Das Sächsische Weichbildrecht mit Glosse. Digitale Edition der Handschrift Staatsbibliothek Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ms. germ. fol. 389, im Rahmen der Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH)

The project funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) aims at producing the first quotable edition of the Saxon Weichbild and its gloss in close cooperation with Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH).

In the last third of the 13th century, several sources of law from Magdeburg were compiled into a document called the Weichbildvulgata (Middle Low German “wikbelde” = municipal law). Before 1387, this text was supplemented with an explanatory legal commentary (“gloss”). Its basis was no other than the famous “original” gloss (“Ur”-Glosse) by Johann von Buch, who had written it on the land law of the Sachsenspiegel (the most important and perhaps also the oldest comprehensive German law book) around 1325.

The glosses of the Sachsenspiegel-Landrecht (land law), the Sachsenspiegel-Lehnrecht (feudal law) and the Weichbild (municipal law) forge a close connection between these three sources of law. Indeed, it is no overstatement to suggest that they form a late medieval triad of Common Saxon Law.

The project aims at producing the first quotable digital edition of the Saxon Weichbild and its gloss in close cooperation with Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH). The project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).

The digital edition will include a parallel display of both the quotable version of the material on the one hand and the corresponding pages of the source manuscript SBB-PK Ms. germ. fol. 389 in the online viewer tool of the DFG on the other. This advantage will enable scientists to conduct a direct autopsy of the manuscript.

Furthermore, text passages within the Saxon Weichbild which have parallels in the Sachsenspiegel will be linked to their corresponding passages in already available online editions by  Frank-Michael Kaufmann at dMGH concerning the Sachsenspiegel Land Law and the Sachsenspiegel Feudal Law. Thus, the unity and interconnection of the three pillars of land law, feudal law, and municipal law under the umbrella of Common Saxon Law is immediately apparent.

Running time: 1 January 2024 bis 31 December 2026

Project Location: Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Partner Institution: Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH)

The project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).

Completed project: Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Sachsenspiegelglossen) mit einer Übersicht bisher erschienener Glossen-Editionen und Glossare