There is another way – a magnificent charter of Ludwig the Bavarian

From the middle of the 13th century, the so-called "sealed charter" gradually became established north of the Alps. In contrast to the royal charter of earlier centuries, in which a multitude of internal and external features determined its authenticity, the seal now became the essential, if not the only, means of authentication of a document considered genuine. The technical effort involved in issuing charters consequently decreased. At the same time, the number of charters issued, the number of possible issuers and the degree of written legal transactions increased significantly. The royal charter did not escape this development either. Most of the German-language charters from Ludwig IV (born 1282/86, ruled 1314-1347) shown here stand out above all because of their appearance. These were sealed administrative acts written in simple script on a small piece of parchment and constituted a legally binding document. But there was another way: if the importance of a document was to be emphasised – usually by the recipient – then more representative forms of design were used, which had already existed in similar form in earlier royal charters. The simplest means was to use a more precious material for the seal, such as gold. The prime example is the eponymous "Golden Bull" by Emperor Charles IV (born 1316, ruled 1346-1378) from 1356. Ludwig the Bavarian went much further with his magnificent charters: Here, on the one hand, he revived features that had long since disappeared from the royal charter, such as emphasis, monograms or lines of signatures, and on the other hand, the "littera elongata", which had previously been particularly large and thus conspicuous but unadorned, developed into a richly decorated rendering of his name. This illumination is more reminiscent of elaborate book decoration than of the legal transaction, which is rather dry in content.

Thomas Engelke