Cartulary

A cartulary (also Kopiar, cartulary or cartulary, from Latin cartularium, copiarium, diplomatarium; Copeibuch ) is an archival source that contains the texts of documents of the Middle Ages and the early modern copies.

Origin and purpose

A cartulary was made by certificates receiver to prevent the damage (for example, by frequent use) the valuable originals. In addition Kopialbücher should allow a fast and accurate overview of legal title and possession of title, which simplified the administrative work. Last but not least they wanted to by a cartulary also prevent losses of major tenures ( such as fire or the effects of war ). Therefore Kartulare were often notarized.

Already in the early Middle Ages monasteries copies created by their deeds. They are therefore an excellent source of early medieval private charters that are barely survived except in the archives of the congregation of St. Gallen, which knew no early medieval cartulary in the original.

Kopialbücher were in the late medieval and early modern management of archives a means to allow members of their own administration and any other users of the archive an orderly overview of the existing stocks. In the books the records were arranged mostly by subject registered with their text, and often already provided with registers.

The entry into a cartulary is similar in form to the related to the creation of synopses method, in which only the legally relevant part of the document is received can be omitted as the input protocol with the harangue while other parts of the instrument.

Related types of sources

Related to the Kopialbüchern are the traditional books in which legislation (usually possession transfers) are recorded, which were often not otherwise verschriftlicht.

Kopialbücher than later -scale collections of documents of individual stocks are something else than register will be entered in the incoming or outgoing documents ( input and output directories).

Source Criticism

From the viewpoint of source criticism fro Kopialbücher are often a substitute for now lost copies ( originals). On the one hand allow any investigation to external authenticity criteria more, subject to the other hand also Abschreibfehlern. Since they were made ​​for your own archive use, must not be placed under or suspects a fraudulent intent from the outset with them.