Marriage processes before the official's court in Freising in the Late Middle Ages

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Although in recent years there has been considerable international research done on marriage processes before ecclesiastical courts in the Later Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Period, the rich source material of the court of the official in Freising has largely remained unknown. The records of the officiality in Freising document the business of the court during the span of more than 60 years from the middle of the 15th century to the begin of the 16th century and are, in their quantity and quality, not only in comparison to other sources in German-speaking lands, but also on the European scale a collection of outstanding importance. With large numbers of detailed process documentation including protocols of witness examinations and original evidence such as love letters or medical certificates, the Freising material allows unique insights into court practices as well as into the mentality and living circumstances and gender relationships of the people who appeared before court. The project Marriage processes before the court of the official in Freising in the Late Middle Ages is aimed at making this valuable source material accessible for the first time. According to the initial application for funding, the project was to treat the complete collection of volumes from 1424/1462 to 1526, registering all persons and process information in a data bank. A number of reasons have made it necessary to modify the projected aims and reduce their scope to cover the period of time up to the year 1500. In particular, a closer investigation of the volumes proved that they contain considerably more material related to marriage cases than had previously been thought on the basis of estimates by other researchers or random samples. An extension of the project is therefore being applied for in order to complete the unfinished research and to fulfil the original project aims in a form modified by the experiences and insights of the previous work. The registration of marriage processes in the data bank is thereby to be completed for the remaining years 1501 to 1526 (fourteen volumes) and their contents, including information of culture-historical relevance, are to be tagged with key-words. Together with short process summaries, this will contribute to make the philologically and paleographically demanding source material accessible for further research. Selected marriage processes of particular interest for legal, social and cultural history will be registered in greater detail. The two monographs studying the court records from legal and social-historical perspectives are currently in progess and will be completed. Finally, the data bank, which thus far has served project-intern purposes, is to prepared for online research and integrated into the internet portals of the partner-archives, which house the records themselves and will secure the long-term maintenance of the data.