Glossary

The following glossary is to be seen in the context of the exhibition "Between Power and Faith – Aschaffenburg’s St. Peter und Alexander Collegiate Church in the Middle Ages". It therefore does not claim to provide full scientific definitions.

Indulgence

A person’s release from the temporal punishment of sin in purgatory by an ecclesiastical act of grace.

Amorbach Declaration (1525)

A toned-down form of the 12 articles (legal demands) drawn up by the insurgents in the Peasants’ War, adapted to Franconian conditions. It was formulated by Wendel Hipler (1465-1526) and Hans Berlin.

Amortisation

Hand over and accumulation by the church of inalienable goods, thus withdrawn from private circulation.

Anniversarium (also: anniversary service, annual commemorative service)

Annually recurring service on the anniversary of the death of a deceased person, during which intercession is held for the respective person.

Archdiaconate

Area in which an ecclesiastical dignitary, archdeacon, performs administrative tasks on behalf of a bishop. An archdiaconate is often divided into different deaneries and rural chapters. The archdiaconates lost importance not least due to the provisions of the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

Bachgau

Area to the west of Aschaffenburg between the Odenwald and Spessart. The "Cent Bachgau" constituted a separate judicial and administrative district.

Peasants’ War (1524-1526)

Armed uprising of peasants and individual towns in southern and central Germany. The reasons for this included growing resistance to the manorial system and serfdom as well as high tax burdens and the resulting poverty. In 1525 and 1526, the rebels were crushed by the imperial landlords and sovereigns united in the Swabian League.

Bavarian Lower Main

Region in western Lower Franconia beyond the Spessart, in which the course of the Main River emerges into the Main plain. Aschaffenburg is the centre of this area.

"Bede" tax

Property tax (land, building or livestock tax) on peasant and bourgeois property that arose from the 13th century onwards.

High justice

Form of justice that has jurisdiction over such crimes that can be punished by corporal punishment (infliction of pain, mutilation and execution).

(Lower) Bridge Master

Civil servant responsible for the construction and maintenance of bridges.

Burgrave

Office conferred by the sovereign and restricted to a town, a castle or a castle district with (sometimes very different) authorities in the areas of military affairs, jurisdiction and administration. The counts of Rieneck were burgraves and high bailiffs of Mainz until 1221.

Cent

Judicial and administrative district whose diverse functions changed in the course of the Middle Ages. However, the central element remained the jurisdiction organised in these districts.

Choir (also: presbytery)

Refers to the sanctuary in a church reserved for the clergy. The high altar and choir stalls are situated here. The name is derived from the area designated for the singers of the liturgy.

Diploma

Refers to a particularly formal type of royal charter. In contrast to the likewise royal mandates, which deal with more everyday legal transactions, diplomas deal with matters of outstanding and usually lasting importance (e.g. donations and transfers of property).

Cathedral chapter

An episcopal church’s governing body formed by clergy. The members of this body are called canons or capitulars.

Endowment

Total quantity of estates transferred for the purpose of endowing a person, foundation or institution (e.g. when it is established).

Edict

Public proclamation by the sovereign or the authorities.

Proprietary church lord

Person who has the property and spiritual power of disposal over a church. This includes, among other things, the disposal of its income and the right to appoint and depose clergy.

Serfdom

The people dependent on a landlord (especially the rural population), who work in his dominion and are obliged to pay him with services and taxes.

Epitaph

Artistically, usually elaborately designed funerary monument that is integrated into a church’s building structure (e.g. exterior façade, pillars, etc.). It is not necessarily located in the same place as the deceased person’s grave.

Archbishop commissioner

Head of one of the commissariats established in the territory of Mainz since the 14th century, who performs administrative tasks on behalf of the archbishop.

Gospel

A book (codex) containing all four Gospels.

Excommunication

Temporary or permanent exclusion from the community of believers (not from the church). In addition to prohibiting participation in worship and reception of the sacraments, excommunication also had consequences in the secular sphere.

Levies

Duties paid in kind or money by an estate to its landlord or a corresponding right holder.

Year of grace

The year of grace includes the prebendal income accrued for the period of the year following the death of a canon, which he could dispose of in his will. It was the third year after death in Aschaffenburg.

Count

Office conferred by the king which evolves into a hereditary title in the course of the Middle Ages. Initially, counts held authority in the area of military jurisdiction and the courts, but later also assumed administrative tasks.

Gült (also: rent. Life annuity)

Regular income of money or goods purchased in exchange for a one-off payment of money. It is secured by a property designated as a pledge (e.g. farm or land). As a rule, the rent stipulated in the deed of sale was payable once a year and was paid until the beneficiary’s death.

Virgate (German: "Hufe")

A measure of land describing an agricultural area sufficient in size to feed a farming family. The size of a virgate varies depending on the region. The farmstead itself is also sometimes referred to as a "Hufe".

Immunity (ecclesiastical)

Legal privilege of an ecclesiastical institution or person as well as the area in which it is valid (= immunity district). Immunity secures the respective rights holders from interference by the secular power (including exemption from taxes and secular jurisdiction).

Incorporation

Incorporation of one ecclesiastical institution (usually a parish church) into another. This is also accompanied by the transfer of the parish benefice, the rights and the income of the incorporated parish.

Interdict

In the context of ecclesiastical law, an ecclesiastical penalty that prohibits a person or place from participating in or holding a religious service.

Johanniter Order commandery

The lowest administrative unit of the Order of St John and the associated Order House.

Canon

Cleric who belongs to a cathedral or collegiate chapter. With the Aachen Rule (Institutiones Aquisgranenses) from 816, the canons of the Carolingian Empire received their own rule in distinction to the monastic communities. The central task of the canons is to celebrate the liturgy together with choral prayer. Unlike monks, they are allowed private property.

Chancery

Authority in secular and ecclesiastical dominions that was responsible for writing activities (including the formulation and drafting of documents). Municipal chanceries were increasingly formed from the 14th century onwards.

Carolingian

Frankish noble and ruling dynasty named after Emperor Charlemagne (747/748-814, emperor from 800) from which rose the kings in the Frankish Empire from 751, and the emperors from 800 (coronation of Charlemagne). The eastern ("German") part of the Frankish Empire still had Carolingians until 911. They held the imperial dignity until the beginning of the 10th century.

Cathedraticum

Tax to be paid to the bishop at certain times by the holder of an ecclesiastical benefice.

Clergy

The entirety of all members of the church. In the estate-based understanding of society of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the clergy represented a separate estate (1st estate) alongside the estate of peasants and burghers (3rd estate) and that of the nobility (2nd estate).

Collegiate church

Ecclesiastical institution whose members do not belong to a religious order and are called secular canons, canons or secular priests. In a collegiate church, there is usually a fixed number of prebends, which are filled by the canons and serve them as a source of income. The institution is usually headed by a provost or dean. The central task of a collegiate church is to celebrate the Eucharist.

Council of Trent (1545-1563)

Assembly of spiritual dignitaries from the Catholic Church. The Council dealt with issues that had arisen as a result of the Reformation.

Cloister

Covered archway enclosing a rectangular courtyard, adjoining the church in Christian monasteries or collegiate churches.

Crucifix

Figurative representation of crucified Christ, which plays a central role in the art of the European Middle Ages.

Curia

Residence for a canon or vicar (generally also from canons and canonesses). The curiae are also called collegiate church farms or prebendary farms.

Fiefdom (also: benefice)

Landed property (territory, estate or complex of estates) granted by a feudal lord to a vassal for use. In return, the receiver of the fiefdom must take an oath of allegiance. The supreme feudal lord is the king. The "crown vassals" enfeoffed by him may grant subvassals rights to use the estates with which they are enfeoffed.

Lector

An ecclesiastical office belonging to the lower degrees of ordination, the holder of which recites the readings from Holy Scripture as part of the liturgy.

Archdiocese of Mainz (also: Electorate of Mainz)

Area in which the archbishops of Mainz exercised secular power.

Mainzer Oberstift

Part of the archdiocese of Mainz in the area around the Main and Tauber rivers, the Spessart mountain range and the Odenwald mountain range, with Aschaffenburg as its centre.

Mainz Collegiate Feud (1461-1463; also: Baden-Palatinate War)

Military conflict between Archbishops Diether von Isenburg (1412-1482, archbishop of Mainz from 1459-1463 and again from 1477) and Adolf II of Nassau (1423-1475, archbishop of Mainz from 1461 to 1475), who was appointed by the pope as a counter-candidate, over the archdiocese of Mainz, which ended with Diether relinquishing the episcopal see.

Mitre

Headgear for high ecclesiastical dignitaries (bishops, abbots, prelates, dignitaries from cathedral or collegiate chapters).

Moneyer

Head of a mint who is responsible for minting coins. The right to mint coins was granted by the emperor or, in the case of some monasteries, by the pope.

Mother church (also: parochial church)

Main parish church within an area. Affiliated churches are subordinate to it.

Necrology

A register of the dead (also called a death book) kept at monasteries and convents in the Middle Ages, in which the dates of death of deceased members and benefactors are recorded. It served primarily as a tool for the solemn celebration of anniversaries.

Neunstädtebund

Alliance of nine towns in the Mainzer Oberstift (Aschaffenburg, Seligenstadt, Dieburg, Miltenberg, Amorbach, Buchen, Walldürn, Külsheim and Tauberbischofsheim), which had fiscal and political-military authority. After joining the rebels in the Peasants’ War, the Alliance was dissolved by Albrecht of Brandenburg in 1526.

Ottonians (also: Liudolfingers)

Saxon noble and ruling dynasty from which the kings in the eastern ("German") part of the Frankish Empire descended from 919. As Roman-German rulers, they also held the imperial dignity until the extinction of their dynasty in 1024. Their name is derived from the three emperors Otto I, Otto II and Otto III.

Paraments

Mostly elaborately designed textiles used in church interiors and in the context of liturgy (including liturgical vestments).

Prebend (also: benefice)

The right to a fixed income connected with an ecclesiastical office, which is drawn from the church property and is intended to secure the respective office holder’s livelihood. The income itself is also called a prebend.

Prebendal bread

Bread given out as part of a benefice (= prebend).

Endowed preachership

Office endowed by lay people to improve preaching in the context of worship, arising from the 15th century onwards. It was disappeared almost everywhere with secularisation.

Prelature

Office of a prelate. In the Catholic Church, a prelate is a clergyman with extraordinary powers. In the case of collegiate churches, the offices of the provost, dean, scholaster and sexton had the rank of prelature.

Presentation right

Right to propose a candidate for a church office.

Predella

Plinth-like, often artistically designed base of an altar, which sometimes also has the function of a reliquary.

Privilege

Form of a papal charter that has evolved since the end of the 8th century. In the 12th century, a distinction was made between so-called solemn privileges and simple privileges. The number of privileges issued decreased in the late Middle Ages.

Provostry

Denotes (depending on the context) a (collegiate) provost’s position or their office or residence.

Provincial synod

Assembly of bishops from an ecclesiastical province (ecclesiastical province or metropolis = association of several dioceses headed by the archbishop).

Vestry

Side room in a church used to store the utensils needed for the service and to prepare the liturgical act.

Sanctuary

Altar room of a church or also a reliquary or its place of storage.

Aldermen

In the context of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the term refers to people bound by oath who were entrusted with tasks in the field of jurisdiction as a council. In its institutionalised form, the office of alderman appeared at the end of the 8th century and established itself at the various judicial levels (village courts, Cent courts, imperial court). With the increased reception of Roman law since the 15th century, the aldermen’s courts lost importance.

Scholar

Generally refers to a pupil (usually a young cleric) taught at a (collegiate or cathedral) school.

Chantry endowment

Transfer of estates or income generated on them to a spiritual institution whose members pray in return for the respective benefactor/benefactress’ salvation.

Hospital

Institution for the care of the poor and sick. In the course of the Middle Ages, hospitals also increasingly took on the role of homes for the elderly, which you could buy your way into by acquiring a benefice. The beneficed usually lived separately from the poor and sick who were also cared for in the hospital.

Hohenstaufen (Staufer) dynasty

Swabian noble and ruling dynasty from which the Roman-German kings or emperors originated between 1138 and 1250/1254. The Hohenstaufen dynasty reached the height of its power under Frederick I Barbarossa (c. 1122-1190, emperor from 1155) and his successor Henry VI (1165-1197, emperor from 1191).

Syndicus

In the context of the Aschaffenburg collegiate church, refers to a legal assistant, who acted as the chapter’s lawyer and notary.

Vassal

A person entrusted with a fief who, in return, must pledge allegiance to their lord.

Benefice

Ecclesiastical office (receiving a prebend) without pastoral mandate. The holders of benefices, the beneficed clergy, have the task of praying for the salvation of the souls of those who establish benefices within the framework of endowments or provide them with income.

Bailiff

An official appointed by a lordship, usually a nobleman, with administrative, judicial and military duties. His sphere of power is the bailiwick. Bailiwicks play an important role for collegiate churches in particular, since as ecclesiastical institutions they were only able to defend themselves to a limited extent and were not allowed to exercise high justice.

Wildlife ban

Sovereign right over the practice of hunting in a certain area.

Customs station

Usually a fortified facility at which the duties levied by the sovereign for the use of traffic routes (roads, rivers) are collected.