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Sachenspiegel |
The Sachsenspiegel (lit. "Saxon mirror"; Low German: Sassenspegel, Middle Low German: Sassen Speyghel) is the most important law book and legal code of the German Middle Ages. Written ca. 1220 as a record of existing law, it was used in parts of Germany until as late as 1900, and is important not only for its lasting effect on German law, but also as an early example of written Germancitation needed prose, being the first large legal document to be written in German, instead of Latin. A Latin edition is known to have existed, but only fragmented chapters remain.
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The Sachsenspiegel was one of the first prose works in Low German (Middle Saxon) language. The original title is Sassen Speyghel, Sachsenspiegel being a later German translation. It is believed to have been compiled and translated from Latin by the Saxon administrator Eike von Repgow at the behest of his liege lord Graf Hoyer von Falkenstein in the years 1220 to 1235.1 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).2
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, the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch in 1900. Its precedents continued to be cited 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 governing disputes between neighbors:
The Sachsenspiegel contains two branches of law: common law and the feudal law.
The common law (Landrecht in German) is the law of free people including farmers (known as "legal persons"). It contains important regulations concerning property rights, inheritances, matrimonies, the distribution of goods and the regulation of various legal disputes (e.g. between neighbors). It also regulates the criminal law and the constitution of the courts. In terms of modern legal systems it can be thought of as including criminal and civil law.
The feudal law (Lehnrecht in German) determines the relationship between the different estates, for example the election of emperors and kings, feudal rights, etc. Though it has no modern equivalent, it can be compared to what one would call today constitutional law.
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 about 1300 to 1370.
Some German proverbs date from the Sachsenspiegel:
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