it deals with criminal and civil law.

Feudal law

Feudal law, or Lehnrecht, determined the relationship between different states and rulers, for example the election of emperors and kings, feudal rights, etc. Though it has no modern equivalent, it encompasses what one would call today public law.

The Sachsenspiegel acquired special significance through its exposition of the seven Heerschilde or "shields of knighthood":

  1. King
  2. Ecclesiastical princes
  3. Lay princes
  4. Free lords (freie Herren)
  5. Schöffenbarfreie, vassals (Lehnsmänner) of free lords, ministeriales
  6. Vassals of Schöffenbarfreie etc.
  7. Unnamed

Manorial tenants and burgesses (inhabitants of a borough) were not mentioned.

Extant copies
Eike of Repgow, from the Oldenburg Sachsenspiegel

Four (of the original seven) illuminated manuscripts copies are still extant. They are named after their present locations: Heidelberg, Oldenburg, Dresden, and Wolfenbüttel, and date from 1295 to 1371. In total, over 400 versions of the manuscript exist today.[7]

The Dresden manuscript has been described as the "most artistically valuable" by the World Digital Library. It is located in the collection of the Saxon State Library and was created between 1295 and 1363 around Meissen, Germany. This version has 924 illustrations on 92 pages. The illustrations depict about 4,000 people. It suffered water damage after the Bombing of Dresden in World War II and underwent restoration in the 1990s.[7]

An early printed edition of the Sachsenspeigel was produced by Anna Rügerin in Augsburg, dated 22 June 1484. It is the first documented evidence of a woman working as a typographer.[8]

Proverbs

Some German proverbs date from the Sachsenspiegel:

  • "Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" (First come, first served, literally: "Who comes first, grinds first"), which is a rule for the order for grinding of corn by a miller.
  • "Wo der Esel sich wälzt, da muss er Haare lassen", lit: "Where the donkey rolls, there it sheds hair." This is a rule for the jurisdiction of courts.

See also

References
  1. Dieter Pötschke (2002). "Utgetogen Recht steiht hir. Brandenburgische Stadt- und Landrechte im Mittelalter". In Dieter Pötschke (ed.). Stadtrecht, Roland und Pranger: zur Rechtsgeschichte von Halberstadt, Goslar, Bremen und Städten der Mark Brandenburg [Stadtrecht, Roland und Pranger: zur Rechtsgeschichte von Halberstadt, Goslar, Bremen und Städten der Mark Brandenburg]. Harz-Forschungen (in German). 15. Lukas. p. 135. ISBN 3-931836-77-0. Mit dem Sachsenspiegel] schuf Eike von Repchow nicht nur eines der ersten deutschen Rechtsbücher neben dem Mühlhäuser Rechtsbuch nach des Reiches Recht, sondern das erste deutsche Prosawerk überhaupt.
  2. Some sources give the period during which the Sachsenspiegel was written as 1220 to 1230, but 1220 to 1235 is given by others, such as sources at the Library of Congress (), the European Court of Human Rights () and Tufts University ()
  3. The suggestion that the Sachsenspiegel was written at Altzelle was made in a paper given by Professor Landau at the Deutscher Rechtshistorikertag 2004 and later published in an article (Landau, Peter: Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Sachsenspiegels: Eike von Repgow, Altzelle und die anglo-normannische Kanonistik; Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 2005, Vol 61, No. 1, pp 73–101), cited at the German Wikipedia article on Kloster Altzella and http://www.rechtsbuchforschung.de Archived 2007-02-09 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. Christopher Ocker (1993). Johannes Klenkok: A Friar's Life, C. 1310–1374. American Philosophical Society. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-87169-835-3., pp 51 ff.
  5. Ocker, pp 52–63.
  6. Ocker, pp 66–69 and Lars Rentmeister, Staat und Kirche im späten Mittelalter – Der Schriftwechsel zwischen Johannes Klenkok und Herbord von Spangenberg über den Sachsenspiegel, tredition (2016), ISBN 978-3-7345-1931-4.
  7. "Mirror of the Saxons". World Digital Library. 1295–1363. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  8. Boardley, John (15 October 2014). "The first female typographer". I love typography. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
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